Mini Millbrook PUSH4Culture Trip to London

After going to visit a puppet show locally at the Nuffield Theatre in February, the Mini Millbrook Project went to see a puppet show in London on March 28th. This was at the Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn and was called 'Petrushka & the Mysterious Magician'.The puppet show had 2 actors in it this time and was less traditional than the Nuffield performance. It also included sign language as part of the entertainment.

The whole trip was made using public transport and included 3 different types of train; main line, overland and tube. The aim was to use transport that the group could use themselves another time as for some of the parents and children, it was the first time they'd ever been to London. The Tricycle Theatre staff were very welcoming and arranged for the Mini Millbrook Project to get the VIP treatment once again by having their very own 'meet the actors' session at the end of the show.

The trip was funded by PUSH4Culture & organised by Southampton Scrapstore.

Mini Millbrook get PUSH4Culture funding for puppet programme

Back in February the CB Project won £3700 of funding from PUSH4Culture to run a puppet programme for the Mini Millbrook Project. It was a theme they had come up with themselves when they had a review meeting in January about what they wanted to do this year.

The programme kicked off on February 28th with a trip to the Nuffield Theatre to see 'The Selfish Giant' puppet show.

After the show, the children got to 'meet the puppets' to get a close up look and to try out holding them. Sharon Lawless from the Nuffield also gave the group the VIP treatment, with a guided tour round the back of the stage and into the Green room to see what goes on behind the scenes.

"The last time I saw a puppet show was on the coast. It was Punch and Judy" Karen

Glass Painting and Lampshades at Middle Wallop

A very sunny day at Middle Wallop saw the Stuart and Solent University student Alice, putting on a day of lampshade and glass painting. Adult volunteers and young people joined in, for a very creative time! The young people were surprised by how much they enjoyed it. One young lady said that she thought the glass painting might be boring, but by the end, had totally changed her mind!
We were also able to chat to the adult volunteers about how the group were doing over a much appreciated lunch in the mess hall!

Creative Powers at South Wonston

The Bank holiday weekend, saw us once again working with parents and children in the village of South Wonston. Again we had a good turn out of families eager to use the Scrapstores materials and to enjoy quality time with their children. We had quite a few Dad's in attendence, who revelled in the opportunity to design, cut, stick and glue! The popularity of these events in this rural community, has obviously hit upon a local need and we are hoping to organise some sessions over the summer.

Cheeky Monkeys forge ahead

Having had some additional support from the CB project we are pleased to say that the former Fordingbridge Young parents group is forging ahead with changes that will see the group develop more independance. They are currently writing a group constitution and policies, in anticipation of opening a group bank account.
They are also planning a group trip as well as negotiating the use of the church hall grounds where they meet, to grow fruit and vegetables. They also relaunched their facebook group at

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=34223180075

Carnival Workshop 11th May

We had another productive workshop at Wells Place in Eastleigh last monday. Some new faces came down to make Carnival headpieces while others put together decorative blue stick capes!
We were visited by the Eastleigh Carnival procession organiser, Jo Lockyer who was there to answer questions from the participants about Eastleigh Carnival itself. Everyone agreed that the workshops have shown that carnival costumes can be made on small budget and without having to have specialist skills. Some scrap materials, a little imagination, and the ability to weald a roll of strong gaffer tape can work wonders!

Update from Awbridge Wildgrounds group

Hi to all of our avid readers in the digital ethe net.
Everything is going really well at Awbridge Primary in fact we have doubled in numbers since our first meeting with 9 parents now taking part.

After some interesting discussion and fantastic ideas we decided to think about what we could be achieved in the short term and beyond, with the school fete happening in 3 weeks the decision was made to create a piece of art work that was functional as well as engaging in which both parents , children and the wider community could take part . I was asked to design a windbreak/ screen which we could start building in the morning and then invite year 6 children to assist in the afternoon , followed by an initiation to children and families to contribute to during the fete by bringing something special to them to weave in to the structure . It is going to be made from a mixture of natural materials and recycled materials.

Once the planning was under way I sent out a list of materials that we would need to obtain Dr Barnes has kindly sent a letter out to the parents asking if they can help to gather materials and members of the group set about seeing how they could help.
We are lucky that one of the members had good contacts with the National Trust countryside manager at Mottisfont Abbey and asked if they could help, they have come up trumps and have offered to supply us with the Hazel which is great news all we need to do now is work out how we are going to collect it.

Anyway that's it for now here is a couple of the designs for the screen.
bye for now from Jacquie C B outreach worker in Test Valley