Meet Steve Shanahan

Hello thank you for your continued support.

Following the advice from the Lottery commission we have spent some time re analysing the project plan.

I want you to know that we have not changed the key aims of Transport Autism and to help us to realise those goals we have brought in a consultant.

Meet Steve Shanahan!

Steve is assisting us by introducing some truly exciting strategies, in order to see the project reach its aims .

Steve’s interest  has rekindled my enthusiasm for this project and helped me see that my grand vision can be attained if we smaller steps. We are very excited about the future of the project and the events/projects we have lined up and we are going to need all the help and support we can get.

Sign up to the Google Group and be the first to know about some really exciting projects lined up for Transport autism…

Kind regards

Mark Ty-Wharton
CEO

I wanted to send you a quick message to thank you for your support over the past year, update you on progress and invite you to consider some things for the following year.

It is with some personal trepidation that I send this, because in truth, the churning feeling in my stomach and tightness in my chest tell me I am quite scared of making my next move. What’s worse, I have to admit, I am not even sure what it is.

As you have probably rightly guessed, there is an element of ‘Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway’ to this entire project, each step along the way being like taking a high dive from the top board for me.

Transport Autism started because:

• I am autistic and have been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome
• I have panic attacks and feel many of the problems I have had could have been prevented if I had received more support earlier in life (my experience will be of immense value to younger people struggling with similar issues)
• I love Vintage cars and notice an ability in other autistic people to research the history of things and categorise them
• I notice Biggleswade needs something to bring people to the town, that will provide it with income, rather than simply provide cheap housing for people who will work in London, tax existing resources and complain their children have nothing to do (except take drugs and vandalise things)

Overall, I am aiming, with your help, to create an opportunity for autistic (and other disabled people) as well as doing something about the derelict buildings which are currently an eye sore in the town centre.

Most recently, we put together a business plan for seed funding to have an office and display in Biggleswade.

I approached the Big Lottery Fund for advice and the whole charity thing needs rethinking.

I recognise, I need to accurately research the viability of the project before going any further.

So what can you do to help?

Help me find ways to identify the difference the project will make.

Start communicating with one another via the email group.

Fuel discussions about anything you like, Autism? Biggleswade? Cars? Tractors?

Make it your new year’s resolution to become an active member of this community (note – we will be organising more public meetings in the New Year).

Let me know if there really is a need for employment for autistic people in Biggleswade?

How many people?

Where are they?

Who are they?

Are you autistic?

Is your child autistic?

How old are they?

What difference can you make to them?

Exciting isn’t it!

It takes more than a little persistence to get these ideas to happen.

Looking forward to working with you in 2011.

Kind regards,

Transport Autism

Finally, a very special thank you to AM CLASSICAL CAR ACCESSORIES who provided us with a Berkeley sports car hub cap for sculptor Terry Ives to make our new sign with.

Enter your email address to join the Google group…

See you in the New Year.

Thankyou.

Stotfold Engineers have kindly leant us a 1956 Ariel Red Hunter 350 which is being displayed in Serendipity at 25 High Street.

The exhibit is to raise awareness in the community of our project and to collect names and addresses of interested parties.

If you have not joined our mailing list, please do so online, or by filling in the form in the shop.

In any case please go and see the bike, it has been in storage for fifteen years and deserves some attention.

This was Terry Ives first restoration.

Mark Ty-Wharton
CEO

In nature a fish wouldn’t fly and the natural world would not put a fish on medication simply because it couldn’t!

A bird can recognise a fish as having a distinct skill set, it has a purpose.

Transport Autism is about recognising the unique skillset of autistic people and making the world aware that they have a function and a place in it.

If humans stopped chasing rainbows they might recognise they already have everything they need to create peaceful and successful communities.

Mark Ty-Wharton
CEO

My name is Mark Ty-Wharton, I am a celebrant, composer, philosophical speaker and writer diagnosed with asperger syndrome.

If you are an adult on the autistic spectrum, or care for one, you will know how hard it is to find an employer who understands the needs of a person with aspergers.

If you are a resident of Biggleswade, you will have noticed how shabby and run down the area behind Market Square (the car wash adjacent to ALDI) is.

In either case, what inspires me to invite you to take part in this project is, like me, you see the untapped potential in both autism and Biggleswade.

If you feel strongly about helping to make a difference with either of these issues, read on.

This project is being designed to provide employment for high functioning autistic adults. The project will create employment opportunites for 100 adults over a period of ten years, particularly those with aspergers who have a special interest in transport.

There will be other employment opportunities for carers, cleaners, cafe staff, security, shop keepers, trainers and workshop personnel.

Because of an ability to find facts, adults with aspergers are well suited to research projects. While the museum will house a number of veteran and vintage cars, motorcycles and other vehicles, the aim is to provide an extensive archive of information for at least some of those vehicles.

A further aim is to train key personnel in engineering tasks, partnering with local specialists Stotfold Engineers to train a team dedicated to bespoke repairs and to provide a storage and commisioning service for vehicle owners.

This could ultimately transform this historical market town into a landmark town, bringing business to Biggleswade from all over the UK.

Biggleswade is perfectly placed on the A1 and served by road and railway from London Kings Cross with the possibility of providing special services, stopping any of several steam locomotives that frequent this line at our station.

Despite being one of Bedfordshire’s larger towns, wanting to retain its image as a historic town, in an area already served by major shopping centres in nearby Letchworth and Stevenage, there seems little incentive for major retailers to provide outlets here in Biggleswade.

Behind the centre of the town, are derelict buildings which have been caught up in a planning dispute for approx ten years.

While new housing is being built n the outskirts of the town, it is likely the houses will be purchased by commuters who will be unlikely to bring business to local shops and yet will put an extra strain on resources.

If the town wishes to retain its historical image, it needs a focal point to bring in more people. While the thriving saturday market partially fulfills this need, a transport museum would better serve the history of Biggleswade given the town’s already colourful transport history.

A transport museum would be an excellent addition to the town and provide tourism, in turn providing more customers for existing small business and bringing about a much needed change to the town’s status.

The first phase in a community project of this scale will be to create a drop in centre and exhibit close to the town centre, which will be used as a hub for fundraising activities.

Invitations are as follows:

The project is looking for people who are good at fundraising, who have a working knowledge of corporate sponsorship, grants and the national lottery fund.

The project is looking for two more trustees in order to put forward an application to the charities commision.

The project is looking for patrons who would be willing to give up some of their time to promote the idea or help with fundraising.

The project is looking for sponsors to underwrite the charity application and provide initial funding for the preliminary exhibit.

The project is looking for local news interest and national media coverage. If you run a website relevant to this cause please write something and we will reciprocate with links.

The project is looking for owners of empty spaces, preferably a shop, into which we can put our exhibit. The exhibit will include a Berkley sports car (which were originally built locally) and will open on July 31st for an initial period of three months.

To date the exhibit includes material from Autism Bedfordshire, Biggleswade History Society, The National Autistic Society, Stondon Transport Museum, Stotfold Engineers and Sunnyside School.

If you feel you could be of service or simply inspired to write to us, please fill in the contact form and say hello.

Mark Ty-Wharton
CEO

Milestones

The original inspiration for this project came when I read a book designed to help rewrite the future of my life.

I looked at what I was passionate about and decided I wanted to build a transport museum for retired craftsmen to apprentice new talent.

It has been some time since I had this idea and it took almost a year to make it to stage zero, reviewing the stumbling blocks which were in the way of the project’s future.

I am an adult with high-functioning autism (I have been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome) and I have various special interests which I pursue with some passion.

As I started to look at ideas for the project and to talk with some of my autistic friends about it, I sparked interest and recognised many of them were skilled at research as well as having a passion for facts.

I also noticed I have very inspired ideas and get stopped very easily. It was clear what I needed to do was to learn to get out of my own way. I knew one way to do this would be to use Landmark Education’s Self Expression And Leadership program as a support structure for the project. To this end, I reviewed the Landmark Forum last December.

I know only too well the level I perform at correlates to how a situation occurs for me. The idea seems both possible and impossible, for all the same reasons anything else in my life looks that way. Having researched various resources, I see the project is entirely possible, I have everything I need. I also see I don’t know a thing about building, charities, negotiation, planning and regulations, rates, tax or anything else. Past experience gives me the default future I live into, literally at gut level, which is one of fear and frustration.

I am fighting something that hasn’t even happened yet and complaining the world is an impossible place to get along in, finding it really hard to relate to other people and trying to do everything on my own. What never seems to change is, I always end up sitting cycling through my interpretation of the facts and the complaints I have about them with my internal voice, while doing very little. While I get to avoid the butterflies that happen when I talk to other people, it generally costs me whatever project I am working on and I eventually give up.

So, I have identified a vicious cycle here, a vicious cycle which always results in me giving up on things I do and adding more fuel to fear and frustration.

Identifying this opens up the opportunity to recognise that it doesn’t work to be like this and to manage my thoughts and feelings about this project. It is possible for me to have the courage to go ahead with this project with my fear intact. And it is possible for me to create a world that works for autistic people too. Weighing the possibility of an entire autistic community against my own complaints, the autistic community wins. Giving me the access to creating the space and providing the conversations and listening to make this project happen.

Transport Autism

A world that works for everyone with no-one left out.

Mark Ty-Wharton
CEO