Volunteer Training - Roll up, Roll up!

Community Builders ran the first of its 2-day Training Courses for Volunteers, to help people involved with or running community groups.

15 people from 6 different groups came along; St Denys Junior Youth Club, Sedbergh Area Tenants & Residents Association, EU Welcome, DICE (Eastleigh), Mini Millbrook Project and Southampton Scrapstore. The groups came from Southampton and Eastleigh, and some were independent groups not known to the CB Project.

To make it fun, the training had a Victorian Music Hall theme. Everyone invited received a formal invitation and trick dice through the post. James Street Church hall was decked out with green tables, feathers and playing cards; the Trainers, Jennie and Pat from TWICS dressed up as a glamorous assistant and a fairy God Mother to host the show; and Stuart provided the organ and snare roll accompaniment.

Show stoppers included 'You don't have to saw yourself in two' - how to delegate, 'Houdini's escape from the rut' - moving your project forward and 'Magic'ing up support' - where to find help & advice.

The day was finished off with 'Multiplying Membership not Rabbits', - a hands on craft activity making personal invitations to advertise a group. Out came the scrap, sleeves were rolled up and everyone got stuck in.

Many cups of tea and lollipops later, the music hall cleared and everyone went away happy and looking forward to day 2 the next week. The feedback was good and what people really seemed to like was meeting others 'in the same boat';

'Brilliant, got lots of ideas and information, enjoyed meeting new people and the loved the costumes – you made it fun.'

Dice Group heading towards Independence

This monday, Adam, the leader of the Dice drop in project conducted a meeting about the future sustainabilty of the group. During the meeting he was able to use planning tools and skills acquired while on the CB project Community work training course! Representatives from the various groups who have helped the project were invited, as well as the members, and we split into two focus groups to put together our vision of how we see DICE progressing.

Cultural Olympiad - DICE & Mini Millbrook Project get stuck in

The CB Project has done a lot of work with SHAPe (Southampton Heritage and Arts People), a new partnership of cultural oranisations in the city. The aim has been to get CB groups involved in city-wide events, and the Launch of the Cultural Olympiad was the first chance to really make the most of the opportunity.

The Mini Millbrook Project got themselves on the publicity's front cover, and on the Saturday, Micheala sold her home-made cards on the stall and Gail, Suzie and Karen all popped in to say hello and make a wish.

Meanwhile, Adam and Claire helped run the wishing tree stall (when Adam wasn't getting distracted by the Crazy Thornhill Carnival), and John and Mark popped in to see what all the fuss was about.

Cultural Olympiad - more wishes!

Cultural Olympiad - Bargate Wishing tree

Scrapstore volunteers and members of the Mini Millbrook Project (Southampton) and DICE (Eastleigh) had great fun on Saturday 27th September, taking their part in the city's celebrations for the Launch of the Cultural Olympiad.

The idea was to turn Southampton Bargate into a wishing tree, decorating it with shopper's wishes for the next four years and the run up to 2012.

To make it extra fun, members of the public made a 'mini-me in a nutshell' (minitures of themselves) to hang their wishes off.

It was a baking hot day, everyone topped up their tan and the colourful wishes attracted lots of attention!

Cultural Olympiad Celebrations see Scrapstore centre stage!

The weekend of the 26th-28th September, saw the national Launch of the Cultural Olympiad celebrations to mark the start of the four year run up to the 2012 Olympics. In Southampton, Scrapstore jumped at the chance to take a central role in local celebrations by decorating the Bargate in the Olympiad colours of blue, green, pink and orange.

It was a three-pronged attack; the lions were dressed in bows at the front and 15m twisted banners, all made of scrap material, hung from the roof; the gates at the back showed off the range of scrap from the Scrapstore, with the appropriate colours all carefully sourced by Scrapstore volunteers; and then to finish off, during Saturday's Arts market, Scrapstore volunteers and members of CB groups came together to turn the Bargate into a wishing tree, making 3D wishes for the next four years and tying them to the gates.

It was a great opportunity to advertise the Scrapstore and show its valuable contribution to culture in the city. But more importantly for the CB Project it was the chance to get Scrapstore and CB groups involved at the heart of the city. Indeed the Mini Millbrook group got themselves on the front of the council's brochure for the event - show offs!

All round, it was a great team effort, with volunteers involved at every stage. Special thanks must go to Scrapstore volunteer Mark who helped decorate the gates on the Friday, Morley (Treasurer) who used his science expertise to secure the banners on the roof of the Bargate, and John (Co-ordinator) who sourced the silk rope needed from as far as Dorset Scrapstore.

Blackfield Dads Club

On Saturday morning we had a great time making 'Little People' at the Dads and Kids Breakfast club at Blackfield Community Centre.
Daren and Debbie kept us going with Coffee and Toast, while we set about making a whole community of people with scrap!
If you look carefully you can see Ozzy Osbourne and Count Dracula! (Definately shades of Halloween coming on!)
It has been a pleasure to help the team bring new ideas and skills to the centre. So far we have done African Drumming, Scrap workshops and Carnival Training over the summer (a first for Blackfield), which culminated in a costume parade around the estate.