New Activities for the Gateway Club

Community Builders has been continuing it's work with the Gateway Club at New Milton. We have been working with the members and volunteers, to give them new ideas for activities which don't need to be too expensive to run. Badge making and marbling (above), proved to be very popular with everyone taking part! The Club are now gearing up to take part in the upcoming Sway Carnival in July.
The club has members from all over the New Forest who come along on a Tuesday evening to access the facilities and to meet each other.

Fantastic News about the Dice Group

the Eastleigh and Romsey Mencap Association has given the Dice group £416 to continue funding our accomodation at Wells Place!! - This is thanks to one of their members, Jane Rowley, running in the London Marathon. This is Fantastic.

Over the last couple of weeks at Dice we have attracted some new members, and have made badges and as well as having a go at Origami flowers (pictured), led by Ben Neale, who supports Adam our group co-ordinator.

The group also had a meeting where we discussed future plans, including a swimming session at

Eastleigh Holiday Inn and participating in the Eastleigh Carnival in August!! - It's all very exciting!

Polish Arts Group Exhibition

The Polish exhibition at the Foyes Corner festival was a great success, with a steady flow of people looking round throughout the day. The Southampton Echo came to cover the show, as well as the Polish Courier. Michal interviewed the artists for Unity 101 radio, and everyone seem to enjoy the event. It was a chance for the group to show off their talents to a wider audience and to make new contacts. There was a wide range of work on show, from video presentations, to glasswork, to cartoons, to Fine Art paintings and drawings. All work was displayed on easels - kindly lent by a number of local arts organisations who have supported the project, including Art House, Spice Arts, Greyladyes Art Foundation, and the Hexagon Centre in Chandlers Ford - thanks!
And also a huge thanks to all the Artists and group members, who worked so hard to make the day such a success - Including Arek, Ewa, Joanna, Konrad, Kasia, Marta, Monika, Paulina, Przemyslaw, Pawel and Michal, and anyone else I've forgotten.

Polish Arts Group - Exhibition this Sunday!

This sunday, a number of Polish Artists that have been working with Community Builders are coming together for a group show!!
We have Przemyslaw (Glass), Arek (Fine Art Paintings), Kasia (Photos), Konrad (Cartoons/Photos), Joanna (Light Installation), Pawel (Furniture and Frames), and Michal (Photos). It's a wide range of interesting and quality work, on display for one day only - so don't miss it!

Friends of Central Parks (Update)

It' s been a couple of months since Community Builders helped facilitate an inittal meeting for the Southampton Central Parks Ranger, Gary Oscroft, who is setting up a friends of the park group. So Stuart popped down to the Park Cafe on a warm monday evening, to see how they are getting on. There were 14 people down there, from places as far away as Eastleigh and Chandlers Ford, all keen to get involved in a community consultation and support group that will help influence the direction of the parks in the future.
Gary and John managed the meeting very well, and made sure everyone there got a say. The next meeting is on monday 14th July 7pm at Hoglands Pavillion. For anyone interested in the Parks, and wanting something interesting and rewarding to get involved in, this would be a very good group to join!
We have been pleased to have helped Gary in the initial stages, and wish the project every future success.

Pilands Wood Display

The Pilands Wood Community Centre has put up a display in their foyer, celebrating the success of the first Pilands Wood Music Night. Local Singers and DJs performed, and the centre volunteers
ran the whole event very smoothly.
Everyone learnt a lot about the ins and outs of putting on an event, from borrowing and setting up a stage, to checking passes, writing a risk assessment, and many other small tasks that all helped to make the event work. Well done to everyone.
Hopefully we have equiped the team with skills and experience they can use in the future.

Celebration bash at New Milton

We had a great evening last night at the New Milton Gateway Club where the CB Project has been introducing new activities and supporting the members to gain new skills. As a bit of a celebration, Stuart and his friend Chas (who kindly played for Free), came along and everyone danced the night away while they played songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s. We also discussed the possibility of the group taking part in the Sway Carnival (with the Theme Myths and Legends) and hope to invite some members over to see the Scrapstore and the materials we might use to make costumes.

Bargate Mums' Arts Group - Making picture frames for display

Mums' Arts Group - the final touch, making picture frames to show off photos

To finish off the workshops on the theme of digital photography, the group made themselves picture frames to display their photos in.

The women brought in the photos they had taken in previous weeks or a photo from home and used this as their inspiration, or they made a picture from scratch to be framed.

It was another chance to try out using a glue gun, craft knives and cutting boards. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in,making lots of mess and experimenting as they went.

"It's just nice to have an excuse to get out the house" said one group member.

They then used the skills they had learnt over the sessions to take digital photos of the frames to go on this blog.

One group member said of the photo below, "Be sure to take a photo of this photo and frame because it a culmination of the weeks' work". The photo was one she took of her child in the 'fake studio setting' we set up, and using a professional digital camera assisted by artist Vicki.

The photos and work the group has produced since November, will now be put on display in the next two weeks at The Itchen Gallery & Coffee Shop in St Mary Street. So watch this space for the final display.

A big thank you also to Steve and the gang from SureStart Central, who have supported this project from the beginning. They've done lots of the publicity behind the scenes and come long each week to support the activities, helping out with the children, making cups of tea and trying their hands at the photography and craft - think they learnt a few skills too!