Northern England 'Introduction to Training Skills for Activists', 8th October 2004, Hebden Bridge (Yorkshire)

The day were grand - we packed a huge amount into one day, thanks to
everyone there, and considering that 'Train the Trainers' courses usually last at least six days! And thanks to the Canalside Community Cafe for food.

The day included ways of creating a good and safe learning environment, ways people learn, dealing with problems in groups, a wide variety of methods available to trainers, presentations, and working on and planning people's training ideas.

As well as a small pile of handouts, people came out with more confidence in their skills, and plans of what they will do next, and how we'll support each other. One participant went on to help give the training day in Birmingham a few days later.

People went away really inspired and confident about putting on workshops on exciting topics around local activism, in their local areas. With ongoing support, we should have a bunch of fab training session plans for important 'activist topics'.

It was a part of 'Training for Action', a series of skillsharing events for activists in preparation for actions around the G8 in Scotland next year, pulled together by people from the Blatant Incitement Project,  http://www.eco-action.org/blinc/ and Seeds for Change,  http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/

Next workshop is on 8th November in Edinburgh. There are other workshops planned already on 'direct action training skills' & 'legal & arrest training skills', and perhaps more as needed/requested – check out our website for details, and please get in touch,  http://www.skillsharing.org.uk/


Some comments from the day were, on what was the most useful part:

"realising...I could do trainings"

"To think about training methods & how I could use them rather than just being a consumer"

"emphasis on doing"

and general comments:

"well done for keeping us awake"

"enough time for things to make sense without being too rushed"

"very interactive"