Coleg Gwent students proudly represented Wales when their work became part of the first ever royal collection of digital history presented to Her Majesty The Queen to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee.
A video entry recorded by the group of Independent Living Skills (ILS) students was chosen to be amongst the top 60 out of over 80,000 entries to the Royal Commonwealth Society’s Jubilee Time Capsule (JTC) project – the world’s biggest global digital archive of stories and memories covering each day of The Queen’s 60 year reign.
The Crosskeys campus students’ recording of Simon Weston OBE was chosen by a panel of distinguished judges to be amongst the top 60 entries presented to The Queen in a prestigious ceremony at the Royal Commonwealth Society in London on Wednesday November 14.
From recording history to making it themselves, the students’ work became sealed in the time capsule of selected entries – known as the ‘Diamond (re)Collection’.
The collection was presented to the Queen on a digital device during the ceremony. It will now be housed in the Royal Collection at Windsor – the first ever digital addition to the collection.
ILS students ensured Welsh voices were heard when they volunteered as ‘Commonwealth Community Reporters’ for the project, creating their own entries of photographs and memories, and also interviewing well-known people in Wales to find out about their favourite memories and moments.
Coleg Gwent staff and five ILS students were honoured to represent Wales at the ceremony. The Welsh students were among a specially invited group of around 200 guests consisting of entries from around the Commonwealth, the distinguished panel of judges and the Dean of Westminster. Students and staff met Her Majesty and the other distinguished guests, and talked about their entries to the project.
Head of School for Health and Social Care at Crosskeys Campus Debbie Field, said: “I am so very proud of the all learners who took part in the project.
“Being involved in the JTC opened up a new world of experiences for our ILS learners. The five learners who were chosen to attend the event had a wonderful time representing the college and I was proud to attend the event with them.
“The Queen asked how the learners had been involved in the JTC and I was pleased to tell her about what a wonderful learning opportunity it had been. She was interested to hear how it had sparked the learners’ interest in the Commonwealth and how we planned to keep the momentum going with the learners.”
Throughout the year, students also spoke to Lord Touhig, Jamie Baulch, David Roberts CBE and Roy Noble OBE about their special memories. All the students’ entries for the project are among the remaining 80,000 entries available for the public to view on the JTC website.
“We are thrilled to be part of history in the making, and to be presented to the Queen on such a wonderful occasion in her special Jubilee year,” said ILS Tutor Victoria English.
“We were very proud to represent Coleg Gwent on such an amazing day. Students feel privileged to have had some brilliant insights into the lives and achievements of very well-known people in Wales, and we’re grateful to all of them for taking part with us.
“It’s been wonderful to record and share their stories and be involved in something original and creative to celebrate the Jubilee.”
Students’ creativity throughout the project won them a place at a special Diamond Jubilee Commonwealth Observance Day at Westminster Abbey back in March.
Catherine Clark, Deputy Director of the Royal Commonwealth Society said: “Coleg Gwent submitted a range of fantastic entries to the Jubilee Time Capsule, from an interview with Simon Weston OBE to an entry about a Help the Heroes fundraiser they held. Given the students’ dedication, we are thrilled that they were able to join us for last week’s presentation to HM The Queen.
“Coleg Gwent are one of the project’s top ‘SuperSchools’ and it’s been brilliant to see them working alongside a team of 90 schools from across the Commonwealth to create this innovative Diamond Jubilee gift for The Queen.”
For more information about the Jubilee Time Capsule project visit www.jubileetimecapsule.org
