My experience on the Future Legacy Project retreat at Folly Farm was an amazing, unique and adventurous time – that is how I would summarise it to anyone who would ask me. We were able to have our own downtime during which many people got together to play small activities like Uno or for my personal experience we were able to play Just Dance on the Nintendo Switch, but the main part was we were having fun in the comfort of our own time and space.
However, the second day was not only my favourite day but it was also the day known as ‘Maker Monday,’ like all the days it gave us a chance to have a social media detox, we did have WIFI, but for me, I hardly thought about checking social media or watching YouTube, it gave us a chance to communicate and build closer friendships with new people. I came with 2 other people from my school Momona and Carmen with whom I shared a room and it gave me a chance to build a closer friendship with them and get to know them on a different level. From the retreat, I’ve made some amazing friends whom I still talk to now on social media and I hope to do a little reunion with Bethan and Daisy during the summertime. For my project, I was with Bethan and Daisy who were so kind to me and I was so lucky to be with such amazing and kind-hearted people.
Maker Monday, we all woke up early to have breakfast, it was a struggle getting out of bed but I managed to do it. We all went down to the dining room, as I walked into the dining room I was amazed and so happy to see all of the amazing food that was out, we had, beans, hash browns, eggs, mushrooms, toast, fruit, yoghurt and so much more, basically a whole variety of food. We were able to pick and choose we honestly had no limits to what we could eat, depending on how long we took to eat we were then able to have some alone time. Carmen, Momona and I went back up to our room and let our food settle in for about 30 minutes. This gave us a chance to also walk around and look at the farm, when arrived we did have a little tour of the place so we roughly knew where everything was. During this time, I was so grateful to be able to do this experience and so glad that I said yes to doing this project.
At around 10ish we were able to have a Film and Music Workshop which Megan and Ella ran it. From this, we learnt many meanings of a film and how to look at it from different perspectives. We watched a short film and we learned 3 keywords which we could potentially use to make our own projects even better. Prior to the retreat we were able to get an idea and become creative about what our projects were about and for me, it was around the word ‘environment.’ Bethan, Daisy and I, were in the same group and used the iPads and laptops to create leaflets, posters business cards and a menu for our own Cat Cafe, which we named ‘Le Chat.’
After the Film and Music workshop, we were then able to get back into our small project group and continue doing them. We all hadn’t seen each other in quite a while so Daisy, Bethan and I had to refresh our memories on what we had achieved before and what was our goal. After refreshing our memory, we all came up with the idea of making a stop-motion film based on a lady walking down the street and finding a cat abandoned in the street, the lady decides to do a good deed and take in the cat and look after it. Whilst we were making this, something spooky and crazy happened. Bethan got a text from her friend saying her friend had found a cat in a box on the street. It honestly blew our minds as that was what our stop-motion film was about. Although the stop motion did take a few days to make in the end my group was very happy with how it turned out, and throughout the process, my group had many laughs.
By making a stop motion film we decided that we were going to draw our own scenes, and if anyone knows me, I am not good at drawing at all. However, Bethan and Daisy both encouraged me to do the best that I could and it didn’t matter how good or bad it would turn out. Although Bethan and Daisy were both amazing drawers, they did help and guide me on how to draw certain things and at one point I did have Momona who was in another group come over to help me out and give me some encouragement to carry on. Spending time doing our projects and talking to Bethan and Daisy made me happy and so grateful to be around such kind and caring people, whom I am so glad I had the chance to get to know and build a friendship with them. During this time, we had snacks brought to us, for our snacks we had blueberry cake, which was DELICIOUS and something I will forever miss. At lunchtime, we all went into the dining room to once again be amazed by the food we all could eat.
After lunch, we were able to have a little break from our projects and do a small activity called ‘What’s In The Box’ we were put into a group who were Poppy, Kyle and Macey. Clara handed us boxes with small items inside and we had to work together to decide on what was in the box, from this we had to become creative and see if the item inside was taking up a large amount of room or if it was taking up a small amount. If the object was heavy or light if the object made a sharp noise when shaking it or if the object was bouncing off the sides. We then all gave our answers but we never found out what was in the boxes. The purpose of this was scientists now have to guess and estimate things that they have to do and possibly adapt to any flaws that they might have come across.
After spending a few hours with everyone we were able to have some free time and my friends and I went back up to our room and chilled out for a bit. We were able to play some music and go over what the plan was for the rest of the days. We then, of course, had dinner which like always was amazing! At around 8ish Carmen, Momona and I went for a walk to watch the sunset. We took some amazing and beautiful pictures of the sun setting and we captured some pictures of us that we will never forget. We were able to walk around the whole farm in under 30 minutes and would stop off at certain places and take a minute to take everything in. Momona and I did attempt to do some Yoga poses whilst the sun was setting which was amazing and so funny, but honestly, we weren’t good at it. When we got back to our room Carmen, Momona and I decided to push together the two single beds, all cuddle up throw all the blankets onto the bed and get comfy and watch a movie on the laptop. We decided to watch a thriller movie called Fresh which freaked us out a little but it was an amazing experience, and in the end, Carmen and I were the only ones awake as Momona had fallen asleep.
Throughout the whole retreat, I was hardly on my phone and when I was it was either to talk to my parents or to take pictures that we can always look back on with friends, it gave me a chance to capture new memories and to meet new people. We were able to have a lot of free time but also have a lot of time with everyone and take part in activities that got us all moving and all talking to each other. Folly Farm Retreat will be something I will forever remember and am so grateful I did it. Being able to stay in a room with Carmen and Momona was also an amazing experience as we were able to build a stronger friendship and make some unforgettable memories that we all can look back on. My experience was filled with laughter, excitement and happiness and I’m so grateful I had it.
-Levi
