What We Do
For The Record CIC helps people capture and share their stories using conversation and technology.
We work with words and create writing. We also work with images - photographs, drawings, illustrations - to help communicate how life changes over time. This process embeds the Creative Health Framework, keeping it transparent and allowing everyone to learn.
Why Arts and Creative Work Matter
Creative activities provide the perfect hook for digital inclusion. When people engage with art, storytelling, and documentation projects, they're motivated to learn digital tools in a way that feels fun, familiar, and accessible - not intimidating. This approach recognises that digital skills develop best when they're part of something meaningful, not taught in isolation.
Current Work
Ditchburn Place (October-November 2025): Volunteering on a Creative Health initiative with residents, documenting their memories in their own words. This work is building our evidence base and demonstrating how unhurried conversations can create official records that validate lived experience.
CIC to CIO Conversion (November 2025): Working with Cambridge Voluntary Service to convert from Community Interest Company to Charitable Incorporated Organisation status. This will enhance our access to funding opportunities and technology programmes.
Funding Applications
Library Presents Bid: "Journaling Zine Project for Dreamers" targeting 16-18 year olds facing major life transitions, connecting personal exploration with digital skills (voice transcription, PDF scanning).
Strategic Approach: Through engaging with the application process at Paul Hamlyn Foundation, we discovered their funding requires £30,000 applications for established organisations. Rather than pursuing funding we're not ready for, we're focusing on smaller, accessible grants through National Lottery and Cambridge Community Grants to build our track record.
How We Work
We use a Creative Health Framework that focuses on equal conversation between two people. No one talks down to anyone else. We listen, review what we've heard, and figure out next steps together.
This human-centred approach uses art and creative activities as a non-threatening, engaging environment for people to gain confidence with digital tools. With our knowledge and experience, we can demonstrate options and support people through barriers they might find.
David brings a love of observing and drawing from his postgraduate work at Central Saint Martins. This helps create narratives that combine illustrations and artwork with words, making stories more accessible and engaging for different audiences.
Last updated: November 14, 2025
Who We Are
Our Team
Our team is made up of individuals driven by a commitment to shared outcomes to help others. We believe in the power of unhurried, equal conversation to reveal strengths. This ongoing journey shows how once you find doors that open, you can deliver a service that helps people see their strengths and develop ways of communicating in the world around them.
David Manuell
David was diagnosed with dyslexia during his teaching career. Through discussions and exploration, he's become aware of the complex nature of comorbidity with ADHD and autism alongside his dyslexia. The challenges don't go away, but he's more aware of how to develop strategies and deal with setbacks.
He holds a PGCE in Art and Design and City & Guilds Level 4 in Literacy Specialism. His experience includes working in FE colleges, with challenging behaviour and SEN in primary schools, adult education supporting people returning to work in Cambridge, outdoor instructor work, and 5 years as a community member at Garvald West Linton - a Steiner-based community supporting people with learning difficulties.
David specialises in making technology work for the student/adult. For the past 7 years he listens and adapts to the person's style and needs. His current work spans businesses, theatres, sole traders through Access to Work - drawing from outdoor experience and classroom settings where planning encapsulates options and solutions are created in partnership. The changes in the last three years - particularly transcription and sentence-checking tools - mean these technologies can now help everyone communicate better.
He uses these tools to support communication between people, focusing on how technology can create more meaningful ways of putting thoughts onto paper and sharing stories.
Michael Charkow
Psychology & Community Work: Michael studied psychology at Edinburgh University and spent four years at Garvald West Linton, a Steiner-inspired community where people with learning disabilities live and work together. He later taught English in Japan, bringing cross-cultural understanding to his community work.
Ecological Business: Michael has run Arbor Vitae Arboriculture Ltd for 15 years, a tree consultancy based near Edinburgh. His work includes tree surveys, bat habitat assessments, and designing small forests to support biodiversity. He has written papers on environmental topics including articles in the Arboricultural Association magazine about biodiversity and Miyawaki forest regeneration. He's climbed rainforest trees in Borneo and India, and is known for being thorough, calm, and deeply respectful of nature and people.
Chris McGeown
Chris has worked in outdoor education and youth work for over 25 years. In his many varied roles over the years, he has designed long and short-term outdoor programmes with a variety of different outcomes for young people aged 12 to 25. His work focuses on empowering them through outdoor education, leadership training, community engagement, and social and environmental connection.
Last updated: November 14, 2025
Where We're Going
Building an organisation from the ground up: the reality of doors closing, better ones opening, and the work of getting established.
October-November 2025: The Journey
Romsey Park Bid Unsuccessful: Our initial art project bid for Romsey Park was unsuccessful. The process was unclear, and we didn't have the right fit with the funder's priorities.
What we learned: The importance of clear funder requirements and strategic alignment. The rejection wasn't all negative - as part of the bid, we reached out to people in the area. The offer to explore making a zine with a resident was exactly the kind of opportunity you need when starting.
Ditchburn Place Partnership: The Romsey Park door closing led us to Ditchburn Place, where we're now volunteering on a Creative Health initiative with residents.
The shift: From a diffuse public park event to focused, in-depth memory documentation work. We're moving from chasing "outputs" to valuing the "process"—the unhurried conversations and collaborative documentation of residents' experiences.
Paul Hamlyn Foundation: Through engaging with the application process, we discovered their funding requires £30,000 applications aimed at established, successful organisations. The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is a well-organised funder - it was simply the wrong size for us right now.
Our response: Instead of pursuing funding we're not ready for, we're focusing on smaller, more accessible avenues like the National Lottery and Cambridge Community Grants. Small steps that build a track record of successful delivery and financial management.
Why we're converting: Our CIC structure has limited our access to technology programmes and some funding streams. We were incorrectly rejected by Google's nonprofit verification partner due to misunderstanding of CIC structures.
The process: Working with Cambridge Voluntary Service to navigate governance changes, recruit additional trustees, and maintain operational continuity.
Strategic pivot: We shifted from a flexible, all-ages approach to a focused "Journaling Zine Project for Dreamers" targeting 16-18 year olds facing major life transitions.
The theme: "Oh, The Places You'll Go"—connecting personal exploration with digital skills (voice transcription, PDF scanning) for sustainable documentation.
Why We Document the Journey
We're deliberately transparent about setbacks, pivots, and the reality of organisational development because:
- Every organisation faces doors closing. What matters is how you respond and what doors open as a result.
- Building trust, developing relationships, and creating genuine community impact takes time and can't be rushed.
- Funders and partners respect organisations that acknowledge challenges and demonstrate learning.
- If we're asking marginalised communities to document their truth, we must document ours—including the difficult parts.
Scotland Planning: Building Toward 2029
We're taking a strategic approach to Scotland expansion. Small grants in 2025-26 will let us pilot story-collecting work and build relationships. By 2027-28, we'll have track record and community connections. When Glasgow Communities Fund 2029-2032 opens, we'll apply with proven experience rather than just good intentions.
Our Approach
We use the Creative Health Framework - treating everyone as equals in conversation. We listen to people's stories, help them review what they've shared, and work together to decide what happens next. With our knowledge and experience, we can demonstrate options and support people through barriers they might find.
Next Update Expected: December 2025
Last updated: November 14, 2025