Mid Cheshire College News

Fashion Show - June 21st - 22nd

Claire — Tue, 08 May 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Fashion students will present their end of year collections at the Winsford Lifestyle Centre on:

Thursday 21^st June 2012 at 7.00pm – Tickets £5

Friday 22^nd June 2012 at 7.30pm – Tickets £10

To reserve your tickets call:

Enquiries and tickets call

01606 720542/720543

Box Office opens on 30th April and will be open

Monday – Friday 10am – 1pm

High School Musical - 30th May - 1st June

Claire — Mon, 07 May 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Performing Arts Students will present their end of year show at the Winsford Lifestyle Centre on:

Wednesday 30^th May at 7.30pm

Thursday 31^st May at 7.30pm

Friday 1^st June Matinee at 12.30pm

Friday 1^st June at 7.30pm

Tickets: £7

Concessions £5

Family Group 2 adults + 2 children £20

Enquiries and tickets call

01606 720542/720543

Box Office opens on 30th April and will be open

Monday – Friday 10am – 1pm

Science of Beauty

Claire — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Science and beauty students have recently worked together on a microbiology exercise, learning aseptic techniques. Swabs were taken in the beauty salon and chemicals applied to show what germs were growing. This helped emphasise, to the beauty students, the importance of keeping the salon sterile.

kNOw drugs campaign at local colleges

Claire — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Mid Cheshire and Sir John Deane’s Colleges are working together in conjunction with Cheshire Police to raise awareness of the issues which can arise from drug use. The 2 week kNOw campaign runs from 16th April and will raise awareness of the dangers of drug use both short and long term though presentations by external agencies such as Turning Point, Addaction, Central Cheshire Drugs Team and Addiction Dependency Solutions and Intuitive Recovery. The NHS Accident & Emergency department will deliver a presentation on knife crime caused by drug and alcohol misuse. Police Community Support Officers will make presentations on drug awareness and the students will also hear a story from an ex-convict and drug user’s perspective. Susan Treacy, Assistant Principal of Mid Cheshire College said: “We are very proactive in educating our students on the impact of drug use. The two week focus is part of an on-going campaign to ensure our young people are educated and making informed decisions on this issue. We have a no tolerance policy to drugs on campus.” Sir John Deane’s Assistant Principal, Roisin Dunn said: “This campaign aims to help young people across mid-Cheshire to understand the harmful effects of drug use and fits in well with the "safeguarding" agenda at SJD. By being proactive we empower young people to make the right choices for themselves.”

Hair Show at Winsford Lifestyle Centre

Claire — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Hairdressing students from Mid Cheshire College’s Winsford Campus showcased their achievements at a special evening at Winsford’s Lifestyle Centre.

The Level 3 students, who are based at the college’s new Winsford Campus are all aged over 19.

Tutor, Emma Massey explained, "The students had to organise the event themselves as part of the course.

"The brief was to arrange a catwalk show where each student would feature a model with a colour and cut they had created and choreograph the performance to the music."

The students started with zero budget, so had to come up with various fundraising ideas to fund the show.　After many raffles, cake sales, fancy dress and karaoke evenings the students were still short of funds. Students Kerry Morrin and Sarah Beetham approached the Cheshire West and Chester, Winsford Councillors and explained their dilemma and they agreed to help with the costs of the event.

Councillor Pamela Booher said;

"We have a members’ community grant budget which we can access for special community projects and my fellow councillors David Armstrong, Stephen Burns, Brian Clarke, Don Beckett, Tom Blackmore and Lynda Jones agreed we would like to support the students."

Tutor Emma Massey went on to say, "The level 3 hair show was a massive success; the students have set a very high standard. Many people gave their services free of charge to allow the profits from the evening to go to St Luke’s Hospice.

Students Jody Williams and Chun Fung Lam arranged all graphics and photography and many enlisted the help of friends and family members, student Claire Adderley explains, "My auntie works for Barclays Bank who will match the money raised on the evening, she supported us on the evening setting up the venue and selling raffle tickets, this support from Barclays was invaluable.　

Chinese Delegates Visit Mid Cheshire College

Claire — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0100

A group of Chinese vocational college leaders travelled thousands of miles to see how colleges operate in the UK. The 8 leaders from the Changzhou region, near Shanghai spent the day at Mid Cheshire College, touring brickwork, carpentry and joinery, engineering, plumbing, performing arts, music and art and design. Vice Principal, Richard Hollywood explained, “The visitors, all of whom had not visited the UK before, were very interested to see how vocational skills are taught in this country. It was also very informative to hear of the teaching methods used in China.” After listening to a presentation on the Further Education Sector in the UK the visitors enjoyed a typically English lunch in the college’s Royal Restaurant. The visit was arranged through Suman Education International who organise educational visits between China and the UK. Lisa Cui, General Manager of Suman Education International said: “Like all other teacher trainees, Changzhou vocational education delegates came to Suman to take part in the CPD programme in their specialised profession and, through observations and lectures on the UK vocational education system and practice, they are expected to have “a bigger image” of the specific education industry they are in and be able to utilise what they learned in the UK to improve their work in China.” “The delegates were very impressed by Mr Hollywood’s presentation and inspired by everything they saw at the college. It is hoped that ultimately more Chinese students will benefit from a higher-quality education delivered by the Suman trainees”, Ms Cui added. During the CPD programme the delegates also enjoyed visits to other colleges and universities in the north-west as well as Oxford and London.

Memorial Art Exhibition from 26th April - 3rd May

Sandra — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Mid Cheshire College is soon to hold an art exhibition in commemoration of an ex-student who sadly passed away 3 years ago.

Keith Robinson, of Crewe, realised his dream when the College displayed a collection of his 3D sculptures in their new Arts & Creative Media building.

Unfortunately falling victim to terminal illness soon after, Keith’s memory lives on in the College with an exhibiton of renound Sculptor Eric Hoyle’s work being displayed in the same building this month.

Eric’s work consists mainly of animals and figures in a wide variety of sculptures, which will be displayed at his exhibition entitled ‘Stone Rocks. Eric has links with the college, as a student he has studied various art courses over the years. “It’ll be great to reacquaint myself with the College during the residence,” explained Eric.

“For some reason I could never quite understand I have always had a great affinity for stone. Maybe it is because stone has such permanence and I loved fossil hunting as a small boy and seeing the different colours of stone on a pebble beach and how smooth and rounded they become over time.

“As I grew older I was dazzled by the masons who built the great cathedrals and marvelled at their stone carvings. In later life, I took a serious interest in fine art, particularly, sculpture. I took up painting and looked in awe at works of art in galleries and museums. I had this idea that stone carving had to be huge public sized works. Then one day I looked at the Egyptology section at the British museum and marvelled at their stone carving skills. I saw a life-sized sculpture of a cat, 3000 years old, and whoever carved it really captured the cat’s personality. I realised then that stone sculpture doesn’t have to be big to be beautiful and exquisite.

“I studied stone carving for my ‘Final Major Project’ last year at Mid Cheshire College. It looked so complicated and I didn’t know where to start. I then heard of a stone carver called, Carole Kirsopp, who took private students for lessons several times a year. I enrolled on a week’s course last August and amazed myself at what I learnt in a short time. Carole is not only a brilliant sculptress but also a great teacher and I owe a debt of gratitude. All the work you see at the exhibition has been completed in the last eight months; it shows that it’s never too late to learn.

“My aim in all my artwork is the pursuit of perfection. I know that absolute perfection does not exist, it’s merely subjective, but I still strive to find it. Maybe that is because I am inspired by the past masters, particularly, the attention to detail of Michelangelo and Bernini; there are not many sculptors that could turn stone into flesh with conviction and I take my yardstick from them. My inspiration comes from nature, I look at animals with a child-like innocence- I see them as potential Disney characters and if I can give my work personality it is no longer just a piece of stone.”

Beth Hall, Team Leader in Art explains, “The sculptures truly are a sight to behold. It’s definitely worth coming to see for art enthusiasts and the general public alike.”

Eric continued, “To exhibit the sculptures in a place that I have a connection with whilst having the chance to celebrate Keith’s memory is a lovely opportunity that I’m really looking forward to.”

The exhibition will be displayed in the foyer of Mid Cheshire College’s Arts & Creative Media building from 26^th April to 3^rd May, Monday to Thursday from 9am until 5pm and Fridays 9am until 4.30pm.

The Usual Suspects

Claire — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Music Practice students, Christie Bratherton, Tom Kerr and James Martin formed band ‘The Usual Suspects’ when the three of them joined the level 3 course last September. “We love the course; there is so much variety, good equipment, particularly the Mac’s and software and we are really looking forward to moving into the new building in September.” Christie from Wincham and James from Chester are guitar and vocals and Tom from Holmes Chapel is on drums, they enjoy performing modern acoustic and blues jazz. The band takes part in regular acoustic nights at Chester Music Theatre and Alexander’s Chester as well as many open mic nights across Cheshire. They all want to be performers or song writers but will also look at opportunities at university and apprenticeships when they complete the course in 2013.

How do the Police know where to dig?

Claire — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

We have all seen reports in the news about the Police finding human or skeletal remains in a back garden or cellar, but how do they know where to dig? Researchers at Keele University, led by Dr Jamie Pringle are involved in the development of geophysical techniques to identify areas of interest such as potential gravesites and arms dumps. Using techniques such as ground penetrating radar, conductance and resistivity, the Keele researchers are having some impressive results. On 22nd February, the first year L3 Applied Science Students visited Keele University where they gained first-hand experience of these techniques and learned about the research being undertaken by the Keele team. The picture shows a first year student using resistivity equipment (a smaller version of the equipment used by TV’s TimeTeam), to map an area of Keele’s mock crime scene which contains three clandestine graves. While at Keele, the students also had a tour of the teaching laboratories and the opportunity to get a feel for University life.

Mid Cheshire Hair Show

Claire — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 00:00:00 +0000

The level 3 hairdressing students are undertaking a unit, which involves planning and implantation of promotional activities. They are currently selling tickets for Mid Cheshire Hair Show. If you would like to come along and show us your support, please call into the salon reception area (Winsford Campus) to purchase a ticket. The ticket cost is only £2. All proceeds from ticket and raffle sales will be donated to St Luke’s Hospice in Winsford.