The Festival of Thrift and more The Shop preparations!

Hello all,

So it's been a busy week as always! Lots of stuff going on.

Carmela is busy trying to find additional venues for Arts on Prescription to run cookery courses in the evenings... It's not as easy to find venues with enough space, ovens etc. But hopefully some news on that soon.

I've been attending lots of meetings recently to keep an eye on all the projects I am involved with. I had a pleasant afternoon last week writing a concept for a new bid outside in the sunshine, attended the Health and Wellbeing meeting to fight the case for Arts on Prescription to receive more funding and be able to continue after June next year. Watch this space as there were exciting murmurs of agreement.

I caught up with my fellow project managers on our new Strategic Touring programme which is bringing some great affordable family theatre into Pendle and Blackburn with Darwen and which is allowing people to choose the shows put on in their local venues. I'm going to do a more in depth post on that next week...

Also there was plenty of The Shop related activity. I attended the auction in Burnley for the first time, and was very brave - bidding with my piece of card with my number on it - and didn't get carried away on anything (I was tempted to buy a taxidermy duck in glass case but overcame it). I did buy a few really useful shop items and am planning on going back again soon, albeit with boots, jumper and a flask of coffee. It's rather nippy in the big concrete space.

I've been looking into music licences, wifi and insurance and all the really important stuff that is needed to get the space up and running. We are still negotiating the lease but I'm not going to worry about it and keep thinking positively.

I've been thinking about how our local community can get involved in the space too. It's a bit of a chicken and egg situation at the mo - can't go in and do stuff until lease is signed really, but don't know when that may be so might not have enough time and so on and so on. So I was thinking about running some open mornings or Saturdays at The ACE Centre where people can come along and decorate their very own piece of plywood. Yes you heard right - plywood! Only the best eh?

We could decorate these in advance - with pattern, with just block paint, with collage or wallpaper and then use them to cover up the walls in The Shop. Obviously I would measure up and things and provide all the materials if people wanted to do this. Let me know what you think?

Also, we have been firming up plans for local artists, designers and makers to be able to put their own mini-shop into The Shop. At the moment we are fairly committed to offering 5 or 6 mini-shops and then also offering a rent-a-shelf scheme. If you are interested in this do please talk to me or email me. I'm planning on sending more information out next week, by email - so if you want to know more, my email is on the about page.

Then - last but not-at-all-least Carmela and I took a trip to The Festival of Thrift in Darlington to gather some inspiration and ideas for both The Shop and our Art and Vintage Markets. This is organised by the Wayne Hemmingway brand (not sure it's him personally) and it's a HUGE event, so not something we could ever afford to replicate, but that doesn't mean we can't steal borrow some of the ideas involved.

So here are some pictures of the day....

 

This was a very simple idea using nylon cord but it's very eye-catching.

 

Loving the handwritten sign.

 

Wow, BBQ on a car

 

Best name for a hot dog stall?

 

A pig that is also a theatre? Where you put on pig tails and kneel at the teats to watch a show. Of course, can't believe it's not been done before!

 

Off set and quirky signs - loved them.

Canteen Alley was actually lots of VW campervans where people could book a meal for 4. It looked really good. 

 

It was busy.

 

With lots to do.

 

Over a pretty big site.

 

This group were building an actual shed during the weekend.

 

There were lots of lovely stalls.

 

And a DJ playing vintage tunes and sharing thrifty tips. If you gave a tip, you got to take part in the 'Unlucky Dip' which was a bin full of sawdust and items that charity shops couldn't sell!

 

More caravans - this one was a beauty van which also made milkshakes.

I think by the end of the day Carmela and I had convinced ourselves that we needed a caravan.

 

Steampunk pigeons!

 

While having a quick break for a coffee on the Village Green we met Meryl and Beryl and helped them organise their family tree. Very good fun! Lots of cross dressing and celebrities involved.

 

 

Then the skies darkened and we started to head for home. It was good that the weather held as the whole event was outside.

 

More weird and wonderful creations.

 

Love the jewellery displayed in bun-tins.

 

 

I felt like we should end on the pig!

So that's me checking in with what's going on this week. Happy for people to feedback and tell us what you think but do please try and be positive or constructive. I work pretty hard and hope people realise that although I don't always get it right I do try!


Thanks for reading.




Kirsty

Volunteering 3

This is the last of our series of posts on Volunteers for Volunteer week.

Meet Kath...

Kath came to see me today and is just about to start volunteering.

I first met Kath in 2010 when she joined one of our Creative Crafts courses. She picked the course because it covered a bit of everything and has always enjoyed learning. She hadn't done any classes for a while and wanted to join Arts on Prescription because it seemed friendly and not threatening. Kath really enjoyed the course, and still looks at all the Arts on Prescription brochuress, facebook pages and feels part of the AOP community. Our course gave her more confidence and really showed she had some great skills in textiles. Kath has taken anti-depressants for many years and is now finally stopping taking medication.

After the first course with AOP, Kath then went on to do a one year long art course with Lancashire Adult Learning that we helped to advertise and from there she has gone on and on and how.

In September 2013 Kath began a degree in Contemporary Textiles at the University Centre at Blackburn College. She has been getting A's throughout, is loving the course she is doing, throwing herself into every opportunity and continues to find the arts helps her feel better every day. Last week she was chosen to teach a workshop to some Russian exchange students and she is now heading to St Petersberg next year to return the exchange. She even has artwork on show in Blackburn museum in an exhibition around World War One. You can keep up with Kath's activities on http://kathrimmer.wordpress.com/

As part of her degree Kath needs to complete some volunteering and she immediately thought of us. We had a great chat today and watch this space as Kath comes and helps the team out, she may even be guest blogging on here once or twice.

So that's me for now. I'm off to a steampunk market this weekend! Not been to one before, I hope it's going to be great and don't worry, I am taking the camera.


Thanks for reading.


Kirsty

Volunteering Two!

Meet Andrew.


Andrew had a new careworker and she suggested he attend one of our courses to get him out of the house after so long being isolated. He came on one of our fused glass courses with our lovely tutor Karen and this was the first thing he had done in years. He thought that he was "no good at art", as many people who attend our courses do.

He really enjoyed making things in our course and then his careworker encouraged him to think about volunteering once the course had ended. Originally he wanted to volunteer on our cookery course, but we placed him on the photography course. (Not to be mean or anything, just sometimes we can't let someone volunteer on the course they want, it's not easy to timetable all the volunteers and courses!) Andrew looked forward to the next twelve weeks but he was nervous.

"I took my camera and hoped for the best. I thought everyone would have fancy cameras but I felt better when I realised no one did, and some didn't even have cameras at all".

This, by the way, is a motto of ours. You don't need to have anything but yourself to join in on any of our courses and we try not to teach techniques that require lots of materials or expensive items. We hope that people can continue what they have learnt with us a hobby and don't want people to feel they can't afford this.

Back to Andrew. He settled into the group well and enjoyed making brews (see before post). He didn't enjoy the course as much as the fused glass as you didn't make things on this course. He did find the course interesting and learnt how to use his camera while volunteering. He enjoyed the fact that he wasn't the oldest on this course and found it easier to get on with people who were a bit older. He looked forward to going every week as it got him out of the house.

This spurred Andrew on and he also started volunteering with the food bank. He has found his confidence improving and has recently started a computer course, which he hopes to follow with a course involving Photoshop as he enjoyed editing images.

Andrew brought some photographs along to show what he had been up to in the course.

He learnt a lot about camera functions; removing red eye, how to zoom, what the various symbols meant. From only knowing the basics on his camera he can now understand it and use it to its full potential. He's very proud of the photographs he has taken (rightly so) and explained "I'm really happy with the results, you learn by your mistakes and the more you do it the better you get".

Andrews advice to anyone thinking about joining Arts on Prescription is simply...

"Give it a go."

Thanks for sharing your story Andrew.

Thanks for reading.




Kirsty

Volunteering

It's Volunteer week across the UK this week, so I'd like to take the opportunity to share one of our volunteers stories.

Meet Lorraine.

Lorraine attended arts on prescription originally to get out more and to help build her confidence. She first attended a confidence building course at Nelson and Colne College and they told her about arts on prescription. She came on one of our sewing courses, back in 2009. The course helped Lorraine to make friends and meet new people and she is still in touch with the people she met on the course. They regularly meet up for a brew (that's northern English for a cup of tea or coffee for our international readers) and a catch up.

It was this group who mentioned that Arts on Prescription were starting a volunteering project, and they all decided to attend the meeting we held to explain how the project would work and what would be expected of people. Lorraine was initially nervous and worried about what to expect and did think she wouldn't be able to do it and that she thought she might have to teach people which she did not want to do.

After attending the meeting she felt a lot better about everything as we had explained she would not have to do anything she did not want to do and that a helper role would be great for us and more the kind of thing that would suit her.

Lorraine was placed as a volunteer on our cookery course, Around the World in 10 dishes with our lovely tutor Jayne. Jayne and Lorraine got along well from the start, as Lorraine said, they "gelled instantly". Lorraine was soon helping out with our cake decorating course too, as our original volunteer for that group was unable to attend.

Throughout her time volunteering Lorraine has felt appreciated by Jayne and the group and has really enjoyed her role in the sessions. She helps some people on a one-to-one basis as and when they need it, she learnt various chopping skills and chops for others who struggle physically and she brews up for the group too. (See above note!)

Lorraine explained how she had noticed the changes in people, many of those who were quiet in week one, started to settle in and open up to the experience.

"We're all in the same position, all nervous, but I've been there and know what they're going through even though we are all different".

Lorraine noticed her confidence building through every week.

"I learnt how to listen to people and how to step in when needed."

She has always loved baking, but freely admits decorating cakes wasn't her strongest point. She has taken all the skills on board and uses them regularly. She has mastered piping, the secret is to pipe your cream or frosting and to pull the nozzle away quickly to create peaks. One of the highlights of our cookery course is that you get to take home all the lovely goodies.

As she continued to volunteer, Jayne encourage Lorraine to complete her food hygiene certificates and she completed level one. She is moving to level two soon. She is also attending a Maths and English course and is about to do a first aid certificate.

All these skills combined and after a long time out of the workforce Lorraine now has a paid job.

Lorraine says that she has noticed such a difference in herself as she has got her confidence back and her overall health has improved.

Finally we asked Lorraine for her advice to others thinking about volunteering or joining a course and she said...

"Take the plunge. Don't be scared because everyone lets you work at your own pace, you're not pushed to do anything you don't want to do and you can make new friends".

We'd like to say a huge thanks to Lorraine for letting us share her story here.

For anyone interested, we do still have some spaces on Cookery on Thursday mornings and Baking on Friday mornings. Just call us on 01282 661784 or text us on 07815 962190 or email carmela.manta@pendleleisuretrust.co.uk if you want to join.


Thanks for reading,



Kirsty