Seven Years with Croxteth Hall Liverpool
Review by education officer Martin O’Connor
“Over a period of 6 to 7 years Ralf Ganza has worked on many occasions at Croxteth in tandem with the Ranger Interpretation Service on the Education visits and Events. Ralf has provided professional services on programmes such as ‘Mischief Fair’ – a creative writing and storytelling vehicle aimed for KS2 and KS3.
He has always shown a high degree of commitment and professionalism and is very clearly motivated to inspire children to learn – at our events many are inspired by his intuitive and easy rapport and his ability to communicate well over a range of ages and abilities with an original and creative outlook. He is cognisant of the importance of planning to achieve the best possible learning outcomes for individuals and for groups and has participated in programme planning and feedback, i.e. de-briefing and Risk assessments.
Ralf has a very personable nature and is approachable and flexible – working well as part of a team and autonomously as an individual. He is reliable, courteous and is familiar with protocols and procedures used by learning providers in both formal and informal learning environments.”
Martin O’Connor
Education Officer
Ranger Interpretation Service
Croxteth Hall & Country Park
Events at Croxteth Hall Liverpool
A review by events manager Neil Bascombe
Croxteth Hall and Country Park has utilised the talent and creative skills of Ralf Ganza as a Family Entertainer and performer over the past 7 years. The relationship with Ralf and Croxteth Hall began after a recommendation by the Director of a Liverpool Arts Organisation – Brouhaha International. Since then, Ralf has been contracted on a variety of major public events including:
- Historical Fun Days
- Country Fairs
- Environmental Education Events
- Halloween Events
During the above events, Ralf has performed a variety of roles including
- A Human Statue (themed to the nature of the event)
- Walkabout Street entertainer
- Serious Actor
- Comical Actor
Ralf has attended weekend summer events such as the Country Fair which have attracted 15,000 over 2 days. On many occasions, the Hall has received written compliments about Ralf’s performance.
Ralf has shown great enthusiasm, commitment, and respect for procedures and been an absolute pleasure for staff at the Hall to work alongside. He has at all times displayed a friendly, outgoing nature and has a professional approach to all his work.
Neil Bascombe
Event Officer
Croxteth Hall & Country Park
Liverpool
Storytelling workshop for Liverpool Youth Council
The Liverpool Community Spirit partnership hosted a storytelling workshop with Ralf Ganza on the 16th of March. 10 members of the Liverpool youth council joined the workshop in which Ralf worked with the young adults to create their own unique story. The aim of the storytelling workshops is to realise how stories develop and how things we hear and read quickly get changed into new different stories. These workshops usually last two hours, within this time Ralf will tell a story and then the group will have a brief discussion about what they just heard. After this they work through provided resources as a group, to gain additional inspiration for their own story, which they will have to perform at the end of the workshop to it’s participants.
Each workshop has a main focus, in this case Liverpool Community Spirit requested for the main focus to be on Identity.
“The workshop was fantastic and everyone who attended really enjoyed it. The workshop gave a really good insight into storytelling and how information is interpreted. The content and the resources used really fitted in with the aims of the youth council and gave them the opportunity to explore identity in a very different and creative way.” Cressinda Godding, Youth Development Officer