November 2019 - Page 2 of 2 - Capital City College Group

Lola Cleary talks Inspiration and Aspiration

Posted on November 6, 2019February 21, 2023 by Hannah Fenton

Back in September, we announced our first photography and art competition on social media, championing the great work of City and Islington College students across our five London sites. All the entries were great, but there could only be one winner, and, put to the popular vote, we had a clear winner in the form of A Level student Lola Cleary’s comic-style drawing. We caught up with Lola to better understand her process and ambitions while studying with us.

Lola’s submission touched upon the anxiety of a new beginning. “It’s a simple comic. I drew it after my first full day at City and Islington College.” She added that it was “something personal but yet strangely disconnected.” We asked Lola what motivated the entry and how she was finding college life half a term in.

“I’ve enjoyed my first month at CANDI a lot; I’ve really loved how in-depth A Levels are even from the beginning. I enjoy doing school work quite a lot, so being able to spend so much time and effort on the subjects I enjoy was fantastic and pretty rewarding.

“I was really nervous for the first few weeks, though. It was all unknown; everything was so big and there were so many new people. The comic only shows me, though.”

Lola went on to talk about her composition and style, building up from a few free-hand lines and a lot of white space: “I enjoy art that captures things very tenderly – delicate marks that express the emotion in how they’re made – rather than what they’re depicting. The focus on the hands is something I do quite often as they seem so personal… I often hold or fiddle with them when I’m nervous. They’re a grounding tool, which is why they played such a large part in this comic. It’s oddly particular in many ways.

“The free drawn lines and white spaces I hope help give a sense of disconnection… there should be other things there to fill the gaps, to give some sort of context, but they’re empty, bringing focus to the little details.”

Lola takes her inspiration from American cartoonist Tillie Walden. The 23-year-old illustrator won the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work for Spinning, a critically acclaimed 2017 graphic novel recounting Walden’s adolescence. Lola adds: “Her focus on people is something I really love. Her books can have very few words but seem incredibly personal from just the way she shifts focus in her drawings.

“I hope to one day publish a graphic novel like hers but, honestly, I don’t know. I draw in lots of different ways with lots of different things. Sometimes it feels like I could go in any direction if I tried hard enough. I do quite traditional acrylic portraits but also really enjoy the more illustrative drawings, as well as the more experimental things…

“I’ve got no idea what I’ll draw in a year, or what I’ll even be like… I just hope it’s something good.”

Lola is hoping to continue her studies at Central Saint Martin’s College after completing her A Levels, but is trying to keep her options open, aiming to “keep making things and hoping people like it.”

Follow Lola’s work on Instagram.

Buddhist Monk Brings Tranquility to CONEL

Posted on November 5, 2019February 21, 2023 by Hannah Fenton

In October, Reverend Ragama Sugathananda, a CONEL student and Buddhist Monk, delivered three mediation sessions at our Tottenham Centre’s Staff Learning Day.

Reverend Sugathananda, from Sri Lanka, is being sponsored by CONEL’s Assistant Principal – Technical Industries, Marcia Summers, to travel to England and study an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) course at CONEL. In return, the Sri Lankan native is delivering meditation classes to staff and students five times a week.

Marcia Summers said: “I met Ragama in 2015 when I was volunteering in Sri Lanka at the women’s development centre. I visited his village and witnessed the great work he was doing there to support the whole community.

“I sponsored him to come to the UK so he could improve his English, to enable him to better talk about and share Sri Lankan culture with others while he is in the UK.

“I was also aware that if he came to CONEL that he could deliver meditation sessions to our students and staff to improve their well-being, so it would be a reciprocal arrangement.

“Ragama’s feedback has been really positive. He’s learning a lot in his English classes which he attends 3 days a week and is enjoying leading his meditation sessions for our students and staff 5 times a week.

“After CONEL he plans to go to temples in Birmingham and Glasgow before returning to Sri Lanka in March.

“The taster sessions were delivered on the staff learning day and started with a brief history of Sri Lanka and an explanation of Metta meditation, which the group were about to take part in. Metta meditation is also known as ‘loving-kindness’ meditation, because it is designed to direct loving-kindness toward the individual and then, in a sequence of expansion, towards somebody who they love, then somebody they are neutral towards, then somebody they have difficulty with, and, ultimately, towards all beings everywhere without distinction.”

The organiser of the event, Louise Webber, said: “It was great to see so many people taking part in a class. It is a fast-paced environment to work in a college, so to have 5 minutes to remove yourself and relax can help so much.”

When asked how his ESOL classes were going, Reverend Ragama Sugathananda said: “It is the best, I have never participated in an English class like this before. Teachers are great and I no longer feel shy. This is a really good experience for my English. It is very good for me.

“Today in our three meditation sessions we had 40, 42 and 36 staff. It’s nice to make them feel relaxed and it went very well!”

Open to all CONEL staff and students, Reverend Ragama Sugathananda will be running sessions at our Tottenham Centre for the duration of his ESOL course.

Celebrating Asian Culture and Food: WestKing-style

Posted on November 4, 2019February 21, 2023 by Hannah Fenton

Westminster Kingsway College hosted ‘A Taste of ASEAN’ – a celebration of South-East Asian culture and food – at our Victoria Centre on Wednesday 30 October.

In all, 10 member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were represented: Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Over 200 guests were treated to musical and dance performances from ASEAN nations and a selection of delicious Asian dishes that were devised, cooked and served by our culinary students – ably supported by their chef lecturers.

Among the guests were Ambassadors and Heads of Mission from many countries, staff and friends from the ASEAN nations, and staff from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) including Heather Wheeler MP, the UK’s Minister of State for Asia and the Pacific.

Chef Lecturer, Jose Souto, with Heather Wheeler MP

The evening came about following our successful Thai Food Week earlier this year, and the college worked closely with Thailand’s Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Mr Pisanu Suvanajata, and his staff to devise and put on last night’s event. We are very grateful to His Excellency, his staff and everyone else who helped us make the event such a success.

ASEAN promotes co-operation on political, security and economic issues in South-East Asia. With a rapidly expanding middle class and a market of 650 million people, the UK will be looking to strengthen links with this part of the world across a range of issues, including education, trade, economic reform, climate, cybersecurity, defence and the digital economy.

As Jose Souto, Chef Lecturer at the college, who was closely involved in the event said: “We are arguably the leading culinary school in the UK. Our expertise and contacts, plus the fact that we’re part of Capital City College Group – one of the UK’s biggest college groups – means that Westminster Kingsway College can play a really useful role in showcasing the best of British culinary expertise and enabling other countries to learn fork our experiences. It also gives our students amazing exposure to new cultures and their cuisines, which can only be good for their culinary CVs and their future employability.

“When we first worked with the Thailand Embassy in the run-up to our Thai Food Week, we really wanted our students to understand much more about Thailand’s culture, as well as being able to cook high-quality Thai food. We are very grateful to His Excellency and his staff for his valuable time in helping us to do that.

As well as being very enjoyable, the event was hard work for a lot of people, so we’d also like to thank all the staff and students who created the amazing food that was served to our guests. In particular, lecturers Chris Basten and Norman Fu, and their team of students in the kitchen who mastered and cooked the dishes from 10 different Asian countries; patisserie & bakery lecturer Sue Yeates and her students who prepared the wonderful desserts; Janos Virovecz, our hospitality lecturer and his student servers, who made sure that everyone was kept fed; and Simon Stocker and his students, who ran another successful evening service in our Escoffier Room fine dining restaurant – while the Taste of ASEAN event went on next door. It was a pleasure to host this event and we hope to see you all again soon.”

The 10 ASEAN nations all displayed their country’s cultural items at the event

This unique event was held at our Victoria Centre, where Hospitality and Culinary course students learn their craft from our team of chef lecturers. Students work on, and at, events as part of their courses, gaining vital experience which they will need to help them secure good quality jobs when they leave college. It’s one of the many reasons why every year so many young Londoners choose WestKing to study hospitality and culinary arts.