A PROPOSED digital media centre – identified for Helensburgh, the birthplace of TV inventor, John Logie Baird – has secured the support of Scots university, Glasgow Caledonian University.
Should a target £2 million be raised, the planned Heroes Centre would include a state-of-the-art cinema and diner that local people can use. The floor above would be devoted to a digital media skills academy where local people of all ages could learn digital media skills. And GCU’s involvement would see its Coding Academy operate, with staff and students teaching – says the charity behind the venture – “the basic building blocks of computer science and digital media to local schoolchildren”.
A Heroes Centre media release quotes Dr Morag Ferguson, community and public engagement fellow for Glasgow Caledonian University, as saying: “GCU has a leading reputation for the delivery of digital and new media education and for working with local communities. This project allows GCU to combine these together in a new and innovative way. Our staff and students will be able to develop their teaching skills while making a real difference to the lives of the people in Helensburgh and the surrounding area.”
The release adds: “Plans are also in the pipeline for sessions on state-of-the-art games developments for budding filmmakers as well as giving community groups the opportunity to utilise the expertise of GCU design students.”
And it continues: “The charity has already received a Big Lottery grant to develop the business plan for the project and a recent open day in Helensburgh was attended by more than 300 people. The campaign to build the Heroes Centre has also received backing from Hollywood film director, Tom Vaughan, who grew up in the town and film and television actor, Lex Shrapnel, whose grandmother, the legendary film actress, Deborah Kerr, was born in Helensburgh and whose life will be celebrated once the centre is built.”
Pictured: Phil Worms, founder and director of Helensburgh Heroes (left), and Ferguson. Pic: Peter Devlin.
