• WANTAGE PIXEL CLUB

    The winners of our Saturday and Sunday activities and good-bye’s

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    Please see below the winners of our Saturday and Sunday activities!

    The winners of our Saturday Wantage LEGO® Expo activity are (excuse any typos, please):
    1. Robyn Sulley and Stanley Sulley
    2. Aurelia Moran
    3. William and Katherine Leach

    The winners of our Sunday Minecraft Day activity are:
    1. Sophie (no surname, but email starting with Flashwing04….)
    2. Abigail Royan
    3. Josh (no surname, but email starting with Ke82…)

    Big thank you to my fellow mums today for conducting the draw and huge congratulations to the winners. Please, can their parents go to the Vale and Downland Museum to pick up the goodie bags?
    Thank you ever so much for all your participation.

    Looking forward we will be stopping our Minecraft sessions and working with the Vale and Downland Museum on the LEGO® club to allow our children transition to another club.

    You can find all our posts from the last three years here.

    Thank you for all your support over the years!

  • DIGITAL

    United in diversity – quick note on Brexit

    We are in the EU. Poland, country I come from and UK, country I live in. United, together, in diversity.

    What you hear on the news today is a very imbalanced view on EU membership of UK.

    First of all you see the distinction between us (UK) and them (EU) in media and political rhetorics, completely forgetting that UK is actually part of EU. EU is not some kind of monster dominating our country and wishing to take it over with aim of final destruction. That simply is not true. UK citizens worked really hard to form and develop EU, invest in the idea of stronger European Union of countries to allow UK stand stronger on the international arena. British citizen formed EU and remain at the core of it – not on the outside. EU is in our veins so when you decide to leave, please consider it as an act of simply giving up on a larger idea of peace and international dominance. You will not have the same powers on your own.

    Secondly there seems to be an assumption that EU’s aim is to diminish all that’s British. Well, actually, one of the core underlying principles of the Union is the idea of protection, education and amplification of national heritage. You might not feel is so much in the UK because of the language we all speak but just for a second think back to the time before EU membership – would you hear English in Poland or Germany? Would your city be crowned as European Capitol? Would your local museum receive EU funding in support of your local heritage? But it is because of EU regulations that within the UK we celebrate our local heritage to such extend and the impact of loosing that support would be immense. Diversity is at the core of EU set up so much so that it is featured in its motto: “United in diversity”.

    You will also hear the EU costs us money and limits our local, UK trade within Europe. This is simply not true. The Economist has a very informative piece on the topic featuring the exact numbers and from what I can tell, even though I am not a specialist, we are doing just fine. Check it out – we export over five times more than the import from EU. Surely it’s a good deal, right?

    Finally you will hear that Brexit is a reaction to the overwhelming burden of EU immigration on British economy. On one hand you are told that we, EU immigrants cost UK a lot. On the other hand clarification comes along that actually UK benefits from EU migration. Ultimately commons sense should tell you exactly what the well grounded news reports prove – if we loose EU immigration, yes, certain level of benefits will not be claimed, but many jobs will not get done and those who conduct them will not contribute to our UK economy. Those Polish, Romanian, Slovakian employees will move to another EU country to pay taxes there, hire services and do their shopping thus boosting economy. Isn’t this obvious? Why do we only talk about benefits? Why are we not talking about individuals who work hard, pay taxes and feed the economy? Why are these discussions so incomplete? Do you really think leaving EU will stop immigration all together? The moment your vote out your border with France will move to Dover and all those immigrants you are so worried about (so ‘neatly’ taken care of by the French) will land on your shore. What will you do then? Surely it’s not all that simple!

    The moment you vote out you ARE out and you need to work hard on your new trade agreements – because you are not EU member anymore. You become ‘them’ not ‘us’ – is this what you really want?

    Now all of this is analysis and study, but just let me take this post to a very personal level – and by ‘personal’ I do not mean mine, but simply a level of an individual. I am sure you have friends from both camps. I am sure you know both UK and EU citizens living in the UK. Some might be employed, others self-employed or running their own businesses. Some might claim benefits. You probably have friends who pay taxes, and those who avoid them (a British citizen mocked me once for paying taxes, I really had no words in response). You, probably just like me, might have witnessed corruption in both UK and EU immigrant camps. You have also witnessed honesty, citizenship and patriotism towards UK in both camps, in so many ways.

    So how do you decide this week? I would like to suggest something different. Put aside the entire immigration discussion – it really is a small chunk of the entire EU idea, a very little piece of the puzzle you are about to leave or stay in. Think about it on two levels – as a citizen of UK and as a citizen of Europe.

    As a UK citizen you have a moral obligation to go and vote – otherwise you will live in a country shaped by others and really for the near future you will have no right to express any opinions about it. As a UK citizen you are now deciding about the governance of your country. Do you want your own, UK government to be in charge of all your policies? If so, many of the EU policies (renewables, cultural heritage, gender equality and more) are in danger. And unless you are very naive you know that work on those has just begun! Do you want your UK government to be free to decide about your country knowing that it also means that UK politicians are in practice not regulated by any other authority – obviously they are not accountable in practice to you. We all know that our democracies are not that effective just yet. Consider for a second a country in which your government does not have to be accountable to any other EU member states. Is this really a better way forward? Is your national heritage going to be as celebrated as when you were within EU? Can your economy negotiate with global powers on its own or will you end up like Switzerland – allowing bigger trade partners utilise your market for 15 years before you can trade in theirs simply because your territory is small? Can your government promise you freedom and peace without the support of EU member states? If yes, then vote out.

    As a EU citizen I would like you to think about other countries and what it means to be in the EU in practice. Are you OK with your families having to stand in that longer cue at every single border from Calais onward? Do you want your kids currently employed in EU to come back home because living outside of UK, in the EU is not worth it? Do you want to pay the costs of German hospital treatment after a small skiing accident because you are not legible for EU Health Insurance Card? Do you want your parents to pay higher taxes for their Spanish villa rentals during summer holidays because they property ownership is not from within the EU anymore? If yes, than vote out.

    I was born in a country outside of EU. I saw the process of assimilation and I saw my country grow in tolerance and respect towards diversity. I remember my first road trip from Warsaw to Paris during which I did not have to stop a single time to show my passport and the way I could identify countries was my road markings in all local languages, architecture and heritage signage across Europe. I have learned so much about our EU countries since we have joined. Poland became more proud of Polish heritage during its years in the EU. UK became more assertive and open about its national heritage too.

    I moved to the UK not because it was a promised land. I moved here because it was EASIER, nice, prettier place to live than Hungary, and secondly because it was the land of Virginia Woolf and Shakespeare. Land of everyday political correctness and fair employment rights for all. It was the land of free speech – something that we are currently suffering from, but it is still a very precious gift. Land I really wanted to contribute to with my skills, my earned money and my free time.

    UK is a country of dialogue, but we need to learn to speak it without individual, biased emotions, but with passion for common human values. UK is currently in crisis because of EU heritage, because of the diversity so developed and promoted by those new European values and because of the general lack of civic engagement.

    Many of us, EU immigrants, do fear Brexit – probably more as a sign of times and changes to come in many other countries too. We witness is as a test to UK society in times where political correctness, lack of civic engagement (‘why do we have to vote, why can MP’s not make that choice for us?’) and fear of open discussions about political views combined lead to silence. Silence allows one sided interpretation of historical events. You have no words to point fingers and showcase those who incentivise hate and inspire division. Your still young political correctness is not mature enough to talk about its own flip side: freedom to spread hate and racism. It’s that lack of language, that silence that allows for intolerance and often leads to violence. Sometimes allows for reverting to more traditional and less tolerant structures.

    Is this what you want? Go back or move ahead?

    Do you want to see violence in your country or would you rather engage in political discussions and take a stand? Would you rather allow others to decide about the future of your country, knowing that most of those ‘others’ are your fellow citizens who often do not represent your values or would you study the reasons for the referendum and make an informed choice?

    I cannot vote, but you can. Whether you go to vote or note you are about to choose your side of history. You are about to decide or allow others decide about the future of EU with or without you and about the future of UK with or without EU.

    So which is it going to be?

    Your home-grown threat of violence or European promise of peace? “Alone & divided in silence” or “United in diversity“?

    (title image from here)

    (some copy updated as the original post was written at midnight and I was a bit tired)

  • WANTAGE SUMMER FESTIVAL

    Festival Opening this weekend

    This Saturday, Manor Park & this Sunday, Market Place

    Please join us for our Festival opening in the Manor Park this Saturday at midday. We will be setting up stalls, acts and activities from 9am so come over and enjoy your Saturday with us.  Don’t forget to bring your dog for our Dog Show competition!

    Our first Festival weekend and #WantageQ90 (Wantage Celebrates Queen’s 90’th Birthday celebrations) will continue on Sunday in the Market Place.

    We hope to see you all there! It has been a long 18 months of preparations and we cannot wait to start our 2016 Festival!

    Please support us by posting your updates and photos with #WantageSummerFest and #WantageQ90 hashtags, but also by talking to our digital journalists and photographers present at the event (you will recognise them as they will have our official press badges on).

    Images from Wantage Summer Festival events from last weekend: The Flower of the Quern at the Vale and Downland Museum and Open Gardens in Priory Road.

    Wantage Summer Festival events to enjoy in the next 7 days:

    10 June

    Folk for MS Ceilidh (Warm Up Event)

    11 June

    Make your own flags and crowns

    High Level Art
    Coffee morning, books and plant sale
    Hendreds Primary Schools Fair
    Wantage Hosts The Queen’s 90’s – Festival Opening
    Wantage Bowling Club Open Day
    12 June

    Display of School Art – Springline Partnership with Schools

    Hendred Street Party and Pram Race
    Queen’s Birthday Family Craft Day at the Museum
    13 June

    Coffee and blogging meetup

    Build Wantage in Minecraft at the Grove Library
    Wine Tasting Evening at The Lodge
    14 June

    Bowls Match

    Circular Guided Walk
    15 June

    Wantage Art Group Meeting

    Wantage Ghost Walk (sold out)
    Zelda’s Jazz Room at the Comrades Club presents Pete Allen’s Reeds and Rythm
    The Pavlova Wind Quintet
    Cocktail Happy Hour
    16 June

    Umami Tutored Cheese and Wine Evening

    Lost Pubs of Wantage
    La Fille du Regiment’ – comic opera performance
    A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    Summer Fair

    You have raised £620 for our community – thank you!

    We are extremely happy to share with you the great fundraising news – thanks to all your support and the amazing Waitrose scheme we have raised £620 for our Festival.

    We are very keen on developing our programmes and building on all the work from our last 18 months so we will be keeping you all informed on how we intend to spend this money.

    For now we are celebrating the fact that so many of you decided to support us this way.

    We are all volunteers so acts of kindness and support like this motivate us to do even more for our local community, thank you so much!

    thankyou

    Get involved as a volunteer!

    Thank you for offering to help Wantage Summer Festival 2016!

    We really appreciate this and we understand that you might have limited time and resources so we have decided to list all the areas we would really need your help with.

    Please remember that every little act of support helps us and we are extremely grateful for all your support.

    In June and July we need help with:

    – Distributing programmes between now and the end of the Festival (which runs from Saturday 11 June – Sunday 17 July)

    – Distributing other promotional material, such as posters

    – Manning the WSF stall at the opening weekend (Saturday 11 June and Sunday 12 June) – please email us or add your name here,

    – Manning the WSF table in Vale and Downland Museum, Wantage on Saturday mornings – please email us

    – Helping with promotion in our social media channels – Facebook, Twitter – please like, comment on and share our updates to help the reach of our messages

    – Documenting our Festival events – if you are attending any events and happen to have photos or would like to write a blog post for us, please get in touch

    After 2016 Festival:

    We will also need new ideas, fresh external perspectives when we review the 2016 Festival in September and in planning and organising Wantage Summer Festival 2017.

    What can we offer in exchange:

    We can offer you new skills, experience, new friends, new contacts and our network.

    If you’re interested in helping us, (no matter how little time you can spare), please reply to this email at wantagesummefestival@gmail.com saying how you’d like to help and when, and we’ll get in touch with you as soon as possible.