Health Warmth and Happiness workshop - Healthy at Home

Craft Revolution is running a series of felting & sewing workshops with the women at The International Women’s Network of Brighton and Hove in Jubilee Library, as part of the Networks’ successful Health & Well-being program; exploring how textile craft can be of benefit to our mental & physical health.

The workshop explores the creative art of needle felting and decorative stitch and each participant will complete a highly individual, comforting hot water bottle; a symbol of ‘health, warmth & happiness’.

During the 2 hour workshop we encouraged the participants to discuss and reflect on the perceived and experienced health benefits of craft; which can include relief from stress, relaxation, reduced anxiety, pain management, increased confidence and a connection with tradition, as well as improved memory, concentration and problem solving skills. Working with colour and texture can also be so uplifting, especially during the winter months.

This Community workshop attracted National Lottery Community Funding #celebratenationallottery25

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Thank you to the brilliant team at The International Women Network of Brighton and Hove for giving me such a warm welcome and for hiring a room at Jubilee Library for the workshop to take place.

Special thanks to Marigold, Linda, Angie & Michelle for your brilliant organisational & creative support, Laila for your translation skills and creative input, and Cathy Maxwell for the beautiful film & photos

Reflections on the session by Marigold Ashwell

It was wonderful seeing women working together and creating something beautiful. Around the table we had women born in 11 different countries, so it was a lovely celebration of The International Women’s Network of Brighton and Hove.

Everyone was supported, but free to work at their own pace, so women who had little expertise in sewing could quite comfortably work with those who are skilled. Indeed none of the women there had ever experienced working with felt previously and so it was a fabulous learning opportunity for everyone. I specially loved the periods of gentle silence, but also I also enjoyed the animated chatter including as two of the women completely new to the Network felt increasingly at ease and able to enjoy each other’s work.

We gathered feedback from the session :

I am getting rid of my negative feelings as I do this

I feel I am creative

It’s really fun! Women who didn’t attend have really missed out!

It makes me feel like an artist and I’ve never felt that before

I’ve never used a sewing machine before.

I love this

This is good!

And towards the end of the session we spoke to the women and asked them what they wanted to say about the workshop. They all said the enjoyed it very much and would like to do more. Other responses:

As I do this it gave me relief from the stress I often feel about my life, my country I have lost'

For me this method is something new. It’s good to work together like this.

I really enjoyed the work connecting with others

Even though one woman here does not speak English or Arabic what she is doing speaks.

I really feel like this is a community

I love this change in routine. It makes me feel good.

I really understand how working with felt like this makes you use your imagination without thinking as you use the needle again and again. It just happens and it is a feeling that makes you feel good inside.

I feel so happy and I have made something that will make me happy and keep me warm.

And just as one woman was about to leave she said ‘Is this for me to take home? To keep? Really? ………….Thank you!

Marigold - A reflection for me today is how we experienced the way that the arts and in this case the creative craft of textiles can have such an impact on our lives including our health and well-being. It can enable us to express what we know and feel and translate that into something that reaches others. The all important process of creating and the comments made say so much of that.

This community art project engaged over forty International Network members and their families during the winter months of Covid-19 restrictions, through ‘at home’ art activities to support mental health & wellbeing.

I was commissioned by the NIWBH to source and put together extensive art packs and lead and develop the creative content for the project, bringing in Abigail Leeks (www.familiarfaces.co.uk) and Lucy Ferguson (www.lucy-ferguson.com) to work alongside me. Working with Network members from 19 countries, we explored and shared a wide array of art and craft techniques and each week we experienced the joys of community through creativity.

The project started with each NIWBH member receiving a beautiful art pack containing all the materials needed to participate in a wide range of multi-technique arts & craft activities. We delivered the project via an innovative programme of 8 weeks of visual ‘language-free’ music backed video tutorials, connecting on weekly creative Zoom meet-ups and a Facebook art page.

Each week a new activity video was emailed to the members (a selection of the videos are found here) and then followed up by a zoom meet up to share work and talk about creative process. Work was also shared on a private Facebook project page.

The project was initiated by Marigold Ashwell, a dynamic member of the Network’s Steering Committee and Health & Wellbeing Group and supported and championed by an incredible team of women from the NIWBH.

The completed journals are a testament to the talents and resilience of all who took part and how, given the opportunity, we can together share and find creative ways of coping and overcoming difficulties that face us all.

The Network of International Women for Brighton & Hove (NIWBH) is exhibiting pages from ‘In this Moment of Time’ art journal project In Jubilee Library, Brighton 15 - 28th May 2021

Brighton & Hove Community Fund for Covid Recovery and the NIWBH kindly funded the project. I also utilised £90 of Craft Revolution’s Community Fund to pay for some of the materials. Thank you also to The Jubilee ‘Library of Sanctuary’ for continuing to support the Networks’ ethos around building a community of shared encouragement, compassion and inclusion within our city

For more info on ‘The Network of International Women for Brighton & Hove’ please visit their website - www.niwbh.org

This set of hand made hot water bottles created at the Safehaven table were gifted to the new B&H Churches nightshelter. Before they were sent, the Safehaven team prayed for love, comfort & hope to be with the new guests.

The women were delighted to have the opportunity to make and give something beautiful for someone else in need.

They also enjoyed receiving them and made them for themselves or gifted them to the friends & family they loved and wanted to offer comfort to.

These photographs were projected at St Peters Church during a service lead by Jonny Gumbel on ‘The Compassionate Life’ and also during Safehaven.

The visuals prompted conversations around hope & compassion and how the hand made hot water bottles in some way conveyed a sense of that, made lovingly made by a community who care for the vulnerable.

The nightshelter was featured on the local ITV news. The reporter even mentioned each bed having a homemade hot water bottle!

We often explore new craft techniques & materials and look to nature for inspiration. On this occasion, the women created highly individual needle felted wool pictures inspired by autumn leaves.

Challenged by some of the women on what they could do with their pictures, we listened and the idea of sewing the pictures onto wool fabric to create hot water bottle covers emerged…

Ideas can come from the women who gather around the table – asking, listening, finding new ways and solutions, transformational...

Words from the craft table by some of the women who made the bottle covers:

‘Holding a hot water bottle close is such a comfort. Making these for the night shelter shows that we care, I would love knowing that someone had put that much effort in for me. Can I make another one?’

‘I gave mine to a friend, she lives alone and her flat is cold like mine. We are going to be ‘Warm Buddies’ over the winter, look out for each other like the ‘Foot Buddies’ during the war. The flame makes me feel warm.’  

‘I loved mine and thought I’m going to take it everywhere with me… But when I sent a picture to my daughter she said ‘Oh mum, I love that you made it, can I have it?’ It’s now on her bed, pride of place!’

‘My mum used to put a hot water bottle at the end of my bed when I was little, it reminds me of being a child.’

The project has attracted National Lottery Community funding and we are now delighted to be able to take the activity to other hostels in the city.

Safehaven Women is a weekly meet-up that takes place at St Peter’s church in the centre of Brighton every Thursday.

Women come together in a safe environment to share their stories and often to seek help. The women are welcomed into a lovely ‘home’ environment and offered a hot meal, tea & cake, pampering activities, the craft table, creative writing, a choir, music, advice on addiction & recovery, practical tips on budgeting etc and a beautiful spiritual reflection time.

The women can be homeless, vulnerably housed, lonely, bereaved, experiencing mental or physical illness or needing help with addiction or family issues.

The craft table offers the women an opportunity to explore creativity through making; experimenting with materials, colour, texture and mastering many new skills through a wide range of textile and art based activities. The table offers a beautifully encouraging environment in which the women can challenge themselves to try new things each week and develop patience & resilience through making mistakes and trying again. The table can be full of chatter or quietly focused and reflective but the overall feeling is one of togetherness and interest in each other’s work and moments of joy – every woman has their own individual approach which is nurtured, encouraged and celebrated.

Quotes gathered from the table:

‘I really enjoy the art table. I’m not confident about doing art, yet I always find a new thing I can do with the help at the table. I end up feeling really satisfied and proud of what I’ve done.’

‘I find the art table therapeutic and inspiring, it offers new possibilities. My concentration has improved since coming to the table.’

‘Being part of the craft table has really lifted my spirits and enriched my life.’

‘I love the craft table, it’s such an oasis of calm with such innovative ideas that distract me from negative thoughts. It inspires me to do my own craft at home and make gifts for other people. I’m really proud to show people what I have made.’

‘It is a lovely place to socialise and to learn new and different crafts. I pass on the ideas I learn to other people too.’

‘I like the craft table for the company and it’s nice to learn new things that I’ve never done before. I find that lots of the women help each other which I really like, a real sense of community.’

‘I didn't used to feel worthy enough to make nice things for myself but through the encouragement I receive I am now allowing myself to have a go. I have learnt that making mistakes when you’re making things isn’t about being rubbish, it is part of the process of being creative which I didn't understand before. The craft table allows me to challenge previous beliefs I had about myself and be free to enjoy new experiences.’

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We see the craft table very much as a catalytic space, a space where things unfold, where ideas spark and develop. The vision for the table can change each week, it evolves as a result of the community that gathers around it, the conversations, the ideas that often come from the women themselves and what might be happening in our lives. The activities are loosely planned but we are often guided in a more intuitive way; we might be inspired by materials that come available to us, items that are needed, ideas that have come out of a social exchange or have spoken to us spiritually. Many activities involve generous acts of giving and receiving which is significant in so many ways.

The Craft team’s role is to try our best to facilitate creativity around the table. We might start by bringing an idea to the table that we feel excited about making together, along with the relevant tools and a selection of beautiful materials for the guests to play with. Our hope each week is to spark participation and joy in making. We usually experiment ourselves a little with the idea before bringing it to the table, we might prep materials and potentially anticipate some of the stumbling blocks the women might encounter with the activity, which we might explain as being all part of the creative process.

The women are invited each week to choose their own colours, patterns, textures. We always offer choice and scope to be individual, so no finished piece ever looks the same, which we feel is essential to creativity.

The positive outcomes from participating in making can be far reaching; making involves slowing down, using our hands and senses, it can offer a distraction from problems and concerns but can also focus the mind calmly to reflect. It provides the opportunity to connect and disconnect by choice – disconnect through individually focused concentration and absorption or connect through collective making with a shared purpose.

The effort it takes to master a new skill in making is significant, the creative process is made up of successes and failures which undoubtedly builds resilience. The sense of achievement and confidence gained from creating something unique with your hands offers opportunities to build new narratives. Making often involves interaction with others around the table; the sharing of ideas and materials and the encouragement we give and receive from each other builds a caring community and fills us with love for one another.

We might describe the golden thread woven into the giving and receiving we experience through craft as ‘compassion and hope in the making’. A selection of our projects follow...

Offering a broad range of creative cross-curricular school projects, working in or outside the classroom in partnership with teaching staff. Bringing ideas to life using mixed media and skill sharing. My aim is to develop sustainable projects which inspire children to problem solve through making.

Felting appeals to all ages and is a really versatile and doable craft. I have worked with 5 year olds to adults and all have mastered it within minutes.

We have felted pebbles, made bracelets, wallets, pictures, collaborative wall hangings and playmats and needle felted cute creatures and landscapes.

Transforming colourful fluff (merino wool fibre) into a hard wearing fabric construction, with just a pair of warm soapy hands or one sharp needle is pretty amazing and engaging!

Please contact me if you would like to develop craft based workshops in your cafe / community centre / school etc.

https://helen8561.wixsite.com/craft-revolution

I can run weekly / monthly / one-off wellbeing craft sessions in your workspace - all is possible!

Craft brings people together, building friendships & community.

The positive outcomes from participating in making can be far reaching; making involves slowing down, using our hands and senses, discovering new materials, having fun, it can offer a distraction from problems and concerns but can also focus the mind calmly to reflect. Making often involves having a chat & laugh with others around the table; sharing ideas and encouraging each other in the successes & the better next time efforts!

(A felting workshop ready to go at the Wellbean cafe, Brighton)

‘One for One’ Face Masks - looking out for each other in our city

When you buy one of our locally made face masks one will be handmade & gifted to a vulnerably housed woman living in Brighton.

Partnering with many of the Brighton & Hove hostels supporting women who have experienced domestic abuse, women who are in recovery and women struggling with mental health illness. Craft Revolution have been made aware of these hostels through St Peters’ amazing Safehaven outreach work and hope this project will compliment their vision of spreading love & hope in our city.

Made with triple layer pre-washed 100% cotton. Machine wash up to 60°

Each mask is individual as many of the fabrics are upcycled from fabric swatch books, so in limited quantities. I also feature contrasting fabric on the inside of the mask for added individuality.

Available to buy at the beautiful Bluebelle & Co shop in Trafalgar Street, Brighton, who kindly donated the fabric swatch books. If you live outside Brighton message me and I can send you pics of the latest designs and mail to you!

Thank you for making a difference xx

Selling my one of a kind hand knitted alpaca & merino wool hot water bottles and gloves this year through www.7dialsart.com a brilliant local initiative set up by artist Abigail Bowen, to help support & lift up local artists & makers. The hotties are £48 each (£10 from each sale goes towards the running of Craft Revolution community workshops) and the gloves £24 (£5 from each sale goes to community workshops).

Inspired by my lovely Mum who was never without a comforting hot water bottle on her lap, I love knitting these and using them myself… Lovely and soft baby alpaca and merino wool, I loose myself in the mediative knitting on circular needles, round and round, winding my way up to the ribbed polar neck - super cosy.

Please contact me directly now with any orders helen@brandpositive.org

With help from my lovey friends on the craft table, we made over 600 handmade gifts over lockdown to be delivered with the weekly donated food hampers to the vulnerably housed and isolated as part of the ‘Love your neighbour’ community outreach running from St Peter’s Brighton. Gifts ranged from lavender bags and felted hot water bottles, to pearl keepsakes and art & crafts kits, all made & gifted with love.

Lavender Bags

Colourful, cheerful & calming lavender bags. Fabric donated by Bluebelle & Co.

Mini hot water bottles

Wool felted springtime flowers decorated these mini ‘You are Loved’ comforting water bottles. .

Art & Craft Kits

‘Colourful Hope’ Art kits were sent out to families. We are going to stage an exhibition of all the paintings we receive. the beautiful art sheets were designed by Lucy @lucy_and_the_lamp

Design a beautiful ‘Fruit of the Spirit’ banner kits, looking forward to seeing these all displayed together.

‘‘You are as Precious as a Pearl’ keepsakes.

A collaboration between Craft Revolution, Coleman Douglas Pearls, Jeweller Abigail Leeks & illustrator Choose Joy.

Hand knitted in Rowan Lima yarn  

84% Baby Alpaca 8% Merino Wool 8% Nylon. This is the softest, cosiest yarn I have ever knitted with and I LOVE IT!

Fact:  There are very nearly 8,000 stitches in every hat! Baby alpaca is 5 times warmer than sheep's wool.

It takes approximately 4.5 hours of speed knitting and pom pom making to create each individual bobble hat.

I have named each hat after music artists I've been listening to whilst knitting - Annie Eve, Kurt Vile, the girls in Warpaint, Ben Howard etc.

The best ambassadors for my hats are my family and friends, seeing them wearing them and the compliments they give me has spurred me on to strive for bobble hat world domination! Wouldn't it be brilliant to have an annual 'wear a bobble hat day' to cheer everyone up! (my sister's idea!)

Testimonial from my sister Janey: 'Lovely, cheerful bobble hats, soft around your ears. Wobble your bobble in the breeze. A sea of bobble hats in the city or in the countryside are a truly cheery sight. Your head looks well looked after in a hand knitted bobble hat!'

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Finger knitting and pom pom making workshop.

'Discover what it takes to be a modern craftsman in our exclusive hands-on workshops, hosted by world-renowned designers and creatives'

Inspired by Craft Revolution’s range of hand knitted, colourful Bobble Hats, this workshop will teach you how to finger knit and make super fast pom-poms. You can create colourful accessories and garlands using the gorgeously soft Rowan Lima yarn, in an array of colours.  This is a fun activity appealing to all ages, which might become highly addictive!

I am delighted to have been invited by 'The Campaign for Wool' and 'The Mission to Seafarers' to design a knitted hat for this years 'Woolly Hat Day' on 9th October 2015. 

The pattern is available to download on www.campaignforwool.org for a small donation to the Mission to Seafarers charity.

Craft Revolution Bobble Hats are inspired by the brightly painted fishing boats and the round colourful buoys I love watching bobbing in the sea.  
I have a passion for pom-poms so seem to see their roundness mirrored everywhere in the landscape!  
Knitting is one of my greatest pleasures in life, and a sea of hand knitted bobble hats is a joyous sight to see wherever you are!

I live in Brighton and holiday in Cornwall, West Wales and the North East so feel very connected to our coastline and am delighted to be helping the Mission to Seafarers charity and Campaign for Wool with their Woolly Hat Day fundraiser. Woolly hats and Seafarers is the perfect fit!

I love simple knitwear designs, especially the classic cheerful bobble hat. Simple designs often show off the beauty of the wool yarn more successfully and are also more achievable to make – I’m always thinking ‘can I teach someone how to make this?’ as I love passing on my love of making to others. This design is a great first knitting project as it is super easy and can be personalised with your own choices of colour stripes and pom-pom.

I chose to knit with British Aran wool as it is a classic yarn and has been used for centuries in seafarers hats and jumpers. It’s really warm, cosy and hard wearing.  I love the Erika Knight and Rowan British Wool ranges I have used in my designs, the colour, feel and provenance is a winning combination. Aran weight wool is also a great yarn to use for beginners as it shows up the stitches really well and knits up quickly!

I enjoy listening to the Shipping Forecast on the radio whilst knitting, amongst other things, so decided to name each of my designs after the region names I have become familiar with!

I hope this inspires others to knit a bobble hat or many, for all your friends and family, as I have – I always think heads look well looked after in a bobble hat!

You can also buy one knitted by me here:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/CraftRevolutionUK

After finding a spotty lidded jam jar in the camping field we go to every year, I became obsessed with filling jam jars with craft bits - the perfect container to keep everything safe and they look lovely on display too.

I started to give the crafty jam jars as gifts to my daughter and son's friends and realised there were others out there who shared my love of tipping out the contents and seeing what could be made and then stuffing everything back in again for another day... and so began the idea of 'Jam Jar Crafts'.

The challenge is to come up with ideas that fit in a 16oz jam jar and would be fun to make on holiday or on a rainy day or on a journey!

Dangly decorations have always appealed to me, they brighten up a blank wall, the entrance to your tent or blowing in the breeze in a doorway.

I love mini patchwork, the fiddliness of it, gorgeous Liberty prints and playing with patterns. This is the perfect Jam Jar craft and how it all started.

Flower accessories always bring a smile to the wearer and the combination of colourful fabric, vintage buttons and ribbons in a jam jar makes me really happy!

Instead of painting with paint I love needle felting with wool fibres to capture the views on my hols - the textures and colours work wonderfully and it is really easy to do.

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I can tailor make birthday parties for all ages - at your home, in a venue or a field! 

Sourcing beautiful materials is my passion so lots of thought is put into the finished makes being 'must have' items!

Parties featured here were for 8-11 year olds at their homes for 10 children. £15 per child including all materials.

Email me to book:

helen@craftrevolution.org

School inset days, Sixth Form, PGCE art & design and further education training in textile techniques, fabric identification and mood boarding.

Table loom and tapestry weaving, knitting, needle and wet felting, machine and hand sewing, applique, collage, painting, mood boarding. 

Arts Award is a national accredited award scheme run by Trinity College to recognise individual participation and achievement in the arts.

Craft Revolution were approached by the Crafts Council and Trinity College to pilot the Arts Award Explore in a craft club setting. We were the first centre in the UK to achieve the qualification, and as a result they champion Craft Revolution in their marketing activity promoting the initiative.

What the initiative demonstrated to me was that running Arts Award alongside a craft club can have an incredibly galvanising effect on young people. An accredited award which acknowledges craft & making, brilliant! Having an end-goal encourages the club members to widen & focus their experiences, utilising evidence gained; but adding the magic ingredient 'reflection'.

I can't recommend running Arts Award highly enough, and if I can be of any help answering questions on the experiences of Craft Revolution, please feel free to just contact me.

Appealing to all ages, exploring a range of textile crafts - machine and hand sewing, patchwork, applique, felting, collage, beading, toy making, decoupage, origami, clay, painting, drawing, mood boarding, gift making, accessories, enterprise and collaborative work etc.

Craft Revolution got involved with the Crafts Council Craft Club initiative, I attended a skill sharing day at Crafts Council HQ and contributed many projects to their online forum.

We invented the 'Pass it on' rainy day knitting boxes for classrooms and the individual knitting bags to allow students to carry on knitting at home.

The Crafts Council filmed Craft Revolution in action, in the playground, in the classroom and at our after school club. We were proud to be ambassadors for such a great initiative.

'Our Future is in the Making' Manifesto

Craft Revolution is featured in the Future in the Making film as an example of good practice.

The Crafts Council has launched a new education manifesto urging schools to put craft and making at the heart of the curriculum and build more routes into craft careers.

The manifesto was published on the Crafts Council’s website and presented to politicians at the House of Commons. The Council has also published an open letter in The Times, backed by over 100 signatories including Grayson Perry, broadcasters Kevin McLoud and Kirstie Allsop, Aardman creative director Peter Lord and industry figures from the Design Council, Crafts Scotland, the Design Museum, the RCA and London’s University of the Arts.

The manifesto makes five key calls for change "to secure the future of craft education" in the UK. While craft generates an estimated £3.4 billion for the economy and employs around 150,000, the Crafts Council claims it is at risk, with participation in craft-related subjects falling dramatically in the past few years.

"In six years, 2007-2013, student participation in craft-related GCSEs fell 25%. In higher education, the number of craft courses fell 46%. This comes when elsewhere around the globe, investment in creative education and making is rising. At this critical time we have the chance to secure craft education for the future," it explains in an introduction.

www.craftscouncil.org.uk/what-we-do/education-manifesto/

So lucky to be featured in the Rowan eNewsletter March 2015

www.knitrowan.com/news/rown-enewsletter-march-2015

and

Thank you Emma Harris at www.aquietstyle.co.uk for featuring Craft Revolution on your gorgeous lifestyle and photography blog.

www.aquietstyle.co.uk/hats

www.aquietstyle.co.uk/craft-revolution

and

Thank you Artists Open House Brighton for featuring me on your blog.

This will be the first year I have shown at the AOH Christmas festival. I will be at 'Art Across the Line - 10 Highdown Road, Hove BN3 6EE

http://www.aoh.org.uk/home

http://artistsopenhouses.tumblr.com/

'I would like to commend the work that Helen has done with the Crafts Council Craft Club initiative. Since it began there are now over 680 Craft Clubs nationally. Craft Revolution in Brighton started by Helen was one of the first and has been one of the most consistent. The initiatives that have been started by Helen have been ones that have inspired new developments for other Craft Clubs too, such as the use of project bags, and she has contributed much to the website that has been shared by other clubs. It is amazing to see what has been achieved..

Helen’s club, Craft Revolution has won the Craft Club competition for outstanding work more than once. They were also selected to take part in the Arts Award Pilot that we have run alongside Trinity College London. Helen is now a trained Arts Award Advisor and can use this qualification in many other situations. I have no hesitation in recommending Helen for any future project that she turns her hand to'.

Katy Bevan - Craft Council Participation & Learning Manager

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'The quality of art throughout the school was of a very high standard and a strength of the school.  This was enhanced by expertise through the Craft Revolution craft club, where excellent examples of work were on display in the learning resources room and offering Arts award, also the felted slipper project in the year six class, which linked so closely to their class project'. Exemplary practice.

Offsted Report 2013 - St Paul's CofE Primary Brighton

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 'Thank you for all you are doing to promote craft in our school and many congratulations Helen on your ground breaking work.  We are truly becoming a leading school in many areas which is fantastic for the children.  Many thanks for your wonderful work'.

Linda Dupret - Head Teacher at St Paul's CofE Primary, Brighton

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'Helen has planned and resourced meticulously for the activities in the classroom. She has a very positive attitude to working with children and is always patient and calm allowing children to find their way and encouraging concentration and focus.  Helen has enjoyed discussing each activity and is always keen to involve, inspire and include all the children in different ways. She is an expert crafts person and is very keen to pass on her many skills to both adults and children. Helen is a very kind and generous person volunteering a lot of her time to developing arts and crafts in the school and community. She is always punctual and reliable and I would thorough recommend her to school and community settings'.

Philippa Schofield - class teacher St Paul’s School, Brighton 

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 ‘I truly feel that what my daughter has learnt from the process of completing the Arts Log book has been quite profound and quite possibly may have set her on a new path in life. For that I will be eternally grateful to Craft Revolution and I thank the organisers of Arts Award for helping my daughter and I see what they have achieved in partnership.’

Paula Walker-Saunders - Parent

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Callie has gained so much confidence over the last year through craft club and working on the Arts Award project. I think she has increased her independence in her work and has been inspired by the interviews, museum visits and overall guidance of Helen.

I am enormously grateful for the inspiration given to Callie and believe that it has given her self belief in a future career in design potentially! Thank you so much.

Nicky Mark – Parent

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Her craft skills have improved hugely as has her patience and self confidence when approaching any creative project.

In so many ways the Arts Award had helped Poppy develop many of the skills and qualities that she will find invaluable to all aspects of her education when she moves up to secondary school.

Carol Bullock – Parent

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'Now when I look back at my Log Book I feel really proud and amazed at what I can do. I love the feeling of satisfaction you get when you have made something that has taken a long time. Other people’s reactions to the things you have made is inspiring and makes you want to do more!'

Berry – age 11

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‘I’m Lily and I’m completely and utterly obsessed with the arts. Being in craft club has brought this whole thing to life and I’ve discovered my passion for sewing (which I never knew I had!) This Arts Award is a real opportunity for me to shine at what I love and know so thank you so much for giving me something that shows me in a unique light and lets me express my individuality. Thank you!!!’

Lily age 11