Jonathon Wardman

Westgate Aldershot: Spot the Difference

The long awaited Westgate ‘leisure complex‘ in Aldershot officially opened on the 26th October 2012. For the first weekend the only thing open in the complex was the cinema, with Morrisons opening the Monday after.

Having watched the development being built just over the road from where I live and reviewed the planning applications in some detail I was curious to see how close the final product to the promotional pictures actually were. So I went out on the 4th November to try to reproduce the concept images in real life. I’ll add a few updates as the restaurant units fill up over the next couple of months.

See if you can spot the difference…

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Train Tickets Explained

Read the update to this post to cover the new style (2015/2016) tickets.

Since mid 2008 I have been saving my train tickets. In the last year or so I have collected them together into a database. That meant I had to spend some time working out the data you get on a UK train ticket:

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A-Level Politics: Factors Influencing Voting Behaviours

Another AS-Level politics essay, this time regarding the factors which influence the way people vote. Dating from early 2003, this essay runs to around 1200 words. It’s published under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.

Discuss Three Major Factors Which Have Influenced Voting Behaviours

The way in which the media portray politics and policies, a party or individual’s past performance and, and the personality of a leader of a political party are all factors which can greatly influence the way in which individuals vote. It is impossible to absolutely define why people vote the way they do, but there are a number of factors which can be pointed to which have an affect on voting behaviour. [read more]

GCSE Media Studies: JelGel: a New Product for a Fourteen to Sixteen Year Old

This project is a little different to the essays I have published previously. As part of the coursework relating to the (additional, extra curricular) GCSE media studies course I studied, my friend and I designed a new product line aimed at fourteen to sixteen year olds. The aim of the coursework were to design the packaging and an advert for the product. Sadly I don’t have the finished product any more, but I do have both our planning document and the final evaluation. As always, this is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.

At this point I’d like to tip my hat to both Julie Patrick (look, she has co-authored a book about studying film) and Triestina Bozzo (now head of the Creative/Media Arts Faculty), both excellent drama and media teachers at Ryburn Valley High School. I’d also like to point out that when I attended the school it was not a specialist “Media Arts” school — these things didn’t exist — and that myself and a friend were the first people at the school to do video production as part of our expressive arts coursework. I’ll try to publish that one day. We were, one could argue, pioneers. [read more]

A-Level Sociology: the Role of the Family in Modern Societies

This short essay (around 850 words) was written in November 2001 as part of my AS-Level sociology course at Halifax New College (part of Calderdale College). It discusses how the family is seen in functionalist writings. It’s released here under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.

To what extent do Functionalist writings accurately reflect the role of the family in modern societies?

Functionalist writings go into much depth in regard to the state and roles of the family in modern, post industrial revolution, society. How accurately the interpretation and observations that are made by the Functionalist view represent the state of the family is, however, a contentious point. [read more]

Bournemouth

Last weekend saw the hottest days of the year so far, so I decided I would take my camera out to the seaside. Having previously taken a trip to Brighton, I decided to head down to Bournemouth. Apparently I wasn’t alone. There is a full gallery in the photos section of this website, but I decided also to have a play with one or two of the photos, and the results are below. As it’s the great British seaside, I was aiming for old postcard style. [read more]

London 2012: Photos and Chocolate (and a little money)

The year 2012 saw the Olympics heading for London for the third time in modern Olympic history. For two weeks London was taken over by the games and all the infrastructure which comes with it. Not living in London meant the games didn’t affect me directly (except with the TV schedules, and knowing that the Team GB Synchronised Swimming team train the the pool just down the road), but I still felt that I wanted to at least have a little to do with it — after all I can’t imagine London, or anywhere else in the UK, being awarded the games again in my lifetime. So, last Saturday, I headed into the capital with my cameras to see what I could find down on The Mall where the walk races were taking place.

I took the tube from Waterloo to Green Park and walked down through the park to the exit by Constitution Hill. I spent quite a few hours around the course, snapping away at what was going on before hand, before finally taking a place at the barrier right outside of Buckingham Palace, just in front of the misting shower, to watch the race. [read more]

GCSE English: The Speckled Band / Lamb to the Slaughter

The following essay was written for my GCSE English course in October 2000 and contrasts Arthur Conan Doyle’s short Sherlock Holmes story “The Adventure of the Speckled Band” with Roald Dahl’s “Lamb to the Slaughter.” It is roughly 1900 words long, and comes with a tip of the hat to Ms Roberts (presumably formally) of Ryburn Valley High School. It’s released here under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial 2.0 UK: England & Wales Licence.

Explain what makes A. C. Doyle’s ‘The Speckled Band’ typical of the nineteenth century detective story genre, and how does Roald Dahl’s ‘Lamb to the Slaughter’ subvert this genre?

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories changed the set pattern of the nineteenth century detective story. Prior to Doyle’s stories the detective had to wait for the criminal to make a mistake for them to be caught. However, Sherlock Holmes was the first of the detectives to work out who the murderer was by his own deduction, this new idea was introduced with the publication of A. C. Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories in ‘The Strand’ magazine. [read more]

Aldershot Live Music Day

Last weekend saw Aldershot Live Music Day — an event held across three stages in the town centre showcasing a range of live artists and bands. As I didn’t have anything else on this weekend I decided to take my camera out and have a look.

I have added a full straight colour edit of my photos to my gallery, but thought I’d also produce some more ‘rocky’ style black and white images. [read more]

My Winnings: Not Quite a Million

Update: following a string of comments relating to the relationship between Purely Creative and WeWanna, I’ve asked both parties for a comment. You can read about that in this blog post.

Way back in February I wrote about my attempt to win £1 million from a scratchcard I found on the train without going through the expensive claim lines the try to get you to call. I also wrote about the possible prizes and contemplated what I might do if I won any of them. On the 30th February, only 9 days after I sent off my final claim, I got a letter in the post giving me that all-important information: what I had won.

There were a couple of bumps along the road, such as never getting a postal response to my request for a claim number, and it was a big long-winded, but all in all the process of claiming my prizes by post was remarkably simple. It had also only cost me £1.64 — two first class stamps and two second class stamps — for each prize. (As I said a moment ago I probably didn’t even need to do the first stage, I actually ended up getting my claim number from Purely Creative via email support.) There was one other curiosity about stamps in the final round of the postal back and forth: then never actually used the stamps I sent to them. [read more]