5.5.07
To Whom It May Concern,
This is a letter of recomendation concerning Iris Taribo Ramon who has worked at “Memory Gardens Autistic Sculpture Project” for the last three years at the Sunday Youth Club.
Iris has a capacity to learn on the job through the dynamic interplay that she supports and encourages between herself and autistic children who are mainly non-verbal. In this job you must be able to combine an indepth focus in relation to the needs, signals and interests of individual young children with an awareness of what is happening in the entire space; the general tone and mood of all the children and which of the co-workers or other children may at any moment need support.
Working at the Garden Project in this fluid and changeable environment is a highly creative process. Iris with her knowledge and practical involvement in the visual arts, has a strong sense and appreciation of the sheer enjoyment of working and creating moments of contact out of forms which she knows to be fluid and sculptural.
Whether she is making a mobile out of bark and beads for a child who likes to flick things and see them move, or creating a dweling out of bricks and wood for a child who likes to be in the middle of things and then knock down that structure, she adapts her interaction according to the motion of the child at that moment.
I feel that Iris has learnt this way of adaptation very fast- a learning style which can for some people be a challenge to their own sense of planning and preferance for fixed or stable structures. By working with dynamic processes Iris has learnt more deeply about these children and the creative possibilities of Autism then she ever could from books alone. By seeing how things change she has learnt about the valued connection that stays the same and grows from week to week and year to year.
What I feel has been her strongest motivational force is her open heartedness; simply a wish to create links and learn. An openness which allows her to keep challenging her own belief system and to change where this allows the link to continue and deepen.
I have come to see Iris as a real asset to this small Garden project. I will truly miss her presence at the Garden if she should be successful in her application to your college. However I am convinced that such training will deepen what is already a strong potential and comitment in this field of work.
Yours Sincerely,
Ruth Solomon B.A
Co-ordinator
Memory Gardens
Saturday 21 August 2010
To: Chief Executive of NCH, 2004
Memory Gardens Sculpture Project
10 March 2004
Dear Mr Mead,
We are a small self-help group that is situated no more than a few metres from where you now sit!
We exist because, just over two years ago, staff members at NCH gave us the benefit of the doubt and let us develop a piece of disused land that is owned by themselves and is situated by the side of the legard Family Assessment Unit.
Our project is for Autistic and Dyslexic people, and from this disused land we have created a garden space where we hold weekend clubs and make sculptures and shelters, also running games activities and doing gardening. We also run an educational project on a weekday whereby adults with Aspergers Syndrome train to become Mentors to the younger people who attend the club, and help also with maintenance of the garden.
Our project has now been running for over two years, during which time we have secured various grants and kept a co-operative but non-invasive relationship with NCH.
I am writing to you now because there are two issues which are questioning our on going security as a project, namely :-
a) We need to build toilet facilities if we are not to be dependant on those in the Legard Road Family Centre. This dependency is not an ideal sitation asit can only be an irritation to those working in the Family Centre at the weekend, who have to respond to our buzzing their intercom, asking to be let in to use their toilet. But also because it inhibits who we can invite to become members- so those with more frequent needs for a toilet are, at this cold time of year being excluded (i.e those with weaker bladders!)
We also feel that it must be a difficult situation for the Family Centre and althought they have been generous in allowing us to use their downstairs facilities, we feel that long-term and with our presently increased membership, it is not fair on their privacy.
We propose building our own facilities in an adjoining storeroom where at the moment we keep our tools and thanks to a cold water supply ansd sink, are able to wash our hands. But we need permission to do so. We have put this proposal forward and in theory it was approved, but it has been over a year now, and we have no firm guideline.
b) The second point relates to our right to use this land. At present we are temporary "guests" and NCH bears the rigth to ask us to leave at a month's notice. As our project becomes more established and includes more members, we feel that such a shaky basis is a cause for concern.
If the staff whom we have been dealing with for so long were to change, or conditions beyond our control were to come into effect, we could find ourselves SUDDENLY becoming homeless. Bearing in mind the time it has taken to build up a sense of trust and value for our members, and in view of their overriding need for security, this could be devastating for our members on a deeply personal level.
It is in view of these concerns that I am writing to you.
I would value a meeting with yourself and would certainly be glad to show you or any other representative of NCH around our project when I could explain more fully the spirit of our work in the garden.
I also feel that it is a pity that there is not more of a link in terms of ideas between our artist practitioners and those therapists working in the field of Autism at NCH. I sense that both our project and your organisation would gain a great deal from such a shared platform of discussion.
I look forward to hearing from you at your convenience.
Yours Sincerely,
Ruth Solomon
Founder and Co-ordinator
Memory Gardens Sculpture Project.
To: "The Arsenal in the Community Officer"
Arsenal Stadium, Avenall Road Memory Gardens Sculpture Project
London N5 1BU Legard Road, N5
10 March 2004
Dear Sir/Madam
We are a very small, but gradually increasing self-help project, which is based just around the corner from your stadilu. We run weekend clubs for autistic and dyslexic young people in what used to be adderelict garden adjoining the NCH Family Centre. Indeed we have spent the past two years renovating the land, transforming it from an overgrown, brick and debris-filled ex-garden into a real garden with plants, hers and flowers.
At our weekend clubs, we make large and small-scale sculptures out of natural materials, i.e. old fence posts, washed-up sea shells, recycled materials, brocken bricks. We aloso cook our lunch over a bonfire, occasioanlly all meeting up for an evening barbecue- thus teaching additional skills.
We also run an educational program for adults with hig-functioning autism, who train to become mentors for the younger people who attend our weekend clubs.
Whilst discussing possibilities for future funding, one member suggested approaching your Football Club, as we sometimes hear music and applause from your Stadium.
It is as a result of this discussion that I am now writing to yourselves. We urgently need more funding to pay for a wooden work platform, upon which we could bbuild more sculptures; and to pay for an artist to help us create a greenhouse from bamboo.
We also have increasing and on-going expenses as Spring Approaches, needing to buy more plants. more building materials, and to employ more workers.
We would be grateful for any donation which you would care to make. This could be either a one-off, or monthly payment. Upon discussion with our members, the sum of £200 was suggested.
We would be very grateful for your assistance right now, and would welcome a visit to our site from a representative of your club. I am only too happy to show interested people the garden. I could also send you photos of the garden and the sculptures created in it.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours Faithfully,
Ruth Solomon, Founder
Memory Gardens Sculpture Project
London N5 1BU Legard Road, N5
10 March 2004
Dear Sir/Madam
We are a very small, but gradually increasing self-help project, which is based just around the corner from your stadilu. We run weekend clubs for autistic and dyslexic young people in what used to be adderelict garden adjoining the NCH Family Centre. Indeed we have spent the past two years renovating the land, transforming it from an overgrown, brick and debris-filled ex-garden into a real garden with plants, hers and flowers.
At our weekend clubs, we make large and small-scale sculptures out of natural materials, i.e. old fence posts, washed-up sea shells, recycled materials, brocken bricks. We aloso cook our lunch over a bonfire, occasioanlly all meeting up for an evening barbecue- thus teaching additional skills.
We also run an educational program for adults with hig-functioning autism, who train to become mentors for the younger people who attend our weekend clubs.
Whilst discussing possibilities for future funding, one member suggested approaching your Football Club, as we sometimes hear music and applause from your Stadium.
It is as a result of this discussion that I am now writing to yourselves. We urgently need more funding to pay for a wooden work platform, upon which we could bbuild more sculptures; and to pay for an artist to help us create a greenhouse from bamboo.
We also have increasing and on-going expenses as Spring Approaches, needing to buy more plants. more building materials, and to employ more workers.
We would be grateful for any donation which you would care to make. This could be either a one-off, or monthly payment. Upon discussion with our members, the sum of £200 was suggested.
We would be very grateful for your assistance right now, and would welcome a visit to our site from a representative of your club. I am only too happy to show interested people the garden. I could also send you photos of the garden and the sculptures created in it.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours Faithfully,
Ruth Solomon, Founder
Memory Gardens Sculpture Project
Email Warning from NCH about public events
Date: Friday, 1 August, 2008, 9:42 AM
Dear Ruth,
I think you may have received an e mail recently from Andrew McHardy indicating that NCH is considering extending your licence of occupation by a further six months to March 2009.
However, before NCH does this there are range of issues which we need to discuss. I have had recent conversations with Clare Tickell our Chief Executive and she is concerned about several issues on which we need to reach clear agreement before NCH is prepared to grant you an extension, and Clare has asked me to meet you as soon as possible.
Among other things I believe you may be planning to hold "open days" or some form of public meeting on the NCH site. Firstly, you did not raise this with NCH as your landlord & did not seek permission to do this. But also from a recent inspection I am very concerned about condition of the site and among other things concerned about liability for personal safety on NCH property. In the current circumstances I must ask you not to hold any such meetings on the NCH site. This is with the personal authority of Clare Tickell.
Nigel Harper
Director of Children's Services/Programme Manager, Accommodation Programme, NCH
Dear Ruth,
I think you may have received an e mail recently from Andrew McHardy indicating that NCH is considering extending your licence of occupation by a further six months to March 2009.
However, before NCH does this there are range of issues which we need to discuss. I have had recent conversations with Clare Tickell our Chief Executive and she is concerned about several issues on which we need to reach clear agreement before NCH is prepared to grant you an extension, and Clare has asked me to meet you as soon as possible.
Among other things I believe you may be planning to hold "open days" or some form of public meeting on the NCH site. Firstly, you did not raise this with NCH as your landlord & did not seek permission to do this. But also from a recent inspection I am very concerned about condition of the site and among other things concerned about liability for personal safety on NCH property. In the current circumstances I must ask you not to hold any such meetings on the NCH site. This is with the personal authority of Clare Tickell.
Nigel Harper
Director of Children's Services/Programme Manager, Accommodation Programme, NCH
Islington Tribune Article re. impending eviction
Islington Tribune - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 1 August 2008
Autism group calls for ‘stay of execution’
Sculptors evicted from garden ‘haven’ as land is sold for housing development project
AN AUTISTIC sculpture group is pleading for a stay of execution before they are evicted from the garden they have made their haven.
The self-help group must leave Memory Garden in Legard Road, Highbury, in September, because landlord NCH (National Children’s Homes) is selling the land and neighbouring buildings to create 300 homes.
Although the group doesn’t oppose the redevelopment, members want to keep using the land until work starts, which could be years away.
Group co-ordinator Ruth Solomon said: “We don’t want to appear ungrateful to NCH and we’re no threat to their planning application.
“We only want to continue to use it until building work begins.
“It’s taken eight years to get where we are. We don’t want to be tidied away. We can’t just put everything in a bag and lay it on a table somewhere else.”
But NCH head of communications Greg Vines said the group “wanted to leave in September”, adding: “They’ve been part of our consultation and we need to keep to our timescale because we need to keep to costs.
“We’ve been trying to get hold of the co-ordinator for some time and have had no response.”
Although he wouldn’t say if NCH would consider letting the group stay longer, he said Ms Solomon should get in touch. But Ms Solomon said she had been frequently in contact with NCH and that the group only agreed to a in September after they were asked to leave much earlier, in December last year.
Ms Solomon found the land seven years ago and asked NCH if she could make use of it.
Since then, the group has cleared the garden, grown plants, berries and vegetables, and use it as a place to relax, create pieces of artwork and do daily duties like making the tea. The group now runs a youth club for autistic children.
One regular visitor has his own routine, where he retraces his steps around the garden every day as he puts out bird seed in very particular spots.
Others have carefully laid pieces of wood in a circular pattern in the middle of the ground, each one mapping out their memories. All this is soon to be lost.
Ms Solomon said the garden “challenges institutional care models” by allowing the visitors to work out their own ways of learning and acting.
She added: “Autistic people are at the centre of this project. They are the ones making the tea, arranging the plants, building the sculptures. In this situation they are the home-makers. So it is about ongoing small acts of hospitality.
“To be part of the community autistic people need active roles of participation. They need to experiment with their own value systems in a real place where their day-to-day decision making has a tangible, on-going effect.”
Adrian Whyatt, chairman of the Greater London Action on Disability, who uses the garden, said: “I come here to chill out. I didn’t want to have to conduct a campaign to save this because it destructs our peace.
“It’s been very stressful having to fight to keep it.”
David Shamash, who has been using the garden for five years, added: “Many people are attached to this place and will be sad to see it go.”
Published: 1 August 2008
Autism group calls for ‘stay of execution’
Sculptors evicted from garden ‘haven’ as land is sold for housing development project
AN AUTISTIC sculpture group is pleading for a stay of execution before they are evicted from the garden they have made their haven.
The self-help group must leave Memory Garden in Legard Road, Highbury, in September, because landlord NCH (National Children’s Homes) is selling the land and neighbouring buildings to create 300 homes.
Although the group doesn’t oppose the redevelopment, members want to keep using the land until work starts, which could be years away.
Group co-ordinator Ruth Solomon said: “We don’t want to appear ungrateful to NCH and we’re no threat to their planning application.
“We only want to continue to use it until building work begins.
“It’s taken eight years to get where we are. We don’t want to be tidied away. We can’t just put everything in a bag and lay it on a table somewhere else.”
But NCH head of communications Greg Vines said the group “wanted to leave in September”, adding: “They’ve been part of our consultation and we need to keep to our timescale because we need to keep to costs.
“We’ve been trying to get hold of the co-ordinator for some time and have had no response.”
Although he wouldn’t say if NCH would consider letting the group stay longer, he said Ms Solomon should get in touch. But Ms Solomon said she had been frequently in contact with NCH and that the group only agreed to a in September after they were asked to leave much earlier, in December last year.
Ms Solomon found the land seven years ago and asked NCH if she could make use of it.
Since then, the group has cleared the garden, grown plants, berries and vegetables, and use it as a place to relax, create pieces of artwork and do daily duties like making the tea. The group now runs a youth club for autistic children.
One regular visitor has his own routine, where he retraces his steps around the garden every day as he puts out bird seed in very particular spots.
Others have carefully laid pieces of wood in a circular pattern in the middle of the ground, each one mapping out their memories. All this is soon to be lost.
Ms Solomon said the garden “challenges institutional care models” by allowing the visitors to work out their own ways of learning and acting.
She added: “Autistic people are at the centre of this project. They are the ones making the tea, arranging the plants, building the sculptures. In this situation they are the home-makers. So it is about ongoing small acts of hospitality.
“To be part of the community autistic people need active roles of participation. They need to experiment with their own value systems in a real place where their day-to-day decision making has a tangible, on-going effect.”
Adrian Whyatt, chairman of the Greater London Action on Disability, who uses the garden, said: “I come here to chill out. I didn’t want to have to conduct a campaign to save this because it destructs our peace.
“It’s been very stressful having to fight to keep it.”
David Shamash, who has been using the garden for five years, added: “Many people are attached to this place and will be sad to see it go.”
Attendance Records
Youth and Mentoring Autistic Club
(Pilot Scheme)
Spring: 5.3.06-9.6.06
Sundays at two weekly intervals.
Ten Sessions.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
1. Samuelle Hawkins x x x x x 0 x x x x
2. John Macleod x x x 0 0 x x 0 x x
3. Gabrielle Meth x x 0 x x 0 x x x 0
4. Edward Morriss x x x x x x 0 x x x
5. Francheska Winfun x x x x x x x x x x
6. Amnol Johar x x x x 0 x x x 0 x
7. Jake Hardy x x x x x x x x x x
8. Amy Strover 0 0 x x x x x x x x
9. Sidney Ley x x x x x x 0 x x 0
10. Daniel Shafiani x x x x 0 x x x 0 x
11. Leslie Salif Camara x x 0 x x x x 0 x x
12. Kayahan x x x x x x x x x x
13. Charles Yager x x x 0 0 0 x x x x
There were four workers at the beginning of the Club.
During the course of the Club, Lyndsey Noble has been promoted from the status of a Volunteer “Mentor”, to a worker.
Most of the children have high needs. That is the reason for the high proportion of play-workers to children.
* We hope to increase the number of children to 16 in Spring 2007. We will also be advertising for more Volunteers.
7.10.2006
(Pilot Scheme)
Spring: 5.3.06-9.6.06
Sundays at two weekly intervals.
Ten Sessions.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
1. Samuelle Hawkins x x x x x 0 x x x x
2. John Macleod x x x 0 0 x x 0 x x
3. Gabrielle Meth x x 0 x x 0 x x x 0
4. Edward Morriss x x x x x x 0 x x x
5. Francheska Winfun x x x x x x x x x x
6. Amnol Johar x x x x 0 x x x 0 x
7. Jake Hardy x x x x x x x x x x
8. Amy Strover 0 0 x x x x x x x x
9. Sidney Ley x x x x x x 0 x x 0
10. Daniel Shafiani x x x x 0 x x x 0 x
11. Leslie Salif Camara x x 0 x x x x 0 x x
12. Kayahan x x x x x x x x x x
13. Charles Yager x x x 0 0 0 x x x x
There were four workers at the beginning of the Club.
During the course of the Club, Lyndsey Noble has been promoted from the status of a Volunteer “Mentor”, to a worker.
Most of the children have high needs. That is the reason for the high proportion of play-workers to children.
* We hope to increase the number of children to 16 in Spring 2007. We will also be advertising for more Volunteers.
7.10.2006
We Exist
We have been asked to leave the garden.
What is happening at the garden mirrors the general blindness that exists in relation to autistic people nationwide, as the NAS* has clearly marked out in their campaign, “I exist”
1. Who we are: We are a self-help group of autistic and dyslexic people who manage a garden environment; gardening, cooking and making sculptures and art-works together; sharing time by doing things.
2. How long have we existed for? We have existed for seven years, since 2001. This was the year when we found this piece of abandoned land to the side of NCH National Children’s Head Office in Highbury and begun to work on it.
3. What do we run there? We run an informal club for adults every Tuesday morning and a club for children with high needs every other Sunday morning.
4. Is the club open for non-autistic people? Yes. In the beginning we maintained a quiet space solely for autistic people. People on the spectrum could come to the garden on their own and make a sculpture/do gardening or could attend the club. This is how we first built up links between people. We made “transitional” sculptures which could be changed and added to by different people who may not meet in person but who would leave marks for one another through the sculptures. Later as we grew in confidence, we opened the club to local people and to members of the Peter Bedford ex-psychiatric unit next door. Informal support networks began to grow.
5. Why have you been asked to leave the garden? NCH have decided to move their main office from this site and are working with the council to gain planning permission for a housing development.
6. Have you been included in this consultation process? No. We found out by chance. In the brief we are not mentioned and on the map we are unmarked although we are within the grounds of the proposed site.
7. What is the date you are meant to leave? Our contract runs out on 30th September 2008
8. What will happen then? At present we have nowhere else to go. We do not know if the council is actually aware that We Exist.
What is happening at the garden mirrors the general blindness that exists in relation to autistic people nationwide, as the NAS* has clearly marked out in their campaign, “I exist”
1. Who we are: We are a self-help group of autistic and dyslexic people who manage a garden environment; gardening, cooking and making sculptures and art-works together; sharing time by doing things.
2. How long have we existed for? We have existed for seven years, since 2001. This was the year when we found this piece of abandoned land to the side of NCH National Children’s Head Office in Highbury and begun to work on it.
3. What do we run there? We run an informal club for adults every Tuesday morning and a club for children with high needs every other Sunday morning.
4. Is the club open for non-autistic people? Yes. In the beginning we maintained a quiet space solely for autistic people. People on the spectrum could come to the garden on their own and make a sculpture/do gardening or could attend the club. This is how we first built up links between people. We made “transitional” sculptures which could be changed and added to by different people who may not meet in person but who would leave marks for one another through the sculptures. Later as we grew in confidence, we opened the club to local people and to members of the Peter Bedford ex-psychiatric unit next door. Informal support networks began to grow.
5. Why have you been asked to leave the garden? NCH have decided to move their main office from this site and are working with the council to gain planning permission for a housing development.
6. Have you been included in this consultation process? No. We found out by chance. In the brief we are not mentioned and on the map we are unmarked although we are within the grounds of the proposed site.
7. What is the date you are meant to leave? Our contract runs out on 30th September 2008
8. What will happen then? At present we have nowhere else to go. We do not know if the council is actually aware that We Exist.
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