April is feeling like a ‘happening’ sort of month... lots of activity starting to emerge and project ideas beginning to take shape.
Our emails and Instagram feed have shown us sneak peeks of allotments being dug, seeds being planted, colourful whisps of silk being joyfully felted, tweens doing crafts, open mic nights being set-up. And from our side we have a Story Day, Mill Days, Meet-Ups and more coming up…
A huge thank you to those who were able to join us last Wednesday for our How to Fall in Love with the Future day facilitated by author Rob Hopkins. It was great to see a local network of community creatives and change makers gathering together in such a hopeful way. We will share back some of the magic and keep the ideas and conversations flowing into the summer and beyond. A few photos from the photos here. And you can check out this beautiful film by local film maker John Felix below.
Our April Meet-Up would have also been last Wednesday, but we opted not to add it on to what was already a very full day. If anyone does have project related questions, issues, or ideas they would like to explore with us:
Drop us an email
Chat to other Movers and Shakers on the WhatsApp groups: https://chat.whatsapp.com/K74y808ln7QJsGFM4SRxLn
Come along to one of our summer meet-ups (more details below)
Wednesday 20th May is our Story Day, running from 2-8pm.
Everyone is invited to join us for an introduction to storytelling for evaluation, exploring how stories can help to understand the difference you are making and support learning.
We intend this to be a real chance to pause and celebrate the impact of the varied and vibrant community activity you have all helped to initiate. It will be great to see Movers and Shakers from all three rounds (33 people!) as well as our Community Panel Members. If you are part of Round 3 and haven’t made a start yet, do not worry, come along for some inspiration, and share the story of what inspired you to apply.
The first part of the day 2-5pm, will be delivered by Chris Hayes and will be a chance to share stories in pairs and small groups to enable us to collectively notice all the incredible changes that are being made through the Moving, Shaking, and Community Panel Decision Making.
There will be chance for food and chat 5-6:30pm, and then some more story exploring and reflecting 6:30-8pm.
We are hoping to use story gathering to inform our evaluation work going forward and would love these stories to be gathered and told by people in the community. With this in mind, there will be paid opportunities for a number of interested individuals to carry out further training and story gathering off the back of this Story Day.
Come along for the whole thing or join us for either the afternoon session (2-5pm) or evening meet-up (6.30-8pm) with time in between for more informal conversations over food.
Weds 20th May, 2-8pm, Infinite Wellbeing Community Centre. Book a place here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1987612119354?aff=oddtdtcreator
Summer Meet-ups
Over the summer months we have planned some slightly extended Movers and Shakers Summer Sessions. We hope to take advantage of the longer evenings to host our meet-ups outdoors in local community venues, and hopefully have a chat with the local legends behind each venue. From 5-6:30pm there will be time to just enjoy being in the space. Have a wander or take a seat and soak up the vibes. Maybe bring a picnic tea, a sketch pad, a book to read, or have a natter. From 6:30-8pm we’ll have more of a group check-in and chat, for peers to share ideas, ask questions, and offer support in relation to local community project work and creative imaginings. These are all now on our Eventbrite if you wish to book a space.
Monthly on Wednesdays 5-8pm
17th June - Grow Outside
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1987821111455?aff=oddtdtcreator15th July - Shining Cliff Woods
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1987840304863?aff=oddtdtcreator
19th August - Craft Wood
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1987870508202?aff=oddtdtcreator
Co-Working Days
There will also be shared working days at Amber Mill in Oakerthorpe, usually on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, more details of these will be available soon.
Keep in touch
As usual, any questions or suggestion please do get in touch on lizzie@wearemakeshift.uk