On Wednesday 28th October the premiere of my film was shown, hosted by the Scottish Storytelling Centre as part of the International Storytelling Festival. This has been a milestone in my journey, but this is just the beginning!

You can now watch the film here:

The film has received some positive feedback 🙂

This from UK Film Review – “Grace Banks creates an engaging, almost hypnotic view of the world we frequently neglect. She provides an infinitely more gripping case for conservation than a year’s worth of Extinction Rebellion protests could ever achieve. It never patronises or scolds the viewer for a lack of awareness; only the genuine desire to show what constantly slips our attention. It quite rightly poses the question of who might protect the world in years to come.” Brian Penn

Onwards…

Aberdeen University are applying for a 3- year research project, called Treescapes, and we are consulting as to how I can be a partner in this initiative.

I am also applying for funding to progress the pilot project which was the subject of the film; it ran in Autumn 19 with 4 classes from 4 schools, looking at their local rivers and the life in , on and around them.

I will be working with one school in Aberdeen – Woodside Primary. The project is being developed meantime and will hopefully run from April-May 2021, supporting the school to progress their outdoor and sustainable living habits. It will include exploring their local environment, tree planting, food growing initiatives and other activities. I am consulting with partners to create a valuable and achievable project with which the whole school can engage.

Much of what would have been outdoor investigation with professionals will have to be be viewed online as workshops, but with the hope that classes can still visit their local area to explore, discover and tend the natural world on their doorstep.

As workshops and an audio-visual diary of pupils’ findings and actions are developed, this could become a wonderful blueprint resource for other schools….watch this space!