Finished my 2nd year with some very good marks and tracking on a 2:1. Now I can look forward to 3rd year, the BIG one, the year that I couldn't imagine when I had just finished the access course in June 2010. At the time I had been diagnosed with Prostate Cancer and on discovering the treatment that lay ahead, I had to decide whether to continue the degree or not. Now, after surgery, I have been in remission for over 18 months and will graduate next year! Graduate at 62!!
What's this got to do with Junipers, you ask?
Well, as part of my 3rd year, I had to choose a media project for my final piece. This has been spinning around in my head all summer and I have had so many ideas, but it wasn't until yesterday morning that the lights suddenly went on! I made contact with Neil at the Cumbria Wildlife Trust (CWT), which I have been a member of for the past few years. He told me about their Juniper regeneration programme and e-mailed me over some stuff to read. I was hooked! I'm now going to meet Neil and Mike (Juniper expert) down in Kendal next week so that we can talk about the way ahead with this.
The main thing I wanted to achieve when producing my final piece was that it would immediately benefit some charitable organisation and that people of all ages could see my work in the years ahead and learn from it. I didn't want to spend nearly 1000 hours on something that I would get a good academic mark for and then chuck in the back of the attic cupboards along with my 1st and 2nd year work. The idea now is that I will bury myself in research and then make a film on the use and decline of Juniper in Cumbria during the past century; also covering it's use in the 'gunpowder industry' and the regeneration work that's currently under way by the CWT. What a challenge!
What do I know about Junipers? Just about nothing! There are 67 varieties, (more than Heinz!) and if you Google 'Juniper' you couldn't find a more fascinating shrub. Unlike most plants, Junipers are either male or female, can be found worldwide and have been used by humans in medicines, industry and witchcraft throughout the ages.
You can watch the story grow here as I take this journey from today, through the Cumbrian winter and into next spring...
