By Andy
Crawling down back roads looking out for house numbers and community centres has become somewhat the norm for us, especially now as we start the descent towards the end of our grand Canadian tour after 7 weeks on the road.
Today we were heading for the Play Symposium courtesy of Calgary Child’s Play and thankfully finding them was simple. A pile of cardboard boxes, tubes and fabric scattered outside was the give-away, in addition to the little yellow car’s paparazzi welcome, the obvious real star of the show.
The Play Symposium was organised in the run-up to the IPA World Triennial Conference for early arriving delegates and local play enthusiasts. They were interested in hearing about playwork, playpods and an overview of the play scene in Calgary both now and moving forward.
Impressively, by 10am on this Sunday morning the hall was packed out with enthusiastic play discussion echoing around the room from accents worldwide. We were up first, coffee-fueled and energetic. The audience listened intently to our message, frequently stopping us to ask questions to clarify terminology and to learn more, laughing at our jokes and finding similarities in their own practices. We were excited to see familiar faces of people we had met during our tour, smiling and waving from the back row, as well as several students from our online Playworker Development Course.
Kirsty Wilson from Bristol Scrapstore talked about playwork and playpods and also hinted about some exciting projects which are in the pipeline in Calgary. It was great to present alongside fellow Playworkers from the UK, each with a slightly different style and delivery, but a passion and enthusiasm that is comforting and familiar.
The concluding address was from Robyn Monroe Miller, the vice-president of the IPA who shared her experiences of play from Australia, the passion that drives her work and her admiration for the work of Stuart Lester and Wendy Russell. It was great to hear playwork terminology referenced, and very reassuring to learn that Robyn will start her IPA presidency with an interest and understanding of supporting play, for play’s sake.
The Play Symposium was a great opportunity for play enthusiasts to get together, make connections and head into the week with an introduction into playwork. Hopefully this has sparked an interest to learn more with some of the exciting playwork presentations scheduled throughout the IPA conference and beyond.
Thank you for bringing us together Calgary Child’s Play and being the 16th stop on our tour. We look forward to watching your work blossom in play!
To learn more about our Canadian adventure, please check out our dedicated tour page. To hear more from us on a daily basis, check out our Facebook and Twitter, and don’t forget our website.