Hidden Voices: forms for all

‘Hidden Voices’ is an inspiring project being run by that participation and learning team at Westonbirt, The National Arboretum, engaging community groups in environmental issues. The Macular Disease Society, Asian Women’s group and Bristol Drugs Project will develop their personal connections with Westonbirt and ‘raise their voices’ to show why an arboretum may be relevant to their lives.

Before the project could start, there was alot of work to do behind the scenes in preparation.

Consent forms went out to groups with slight adaptations for particular needs:

* The Macular Disease Society group informed us that they find it easier to read black print on a yellow background with at least a 24 font size print.

* The Awaz Utaoh (“Raise Your Voice”) group are using their own translators to help their participants fill in the consent forms and requested tick boxes to speed the process up. They say it can take up to an hour to complete each form, making sure the group members understand what they are signing up for.

* Some of our participants may need to protect their identity so we have separated the photo and film consent from the quotes and comments. This way we can still gain valuable feedback and evidence from those group members.

Useful links

Find out more about the Communities in Nature project

Information about Westonbirt's Learning and Participation Team