Storying Sheffield

2010 Exhibition Feedback

Below is a sample of the comments received by email following the exhibition and showcase events.

Wow! Phenomenal! Moving, humbling and inspiring! Congratulations to everyone involved in this superb project!
Just the sort of thing the university should be doing – brilliant!

A huge congratulations to all those involved with Storying Sheffield. You managed to build a very strong network between participants, which garnered such personal explorations of life in the city. I hope this will be a blueprint for future collaborations between the University and surrounding communities.

Please pass on my congratulations to all involved in Storying Sheffield. I found the display and testimonies inspiring: a well needed reminder that education is about empowering those who join the community.

A note to congratulate you and your team for an amazingly moving teaching innovation: win win all ways round: for us, the students, the staff, the Sheffield people participating…..how fantastic…and such a simple concept! Life changing I am sure.

I really enjoyed the exhibition and realise what a lot of good work has gone into it. A wonderful concept for the project, something which has kept the participants working throughout. I also like the idea of those with mental health problems working alongside students […] You should be very proud. I was impressed with the food by Kathryn and by Kathryn herself (I have her e-mail so will keep in touch). I spoke to Ian about his work and also Tyrone and of course Maggie whom I became very fond of. I could see the affect on their well-being of the project. What an achievement!

I attended the exhibition and showcase event on Friday 11th June and thought it was excellent […] I think it’s an absolutely brilliant project because it is so inclusive and you have obviously tapped some real hidden talent there too.

I was so happy that the clients from SPACES North and I were able to join the project. I was as excited about it as them. I enjoyed helping them stay on board and it was an amazing and unique achievement that not one soul dropped out. […] Thanks for inventing Storying.

what an extraordinary path you’ve all taken – well done again to you and the whole crew

I left the exhibition on Friday to go to London and to see the RA Summer Exhibition. The afternoon and the quality of the work all merged into one! I was so impressed and very moved by Storying Sheffield, both what has happened between people and what has been produced. You should be very proud of the work you have done and the imagination you have inspired.

Congratulations on Storying Sheffield. What an inspiring project!! This is what University life is all about – giving students experiences that will change their lives!

I expect you are being inundated with messages of this sort – and rightly so; I just wanted to say how deeply impressed, not to mention moved, I was by the Storying Sheffield exhibition last Friday. I was staggered by both the quantity and quality of the material you had collectively put together, and all in the space of one semester. I’m finding it hard to put into words what I found so brilliant about the project – there are so many different aspects, but one, which I’ll mention as it seems rather apt, was that it made me as a very word-based English student think about forms of expression that really do go beyond words. When I say I was moved, I mean to the core (in fact you might have seen me – I was the person wandering around with tears running down my face most of the afternoon). Clearly some of the themes of the project touched on some very personal issues for me, and I haven’t experienced that kind of emotional catharsis in a long while, so I also wanted to thank you for that. Congratulations on what was evidently such an unqualified success; it was amazing to see something that clearly had such a positive effect on so many people – I add myself to that number. I hope it can continue and grow in the years to come – my one complaint was that the exhibition was only on for one day – I attempted to recommend it to several people who unfortunately couldn’t make it in time; I’m sure I also could have got even more from it if I could have come back another day, with my emotions under better control! But I’m sure on the back of its overwhelming popularity, plans to extend it will soon be afoot.

First of all, I just have to say that I really, really enjoyed the exhibition. It was fantastic. If only it could have been on for longer – I really don’t feel I did anything like justice to the huge amount of fascinating material and would have loved to go back.

A quick note to say how much I enjoyed the exhibition on Friday. I thought it was a wonderful event and I really enjoyed talking with the people involved – amazing stories to tell. I found myself reflecting on it a lot over the weekend and telling family and friends about it – inspiring stuff!

One thing I heard over and over was how fantastic you’ve been throughout the project.- the people I spoke to held you in such high esteem.

It’s clear that it was a genuinely transforming experience for everyone – for which you deserve credit!

It was terrific. Not just the turn out and quality of the work done, but for the presentations and ethos. Roy (I think?) the poet was fantastic – the poems and the performances! The testimonies from participants too.

I know how much work goes into organising one event – you deserve a medal!

Just wanted to add my congratulations for Friday’s event to what I’m sure is a very long list. And of course you’re going to get 100s of students signing up next year………………

Just wanted to say congratulations to you and the students for Friday’s event. I was really impressed by the way it had all come together for the exhibition and great that so many people came and enjoyed it. I think the thing that really struck me was how much students can achieve when they are really motivated but not constrained by the more usual very structured modules. It was also really nice to hear the short course students talking about their work and the pride they felt for it.

I just want to say how much I enjoyed the exhibition on Friday. You should all be really proud of what’s been produced (and just as important – achieved) with the project. Please pass on my thanks to everyone involved.

It’s a shame the exhibition was only open for one day, it really does deserve a wider audience and should be exhibited in one of the city galleries (Graves or Weston Park?) as I think it has such potential, especially for us ‘locals’! […]

I really hope the project goes from strength to strength in future – I’m sure it will

It was inspirational to learn of your project. Thank you for letting me know it was on. With very best wishes for next year’s activities.

Just a quick note to say that I went to the exhibition on Friday and found it really interesting. What a great project it is and how wonderful that you have involved such participants in the programme. I enjoyed talking to the contributors about their stories and the experiences they have had on the project. Congratulations on what I think must have been a very worthwhile venture for all involved – I hope you are able to do something similar again next year

It was a delight to meet you on Friday. I was most impressed by your work and creativity with food, also were my friends from Rampton.. You have given them some good ideas for work with the patients.

I thoroughly enjoyed yesterday’s event – it was very inspiring to hear the impact the course has had on peoples’ lives, and I just loved the poet!!

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the showcase & exhibition yesterday… it was so rich, in all sorts of ways… the woven cloth wasn’t at all flimsy, but like a really deep carpet… which had a lasting effect on the visitors, as well as the participants. I left and returned several times – as each time I came in the room, something else caught my attention. It could certainly have run for more than a day, there was so much to experience.

Just the sort of thing the university should be doing – brilliant!

Hope you’ll have a well-earned rest this weekend…. these projects don’t just happen, I know there’s been loads of real hard work going on behind the scenes…

It was remarkable; truly remarkable. Did you, could you, feel the waves of enthusiasm from the audience? And Roy makes Roger McGough sound like an amateur poet; and the Mayor was captivated and the whole thing was kinda extraordinary.

Congratulations on a wonderful celebration of the project. I am sorry I had to leave to get back to York but I am really glad I could come.The joint involvement of students and participants was moving and real. I loved the poetry! Thanks for inviting me. It wouidl good if we could talk sometime about what you have done and learned.

What a story! Just wanted to say what a great afternoon I had today. There was a terrific buzz and I really enjoyed it – well done!

That was some feat pulling off that exhibition! Some really interesting stuff and much to admire and engage with. I found it a very positive experience –

Anyway, just to say that a colleague I emailed in relation to your recent exhibition at the university attended the event and thoroughly enjoyed and valued it….and was inspired by it….I wanted to let you know how enthusiastic she was….and my own apologies that I couldn’t attend myself.

brilliant. Well done you. […] Yesterday quoted it to City Council as an eg of good practice and possible case for inclusion in the City of Culture bid. Keep up the good work.
Please pass on my congratulations to all involved in Storying Sheffield. I found the display and testimonies inspiring: a well needed reminder that education is about empowering those who join the community. Thank you.

I’m just emailing to say congratulations once again for the exhibition on Friday, it really was one of the most inspirational things I’ve seen in a long time, as well as being just what Universities should be doing in order to make them more connected and relevant to the populations in which they are situated.

the work was outstanding […] Well done for such a really inspiring course!

Lots of congratulations again on the Storying Sheffield event; I heard glowing reports from lots of people, and was delighted to see it for myself too,

I just have to say that I really, really enjoyed the exhibition. It was fantastic. If only it could have been on for longer – I really don’t feel I did anything like justice to the huge amount of fascinating material and would have loved to go back.

what a fab event last Friday – you must feel very pleased with how well the students and participants put together such a powerful and moving exhibition – I really enjoyed coming along

great day! congrats to all involved. pity it was only one day.

Showcase was fantastic – so inspiring & powerful. Well done to all involved!

Firstly apologies for having to dash off on Friday- I had a meeting back at the Union at 3pm but I really didn’t want to leave! All I can say is, what a brilliant project and thank you so much for inviting me. I’m hopefully going to be starting my PhD soon (at Leeds I’m afraid!) and I’d love to be an academic […] who links with the local community. You could see that the participants saw the university as their university and that’s how everyone in Sheffield should see us […] If I end up being an academic I’d love to get in touch with you again about initiatives to engage with the local community

Just to say I thought the exhibition was wonderful, and so extensive I didn’t have time to see it all. Lovely to hear people talking about their experiences too, so movingly, and to see that exhibition room so packed.

Just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the showcase & exhibition yesterday… it was so rich, in all sorts of ways… the woven cloth wasn’t at all flimsy, but like a really deep carpet… which had a lasting effect on the visitors, as well as the participants. I left and returned several times – as each time I came in the room, something else caught my attention. It could certainly have run for more than a day, there was so much to experience.
Hope you’ll have a well-earned rest this weekend…. these projects don’t just happen, I know there’s been loads of real hard work going on behind the scenes…

what a fab event last Friday – you must feel very pleased with how well the students and participants put together such a powerful and moving exhibition – I really enjoyed coming along and I know that Pam and I have both talked about it to many