Episode 9 A Fresh Start… women’s education and trainingIn the 60’s and 70’s many people moved to Washington New Town with few friends or family to support them when they started a family. Adult education programmes provided by organizations such as the Workers Educational Association -the WEA - and more recently celebrated by Never Stop Learning were very important in the lives of local residents and many benefited from the childcare that these courses provided. The 1919 report on adult education emphasized the importance of universal and lifelong access to adult education, viewing it as a necessity for building a democratic and tolerant society. It recognized the importance of lifelong learning – not just looking at vocational needs but also intellectual ,aesthetic and spiritual needs of communities. For some, adult education was a liberation from boredom of daily domestic taks. For others it was literally a lifeline – finding support and resources for escaping a violent relationship.The Bridge women’s Education and training project was set up in 1985 by a group of Washington women led by Sheila Davidson. Funded by regional and European grants it ran until  2012 providing jobs for hundreds and opportunities for thousands of women from using power tools to courses in forensic sciences.   Many women went onto college and University from Bridge and gained an enormous amount of support from others whilst their children were looked after in purpose built creches and nurseries. On International Women’s Day  2000 The Bridge became a radio station broadcasting to Washington and staffed entirely by women. A Fresh Start(song by Lydia and Leighton)New wooden floors in an empty houseStack us in, don’t kick us outThree-storey house with a bath insideOn a different path to a quiet lifeHit seventy-four at the start of the yearLeft everything that I thought was dearIt doesn’t matter now, I’m starting my new lifeI can call this my fresh startTo my quiet lifeWhimsical and newWhere to begin?Log cabin house in a little parkLeave the bairns to play in the neighbour’s yardWalk through the underpass down to the village hallProblem families started moving inJoining the districts that we live inTrying to make a life, we’re neighbours of the yearI can call this my fresh startTo my quiet lifeWhimsical and newWhere to begin?I can call this my fresh startTo my quiet lifeWhimsical and newWhere to begin?More about educational organisations past and present can be found on the following sites:Never Stop Learning and ‘The Time of Our Lives -Women’s Education in Washington New Town’ report   Never Stop Learning -Platform 60University of the 3rd Age (u3a)  Working Lass Project featuring Bridge Women’s Training Project and its founder Sheila Davidson  Thanks to Joan Molloy, Gloria Finnigan, Karen Sukora, CarolineMitchell,  Maureen Marsden, SheilaDavidson,  Rosemary Muncaster, MarylynCharlton, Anne Staines, Linda Williams, Keith Hodgson and  members of the Pink Collar Gallery, Working Lass Project A Fresh Start was composed and performed by Lydia Harvey and Leighton...

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