Six months ago, I cycled off along the Wivenhoe Trail early one sunny morning for the first time. I was but three days into the Great Escape and wasn’t even sure where the Wivenhoe Trail would take me to.
My destination was @15QueenStreet in Sunny Colch for a member’s breakfast social gathering. I wasn’t a member, and if truth be told, I’m not really much of a social person, let alone a breakfast boy.
And so six months later, I cycled off along the Wivenhoe Trail early on a sunny Thursday morning for the 180th (ish) time. I am now six months into the Great Escape and have more or less forgotten what I was escaping from in the first place.
My destination was once again @15QueenStreet in Sunny Colch for a member’s breakfast social gathering. I am now a flexi member, I’ve become quite a social beast and breakfast is bloody ace.
But there’s far more to this story than some half-arsed compare and contrast calendar dates. I pretty much knew what would happen in Wivenhoe, once the Great Escape plan was first hatched back in South London.
I work online, I play online. Sometimes though it is nice to walk away from the modern interweb; this is when the conversation truly becomes social and meaningful. @AnnaJCowen was slightly concerned that she was more insular. I knew that the social web would bring me new opportunities and friendships in our new home.
The girl however has since joined an online local swingers club and returns home in the early hours with a slight limp.
Only joking.
Facilitating [urgh!] all of this (the social, not the swingers) has been the openness of the creatives @15QueenStreet to share and support others in their chosen work. There is absolutely nothing wrong in staying at home in Wivenhoe all day long, but without @15QueenStreet, my Sunny Colch misconceptions would have remained just that.
This informal ethos of sharing and supporting is producing a series of local projects that are genuinely impacting on the lives of local people. Witness the sheer joy from the fine students @ColchesterInst, upon seeing that the BBC had taken an interest in their @15QueenStreet inspired work at the Hidden Kiosks Project.
I’ve personally found some employment through my involvement. I’m always up front about how I’m paying the bills, and I’m very proud to be offered the opportunity to be an Associate Blogger with @creativecoop.
As well as the Hidden Kiosks Project, there’s Keep Colchester Cycling and the newly launched Mentor Me project. The mentoring and supporting approach of this project fits the @15QueenStreet way of working perfectly.
We’re also working towards capturing the feel of the Colchester Free Festival online, as well as the more long-term aim in creating regular content for Keep Colchester Cool.
In return, I offer what few online skills I have. And so after a glorious, glorious estuary ride along the Trail on Thursday morning, a quick catch up with friends, and then it was time to help out @firstsite with some online audio work.
I was rewarded with some fresh pastry and some personal pride in being able to mach @15percentkidney in the knobbly knees competition, despite surrendering some two decades to the dandy hipster.
I always end up leaving @15QueenStreet full of ideas and wanting more. There is a great deal of creative talent around these parts that is producing some fine work in isolation. The true social value however comes when the greater goal of collaboration comes along.
I came close to not cycling along the Wivenhoe Trail early one sunny morning for the first time some six months ago. I had boxes to unpack and a BT modern intwerweb network to set up. Taking my work offline and out into Sunny Colch has so far been a defining aspect of the Great Escape.
You could call it, um, co-operation, Comrades.