Preparing for MA Dissertation

I am very happy to say this module is taught at the Corsham Court, which is another Bath Spa university campus in the nearby city of Corsham. It takes roughly 45 minutes to get there by a bus and the location is simply beautiful. The actual building was built in 1582 by Thomas Smythe and bought by a wealthy family of Methuens. Currently, it is the home of James Methuen who’s the eighth generation of the family to live there. The main campus of BSU, Newton Park, used to be the location where the Bath Academy of Arts was situated, however, following the Nazi bomb raids of the WWII, in 1946 the Academy moved to Corsham Court and stayed there there until 1986 during which time the teachers included many of the key figures in British fine art such as Kenneth Armitage, Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Adrian Heath, Bernard Meadows, William Scott and Sir Howard Hodgkin.

In 2008, the university announced plans to establish a new Centre at the Court, for research projects, postgraduate and research studios and study areas for Masters level studies. The current Lord Methuen of Corsham Court lives in the building and there are certain designated areas where the students are not allowed to go, however that is only about 10% of the premises, the rest is fully available for students to admire the artistic beauties and atmosphere of the place. The court is full of 18th century style paintings and musical instruments. The surrounding gardens and parks are splendid and are also well kept to set the scenery of 18th century Manor House gardens, including the great Maze and also several beautiful peacocks living on the campus and just casually walking around to the pleasure of all the visitors.

As I had mentioned in my previous blog entry I was supposed to go on the Salou Tour, a trip to Spain in part of the world’s biggest student sports festival, however I will not be able to represent BSU basketball team as I will be extremely busy with uni work and there are two lectures I cannot afford to miss. The dissertation is 20 000 words so I have to put 100% focus and attention into preparing and writing it, which should, however, ‘pay off’ in the future.

I have also started volunteering in one of the local communities supporting people with learning difficulties and I must say I am very grateful for such an experience as it further enhances my understanding and experience in the education industry.