Don't Miss CB Music Event @ Pilands!

CB has been working with the Pilands Wood Community Centre Volunteers as well as local talent from the area to put on a live music evening, the first of it's kind at the centre.

The evening will feature the vocal talents of local singer Candice Casey, as well as work on the decks from local DJ MC Dare (aka Ronny Wood).

The event finishes with a professional Rock Band
(inc. ex-session players), performing a mixture of orginals and covers.

The evening includes Free Food and Drink and a subsidised Creche (so there's no excuses!!)

for only £4.50 that's a very cheap evening out.

more info from CB at 02380 915414 or from

Pilands Wood on 02380 405119

Dice Group Update

Dice group had another enjoyable session with community artist, Rose Perry, leading a workshop using sand. Dice is proving very successful with over 20 members coming each week.
We are currently working with co-ordinator Adam Williams, to find funding to continue the project beyond the pilot period. We have a strong case as there are very few day services for learning disabled residents in Eastleigh and a project of this kind which is more independant and member driven, is proving very popular among service users.

CB working with New Milton Gateway Club

We had a great night at New Milton Gateway Club, meeting many new Faces. Stuart has been supporting David (pictured), to take on a volunteer helper role at the club, and be proactive in running new activities. We are also planning to involve the club in the Sway Carnival in June.

Bargate Mums' Arts Group - taking glamorous photos

Bargate Mums' Arts Group - learning to take portraits in a 'studio setting'

Today, the ladies in Bargate put themselves and their hats under the spotlight - quite literally. Artist and Photographer Vicki created a 'studio set', suggested by the women in previous sessions.



They then took it in turns to photograph themselves and their children in front of the studio backdrop and with its studio lamps. They took a mix of digital photos and 35mm film. For some, taking 30 photos to get 10 good ones on film was too much to take in, and they were much more comfortable using the digital - at least you just press delete!






Using these skills, the women then took portraits of the show girl hats they had created in the session before. And look at the glam results!

Next session they'll be learning how to manipulate these digital images on the computer in Photoshop - Katy our Photographer will be leading the session, showing people how to crop, resize, cut out redeye, brighten and darken photos, and change them into black and white. It will basically be the chance to have a play with the potential digital photography has to offer.

So come along on Friday April 11th, 10.00 -12.00 noon at Orchard Lane Church

Mini Millbrook Group - in the Rema Hut

Mini Millbrook Group in the glamorous Rema Hut at Newlands School

The group celebrated an excellent report from the NVQ Assessor's visit last week, by having nibbles and treats at their Thursday session. And it was all very comfortable, as the ladies sat back and enjoyed the new, plush furnishings of the brand new Rema Hut community room in Newlands School.

Kerry has been working flat out with the school to get the hut ship shape and ready for community groups to use - and the Mini Millbrook ladies were very impressed.

Plans are now in place for the ladies to run a carnival workshop at an upcoming festival event in April. The group has therefore booked themselves 3 days of training with a carnival artist, to make sure they have all the expertise they need to run a safe and successful outdoor event for the community.

Bargate Mums' Arts Group - Making show girl hats

Mums' Arts group in Bargate gets hands on - making show girl hats!

Southampton Scrapstore has some exciting new suppliers providing jewellery and hair accessories that make excellent decorations for hats. To make the most of this, the Mums in Bargate decided to make themselves some show girl hats to wear in their photos.

There were plenty of ribbon, flowers, feathers, beads and netting to choose from - and with a needle and thread, a glue gun and a bit of imagination, the ladies got stuck in and made some beautiful creations.

Next session on Friday March 14th, we'll be picking up our cameras again to take portraits of ourselves in the glamorous show girl hats we've made. Vicki our Photographer will be onhand to give top tips, and we'll be fixing our glamorous poses in our very own studio setting.

So come and get glamorous!

Park Rangers meet Artists!

Last night, despite the weather, we had a really excellent meeting where the Park Rangers met local Artists. The CB project has been helping the Central Parks Ranger, Gary Oscroft, to set up a Friends of The Parks Group to encourage community involvement. CB facilitated the meeting at the Art House (a Community Arts gallery in the centre of Southampton), which was attended by Park Rangers and Gardeners, as well as, local Artists, Poets and Musicians.

It was agreed that the Rangers would support Art events in the Parks that would enhance the use of green space by local people. Gary gave the example of the Friends of St. James Park Group (Shirley) which now has 400 members!. the Art House were also keen to host some future events as outreach work for the gallery, possibly under the banner 'the Out House'.

Everyone went away having enjoyed a very open and exciting brainstorm, with numerous creative ideas coming to the fore, and with new contacts made on both sides. the CB project was very pleased to have bought these two groups of people together and who knows what might result! could be very exciting....

Music Jam Session at Dice

The Dice group at Eastleigh tried something new this week, with a music jam session instead of Art and Crafts. The members brought in instruments from home and we had a great time having a sing-a-long to songs by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and many others suggested by the members. Stuart and Jay (the worker from Mencap), took turns in playing the guitar, with Mark on his keyboard and others rattling, banging, and tapping various percussion instruments

This was the 4th week of Dice, (halfway through the 8 week pilot), with the group still attracting 20 or so people. The project has been a definate success, proving that there was a real need for it. Hopefully, we can attract more funding to keep it going!

Dads Group @ Blackfield

The Blackfield Dad's group met again on Saturday the 8th with a Breakfast Club for Dads and their children. The Dads who attended came up with lots of ideas for projects they'd like to do. Among the ideas were making toy furniture from forest wood, treasure hunts, and stunt kite making. The drumming workshop led by our Ghanaian Drummer, Kristian Bediiako, is still being talked about, and the group would like to find some funding to get him back in the summer!

The children enjoyed themselves, making some new posters (pictured), for the group (as they thought our ones weren't very good!) and also an impromptu guitar lesson from Stuart, teaching the chords of G, Em, C and D. The next meet will be on Saturday 22nd April and hopefully, fortnightly thereafter.

CB working with 2 new parents groups in the Forest

By invitation of The Hampshire Youth Service, the CB Project has been working with 2 new groups of young parents, at either end of the New Forest. One group is based at New Milton (pictured), and the other at Fordingbridge. So far we have done a digital photography session at both groups, as well as a drumming and percussion session at Fordingbridge.

We have booked at Trampolining session at New Milton in April and are also planning a trip to a local farm. Our University Placement Leeba, has been leading at Fordingbridge and Stuart at New Milton.

Polska Grupa Artystyczna (Polish Arts Group)

Zapraszamy do Art House 81a Bedford place, Southampton (naprzeciwko Cukierenki) w środę 2 kwietnia o 19.30 na darmowe przekąski, a także aby zapisać się festiwal sztuki lokalnej, który odbędzie się w niedzielę 18 maja w szkole St Mark School w Shirley.
Zapraszamy malarzy, poetów, fotografików, grafików, rysowników, rzeźbiarzy oraz innych artystów.
Będzie również możliwość zwiedzenia galerii oraz podzielenia się swoimi pomysłami i propozycjami przyszłych wydarzeń artystycznych z realizatorem projektów Stuart’em Jebbitt’em.

O dalsze szczegóły dotyczące imprezy proszę zwracać się do Stuart’a pod adresem email stuartjebbitt@hotmail.com telefoniczne 02380 915414 lub smsem 07766 096148.
Impreza organizowana we współpracy z EU Welcome euwelcome@yahoo.co.uk www.euwelcome.org
Więcej informacji o Art House znajda Państwo na stronie www.thearthousesouthampton.co.uk

Dice group in the Frame

This week at Dice (Drop In Centre Eastleigh), we were in the capable hands

of community artist Rose Perry. the group made some fantastic decorative picture frames.

thanks Rose, for the photographs.

Bargate Mum's Arts Group in February - Digital Photography Workshop

Bargate Mums Arts Group - learning indepth about taking better photos (February 8th)

With top tips such as 'think about the background and your composition' 'try to tell a story and capture expression', Katy the Photographer used a slide show presentation this session to show the group how to get more from their photos.

After the first session's introduction to using cameras, the aim in this session was to get a bit more indepth learning about what it is that makes a good photo.

Then it was off to the local park to try out these new skills and to try the cameras outside in daylight.

And the results were great - you could already see the improvement on the first session's photos, and the ladies were really pleased.

Mini Millbrook Group - AGM 14th February

Mini Millbrook AGM Thursday 14th Feb - the group gets formally CONSTITUTED!

After much preparation, the Mini Millbrook Project finally had its first AGM to adopt its constitution and elect a committee. This will make the group fully independent and autonomous. They will also be able to open a bank account to manage their own money.

Gail did a great job leading the meeting. Using new PowerPoint skills taught to them by Stuart from the CB Project, Estelle and Gail had put together a fabulous slide show which Gail presented. This gave a detailed summary of what the group had been up to and its hopes for the future. It was a great way to celebrate the hard work of the group over the last couple of months.

Then it was time for the elections - Kerry was elected Chair, Mandy was elected Secretary and Gail became the Treasurer. The constitution was adopted, committee members signed up and it was agreed to open a bank account. Gail ended the meeting with a 'thought shower' to get everyone's ideas about what theme to choose for the group's next carnival.

Then once it was over, there were refreshments and a display of photos for all to enjoy.

Congratulations Mini Millbrook Project - you are now officially independent - watch out Southampton!