I look at this picture and find myself thinking of one of the best known Victorian paintings, ‘The Last of England’ by Ford Madox Brown. Back then, in the 1850’s, his painting was a comment on mass emigration away from the British Isles, so many forced by economic hardship to seek their fortunes or otherwise in the colonies or the Americas.

This photograph was taken on the ferry returning at dusk from the old shipyards of NDSM, along the waterfront of Amsterdam Noord, now a developing creative quarter, with the headquarters of MTV Europe in a former wood factory, artist studios, event spaces and cafes. Alicja and I travelled to the Netherlands with a group of students from a college in Solihull, who have produced a short film about the regeneration of their local area, (with a little help, advice and organisation). The trip was both a thank you for their work, and an opportunity to reflect on what they have learnt during the project.