Dudgeon grant supports students to enter ‘waste’ fashion competition
A grant from the Dudgeon Community Fund STEM Skills and Employability Programme For Younger People is enabling students at East Norfolk Sixth Form College in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk to enter the global Junk Kouture fashion competition (www.junkkouture.com).
The grant was made to Wastesmiths CIC, an East of England circular economy social enterprise with a focus on education and community building. In particular, the organisation tackles waste in the environment by running projects that centre around plastics, clothing and growing natural resources for arts and crafts.
Wastesmiths is using the grant to deliver thirty STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) related workshop sessions outside of the regular college timetable. After meeting with the Student Action Group at the college and delivering a couple of trial sessions, it became clear that fashion and clothing was a topic of particular student interest.
“We are supporting students as they prepare to submit entries to the 2023/24 Junk Kouture global fashion competition” , said Dan Harper from Wastesmiths.
Material experiments for the fashion competition.
Image courtesy of Wastesmiths CIC.
“The competition challenges students to design and make an outfit from waste materials. Here at Wastesmiths, the STEM elements of waste materials, and manufacturing from those materials, is our whole world, so the focus of these workshop sessions has been a great platform for students STEM learning.”
The Dudgeon Community Fund STEM Programme was established in 2018 by the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm, which is operated by Equinor, to support STEM education initiatives in schools and colleges in the Great Yarmouth, North Norfolk and Breckland regions of Norfolk. It receives a donation of at least £125,000 per annum from the Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm.
In 2023 the Dudgeon STEM Skills and Employability Fund for Younger People was introduced as a pilot initiative aimed at supporting groups of younger people, aged 30 years and under, to achieve their STEM skills and their employability aspirations.
As the students prepare to submit their competition entries, Dudgeon Power Plant Manager Chris Hosea said:
“I am sure a lot of imagination and hard work has gone into all the entries, so I shall be looking forward to hearing the results of the UK leg of this innovative competition. I hope that the workshops funded by the Dudgeon grant will have helped and encouraged those students looking to make careers in the fashion and clothing industries, giving them a sustainability and employability edge.”
The Dudgeon Community Fund is administered by the Norfolk Community Foundation (www. norfolkfoundation.com )
About Equinor in Norfolk
Equinor is a long-term partner for Norfolk and has been an active member of the community for over a decade through the Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms it operates off the Norfolk coast.
The Dudgeon Offshore Wind Farm is owned by Equinor, Masdar and China Resources, whilst Sheringham Shoal Offshore Wind Farm is owned by Equinor, Equitix Offshore 5 (co-owned by Equitix and the Renewable Investment Group TRIG) and a fund managed by Macquarie Asset Management).
On behalf of its partners, Equinor is also maturing the proposed Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon extension projects (SEP and DEP).
SEP and DEP will double the capacity of the existing Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms, providing renewable energy to power an
additional 785,000 UK homes and making an important contribution to the UK’s decarbonisation goals.
Currently, the combined output of Sheringham Shoal and Dudgeon wind farms is sufficient to power around 710,000 UK homes, and
the proposed extensions will increase that to nearly 1.5 million UK households.
Both wind farms have established community funds which in total have awarded over £1 million to projects in Norfolk. The funds were set up to provide grants to Norfolk community groups, including schools and charities, seeking financial assistance for projects or initiatives that meet key criteria and focus on renewable energy, marine environment and safety, sustainability, or education in these areas. During 2020, the funds provided grant funding to the Norfolk Community Foundation’s COVID-19 funding initiatives, and during 2021 grant funding has been made available to support Norfolk’s ‘every child on-line’ initiative.
Issue date: 04-03-24
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For consultation or community enquiries, please contact:
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