Writing project at Hurstbourne Tarrant

The CB project have been working in a rural village on a family writing project. This was the 2nd session of what is proving to be a very popular and enjoyable project. Storyteller Claudia friend and CB outreach worker Stuart, have teamed up to help the school produce a book of creative writing about life in the village.

This week the group produced imaginative maps of their surroundings, pointed out their favourite places and landmarks.

Awbridge Wildgrounds group planning for the spring

Several members of the group along with myself and a new member Colin a local resident and a enthusiastic gardener all came together last Friday to decide on the next step for the community garden.

After some discussion about the direction and focus for the future taking into consideration the time that people are able to contribute to growing this project ( excuse the pun)
The plan of action was agreed to be the following :

• To concentrate on getting the new raised beds ready for the spring and to get a composter on the go
• To look at ways of involving the children for example  asking them to explore what ingredients need to go into making good compost, for each class to plan for what vegetables could go in their plot thinking about slow growing and fast growing fruit and veg, maybe link this to other themes e.g historical periods etc , also maybe to help by planting seeds etc.
• To look at ways of involving families for example holding sessions to learn more about growing vegetables and sharing skills and to consider what plants are needed in the wild grounds area to help attract creatures that will keep the slugs and nasty beasts at bay
• Maybe to start  a gardening club or arrange a number of activities

With all of these plans in mind we decided that we needed to focus on the things that need to happen before the Christmas break,  namely organising a composter which Colin  kindly offered to donate to the project and to set a date to prepare the soil in the raised beds ready for the spring.

The other things to consider was how we were we going to find the organic materials we needed to prepare the soil.

The provisional date for digging (subject to good weather) has been set for this Sunday morning, a tight schedule indeed,  however its amazing what a group of enthusiastic people can organise in a short time.

As to the  donations of well rotted manure, personal approaches combined with a leaflet out to the parents has brought in lots of offers of help which is great because they are going to need at least 25 bags of the stuff.

Mr Barnes the headteacher has also offered to write a article for the village newsletter asking people for donations of tools and useful implements.

Aviary Community Garden Planting Afternoon

The rain held off just long enough for the members of the Aviary Community garden group to start planting some winter vegetables!

Tony and Anne from the Allotment society joined us to offer valuable advice as well as bulbs to plant. As it was a cold afternoon, we brewed hot chocolate for everyone using a couple of storm kettles which don't require electricity or gas - they boil by burning

dry twigs and paper underneath!

Bird and butterfly feeder activities with families at Timsbury Pre School

This week I spent a morning with parents and children at Timsbury Pre School near Romsey.
The Pre School are part of a bigger project at the community hall to develop a community garden they were really keen to take part in a activity where they could learn how to make feeders to attract wildlife into the garden.
Everybody had lots of fun learning how to make two different types of butterfly feeders  ready for next spring as well as a  bird feeder to put out now ,  local birds are now benefiting in the area by getting a little more help when they most need .
The adults and children were really pleased to learn how to  make feeders from materials that they could easily collect and also do their bit when it came to recycling .

Bishops Sutton Family Art Workshops

October and November saw two more workshops run by Scrapstores, Stuart Jebbitt and local artist Melissa Simm.

Free taster sessions in making ‘art’ with scrap have been held at Bishops Sutton’s village hall for children and parents.

Where dragons roared in September ghoulish ghosts materialized in October, just in time for Halloween! November’s workshop saw many a strange creature and they all had blue fur!

Fun were had by all, kids and the adults! and to the delight to those who have already been to the last three, one more taster session will be going ahead on 6 December, a Christmas special, where an opportunity to make decorations to hang on your tree (or wherever else you may choose to hang them!)

The sessions are from 3 til 4.30 at Bishop’s Sutton village hall, so bring your imaginations and come on down!

A new project in Timsbury

Back in September I was contacted by parents from Timsbury Pre School  who had heard about the Awbridge project to ask me if I could assist them.
They are working on a collective  long term project with other groups who meet in their local village hall with the focus of  creating a multi use community garden, which needs to meet the various  needs of the hall users as well as be accessible to the local community.
 I agreed to meet with them to explore how I might be able to best help giving the time constraints of the CB project.
Thankfully there pans are well under way and they are now seeking permission from the local Parish Council to go ahead with the project. , so where could I help?
After meeting with two members of the group and after much discussion as to how the CB project could be of most help we agreed that funding and some training for some of  groups in the hall would be most beneficial.
So with this  in mind I am currently looking into what we can offer and will let you know how we progress.

Awbridge wildgrounds group autumn update

A quick update as to where we are now . Because the group meets in the school and involves local parents this has meant that we have not met over the summer holidays, however that does not mean that things haven't been happening behind the scenes.
Over the summer  holidays meetings took place between several members of the group and a local wildlife / gardening enthusiast who is really keen to help out and help to involve the local community , we have now arranged another meeting to take place in a couple of weeks with the intention of planning  for the future and to set out a plan of action to develop a vegetable garden alongside the wildlife area.
Meanwhile I have have been spending some time with a couple of enthusiastic members  assisting  them with looking at funding applications . We are also hoping to put on a training workshop to look at making feeding boxes etc to attract even more  wildlife into the garden .

This years community group training is a great success!

This year we decided to deliver another set of open access training, to pass on our learning to a larger number of groups. Members of 11 different community groups came along for 2 days of sharing tips, tricks and innovative ideas. We covered a lot of ground, with many
group exercises and activities, including the creation of a group skills audit, recognising and overcoming barriers to participation, and publicising your group to attract new members. The participants really enjoyed the interaction with other projects and we had a diverse range of groups, from a voluntary toddler group, an asian womens group, an inner city community garden, and a community art gallery. Many contact details were swapped for future collaborations!. "Brilliant! It was more than I expected and I have enjoyed the poster session the most", "nice to meet other folks and to think about things a bit differently", "top notch, learnt loads - we are the future" are just some of the feedback comments.
The CB project has also produced a "Community Group Survival Guide" full of advice and tips - which is available in PDF or word format for anyone who wants it. We are also working on an interactive CD-rom version! so watch this space.

BDS Art group - flyer designs.

Many thanks to Bishopstoke day services for their hospitality, and to their service users art group who spent an afternoon working with us on designs for the Curveball club flyers. Using recycled scraps on mounting card, they produced some really colourful and eyecatching designs.

Recording session for the Curveball Club

Some of the Dice group are now helping to put together a special music track to be played at the upcoming club night for adults with learning difficulties. Mark worked with the drum machine to programme some suitable rhythms, while Pam added some great vocals! We were also joined by Art House director, Bik, who kindly added some Didj for us. The dance track 'You can party' will be unveiled at the event on december the 9th!

Scrap Workshop at Eastleigh College

Last week we visted Eastleigh College, to work with their Skills for Working Life students. After meeting the group and explaining how the Scrapstore works, the students were able to rummage in several large crates of assorted scrap as part of
a Scrap Challenge model making afternoon.

This included bottle tops, plastic buttons, old foam, cardboard tubes and a whole range of unidentifiable bits and pieces. The Students thoroughly enjoyed the activity, each creating their own unique sculpture. Creations included robots, rabbits, cats, phones, and even a camera!

The whole session was recorded by the College's marketing department and is currently featured on their website with the following quote,
"Enrichment activities such as this allow students to develop their creativity, communication and confidence"

The group were also very interested in the upcoming learning disability club night that we are putting on at Eastleigh Football Club. We have already arranged a return visit on November 11th so the group can help design artwork for the event, and choose music for it.

Bishop’s Sutton: there be dragons!

Bishop’s Sutton: there be dragons!

Village’s first Scrapstore Art Workshop

creates figures, fantasies – and fun

Dragons roared and rockets were launched, birds flew and robots strutted, where previously there had just been a bewildering array of materials. Yes, everybody had great fun at Bishop’s Sutton’s first Art Workshop, organised by Southampton Scrapstore.

Led by Scrapstore’s Stuart Jebbitt and local artist, Melissa Simm, the Workshop saw children and their parents make some wonderful monsters, men and machines from the plentiful, high-quality ‘scrap’ provided.

Following this success, Scrapstore is planning to hold further Workshops on October 18 and November 1. They run from 3 to 4:30pm in Bishop’s Sutton Village Hall; they are free, and all materials, paints, glues, etc. are provided; just bring along yourselves and your imagination.

To book a place, or for any queries, please contact Stuart on stuartjebbitt@hotmail.com or 07766 096148.

Eastleigh Carnival 2009

Another sunny(ish) afternoon in Eastleigh and this years carnival procession lined up on Grantham Green ready for the off, despite worries earlier in the year of it not going ahead. Following a plea for help by the Local paper, the CB project helped out by putting on a number of costume making workshops and supporting two of our community groups to taking part once again.

DICE (Drop in Centre Eastleigh) (pictured), and the Mini Millbrook Project paraded together, on what was a great afternoon, with MM winning a 1st prize once again!

Tshirt designs at South Wonston

We had another very sucessful morning at South Wonston Village hall in rural Winchester. at the request of the Parish Council and Parents, we have put on 2 summer workshops for parents and kids together.
Both have been fully booked out and our sessions have proved popular enough, that our artist has now been asked by the members to take over the group as an independent art club from September! This is great news for a rural village where there is very little provision for activities that families can do together.

Scrapstore at the Mela

Scrapstore artist, Vicki Hodgson and volunteer Alice Rawles, created a wishing tree at the New Forest Mela, the first ever event of its kind for the forest. The event was organised by Forest Bus, with whom we had previously collaborated with on a project involving traveller families, many of who were attending the festival.

Initially the stall was only planned for the morning, but was so popular that they ended up having to stay open for the whole day!

African Culture and Music at Middle Wallop

Over the Summer artist and musician, Kris Bediiako, has been running a series of workshops with young people and volunteers living at the Middle Wallop RAF Station. His sessions, based around his childhood in Ghana, and how African society embraces the community, is helping to bond the group, through art, music, drumming, song and dance. Kris has been a great success and he is now in discussion with the group about a possible exchange visit with young people in Ghana.

Aviary Childrens Centre Open Day

Recently, the CB project took part in the Open day at the Aviary Surestart Centre in Eastleigh. Newly Signed up Scrapstore Artist and Permaculture expert, Gavin Marsh, (a recent graduate from the Winchester school of Art), made over 70 windmills from recycled materials with local kids!
Gavin is a new addition to the project and he will be helping to co-ordinate the new community garden based at the centre in the coming months.
Watch this space....

Awbridge Wildgrounds Group windbreak making day

The Windbreak viewed from the school playground

Well where should I start ,, we had a pretty mammoth task ahead of us a lot to achieve in one day. The hazel donated by Mottisfont Abbey and Gardens was delivered on the Wednesday and Heather one of the members of the group came up trumps with a very large pile of surplus dogwood which was donated by Hampshire artist Olivia Keith.
I brought a large pile of fabric and net strips from the Scrapstore and we were ready to start.
The ground proved to be much harder than we anticipated and after one hours work we had only managed to make enough holes for about ten hazel stakes it looked as if we might have to scale down our plan and build a smaller windbreak, thankfully two fathers who had stopped for a coffee break at a neighbours house came to our rescue and with their assistance we are soon able to get back on track.


Once this Hazel stakes were firmly in the ground we started working on the structural weaving using the dogwood to strengthen the structure , as with all projects such as this there were quite a lot of discussion on the best way to do this as well as how we wanted it to look.

Emma Heather and Amanda working
on the basic weaving

In the afternoon we were joined by year six students who helped us with the weaving and later on children who had brought personal pieces to weave into the structure came over to add them in . One of the children had been send a scarf by her grandmother who lives in South Africa she also included a note to tell people about the scarf s journey.


Once the main structure was assembled and ready for the next stage we were able to take a much needed break before the evening school fete started.



A view of the right hand end of the windbreak before the fete

During the fete many people from the local community as well as children who attended the school and their families were able to contribute by adding in a fabric design, several of the teachers who had been taking a peak during the day were able to come along and contribute.


A great first project for the group we are now busily planning for the autumn term and are looking forward to a much needed summer break.

Thanks to Heather Rowen Sue Emma and Amanda from the group who contributed to building the stucture, to the local Dads who stepped in when we most needed it ,Mr Barnes the Headteacher and all of the children and parents who joined in to help us make this such a fantastic project .

Pilands Volunteer group undergo training sessions

The Volunteer Group at Pilands have been undergoing commitee training, and today we popped down to see how they were getting on. 6 members of the volunteer group took part, creating a visual representation of all the skills they have available between them and thinking about how they could bring these to the centre. Volunteer co-ordinator Jane Rich was very complimentary about the CB project and it's support for the centre volunteers over the last two and a half years.
"You've transformed the image of the Scrapstore and made it relevant to the community".

Sway Carnival - the Gateway group rides again!

The Gateway Group from New Milton gained a special commendation and a rosette at this years Sway Carnival Procession which took place on friday evening.

The carnival theme this year was 'Sway to the Music' and the gang decided to dress up in tabards with different music styles stenciled on. Together with some new romantic make-up, cardboard guitars and instruments made from scrap, they looked fantastic.

The smiles say it all!