Wilston community workshop 8 December 2019

A successful community workshop was held on Sunday 8 December as part of the Wilston Village Christmas Fair. The workshop addressed a three-step model of community consultation focusing on inspiring, visioning and collaborating.
Using historical research of the area including original maps of the estate, early posters advertising Wilston Estate, and historical footage of a Wilston School function in 1953 playing on a projector, community members were able to learn and be inspired by how much the area has changed since its early days. Research of historical images and documents was generously assisted by the Windsor and District Historical Society.

Big thank you to Rob and Jenny at the Windsor and District Historical Society for their assistance with my research on the area

Using large MDF board panels as canvases, community members were invited to graffiti on each panel using colourful graphic paint markers with responses to the question ‘what do you love about Wilston?’. Responses included drawings, doodling, statements and short stories.  Over 180 responses were recorded.

The growing web of ideas and stories on these panels are the start of the collaborative process as the community builds a sense of identity, informing a collaborative design approach for the project. During the workshop, key ideas and themes were identified, creating this ‘word cloud’ about Wilston:

The most frequent words have been formulated into the above word tag cloud. The feedback showed the community values the people, a sense of community, its school and village and also the parks and cafes in the area. The workshop was a great opportunity to also connect with people in person and learn what is important in the community. 

This space will be used to continue the feedback loop of this process. Feel free to add your comments below about the results!