WEA courses

What happens when an author decides to ‘keep it brief’? How does writing in shorter forms affect their decisions? How much is a shorter text an act of creative play, and how much an act of deliberate restraint? In this course we will be focusing primarily on the short story and its development: to do this, we will be working on tales from 'The Penguin Book of the British Short Story from Daniel Defoe to John Buchan'. We shall also be reading together shorter verse forms and reflecting on their power, their concision and the skills required to write with fewer words. This is a progression/advanced course.

Discover for the first time, or re-visit an old favourite, this course will introduce you to a wide range of artworks from the national collection of Tate Britain in London. We explore specific works by historical, modern and contemporary artists in relation to wider cultural and social contexts. The aim of the course is to develop confidence and visual literacy skills when looking at and discussing art in London’s galleries. On this course, we examine work by prominent artists as diverse as Anthony Van Dyck, Joan Carlile, William Blake, JMW Turner, the Pre-Raphaelites, Gwen John, Mona Hatoum and Mike Kelly.

Enhance your music-making skills with our Music Making: Intermediate at Rhubarb Farm course. Learn advanced techniques for playing and composing music in a collaborative setting. Ideal for musicians looking to refine their abilities and explore new musical styles.

This course is for women attending WHIST only. Enjoy the thrill and satisfaction of working in a creative environment and boost your self-confidence with this exciting stage management class. Discover more about Musical Theatre, develop your design and practical skills making stage props; have a go at working as part of a team to discuss ideas, themes and overcome challenges. Taking place in venue, for women attending WHIST, South Tyneside. This course will boost your confidence in the stage management process as well as your knowledge of Musical Theatre. Our fun, experienced tutor will encourage and guide you throughout the course. Meet like-minded women at this supportive environment. Suitable for beginners and those with some experience.

Come and join an enthusiastic group of creative crafters who, along with an experienced tutor will strive to unlock their creativity in this hands-on craft course. On this course you will be guided to see your scraps differently and see the craft potential of things you would normally throw away. Whatever paper-craft you are into each session of this course aims to unleash your creativity as you repurpose materials from your stash into pockets, embellishments, handmade cards, and ephemera pieces. For this course you will need minimal supplies and a full list will be available on Canvas but to get started it would be helpful to have some of the following: Assorted paper – plain and patterned and coloured cardstock Scissors Glue sticks, wet glue, adhesive tape. Old books / magazines Buttons, ribbons beads, die cut shapes.

Practice techniques for creating short stories, true or untrue. We'll apply the principles of short fiction to our writing, with the focus this term on thinking about how point-of-view impacts on structure. There will be writing exercises, discussions, an optional weekly homework task and feedback. Guidance on feedback techniques will be provided. The course content has flexibility, and will be adapted to suit the needs of the group. Suitable for improvers. This course uses the same content as the Friday morning course, Creative Writing: Point-of-View, and the Thursday morning fortnightly course, Creative Writing: Point-of-View, therefore you need only enrol on to one of them.

This is an ten-week course for both beginners and experienced learners. The course aims to facilitate individual learners with their camerawork. A key goal is to give learners the confidence to experiment and adapt their practice, using the camera on manual, deploying the ‘Exposure Triangle’ of aperture, shutter-speed, and ISO to cope with different lighting situations and to substitute with artificial lighting and flash where appropriate. Digital cameras are complex pieces of kit with increasingly complex functionality and capabilities. Today’s digital photographers have an amazing array of possibilities at their fingertips, and this course aims to instil learners with the confidence to try new techniques and understand the need for technical research online and trial and error in the practical learning process. Learners should anticipate the need for some walking and/or travel to different photographic venues. The Donnison School will also provide an audience for the creative output of the group and will help them to appreciate the value of their work as their enthusiasm and interest in photography broadens.

The Thames, its bridges, embankments, and the monuments standing alongside it, are world-renowned symbols of London. Over the centuries, artists have represented the river from many different viewpoints, for all sorts of occasions, and in a variety of artistic styles. From De Jongh and Canaletto to Turner and Monet, the Thames has been represented many. As we retrace their steps, we will study the sights and events they depicted. From the Thames Estuary to Cookham, we will see sights of mayoral processions, regattas, busy tugboats and Thames barge, highlight the river’s many functions. As we study these works of art – some well-known and other rarely ever seen – we will discuss the river's artistic and historical significance.

See images and hear about the history of three of Cleethorpes’ entertainment venues. The Empire Theatre is now an amusement arcade, so does anything of its former life exist today? The Coliseum Cinema building is now a Wetherspoons public house on Cleethorpes High Street, but what was its history prior to this? The Theatre Royal is sadly an eyesore and the site is awaiting further development, but what was this site used for before and after its theatre days? Join us on an adventure through time and discover local treasures from a bygone age. Suitable for anyone with a little curiosity.

This course will explore how to produce poems which rhyme. In the twentieth century, particularly post-war, vers libre and syllabic verse have proliferated, yet poets persist in writing rhymed and rhythmical poetry. During these five weeks, we will examine how modern poets deploy rhyme and integrate it into the rhythms of ordinary speech and a demotic vocabulary. Each session will be a workshop, which examines and puts into practice your own experiments in rhyme, allowing you to develop first drafts and then finished versions of at least three new poems. The workshops will be mutually supportive at all times, supportive and inspirational.