South Wonston Parents and Kids

Another saturday morning in rural Winchester and another successful scrapstore arts session for parents and kids at South Wonston Village Hall. This week, Scrapstore artists Stuart and Vicki led the group through the glass painting and fabric collage.
The Sessions so far have proved so popular with local families, that we have been asked if we could put more workshops on over the summer. So after talking to the group, we are now in a position to announce the "Summer Holiday Art Workshops" in South Wonston Village Hall on Monday, 10th August - (T-shirt design) and Monday, 17th August - (Mosaic Clocks) from 10.00 - 12 noon. If your'e interested in attending you can find out more from Vicki Hodgson email: innerimagewshop@aol.com

Cultural Olympiad - Student Sana takes on the Bargate

Remember last year? Scrapstore dressed the Bargate in scrap to celebrate the Launch of the Cultural Olympiad. Well this year, in keeping with the aims of London 2012 which prioritise young people, Scrapstore is handing everything over to student Sana Rashid.

Over here from Pakistan and in her first year studying Maths at Southampton University, Sana is taking the plunge. Here she is measuring up the Bargate for her designs.

She'll then be working with artist Rose Perry to come up with a schedule to produce the design through open workshops, ready for display over the Cultural Olympiad weekend 24th -26th July.

Because the project is completely inspired by the 2012 Olympics, Sana has just put in an application for the Inspire Mark. This is a national mark of quality that recognises innovative projects (big and small) that demonstrate individuals and organisations aspiring to better themselves.

Project managing an arts project is a first for Sana, and handing over a project to a student is a first for Scrapstore. So good luck Sana with the application, fingers crossed!

Cheeky Monkeys go Solo

It's official - Cheeky Monkeys are now a fully independant group.
Today we said goodbye to Roz Bradbury from Hampshire Families who has worked so hard on behalf of the young parents. Tears were shed as the girls said thanks to Roz for her tireless help and support. Having started with just 2 young mums, Niki and Emma, Roz helped to set up the original Fordingbridge Young Parents group, bringing in support from other agencies such as the Youth Service, The Childrens Centre, and since the beginning of 2008, the Community Builders Project. As both the Youth Service and Hampshire Families have since had to pull out, the intervention of the CB project has been crucial to the group. It has allowed them to undergo training in running the group themselves as well as support during the transition period to independance. From next week the group will be meeting for the first time without any agency support.

Pilands Volunteer week is a great success

Saturday afternoon saw us down at Pilands Wood community centre revisiting one of the first groups involved in the CB project, the Pilands Volunteers. a whole weeks worth of intensive volunteer recruitment events ended with a community BBQ outside the centre with group members Teresa and Peter organising the tickets and Jane, Amanda, and Greta dealing with the hungry masses! the BBQ itself was made from recycled materials - a partially sectioned steel drum, metal garage shelving, and wire trays all welded together with the engineering genius that is Shane. It was very gratifying to catch up with the gang and see them so enthusiastic and thriving. They are definately now as much the community centre as the building is. Another pleasing footnote, is that we are also able to help offer some training for the new recruits via TWICS (Training for work in communities - Southampton), again to strengthen the sustainabilty of the group.

New project for 2009 - Aviary Community Garden

This friday, following discussions with Susie James of the Aviary Childrens Centre, and local residents in South Eastleigh, we all met together to collaborate on the combined vision of creating a new community garden for the area. Having had our meeting at the centre, we then went outside to measure the area, and decided to start the project with 5 raised allotment plots (to aid access to people with disabilities). We hope to build both the group and the garden one phase at a time!
If you are interested in finding out more about this exciting new project and want to get involved, there is a facebook page for the group at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=41692988053 or simply email stuart at stuartjebbitt@hotmail for more details

Cheeky Monkeys

Cheeky Monkeys, (formerly the Fordingbridge Young Parents Group), continues to move forward with a couple of exciting new projects on the horizon. They are now organising their own committee meetings and have just recently elected an 'action group' of four members to oversee their transition to independence.
The group have gained permission from the vicar of the church where they meet, to create an allotment in the hall grounds, which they have started to prepare. They are also planning to run an activity stall at the Fordingbridge Festival this summer in order to add funds to the bank account that they have set up.

Eastleigh Carnival Preparations Continue

Preparations are still afoot for the Eastleigh Carnival this summer, with the last session of three costume making workshops, put on by the CB project at Wells Place. The theme of 'Under the Sea' has proved popular and we are now really looking forward to the event itself. Also, at the workshop was Jackie White, from Whitchurch Carnival, who came down to visit us, in order to get ideas and share information. She also went away with her own 'SpongeBob Squarepants' creation, made at the session. Also helping at the session was Mandy Bishop from the Mini Millbrook group, who will be taking the group through their final preparations as we draw nearer to the big day.