Welcome viewers to our ongoing program focus coming to you from Burlington, Vermont. Remotely from the studios of Channel 17 Town Meeting TV Center for Media and Democracy. I'm your host Margaret Harrington, and it gives me great pleasure viewers to welcome our guest William L. McCone, the author of Vermont's Irish Rebel. Captain John Lonergan, and that's the title of our program, Vermont's Irish Rebel Captain John Lonergan. And welcome, I'm going to call you Liam, the Irish for William. Welcome, Liam. Thank you so much for inviting us into your home and to do this wonderful talk. Welcome. Wow. Thank you so much and it's it's a, you wrote such a marvelous book that was published several years ago now in 2010, but I devoted reader of it. There's so much in it that tells the story of Captain John Lonergan who was forced to leave his home as birthplace in February, Ireland, and during the famine, right or right around the time of the famine, and come to he eventually made his way the child to Burlington, Vermont. He was a hero of Gettysburg in the Civil War, the Battle of Gettysburg and received the Medal of Honor from the United States, and all the time, he was devoted to the Finian movement, the liberation of Ireland.  So could you share it, something of it with our viewers now as we come up to St. Patrick's Day? Again, the patrons think of Ireland. I'll be happy to thank you for your kind words, the introduction. Lonergan was responsible for the first St. Patrick's Day ever held in Burlington. That was one of the things that he did to promote the cause and to, to help Irish be more accepted into Vermont society. They initially weren't that welcome. They went too far back into the Irish history, although it's fascinating, no matter how deeply and not far back you go. Just by way of background, the Irish lost their independence to the British monarchy. And they lost their land to the British landlords. And things were very difficult, particularly for the Catholic population. So when a series of blights affected the main source of food for the, for the average Irish population, the potato famine, so called, had a lasting impact on, on the population and the history. And as you referenced, John Lonergan came over with his family about the time of what we think of as the famine, although it was really a series of crop failures. We had that same blight hit the gardens here in Vermont about three years ago that took out my tomatoes and a lot of other people's I think. So it's still around these pandemics don't tend not to go away. They just get under control. So at the time Ireland had about 8 million people. After 10 years of distress, which kind of culminated in 1847 that referred to as black 47 that was the worst of it. Two million out of the eight man had disappeared about a million died. And a million left the country. There was an uprising that was sparked in part by this dreadful conditions that were where food was being exported by the landlords while the tenants were starving in 1848. It was unsuccessful, but had a lasting impact. It was organized in part by a man named John O'Mahony, who lived about two miles down the road from John Lonergan. Just outside of Kirk unsure county temporary. O'Mahony was one of the more successful rebels in the 1848 attempt to overthrow the British rule. He fled to France with a man named James Stevens got involved in the revolutions over there. And then when O'Mahony came to New York City, about 10 years later, he founded a revolutionary group in New York City called the Fenian Brotherhood. O'Mahony was a was an Irish speaker. He was Irish as we say. And he translated a very seminal history of Ireland from the Gaelic into English. I'm a translator myself so I have an appreciation for, for what he did what he did there so when he founded this revolutionary group. He reached back to the history of Ireland. And warrior bands called Fina were at the call of the High King to protect the country. And the Agitai will form for Fina is Fenian. They should have used to ease because somebody will say Fenian, but it's Fenian. So he reached back for the for this reference to protecting Ireland from the foreign invaders and formed the Fenian Brotherhood. Well, John Lannigan was still just a lad, but he was growing up in Burlington. He worked as a Cooper with his father making barrels and they had a shop. And then in 1860, the situation in the United States was getting more and more critical in terms of the south and the north and the issue of slavery. And the militia units, which are official, but part time soldiers. It kind of fallen into disrepute and weren't doing much, but we're revived in the 18th, around 1860. Because people can see the chance of war coming. So Lannigan was, I believe, recruited to raise a unit by George standard out of St. Albans, who commanded a regiment of Vermont militia. So Lannigan saw this as an opportunity and it fit in with John O'Mahony's strategy. But Fenian militia units were being formed throughout the United States. And this gave them a chance to learn the art of war and get paid for it. Not much, but they have the state would sponsor these and throughout the United States there were companies often with fanciful names. There were emerald rifles and things like this that were very indicative of their, and they would populate the unit with Fenians, with Irishman. So Lannigan formed his own unit called the Emmett guards after Robert Emmett, who was executed 1801 for yet another unsuccessful rebellion. He formed that in Burlington and drew on the sizable Irish population in Burlington this time. It was quite successful and creating this official Vermont militia unit. In 1861, when Lincoln was inaugurated on the 4th of March and pled with everybody that we must not be enemies. Unsuccessfully six weeks later we were shooting each other and went on for four years. Lincoln had to call upon the state militias to provide the manpower to try and suppress this insurrection. Some states complied, some refused, others joined the successionist movement. So Lannigan's company, the Emmett guards, was called up for the second Vermont regiment. And he was commissioned as a captain and command of this company. Unfortunately, it was a muster Dan in Burlington. The muster was on a Saturday. And his company didn't show up. Apparently there was people saying farewell on Friday night. So he rounded him up the next day and got him all sworn in. But he's so angered the governor that the governor disbanded his unit, which didn't happen at any other time in the Civil War. Lannigan said, well, you can be rid of me in it, but you won't get rid of me. And he attached himself to the second Vermont regiment, went down and fought in Virginia for a while, stormed into the Secretary of War's office to demand restitution. And actually had an interview with the Secretary of War, was sent back to Vermont to raise another company. So just a remarkable brashness would have been 23 years old there, this Irishman. I'm sure he had a terrible brogue coming from temporary as a child. So he came back here under orders to go ahead and raise another company and 1863. Lincoln wanted to increase the manpower and he raised 300,000 men just to serve for nine months. So Lannigan got on board with this movement is a raised enough Irishman in Burlington and in Rutland. And a few non Irish out of Westford that he he knew these people so they got him got a sign up. And he formed this company. And when they assigned the letter designations for the companies it's always in seniority. So, right in character he claimed that he was the oldest captain around because he'd been been captain of a company in the second Vermont. So he became Company A of the 13th Vermont. This all ties in later with with his position on the battlefield at Gettysburg. So, in addition to raising troops for the American cause he was also the head of the Fenian Brotherhood in Vermont. So he was doing double duty. But, Margaret you mentioned a statement about the dual loyalty. I did go back in the book and I found that so let me just. Okay, I had to put my spectacles on to read it, but it is a good explanation. This was on a on a St. Patrick's Day. It was called upon to speak and concluded his impromptu speech with consideration of the dual loyalty of the Irish in America. On a day like this we should all be proud we're all from Ireland, and we should regard her with love and pride. And some might ask how an Irishman could love two countries at once, but an Irishman's heart was large and had room for both Ireland and America. When an Irishman takes a wife, if he is sometimes liable to do, does he therefore forget his mother. America is Irishman's wife, but he does not forget his mother Ireland. I'm glad you reminded me of that the other day because I think that's, that's a significant comment. Yes, yeah. And it shows it shows so much of his character of his enormous love for both the land of his adopted land and the land of his his birthplace. So willing to risk his life for either or both. And he was just the average citizen soldier he had no training other than his little time and militia there. And yet he became respected and honored combat veteran of the Civil War. And they get bought him some credit with the Fenians I think because a lot of Fenians went to war to learn the art of war, but a lot of them didn't come back. So should we spend a few minutes on Gettysburg before we. I would love that Gettysburg was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War. And of course it was where at the end of it Lincoln gave his famous Gettysburg address and, but also the carnage, the deaths on both sides were enormous. And so please do spend some time on it, and also about the ins and outs of it in your book is so full of the facts and yet the character and personality of Captain Lonergan comes through by his actions, how he reacted to different things. In fact, there was one that I did I just read now again rereading where he just before the Battle of Gettysburg. He was addressing his regiment as the captain of the regiment, and somebody else was addressing the regiment at the same time to recall that part of the of the book I mean it shows and then he just, he did he there was humor in it also, you know that he just it was the thing to do, and just get on with it. There had been a change in command the colonel was away. The major took charge and long and pulled out his weathered old commission that the governor taken away and said oh no I'm senior to us. But in the regiment he was initially most famous for on the march to get Gettysburg. He fell off his horse. And they were crossing the Monocacy River, which is in Maryland, and they fished him out. And he's that too wet on the outside not enough on the inside. But I had a good drinking man I would have fallen off the horse. He had the officers were mostly mounted as they marched to Gettysburg they marched 120 miles in July, June, July heat. In six days to get to Gettysburg in time to fight. That was like to, thanks to standard is old mentor who just taken over the brigade. The more than one of his, the men in his company remarked on the lot again would spent very little time riding his horse that he usually had somebody else, given them a break. Sometimes two or three guys hanging on to the does the stirrups, because they were, they were marching so hard. So he cared for his man, he respected him. And today of the school teacher down in Rutland. Again, I'm John Senate to be his first lieutenant. That's one of those the captain of the company 13 Senate was the first lieutenant. And then he got a guy out of the marble quarries in Rutland to be second lieutenant, six foot for marble worker. If there was every day discussion that need to be settled. His second lieutenant, because they pick them up by the scruff of the neck, that's a sir. So it was a mixed bag. Yeah, that's a lot of characters in this. They, the 12 or so members of the company from Westford. And once they realized they were caught in the middle of a Fenian Irish unit tried to get out of it. But he, he managed to convince him now that that they were better off they only had to serve their, their nine months, and they were exempt from any any further threat of the draft. And they had a pretty quiet time of it they were sitting on the Occoquan River. Out of Virginia. But they were the outermost defenses of Washington. And they were kind of isolated and alone out there.  Suddenly they were attached to the army of the Potomac, and they were assigned to the core that was all the way to the front. And they had to catch up with them. And they almost got gobbled up by Stuart who brought these over 5000 cavalry men right through about an hour after they left. Anyway, they got up to get his bird in time for the fighting. But standard was pretty much on his own and he picked his spot. And he moved the Vermonters out in front. Because of the shelling that was going on. So when Pickett's famous charge took place of cemetery Hill on cemetery Ridge on the third of July. The Vermonters ended up in a position where standard ordered them out to swing out like a barn door and take the rebels in the flank. And then the van again led that charge because he was company a he held that the position of honor because of that. And he led that whole charge. So, how are we doing. Okay, well that's what we're doing well on the time we have. We're about 20 minutes in now, but but I thank you for the that description in the battle of Gettysburg. You speak to the, the next party he he he rated a house and they got out a lot of the Confederate army right, and they, they, they really arrested double the in one number of of to them right. It was the one again received the, the Medal of Honor and you correctly said received or awarded. It's not something you went and it's not for a contest. It was awarded that for gallantry. Actually for the recapture of some cannon on the night of the of July 20, July 2nd. And after they recovered the cannon, which the rebels had taken over. They had charged down the hill with what they said was a wild Irish cry by fog about which is the Irish for clear the way the old Bible cry. They got the cannon back and then his colonel said, can you do something about those rebels that are shooting at us from the house he said I can they went over, pounded on the door demanded that they all come out and was a little bit taken twice as many of them came out as he had meant but but he'd he'd captured them and and marched them back. The famous story was that these guys had just arrived the providers and these old hands said, what boys are you. I said, I were the Green Mountain boys. I said, we knew you were green because we would never gone down there. We were in a risky business, but he but he did it so they they lost four men from the company killed another half dozen wounded. Several of them are buried there and get his burger and regularly go down to tip my hat to to them and get his burger and of course the long again that is his grave which is in St. Joseph's. They got back. Wait a minute. Where is where is Captain Lonergan's grave. St. Joseph's Archibald Street in Burlington. Okay, yes, I can see the cemetery from my window. You haven't been there you should. Yes, people should go. I'll meet you there. So, above the ground, above the ground. Listen, now, let's let's go to the to the return. After the the civil after the civil war was over then, and the Finians were then re emerging to the purpose of the innovation. I will throw in a quick description of the return of Lonergan and his, his man, most of them he dropped off in Rutland where they came back but they came into Burlington and received his heroes in city square with quite, quite big to do. There is a historical marker on St. Paul's street at city square city hall square, describing Lonergan and his exploits in this in the civil war. So by the time they civil war ended in 1865, the surviving Finians on both sides were ready to get back to the business of freeing Ireland. And as sometimes happens among Irish, not everybody agreed on how to do things. There was quite a discussion about whether they, they all pack their muskets and get on a ship and go to Ireland or some people who didn't want to risk that voice that we can strike a blow against the British Empire. Let's grab Canada and hold it hostage for Ireland. So there was a faction that did this and in 1866, there was quite a significant incursion into Canada, led mostly by a fellow named John O'Neill, former officer in the Union Army, who crossed over from Buffalo, New York, and went across the Niagara River there. And there was quite a, quite a to do over there with a couple of dozen men actually killed and some international concerns about this. Meanwhile, there was another branch that went across from Vermont and attack the Eastern townships of Canada. There's more in the red nature of a demonstration of the Irish cause than any hopes really of taking several hundred men and occupying Canada. I think you'd need a few more than that. It's really enough of a scaring of the British show that that's how Canada became a country. It was just provinces up to that point in 1866. I said, you guys have to defend yourselves. And they made Canada a dominion. That's why Canada Day is the first of July, 1867. The direct result of this attack by the Irish. Now the Irish were being used to some extent by President Johnson, who had succeeded after the presidency after thinking was assassinated. They were trying to get money out of the British for their support of the Confederacy. And after this little incursion of them saying hey we got several hundred thousand angry experienced Irish veterans you want us to push them across the border again. The British in fact did pay up for the damage they've done to the US shipping in particular. Meanwhile, there were events taking place back in Ireland and a lot of Finians went to Ireland and there was a series of uprisings. None of them. That's successful. But the cost continued. Then in 1870. There was another attempt to attack Canada. This time they decided not to try to cross Niagara River so they, the, the one prong of the attack went from Malone, New York, because you could walk from Malone across the border. And the other again, she was staged in St. Albans. Irishman came from all over the United States. Many of them ex Confederates. And came to St. Albans work their way up to Fairfield, where the farmers up there had been storing the weapons that they needed for this attack on Canada. And it was timed to catch the Canadians off guard while they were celebrating Queen Victoria's birthday. Unfortunately, the, the cause was riddled with informers. And the newspapers were full of the, the Fenian intentions. So came as no surprise to the, to the Canadians, they were anticipating the attack. And the, the police was quickly stopped at the border. Mainly by a group of citizen soldiers called home guards. Now one guy in particular was upset because the last time the, the Irish you come up there, they've broken into his house and destroyed his piano. So he's supposedly the guy that fired the first shot. And it killed a young fireman from Burlington. There's a, there's a very moving photo of his body there. So there was another fellow and that was John Rowe and another fellow named William O'Brien from Mariah New York were both killed and a number of people wounded, all on the Irish side. This was all under the command of John O'Neill again, the fellow that had done a credible job when they went across from Buffalo in 1866. But he had been warned by the US Marshal in Burlington. It was a strapping fellow that was the last commander of the Vermont Brigade in the Civil War. And he warned them and he went over and he told the Canadians what the Irish were up to, and he came back and the Irish went across, and he grabbed O'Neill by the scruff of the neck, threw him in his carriage and took him back to Burlington, where he was tried for violation of neutrality and served the term of, and the Windsor prison in Vermont. In Atlanta where the Fenians tapered off, the cause took on other names like Clan Nagel. But the Fenians had made an impression. There was still, the term is still used derogatorily to describe Irish nationalists by those who disapprove of the nationalism. The Fenian B with an expletive afterwards. And it became very much a part of the heritage, the historical nature, the identification of the movement for Irish nationalism. And then he goes back to John Omani from his farm up on Muller, out on St. John's Road just outside of Caracol and sure. And John Lottigan playing as a child down there on the on the Glen River and the Glen Ngapuka, the valley of the Puka, which is a, is like a witch-like figure. And it all ties together. Great stories of Finn McCool, who was one of the original leaders of the Fenians, the Fina that fought for the High Kings back in the early, early centuries of the current era. So what else would we want to. I don't know. I'm so moved by your, your, your encapsulation of the whole movement now. And I think that it's a wonderful thing that you have brought this alive to us, even in this short interview. And we want to mention the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership, from whom you have received a grant to do what, Liam. To commemorate the 150th anniversary of the 1870 attack. This was all supposed to happen last year. I gave the first of a series of lectures on the 9th of March, and then the, the ceiling fell in. So we're approaching it virtually and I would invite folks to check the Fenian Historical Society.org website in the next few weeks I'll be offering webinar series focused on the Fenian history and more detail than the wherever the cover here. So we'll be, we'll be there and also, Liam, we should mention the, the Burlington Irish Heritage Festival, which is going on right now and it's at www.burlington irish heritage.org, and it was at one of the those events in the last few years where I first met you and attended your wonderful talk about the Fenians.   So it's a reminder that one man can make a difference. People that believe in the cause and work for it and are willing to sacrifice can can ultimately make a difference. Yes. Fenians were a reference when when they when Ireland finally gained at least partial independence in the Easter uprising of 1917. There was a man named Patrick Pierce that led the, the group that occupied the general post office in Dublin. And before he had spoken at a at the burial of Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa, an unrepentant Fenian. And he pierced said about the British he said, the fools, the fools, the fools, they've left us are Fenian dead. As long as we have these graves. Ireland unfree will Ireland unfree will ever be at peace. So very direct lineage from what the Fenians did to the to the current status of Ireland, where it's at least partially independent or Republic of Ireland. 26 counties. Thank you so much Liam for your wonderful talk now and we'll look forward to hearing more from about about the story of the history, but from the Champlain Valley National Heritage partnership talks that you will give and and hopefully you'll return to us here on Channel 17. Always welcome. Thank you so much. Thank you for the, for the invitation. Sloan. Launcher sluncher girl Molly.


Santa knows where all the best toys are, and this December, many of the Hunter smartphones are just a penny, with service in Appalachian Wireless. Stop by your local Appalachian Wireless to check out all of the great smartphone deals that consistently top the nice lists. This Christmas is truly going to be bigger and better than ever. Better service, bigger savings, that is. That's today's Appalachian Wireless! This Sunday, the Kentucky Ballet Theater from Lexington will be at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg to perform a night before Christmas. However, first through fourth grade students in Floyd County were given the opportunity to preview the show today. Over 1,000 students participated in an educational outreach program where they not only landed the chance to see the show, but engaged in different lessons in between excerpts from the ballet. They will get a talk from our lighting director, Tiny Harper, about lighting, which is really interesting too, how it changes the mood on stage. Then Norbey Risco, who is our artistic director, will close out with a small talk on ballet terms. He will get some kids up on stage, they will get to try a couple 360s. I think it's very informational, and again we're putting an education piece along with it so the kids can learn a little bit about it before they actually come to the theater. So it's sort of like we're the traveling road show, and we're all here in Prestonsburg having a great time. Officials say the show has something for everyone to enjoy. The storyline, it's like you have Santa in the workshop, but you've got some little elves that misbehave. And you also get into the house, and you have that mouse that's just going to be jumping around, et cetera, et cetera. So I don't want to give the whole story out, but it's a very cute story, and again lots of kids make it wonderful to see. The Kentucky Ballet Theaters a night before Christmas will be performed at the Mountain Arts Center Sunday at 3 p.m. This will be the Kentucky Ballet Theater's last performance for the season. Reporting in Prestonsburg for EKB News, I'm Shelby Steele.


In my last video talk I discussed the impact of COVID-19 and the lockdown on the work culture as to how work from home will now become a norm. Today I would be discussing how the travel, hotel and tourism sectors have got hugely devastated by the coronavirus pandemic in India and globally. Alexi Kravchenko, Economic Affairs Officer at the UNS CAP office has rightly said in his article that many estimates are being thrown around about the potential impact of COVID-19 on global and domestic economies. Perhaps the only thing they agree on at this stage is that it will be bad. Yes, it will be bad. The main source of this agreement seems to be on exactly how bad it is going to get. The answer largely depends on a number of things. How long the pandemic will last, the severity of social distancing, restrictions on business and the magnitude and effectiveness of government stimulus packages. That's very relevant. Care ratings agency have conducted a study on the Indian tourism industry which is projected to book a revenue loss of Rs 1.25 trillion in the calendar year 2020 as a fallout of the shutdown of hotels and suspension of flight operations due to the coronavirus pandemic. During April-June, the Indian tourism industry is expected to book a revenue loss of Rs 69,400 crores. With travel restrictions and social distancing having become a rule and preventive measure in India and worldwide, travel and tourism are at complete halt. The impact on the inbound and outbound passengers is expected to be most severe in the next couple of quarters or little more. India's total foreign tourist arrival stood at Rs 10.9 million and the foreign exchange earnings stood at more than Rs 200,000 crores during 2019. But now with travel restraints in India for over 80 countries and almost all the flights of major airlines being banned, the Indian domestic as well as foreign travel and tourism industry is expected to see a severe drastic negative impact in 2020 and beyond. You all can completely strike off vacations from your calendars and bucket lists for the next 18-24 months minimum. This is in light of so many factors, predominantly social distancing and nations not wanting to take risk of importing coronavirus through tourism and travelers. And there is also complete uncertainty about COVID's own future. You will be shocked to note that the European travelers may be able to count on a special passport now to get into other EU countries. European Union is actually contemplating issuing COVID-19 Passport, a kind of EU-wide health travel document which could be used by all Europeans arriving and leaving on vacation by air, road, rail and water. Tourism is obviously seen as crucial in saving economies such as Italy, Spain, France and Croatia who depend heavily on the sector of tourism. Tourism represents 10% of EU's GDP, accounts for 12% of jobs and generates over Euro 400 billion in revenue. As it appears under the new trend, I see every traveler may have to carry a certificate issued by some credible health agency manifesting that he is not infected by COVID-19. This will perhaps become a reality now in order for anyone to walk into a plane or a train or a bus or to a foreign nation or even interstate. The only hope, believe me, now is that the domestic travel and tourism should be expected to substitute foreign tourism demand, at least for now, at least for the time being. For some countries this will not nearly be enough, yes, especially in terms of generating foreign currency revenues. But what to do, this is the harsh reality of today. Thank you.


Happy World Introvert Day. Actually, the second of January is World Introvert Day. Although not a national holiday, after an article written by psychologist Felicitis Hain in 2011, people worldwide have started to adopt the date with the hopes of heightening awareness of introversion in an extrovert-centred society. So, it's not surprising that it occurs directly after the holiday period. Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year's, an introvert's worst nightmare when it comes to parties or relatives asking too many questions. A national introversion day to recharge introverted souls. In the spirit of the day, there are 10 psychological studies that deepen our understanding and appreciation of introverts. 1. Introvert's process more information than extroverts. A psychologist named Hans Eischnick developed a theory suggesting that an introvert's brain activity is faster and has a higher amount than extroverts. So placing them in stimulation-high environments, like concerts, they will quickly become overloaded and shut down. 2. There are four kinds of introversion. A study of 500 people discovered four kinds of introversion. Social is a preference for socialising in small groups. Thinking is thoughtful and self-reflective. Anxious seek out solitude due to feeling awkward and self-conscious around other people. And restrained and reserved are people who prefer to think before they act. While all unique, most introverts are a mixture of all four. 3. Introverts talk more concretely. In 2012 participants were asked to describe the same five photos of ambiguous situations. Those with a higher rating on the introversion scale tended to mention more concrete words such as numbers and specific people and make more distinctions such as but and accept. 4. Introverts are less happy than extroverts. A common fact about introverts, happiness is found higher in extroverts not only in western countries but also more community-based cultures, both equally in eastern and western parts of the world. 5. Introverts perceive human faces with the same value as looking at flowers. In 2010, 28 introverted adults had their brain activity monitor test their levels of P300 with higher extroversion resulting in higher levels of P300. More interestingly, however, was that participants displayed the same level of P300 looking at human faces as they did when looking at flowers, singling that they valued both equally. 6. Introverts have vivid imaginations. They also have a strong ability to problem-solve. The downside is that they may get stuck inside their heads, over-analyzing and replay events. 7. Introverted minds don't reward risk-taking. In studying the minds of both introverts and extroverts while gambling, the results determined that introverts produce less dopamine, a brain chemical used to process rewards and positive emotions. This means that they don't consider risk-like activities such as gambling rewarding. 8. Introverts live in secluded environments. In a series of three studies, results showed that while extroverts live in an open and flat regions, introverts lean towards living in more secluded environments such as mountainous regions. 9. Introverts have a better ability to comprehend abstract thought. A Harvard University associate conducted a study that found that introverts have a larger and thicker grey matter in their prefrontal cortex, of which is linked to abstract thought and decision-making, indicating that they may have a better ability for both skills. Finally, 10. Introverts are more likable. While not very social, introverts are commonly the observers in a group, leading to them having a better understanding of people, and in turn becoming very likable. So celebrate your introverted selves. Thanks for watching.


what's up guys and welcome to trendy updates our SPM boys now and the trendiness today is offset of formerly Migos a group and they had no blood relation between him and other Migos members as people globally thought now in an in a recent interview by a rapper Offset Alieza Mufanya he was able to squash these widely published response reports of that they were related with the takeoff and quarrel like Alieza said while takeoff is indeed quarrel's nephew Offset is often referred as quarrel's cousin but they are not biologically related now we know Migos had quite broken off even before the late takeoff was killed or shot now Alieza broke up with the Offset stormed out of the group without actually giving a reason as to why he left where the public one had left Migos but shortly after there is the fatal shooting of takeoff on by you know ultimately this was perceived as the end of Migos and Offset and Mufanya has been recording an album here as the being a recording an album and he's just about to release it now during the Easter Sunday evening we also know Offset got at a two of the late takeoff and this was supposed to honor him how is it going on for him you let takeoff and he said it's hard for me to talk about things right now I've never talked about this stuff seriously talking about take is hard man talking about all this is hard that's why I don't to be honest it hurts like it's gonna put me in a mood and I don't want to get in that mood Alieza was saying that he actually just is in partial denial and that is how he's able to cope with it he just believes that it's fake and I don't say nothing to nobody about it massive tattoo on the back of his is back rather you know just to honor him picture exactly because it is his favorite picture of him and I like it because he had his glasses off and I love you for life and after that is him honoring takeoff I abasti let us know down on the comment section what are your thoughts about Offset actually not being related to quavo and the late takeoff as contrary to what people believed let us know down on the comment section but in the meantime keep it trendy updates HAPPAA SPM BIRDS


Hi everybody it's Sam at Mixed Up Crowd, thank you for watching my tutorial today. I'm going to be showing you how to make this really beautiful Christmas mini album. So I have absolutely loved making this and it is just so heavy now, it's got a real weight to it. But yeah there's something about a mini album when you hold one and it's all done, it's just lovely. So this one is using these lovely papers by Echo Park. Now these are last years Christmas collection but I will, yeah 2017, I got given these as a gift so I will try and source out and I may even well speak to Louise at Thompson's Craft Supplies and see if she does have any of these left and if she does then I will put a little notice or something on my page on Facebook if there's anybody interested and you'd like to get these if you live in the UK because she ships to the UK only. So these are the papers, they are gorgeous, you get this big sticker sheet and you get all these kind of cut out, I show you here as well. Look at all these lovely images, really really nice and really fun and I've used so many of them throughout this. So the whole album was done with this here, okay. So it's just 12 sheets of 12x12 double-sided papers and then a 12x12 elements stickers. So if I just bring this up here you can see the front and I've used some of my real-looking real-life leaves. These are little bells, you can just hear it there and then these are some puffy stickers from American crafts that I've added onto there as well. This bow is a lovely piece of fabric kind of ribbon that I've had which says Noel all on it and I've had it for ages. I brought this in Totnes in a little independent craft shop and I'm so glad I did and I've saved it till now because it works so lovely with this album. So once I was doing it I realized I needed to change these, I'm going to make these gold, I'm going to buy some gold binder rings and these metal corners here I'm also going to put on the back page as well but for now it's perfect, it works well. So I'm just going to give you a quick run through of the pages and then we can get into the tutorial. So you've got only three styles of pages, one is this pocket with a photo mat, you can put two photo mats in here if you want and each of these hold a six by four photo. It's a six by four album so I thought they're the most common photos used so that's what I'm going to do. I've got these little journaling sections here so I'm going to write little kind of just a little you know piece about whatever photos go here and it's just a nice little memory to keep there and they're just kind of in between every few pages. Then I've got this flap page so this fits a four by four picture and then each of these sides fit another six by four so it's one two three pictures you can fit here and then I kept this piece spare to either add some more of maybe these bits here that I've got once I have my pictures because they match the collection or some more journaling just talking about the picture in that moment. Then the other style sorry four styles I guess then I've just got plain so this would just fit a six by four photo straight on there but again you could add more pockets you could add other styles of pages is entirely up to you. Here's the pocket one again with another photo mat and again you can see all those beautiful papers I just bring that up look at that lovely little scene that I've created there and then yeah the tuck spots style so this one here so I've created these little tuck spots again with a photo mat you can put two photo mats in here so this could potentially hold four six by four pictures just in this page. It's very easy to adapt this album for whatever needs you want but it is primarily meant for six by four pictures but you could certainly fill it with four by fours and things like that and yeah that's how it just then goes so there's another flap page all these blank ones see the papers just all work perfectly another pocket one there with the photo mat this one I really like this little tuck spot so I've just put the tree and I've just stuck it at the very bottom there and then this photo mat just pops in there and that could easily fit two photo mats in this style tuck spot so just give you other ideas of how you can obviously use them another little journal card another flap there love this one with the big Noel these were all those stickers in the pack in the kit and I've just mounted them on craft card and then fussy cut them again another plain photo mat there love that print there this one another little tuck spot have yourself a merry little Christmas coming to the end now there's 10 pages 20 sides so it fills loads still got to do that one I forgot to do that one and then the very back page I've even used that again for another pocket and you could certainly again put more than the one in there but if I just bring that up again look at that it's just so pretty so yeah it's it's been a labour of love I've absolutely enjoyed this it's very easy to do and it doesn't matter if you don't have eyelets you can just obviously keep it without them and even if you don't have these rings you could just put ribbon through and hold the whole thing together with ribbon alright so many many ways to adapt this to suit your needs but I hope you like it and let's get into the tutorial and make it okay so first of all you're going to need to just prepare your pages and your front and back cover now I don't know how many pages I'm gonna want for this and the good thing is is you can just add you know as many as you want as you go because it's going to be on those ring binders it doesn't matter so at the moment I've cut ten pieces of five by nine no sorry five by eight and a quarter so it's the width of a four card stock and then you'll get two pieces out of each sheet of card stock so I've got a six by four by six photo here and basically it will have room to go on here with a mat room for the ring pools and then to do some decoration I want to stick some stickers and femurs maybe do a tiny little bit of journaling there as well and also we're going to have some interactive pages as well with some flip sections and some little photo mats and stuff like that so I just thought it was a nice size if you kind of think if you keep it off to the right give yourself half an inch half an inch half an inch and this section here you'll have your ring pools and you know you just got room to do a little bit of decoration but my focus was to make this purely for six four by six photos okay so then for your front and your back I've got some really strong chipboard that I've made up here so this is now I'd say it's yeah it's just over one mil and it's just the backs of my paper packs I've just put them back to back or front to front so that the backs are on show so I've just got the plain white and not the print just in case any paper you were using was maybe a little bit thinner and it might have been a bit see-through if you you know fold them in on themselves stick them you know face up then yeah you don't see that so these pieces here are five and a half by nine okay so you've just got a nice if I just bring this in so again if you imagine you're gonna have the ring pools about there and it sits in the middle okay so I said they're gonna come in let me grab the ones that I'm gonna be using so I plan on using these larger binder rings and these are the two inch ones so if you imagine that it's gonna be about like so that's where it's gonna kind of go through and we're gonna reinforce all this I'm gonna put eyelets on it it's gonna be a super strong really lovely little album but it means that we've got this whole thickness to you know fill our pages and we can have quite a lot of bulk in this album so yeah it's gonna be good fun so you will need two pieces of that for your front and your back and then like I said I've cut ten but you may want less you may have more it's entirely up to you and then to decorate you're gonna need two pieces I need to decide what piece I want for the back but this is to wrap around our front and our back covers so this is a piece of ten and a half by I guess just under seven and a half and basically we're gonna start sticking this that's the backside but this is going around and create a really nice cover okay so I've just covered this with a strong double-sided tape this is my scotch tape that I like to use and I'm just using my bone folder as I always do just to go over and just make sure that there's no air bubbles you can use a wet glue over that all of it if you want but I like to use some of my strong double-sided tape and a little bit of my wet glue just to give it wiggle room but I've covered the whole thing so I've made sure that they line right up perfectly just in case again you've got a thinner paper to cover some double-sided tapes can be a little bit thick and you'll actually see them so you don't want that so if you keep them really close together then that will stop that from happening so grab my poke tool so I'm just going to pull off all the backing okay I've gone ahead and put wet glue over the top and then you just want to sit this making sure it's in the middle and you've got an even border should have about an inch maybe just under on the left and the right hand side there but my paper I just stick that down flip it over quickly is this kind of pattern so it doesn't matter if you've gone a bit crooked for example obviously if you're using something that's striped so maybe this side you need to make sure obviously you're getting it nice and even so flip it over and just go over and just spread out any glue and make sure all that tape and everything is all stuck down okay and then if you just go around each side and just fold it now we're going to be covering over this as well so what you want to do is just I'm going to pop some of my double-sided tape along the four edges here and again I've just put some wet glue there and then I also just like to always run a bead of glue actually right in the kind of the sides there of the chipboard because we've got that kind of one two mil height to it you want the card you know your paper that you're wrapping around to stick to the side of that as well okay and then I like to do mine so I'm going to be putting my corner protectors on this so I like to bring in my corners and then actually I just thought I need to put a bit of glue on here and here so it sticks to that as well so I just bring it over so that you get a perfect square on your chipboard and if you get your bone folder and work it in just bring this up so you can see so there you go you can just see I've really pushed it against that chipboard so you can see the outline of it underneath so you get a perfect square here okay so again go down to the next one pop some glue kind of to the left and the right of that cornered square and then bring that over doesn't matter if it's not an exact square in the middle but it just keeps it all nice and lined up if it is and then just work in that glue and I've always done my albums like this I know lots of people do it the other way and they cut but you don't have to cut anything here and even if you don't want to use the corner protectors this is still a nice way to do it and then that's all going to come up okay so there's my two so I'm just going to do the same on the other ones okay and then I've already got glue on here just pop a bit more but I'm just going to pop some on those triangles that we folded over because obviously that won't have any glue on like so and then just bring over all your sides so I'm just going to just tack them all and then I can go back around and work them all in better okay and then just go around spend some time make sure you're squeezing all that glue and you're getting really nice edges there to your cover okay so there is my front and my back and they're really nice really strong so now we need to just cover the inside so I've just cut myself two pieces of this nice red you can see that it's going to cover that back perfectly and this measures five and a quarter by eight and a half and you basically want to stick that onto the backs of both your front and your back cover so they're like so okay so they're both done really solid now they're so nice love these so next we need to decide where we're going to start punching our holes so you want to get your card whatever you're using I've got my craft card for my pages and just line a page line a line a page down so you get a nice even border I can see I've got that red but I'm using here nice and even okay and then you want to come in this is entirely up to you but you want to come in I'm going to come in about half an inch now I'm using my screw punch because I'm going to be punching through obviously thick layers if you've got a hand punch and you know it go through them fine I know the crocodile will go through this with no problems otherwise if you don't have any then you can use a pokey tool something like this and just poke through enough and then use your eyelet punch if you're going to use that if you're not even going to use that then you can kind of decorate your holes if you have just kind of poked them and you can decorate them with little circles over the top but again I'll show you that kind of stuff when we get to it so I've got my largest largest one in there and let's do some pencil markings first of all before I get right into this so it's five inches so I'm just marking at two and a half just in the middle there and I think I'm going to come up about an inch from the middle and do each of my no bit more actually I think I'm going to do yeah an inch and a quarter from the middle okay so inch and a quarter so an inch and a quarter and then come in I think three eighths of an inch will be fine all these marks on in there to rub it all out three eighths so there's that one there okay so ignore that cross okay so there you can see I marked the middle which is two and a half because this is five inches and then from that two and a half center I came out one and a quarter and again one and a quarter and you can just see the pencil marks I've done there so then I'm going to hole punch this first like so and then pop it back over here make sure it's all nice and even sorry if it's gone a bit loud but we've got a massive rainstorm just come in and then I'm just drawing a circle inside those circles so that now you can see where to mark on this okay and then you have to pump this a few times there we go perfect and again the other one and then yeah and just see I bring up there you go see them both so now with that piece grab your back obviously making sure your card it's all the face in the right way you don't want upside down on that side so I'm putting them both on top of each other facing no I'm telling you and doing it the wrong way I know it's got to be like that so there you go over the top and then I can just again draw right through and then just do the same okay so again there's those you can just make them out one there and one there so now they will marry up perfectly and then with that page one that we've done you basically want to use that as your guide for all your other pieces so first of all I'm just gonna go on each one make sure they're all nice and lined up and just trace each one like so okay so they are all done you can see they all line up I can see my hand underneath and that's what you want and obviously that's all gonna sit on there and that is all gonna sit on top like so okay now I want to decorate sorry now I want to protect all of my holes so I've got all I'm using gold because I'm also going to be using these corner protectors so you're gonna have two there and then two on the back and I think I'm gonna buy some more so that I can have so they'll be on the back piece there because I think I want them on all four so I don't know whether to just do all four on the front and then just do the back because obviously I can take it apart whenever but I think it looks nice on all four pieces there and ideally I'm just thinking now it'd be quite nice to get these in gold but I can replace that so that's not a problem I'm not worried about that now so basically we'll do that later but I'm just getting my eyelets or grommets and just push them through and this by doing all this it will mean your album will last forever you know it's not gonna have all where the pressure spots are all protected with this metal hardware so you can see that I've just pushed them through they just come through that side there and then I've just got my pliers these are really old pliers but they're a little bit more they've got more of they go in deeper so I can just get them around that little bit more than the actual newer ones okay so that's the front done I'm gonna do the back and then I'm also gonna do all of my pages okay I just put it all together just to see how it looked and it's so good I am so pleased with this really is lovely and it's just gonna yeah once it's got I'm gonna put some nice ribbons through this because I've got the way I'm gonna decorate it you're gonna have the ribbon kind of working its way all the way around we're gonna have stuff all over here and it's just gonna look fab so now I just want to put these on so I'm just gonna take this back off again take the front off I'm just gonna put all four on the front and then once I order the rest then I can put them on the back as well so pop it on flip it over and then I like to use just an old rag or some tissue and just lightly and just bring that up you can see there how nice that looks so yeah I'm just gonna go and do that on all four corners okay there it is again with the gold eyelets that just look so lovely so professional but yeah I definitely need to change my binder rings because the silver I just yeah I don't like it but like I said it's not affecting me doing this and it doesn't look terrible but yeah I just want it all gold so I will replace that or even I might see if I can get red ones that would look really nice as well so now the fun part of decorating the front and all of our pages okay so I started to gather bits together and on the one of the 12 by 12 sheets of that paper pack it is just it is gorgeous I know I've already said how much I love it but yeah are these ones here so these are these lovely little cutouts I've cut out the Mary and Bright which was down here and then I just popped it on some red cardstock which is the same red cardstock that I used to line inside here so I'm trying to keep that same red will be I think kind of a matte layer that I use a lot throughout the fold the album because it does go perfectly with the the bread that's throughout this paper pack so I've used that and then I have had this for ages such a long time and it's this beautiful I mean it's I guess it is a ribbon it's just a really nice thick roll of fabric it's a canvas it's very very thick it's actually a linen yeah it's a really thick linen which I guess is a canvas so it's what's used and it's got no l now what I'm going to do is I'm going to have it stuck on the front under here this is going to go over the top so the no l comes out here probably two no elves so that'll be enough to tie it up and then behind all of this I'm going to put this foliage leaves just to kind of bring out the fact that they are here as well I just want this to become really textured quite fun to look at I'm going to pop some down there I don't want too many but just just enough just kind of yeah a few up there and a few in that corner and then it's going to be all raised on this foam now these ones here are really thick these measure because they're thicker than my normal adhesive and these are foam adhesives and these are from I want to say hobby craft I'm pretty sure they were and they are one two three four nearly four mil so they're really thick now that's going to give me the height so that this can still stick but these can obviously go underneath as well this is going to be stuck directly onto that with some hot glue so that will be attached anywhere I'm not too worried about that but I'm going to have a lot going on so I'm going to crack on and get that all done and then I'll show you when I'm finished okay so there is my cover I love this it's just so pretty and I've got little bells there that are like the berries and just hear them jingle put some real looking leaves there so it just kind of complements the lovely images there and then I've got that half of ribbon so I've got the three no owls there I'm going to do the same on the back but I don't know what I'm doing yet so at the minute just got that one half but it's really secure it's really strong it's not going anywhere I might put some Winkistella over the Mary and bright as well just to add some sparkle to the front but now we want to start doing the pages so I'm going to do a lot of duplicate pages and I will go through each of those styles if you want to go ahead and just map all of your pages and just put your four by six photos on top and just have one photo on each of these which will give you 20 pages if you're sticking to the 10 pages 20 which will give you 20 photos if you're just sticking to the 10 pages so this piece here you can see that sits perfectly and it gives you a nice kind of balanced spine there so I've done the same gap that you've got from the the eyelet to the edge from the eyelet into here things like that just help keep it all balanced and a bit more finished okay so this piece here measures your four yeah four and three quarters by seven and a quarter so it's entirely up to you how you want to decorate this album but that I would say is a good size mat so this one's going to go down here on my first page and then what I've done is I've got this one here and this is going to go on top again with a nice frame of that pattern paper like so and then you can see there so when it sits over the top it's got a nice frame and then this is going to have a photo on it so this will fit a six by four photo so I made sure that this one is yet four and a half so you've got you can do a four and a quarter by six by five and three quarter layer on top which I'll probably do and then the photo so it's got a nice frame yeah by seven so there's there's plenty of room there to decorate and so on and then basically that will stick and open and you can have another photo here and then a four by four photo here and then some journaling space or pop some stickers and bits of pieces like that I will share it when it's filled with photos just so you can kind of get more inspiration there as well but that's what I'm going to do for the first page and I'm going to duplicate this on probably maybe four pages have this same layout okay so if you just want to carry on and kind of prepare those ones okay so I've been busy getting lots of stuff done because the rest is very easy to talk you through so I have popped the back one on so if I just flip this over and you can see there I've just put this one which is Santa Claus has come into town and I've just attached it exactly the same way that I did the front that I showed you okay so that's easy so that's now all in place then I've started going through and in the pack one of the papers I'll just show you you get all these kind of different you know cutouts and there was one 12 by 12 sheet that had these size ones here so what I've gone ahead and done so I've just put a little bit of the same craft card around the edge whole punch to the same distance as these ones underneath and I'm going to use these for journaling so I can put a little I can write something and then stick it on here just talking about you know that particular picture and you know just kind of capture any kind of fun memories that may have happened I can just write them down so these are little journaling pieces that kind of flap in the middle so I had showed you this piece here and I will show you how many of them I ended up using and talk you through the mats now what I've started doing is these pockets so I'm going to show you a pocket in a minute and then I've just done tuck tuck spots and then these photo mats so you can put a six by four photo so that's two pictures that will go even on the front cover here and I've just you can see what I've done there just done some die cuts and just kind of stuck it onto the front so I'm going to show you how to do the pocket I'm going to talk you through these mats and layers for these ones which I showed you and then basically what I've done is I'm calling this the flap so this is flap this is pocket and then this is tuck spot here and you can see that just tucks in and again it's another photo mat they are the three layouts that I've done throughout this whole album so what I will do is tell you how many flaps I've done okay so I've got one two three okay so you would need four of those on the other side of every page I'm keeping it plain I'm just going to have a six by four photo stuck there now if you wanted to you could do the pockets on these pages as well and then you again you get two photos on there and two photos on this you get you know four pictures whereas I'm going to get three but that's fine you know and I can always change it if I want to so the pockets are really nice so the pockets I have done one two three four and then I've got one at the very back which I'm going to show you and that'll be five okay so you'll need five of the pockets tuck spots are whatever you want to do basically they're just these little pieces that I die cut so this was the sticker sheet that come with the kit I stuck all the stickers on some craft card and then just fussy cut them and then I've just made these little kind of tuck spots stuck it down on the corner very similar to what I've done with my other mini albums with the tuck spots that I've done but I like that I've stuck the center and you've got the little bell there and then once the photos on top now I made sure that I kept the really colorful patterned paper on these kind of photo mats so that when whoever you know of myself when I take it out and I look at the photos I still get to appreciate this nice beautiful paper so any of my really patterned paper and sorry simple paper again there I've made sure that I've got really nice papers again so I get to appreciate them but where I've done the flap pages so for example maybe not so much that one because that's still nice you still get to see some of it but I've kept them all plainer there we go you can see there on the back okay so I've used that whole pack in this kit in this mini album so I'm really really pleased with that okay so let's go through and do the pocket this one's a nice pocket as well it's a little tuck spot and it's just the tree that I fussy cut and I've just stuck the very bottom of the tree there and then that pitch about can just sit in there I really like that one again little journaling's there these are the other ones there that you can see that's another nice one and I've stuck all of these you can see they're really 3d where I've put them on the foam adhesive there and again that's another photo mat you could also put two of these in so you'd have four pictures just in this one pocket so you know you can put a lot of pictures in this album but let's just finish this last piece off there's that one there as well oh I need to do that not done that one so I'm going to do the pocket now for this so and I'll talk you through the sizes you need for your photo mats so for these ones here it's entirely up to you again how many you want so I'm going to put all the quantities and these measurements in my blog but I'm just going to show you how to make them here so this is a piece of six and a half by four and a half and that's the craft card then the layer on top is four and a quarter by six and a quarter and I've just done that on both sides so those are your photo mats that will go in all of the areas that I showed you okay so that one's going to be for this and then I've already gone ahead and kind of started decorating that once you can see what I've done there and that's going to lay it on top of that mat there and then this is the pocket so this is the craft card and you're going to need a piece of eight by three and a half eight by three and a half and you want to score on the three sides at half an inch okay so you can see my score lines there I'm just going to burnish those score lines and then you just want to cut wedges off you can cut right across but you will kind of want to do them a bit more angled I guess like so okay that's what you're going to do before I stick it down I'm going to stick these so the mat to go on top is two and five eighths of an inch by six and five eighths that one's going to go on there and then the layer again to go on top of that is two and three eighths of an inch by six and three eighths of an inch so I'm just going to stick those two all on top of each other okay and then I'm just going to run some of my red tape because it sticks obviously very well and it will stick well to this craft card just going to pop that on all of those three tabs okay so this one's gone on the back page but if you were putting it on a normal page to say I'll use this one as an example you just want to obviously make sure that you line it up within that mat there so bring it down to the bottom you should have an equal oh gosh I don't want to put it on there I'll cover that with a photo but you should have an equal about one quarter of an inch all the way around okay so this one's going to go down here so just keep it equal from the sides and then that little photo mat can pop in there there we go how lovely does that look so cute really like this I just need to obviously decorate that but you needed 20 of those big mats that I told you about earlier but that is it and I just I adore it it's very easy to do it took me probably between having lunch housework took about five hours I reckon to do this album and I just love this lovely big fabric bow there and it's just gonna look so nice in my basket so there you have it I can't wait to fill it all with photos I hope you've enjoyed it I just need to finish change those rings and obviously put these on the the back pages the back board here but yeah they have it it's gorgeous so I hope you've enjoyed this lovely little Christmas mini album tutorial I'd love to see all your versions make sure you share them over on mixed up crafters Facebook group but until next time guys thanks for watching and I'll see you again soon


Mae Gavyn Clinch yn Llywodraeth Fyllgrifennidol i'r beth sy'n gallu cyd-igol ar y dyfynol, rydyn ni'n hoffi'r gweld sy'n mynd i'r cyd-igol ar y ddweud o'r cyd-igol, ar y ddweud o'r lŵr cwrwm. Mae'r ysgrifennu yn olygu i'r llyfrwyng yng Nghymru, yn ymddylch i'r llyfrwyng yng nghymru, ac yn ymddylch i'r llyfrwyng, a'r hyn o'r ffordd yn ymddylch i'r llyfrwyng. Felly, byddwn i'r problemau ar y dyfodol, ymddylch i'r llyfrwyng yng nghymru yn ymddylch i'r llyfrwyng yng Nghymru. Mae'n iedda i'n meddylch i'r llyfrwyng i'r llyfrwyng. Felly, haunted byddwn i'n meddylch i'r llyfrwyng, mae'n gweithio i wneud eich meddylch yr hyn yn tymnu sylfaenol i gael. Mae'r ddeilwr aethwyr mewn gwneud ymddylch i'r llyfrwyng Fylau Diddym minsuol gyda'r llyfrwyng â'r perneidau yng Nghymru. Mae'r pwysig o gyflogion, mae'n meddwl o bwysig o'r Plou Sigmar. Byddwn yn rhoi ei gydigon, felly yn ôl rhai cyfleu cyflogion o'r prysg ac mae'n meddwl i'w meddwl yn ei meddwl o bÕll, yn mynd i siaradau cyd-rhywbodaeth yng Nghymru. Fyddog am y prosiectiaeth ymddangos, saith yn ôl i gyflogion, sef modd unig i ridw i'r i'r bwysig o'r prosiect. Felly, mae'r bwysig wedi cael ei wneud yng Nghymru a Llywodraeth Llywodraeth. Mae'r Ffiond-y-Farr, mae'r UL, mae'r Havann O'Ceef, mae'r Meri McEllid, mae'r James Hyn, mae'r Limerick IT, mae'r Crenoginti, mae'r GMIT, mae'r South, mae'r Janifer, mae'r IT Slygo, mae'r Meri Fleming, mae'r Nwnor McGwyn, mae'r Gynllunau, mae'r Brian McGonagol, mae'n Lettr Cenni. Felly, mae'n meddwl i'r Llywodraeth yng nghymru, ond maen nhw'n meddwl i'r meddwl i fynd i fynd i'n meddwl yndwy'n meddwl, mae'r gael yng nghymru. Felly mae'r r picturedr hwn o'r Mwg rhaoddi'n mewn gwasanaeth. Dyna'r moog yn bwysig i'r moddiem ac yn yma'r moog wedi'u llwyffredig yma, ond yn ddylai ddweud o'r holl oeddion o'r hunain gweledd o hyn oedd unrhyw ffordd dacton yn yma. Felly dylunio os gymryd i'w gwirioneddau, a ddiddordeb y gair, yn maen nhw yma yma yn ei ffordd. A weithio'r hollod yma yn mynd yn gwirionedd fel o oedd yn Y Lon. But if I look at my own institute, and Maggie Slaggo, 70% of our undergraduates are now first generation students, so there's a transition that their parents also need to make. Then there are other modules supporting faculty supporting people in our institutions to support the students and also something that's been touched upon already, this transitioning of adult learners from the workplace into full-time higher education. Mae'r cynnigau wedi'i gwneud yr ysgrifennu'r gael o'r ffordd ynglyn â'r sgwrs ymlaen chi'n gwneud. Felly yw'r ysgrifennu'r 1 yw'r modul. Felly yw'r modul yn ysgrifennu'n gwneud. Felly yw'r ysgrifennu'n gwneud. Felly yw'r ysgrifennu'n gwneud, mae'n gwneud yma'r modul. Felly mae'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd. Felly mae'r modul, gyda'r modul 1.5, i'n tanfodol sy'n ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd, mae'n amdano'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r hunain yn credu sy'n cyfo'r lleidol ymgyrchu'r ffordd sgwrs ymlaen i hyn a chi'n gwneud. Bydd y ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd i'r gael ymddangos ymgeithwch a ch Notes. Felly mae'r bwysigol yr un ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd o'r ffordd. So we're looking in terms of the model and the framework. We've looked at Jilly Samman's edivities. She says for learning to be successful and happy, participants need to be supported through structured developmental process. So I'll show you the slide with the weeks. Week zero being an orientation week and that really ties in with stage one access a ddweud ymgyrch sy'n sgaffoddau a sgaffoddau i'r ddweud sy'n sgaffoddau i'r ddweud ymgyrch, ac mae yna'n mwych 5, mae yna'n gweithio'n modul yn ysgrifennu. Mae'n mynd i ystafell sy'n ddim yn gweithio'r modul yma yn ysgrifennu. So, week 0 and week 5 really wrap around the actual content itself. One thing that actually Simon talks about are e-moderators, and this is kind of going to be important to us, who will be the e-moderators. And I'll come on to that in a moment. So, we've talked about this being a MOOC, and most people know about MOOCs and that the format of the MOOC, they're particularly ex MOOCs. People are starting to talk about being an ex MOOC-C MOOC kind of guy. Primarily they're ex MOOCs and talking heads, and we're looking at creating something a little bit different here, a different kind of menu. So this is, we think of MOOCs and we think of who participates in MOOCs. They're well qualified, tend to be over 25, and they also tend to be male from the research. But that's clearly not our demographic profile. We're looking at a MOOC for 17 to 19 year olds in the senior cycle, and obviously a mixture of male and female. One of the other issues with MOOCs is that completion rates are pretty low, and that's not something that is really going to be acceptable to our project. We need to get people through to complete the project. So current average completion rate, according to Katie Jordan, this is from our website a couple of days ago, is 15%. Our own MOOC that I mentioned, we had 48%, so clearly there are a lot of MOOCs that have only one or two percent completion. So in order to address those issues I've just highlighted, the transition MOOC will have two paths through it. The first path is really the self-directed route, signposted, and this is what you'd see in a Coursera, a future-learn MOOC. It's the basic model that they use, but we're looking to create a second path which is teacher-facilitated, and so a change in MOOC design. That really will allow for a flipped classroom, a flipped approach to the learning or to blended learning. So if the teacher will work with the students in class, they do certain activity and then they can interact with the MOOC offline in the evenings, part of their homework, and so we're looking at creating a pack for teachers to work with. But going back to the e-moderators, so the e-moderators could be ourselves in IT Sligo, could be members of the teaching cohort, or it could even be as we run through the MOOC and through cycles of the MOOC we could have second and third level students becoming e-moderators and supporting the younger students coming through. So badges, this is another important component of the MOOC and we use badges to incentivise completion. It might become some healthy competition within classrooms or within schools to collect the badges, to earn the badges for each of the modules and for the final completion. So the structure then, I don't know how much of that you can see, but the structure is that at the top left we have a landing page that's then moving on to introductions and to some overviews and this is in week zero, so sort of structured supporting them, giving them an introduction and getting them to understand how they navigate the MOOC. A lot of MOOCs are kind of straight in into week one and straight into your content and your classes. This one is more, and some MOOCs do have an orientation week. And then as we come down here on the left-hand side we get to a point where we've got these two options, two pathways, one for the self-directed learner and the other one is the more structured one and requires the facilitator. So in order to do this, we have to look at the different platforms that are available to us, different MOOC platforms. We like the future-learn model. I think it's predicated on good sound pedagogical thinking but it doesn't allow us to really create the pathways that we want and to structure it the way that we want to do. So I mentioned our other MOOCs to 90s logo. They're on the Moodle platform. Examples of where Moodle is being used as a MOOC platform, sailor.org, 90 plus courses on Moodle being customized. For those of you familiar with Moodle, stripping out a lot of what is there, particularly the text-based elements and making it a lot more attractive and appropriate to the way we want to design it. Another example, this is a recent development in the Fachhochschule in Lübeck in Germany and they've taken Moodle and they've developed it into Moin, which is, as they call it, a German greeting. So the next phase really of the project is to pilot. We're going to take week zero and week one learning to learn and we're going to pilot that in schools in October of this year. So work is ongoing in terms of developing that first module. We're reaching out to a school per institute. So seven schools plus a cohort of undergraduate students which will be then within the institute that we can work with. And then from that we really need to do surveys and interviews with the students to find out the issues, how did they find it. We've got two particular paths. Some of them will be self-directed. Some of them will be facilitated. We also wanted an international advisor to review and identify and assess the MOOC. We decided not to go with her in the end but we got this guy, Dave Cormier who coined the term MOOC and he's the in charge of retention and student development as a university of Prince Edward Island in Canada. So progress, it's a two year project. We're probably 25 or 6 months in so we're about 25% of the way there. So we've got a number of pieces of the picture coming together. I suppose the timelines have been dictated by school calendar. Autumn being a good time to engage with the schools and not obviously over the summer or even earlier in the year. Institution procurement rules have held us up a bit as well with Jennifer here but we haven't had her for very long and that's as a result of slope procurement processes and delays there. Three minutes for three benefits. So an open, nationally available MOOC I mean there are 150,000 senior cycle students, 50,000 coming in every year. We see the advantages or the benefits being pre-development of skills that better manage this transition. That seems to be a very important intervention here. The development of a more engaged student when they come into third level. This is obviously on the basis that they can engage with this MOOC prior to starting in the institutions. And higher retention rates of students in third level. Like Tom, I sneaked in a fourth one but I just didn't put a number on it. We'll also create better linkages with the schools and further education institutions. We're so sneaky Tom, aren't we? Okay, so promotion is important. A lot of people hear about MOOCs and they're circulated through email and through social media. We will be using these to guidance councillors, specialist teachers in the schools. Corine has a database of key contacts in schools and further education colleges, students union and HE retention officers as well. Okay, I'm in time.