Youthly Adventures: The CPP

Well hello there lovely readers!

Warning: Caithness dialect used!

So as promised, the theme of this post is my youthly do-gooding adventures. I have briefly mentioned being involved with the CPP (Community Partner's Programme) in a previous post so I'm going to talk about that a bit more, as well as some related stuff. This should be quite a trip down memory lane, and you will be pleased to know it includes some VERY, VERY embarrassing pictures!

To begin this story, let me take you to a lonely and rather windy corner of Northern Scotland, circa 2000. Having just been named one of the five poorest communities in the UK, Save the Children had set up camp in the dreich wee area of High Ormlie, in the most north-easterly part of this north-eastern expanse, to try and, well, save the children I imagine. On a Highland Buses bus carrying 30-odd primary school children back home to Ormlie, a boy says to a chubby red-haired girl: "Here, Nyomi, urr yoo comin' 'till 'at group 'hing ehmorro?" ["Naomi, are you coming to the new after school club run by Save The Children tomorrow evening?"], to which the girl, who has never heard of eh group hing and has no idea what eh boyagie is talking about, says, "Yeah. Obviously." 

Obviously I'm so in the loop and I know what you're on about. *flips hair like a teenager and continues to play with tamagotchi*

And that was it. Aged 10 I joined the CPP which initially was run from our school, and although the focus was on teaching us about our rights - did you know that the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child has been signed by all the countries in the world apart from the USA and Smarties Land? I mean Samurai Land? And did you know that according to Article 31 it is my right to be able to play here even though its bed time? - I do think part of the attraction of the groups was the large supply of Pringles and fruit juice, and the fact Anita didn't give us into trouble for mixing all the fruit juices together into brown sludge like teachers did.

Admittedly, my memories of these groups probably don't always focus on the important things they should, but then I was ten years old at the time! What I do remember is drawing myself on a desert island, along with the three most important things you should take with you (Linkin Park CDs, CD player, food), some random conversations about the acceptable things to take on a desert island (Ewwww why are you taking your girlfriend with you? What're you gonna do with a girlfriend on a desert island? She'll just eat all your food!!), and making a giant wooden jigsaw puzzle where every different jigsaw piece illustrated something we'd like to change about High Ormlie. Like dog poo. Or big black fences. Eventually, thanks to a community association that was gathering speed and strength, and, I'd like to think, at least a little bit thanks to our beautifully decorated dog poo jigsaw puzzle, the CPP managed to find a new home. We were no longer in the Community Education building in the school grounds, but in our very own community centre, bang in the heart of Ormlie. Annnnd, Prince Charles came to open the centre and I got to meet him, but I can't prove it because I can't find any photos of it on google. But it definitely happened because I wrote it in my scrap book that I met Prince Charles and he's famous. 

I remember making videos too, where we put cushions on our heads and pretended to be aliens. But that came later.

I actually couldn't even begin to list all the things I remember doing, there are thouuusaaannnds. I remember picking out play area equipment to put in the new Skate Park, and pointing out to the architect that he'd not put any lights in the park at all when this was Thurso we were talking about and it doesn't even get light half the year, doesn't he know?

I remember going to the AGM to talk about what the CPP had been up to and getting voted as Children and Young Person's Representative. I remember at the same AGM we sat in the same row as Charlotte who was a grown up and she farted and we all had to not laugh because Lorna was talking and this was a serious meeting.

I remember meeting a lady MSP, but I have no idea who she was or why she was there. She was very enthusiastic about whatever it was though.

I remember being very touched that Anita said we could come into her office whenever we wanted to. She always had really hard colouring books with swirly patterns in them, and a post card of somewhere in the Netherlands (?) with water and coloured buildings on her board, and she did a sort of line thing on her eyes with makeup that I'd never seen before, although, as you'll see from the pictures which are yet to ensue, eyeliner is something I'd become more familiar with in later years.

I remember planting flowers outside the community centre, and I was helping one of the younger kids and Anita told me I was good with children. For many years after that I wanted to be a teacher.

If Anita had work to do sometimes we'd go see James instead (same office), and edit videos or listen to the Pixies or ask him questions about what his nephews in Estrella were doing lately/that day/that second/did you know Luke from Estrella is Leah's guitar teacher and we can hear him coming before he gets there because he plays his guitar on the way to her house?

I remember Christine also helped lead the groups and she had big hair and rode a bike. She wasn't around for long but I bumped into her one day almost ten years later, just as I started Uni, and she still had her bike.

I remember interviewing for Christine's (or someone else's?) replacement, and I was on the interview panel. We interviewed one woman who wore a low cut top and spent most of the interview bent over exposing her breasticles, but Tanya was the best person we interviewed, and we all agreed so she got the job. 

I remember writing articles for The Ormlie Blah, and I remember someone knitted a little person (Ormlie) and a little dog (Blah) and they were in Lorna's room in the office.

I remember ordering a replacement cable for a camera from Lorna's computer and it arrived the very next morning.

I remember Anita and James left, and I vaguely remember a party, but I don't remember much else because I don't think I wanted to remember them leaving.

This is literally only about 5% of what I remember, and not even the important stuff. We were involved in the creation of the Community Centre and the Skate Park, the Home Zones, and National Play Day. When the 5 year CPP project came to an end and Save the Children left we went to the Edinburgh council chambers to some kind of grande finale. There were three young people there to represent Ormlie, and we spent about a week filming and editing a video to showcase everything we'd done only for it to break when we got there, and I had to stand up and give a presentation to a room full of councillors and community folk. I made it up off the top of my head, but it must have been ok because afterwards a woman approached me and told me I was a "wonderful public speaker," and I have remembered that ever since. One woman also told me I had fantastic shoes.

My "fantastic" shoes. I was about 15 and fully into my goth phase by then. I'm actually planning buying another pair of these though look how COOL they are!!

I remember making a video with a local video guru Gavin about a gas heater, and it won some kind of national film making award. 

I remember meeting all the other CPP groups in Carbisdale Castle which was haunted and we made videos about ghosts and we also moved all the beds in our room to the wrong place and told the other girls it was the ghosts. We had also planned a whole load of ghostly pranks to play on the other people and even bought a white ghost-lady dress from the Red Cross Shop. Then Neal wore it to try it on in Leah's garden, and then he put balloons down the dress like big boobies and he was walking about pretending to be a ghost lady and his mum saw him.

I really have to stop now because to be honest, the CPP and the friends I made from it were my life for about 5 or 6 years, so to describe all the things I remember would be to describe 5 or 6 years of my life! Suffice it to say that far from being the typical kid from a single parent family in a regeneration area, or "disadvantaged" as my high school teacher tried to write on my University application form, I had a whole boat load of opportunities and a family who supported me to the ends of the world and encouraged me to do better. From public speaking to video editing, to running AGMs, and knowing the process of finding funding for projects and the fact that you have to fill in a consent form for everything, even blowing up balloons (this time not for Neal's boobs), the things I learned from the CPP are quite phenomenal. And as I got older, what had started as a group that met once a week on a Thursday had grown into a group of "old hands" that met on a Thursday as well as two newer groups that met on a Wednesday (too many to fit into one group) and one for even newer kids that met on a Tuesday. And I was also able to start helping out with these younger groups, going full circle and giving them opportunities to learn all the things I'd learned.

There are so many more things I could talk about here, but I managed to find these pictures below, so hopefully they'll give some idea of all the things I missed out. If any of the old Ormlie folk are reading this and have any more pictures, I'd love to see them!

The CPP and some others as the Skate Park was being built

I won a competition to design some new "Welcome to Ormlie" signs and this was the finished product

One of many big clean up days, if you look closely you will spot my cat shoes!

In the House of Lords accepting an award the Ormlie Community Association had won

Me, the OCA Chairperson and a local councillor. I'm getting an Award but to my shame I'm not sure what its for!

Me (again) in Ackergill Tower accepting an Award for Outstanding Citizensip and Volunteering. I'm the one on the left.

So. That's my life! And the end of my second blog post in two days because I'm on a roll! As always, leave me comments and check my links for other ways to get in touch. Ormlie folks - leave me a comment of your CPP/Ormlie memories? <3


Over and out!
Naomi




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