Gallery

Photographs from Saturday's Workshop


Sorry if I missed anyone out, but these are the only photographs I had, also apologies if any are a bit blurry - taken with my phone!

Members Workshop

On Saturday a full house of members enjoyed a paper collage workshop led by Anne Brooke.  

Anne is a member of Halifax Branch, and is an established artist. Her work is familiar to many of us and we had all looked forward to participating in this workshop.

It is quite surprising that when given a roomful of paper, fabric, bits and pieces and sewing machines what can happen!  We all had a thoroughly enjoyable day as Anne led us through her techniques for creating these collages.  Although Anne's first source for inspiration is seed pods, there were many other sources of inspiration available and the results were all very different, reflecting our own choice of topic and style.




Anne is an amusing speaker and entertained us with stories about her past interests and how she had come to love this method or working.  Her sketch books were an inspiration in themselves and it was lovely to be able to get up close and see her work.

        

The final results were extremely satisfying

Even the backs looked interesting!

A very enjoyable day which passed by all to quickly

I will add a further gallery of our finished (or almost finished pieces in the next post

Dragons Den comes to Blackpool

"Only In Blackpool"

In the final stages of our pop up museum preparation, those of us involved in the Treasure trove Project had the opportunity to see the artist's final designs and attend a Dragons Den Style workshop this week.

The title of our project is "Only in Blackpool" and we were very excited to see the final plans and all the ideas included in the preparation for the final build of the display.
Not wishing to give too much away You must wait a little longer to see the completed design.  



The three community groups involved had the opportunity to present their projects to the audience and we appreciated lots of questions and feedback from them. The projects are very varied, and each uses a different aspect of the entertainment history of Blackpool to tell their story.




We had time to prepare before Seonaid, Gail and Fran gave our presentation

Also on display we had the postcard bunting we have received so far. If you still would like to make one there is time - just bring it along to our meeting at the end of June

We are all looking forward to the grand reveal and project launch in mid-July - more details later

Bags of Difference

We did not need our Mystery Project on Monday night, and were extremely pleased to welcome Chris and Ed Mitchell as our guests. 

A feast of colour awaited us with lots of gorgeous African fabric bags and accessories on display and for sale. I can only apologise for not getting out my camera (very unusual for me!) and taking lots of pictures. I will try to get some images and post them here as an update soon!

Chris is a member of Skipton Branch and she and Ed came to speak to us about their work in Uganda supporting the Kisiizi Hospital.  The hospital is a Christian run charity overseen by the Church of Uganda,  Travelling to the area is an adventure in itself, involving around 10 hours driving on very rough roads after landing in Entebbe to reach this remote corner of Uganda. Malaria and other diseases are rife and general living conditions far removed from anything in the Western World.

Lots of interesting slides gave us an insight into this totally different world, and introduced us to the staff and supporters of the hospital.  Chris and Ed having visited the hospital some years ago felt they wanted to be involved, and come up with a project to help raise funds directly for the community in order to help them survive day to day life, and to be able to provide an education for their children and thus hope for the future. 

The local people are very poor subsistence farmers struggling to feed their families on crops manually cultivated on smallholdings. Water is drawn from the rivers and there is no electricity. 

(The hospital does have electricity drawn from it's own generated hydro power from a nearby waterfall)

There is a huge difference between healthcare in Africa and the UK but Kisiizi has an excellent reputation.

Many patients travel long distances over the roughest tracks and roads to reach the hospital but consider their journey worthwhile for the Christian treatment they receive, whatever their faith, or none.

Bags of Difference was established in 2009, the project helps staff and their families to supplement their incomes, mainly to help with education fees. 

Some staff earn only £15 - £30 per month and often have to pay £30 per term towards education per child. 

By making bags from locally sourced fabrics that are sold in the UK at western prices members of the co-operative can hope to significantly supplement their income, in addition to enhancing their motivation and sense of self esteem.

Over 200 children are supported by the 70+ members of the co-operative

100% of the sale price of each bag goes directly back to the person who made it vial an ingenious yet simple labelling process.

The bags are not sold in shops, therefore ensuring that the makers receive the full price with no overheads, expenses or commission.

The scheme is a brilliant  concept and Chris and Ed are obviously dedicated to the cause.

Kisizzi Partners seeks to maintain Kisiizi hospital and its staffing levels by supporting the staff wages bill, helping with building costs and addressing the recruitment and retention problems involved in such a poor and rural area of Uganda.

It is a UK based charity (1079118

Please find out more at:

www.kisiizipartners.org.uk

www.kisiizi orphans.org.uk

www.kisiizihospital.org.uk

If you are  member of a group and would like a talk with lots of photographs, stories and bags for sale please contact Chris:

christexart@gmail.com

June Meeting next Monday

Following  our May Bank Holiday break we are back to normal with our June meetings.  If you are coming on Monday night please bring your sewing kit and a few fabric scraps as we are doing a mystery project!  Hopefully you will like it, why not just come along and check it out!

These photographs have little or nothing to do with the project, but I thought they would help with a lttle inspiration if you need it!