These first couple of weeks of August are a little quiet on the Make/Shift front, with myself and Rachel on annual leave until Monday 17th. Iona will be around if anyone needs help from the team hello@wearemakeshift.uk.
Things get a bit livelier from middle of month with a some great opportunities to connect:
Co-Working Day at Amber Mill
Wednesday the 19th August is full of activity with our shared working day 10am-4pm Join us for a comfortable space to work independently or meet and chat to others. “Mill Days” - Co-Working at Amber Mill.
Open Conversation - Collaborative Decision Making
As part of the co-working day we’ll be hosting an open conversation from 2-4pm focused on participatory and community-led decision making approaches. The conversation will be convened by current and past members of the Movers & Shakers Community Panel and hosted by Gemma Armes and Participatory Design Facilitator Raluca Moraru. Together we will be exploring future ideas and possibilities coming out of the community fund process. There is energy and interesting ideas brewing about how more people can get involved in making decisions, sparking ideas and taking collective action together. Join us if you can to find out more and add your thoughts into the mix.
Monthly Meet-up at Craft Wood
On the same evening we will have our August Meet-Up @Craft Wood, Wednesday, August 19 • 5 PM - 8 PM. Thomas Erskine founder of Craft Wood will be hosting the space for the evening and will be able to share a little of the history and context of the site, social enterprise and all the activity that happens in this rather magical space. There will also be a chance to chat about ideas that have come up during the day, or share a little of what you are working on/towards at the moment.
We will be walking from Amber Mill to Craft Wood, passing through South Wingfield for those who would like to enjoy a summer stroll. If you’d like to join let us know.
We will have some cars doing the trip as well and can send out an email closer to the time, to all those booked on, with detailed instructions for finding the venue and parking options.
Looking ahead...
Massive thanks to everyone involved in our Story Telling for Evaluation pilot. 10 x story tellers, 5 x collectors and 1 x writer working busily over the holidays, your efforts are massively appreciated, looking forward to the story discussion day in Sept and to sharing learning from this pilot with wider network.
Dates for Derbyshire Makes 2027 have now been confirmed and there is funding available for activity supporting the festival season. With two application deadlines on September 1st and November 1st. More info at link below:
September’s shared working day will be on Wednesday 9th September (the above “Mill Days” - Co-Working at Amber Mill.
Our evening meet up will be at Shipley Community Garden on Wednesday 23rd September September Meet-Up @Shipley Community Garden, Wednesday, September 23 • 5 PM - 8 PM . This will be the last of our outdoor meetups for the year, and the space will be hosted by Susan Smith of Shipley Eco Action Group. Susan is a keen convener around the links between nature, art, and wellbeing, so if this interests you too, do come by and join in the conversations.
For October, the Shared working day will be on Wednesday 7th October.
I did attempt to write this email at the end of July, but I couldn’t put one word in front of another. A week with family and dogs in cloudy Scotland has refreshed me. I hope the next few weeks involve a little time and space for you all to rest and play. If you have any questions I’ll be back to my emails by Monday 17th, or Iona can help in the mean time hello@wearemakeshift.uk