Winstanley College collaborates with Manchester’s Thirsty Poet

Manchester’s Thirsty Poet, Matt Concannon, has written and performed a new motivational poem to inspire students during difficult times. 

Winstanley College collaborated with the poet and former actor, after listening to student concerns over an uncertain future as the pandemic continues.  

Stephen Brockley, director of external relations at the college, explains: “The pandemic has had a huge impact on education for all ages. We can feel the sense of uncertainty in college and quite rightly students are worried about their future.  We called in Matt because we wanted to send out a positive message not just to our own students but to pupils of all ages, inspiring them to keep going and make the most of every situation.” 

Alongside the poem is a video which was produced by former Winstanley College student, Matty Andrews, who now has his own production company www.aposs.tv.   

Images of students enjoying college life are displayed as Matt reads his inspirational words, including lines such as ‘this is your time, you’re in your prime’, ‘you do you’ and ‘you’re not alone on this journey, take our hand, we’ll keep you sturdy’. As the video finishes the camera pans over a sunset of the college and finishes with the lines ‘Are you ready, the journey to your future starts now’.  

Matt, was thrilled to play his part in motivating young people in hard times, he said: “This is one of the most emotive projects I have worked on. Coming into college and hearing students talk about their worries inspired my words. We all enjoyed the filming of it and the student actors commented they already felt more positive which was fantastic to hear. I hope as the video gets out there, more young people will get the message that everything will be ok, they just need to keep going and be the best they can be.” 

The video has just been launched on the college website and social media and can be viewed here: https://youtu.be/TG8WDtCGA-s