Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, this project is setting up craft clubs to teach skills which were popular during and just after World War Two at a time of austerity, shortages and rationing. It’s aim is to pass on those skills which promote the ethos of “Make Do & Mend”, encourage recycling, educate people about their domestic heritage and bring generations together in a shared activity.
The overall aims of this project are:
To enable young people to research and learn about the various local arts and crafts produced post World War II up to the 1980s.
To study and record the evolution of craft making through intergenerational work, research on websites, as well as libraries and museum visits.
To reproduce the crafts through intergenerational work and put on an exhibition open to ALL the community, showcasing Arts & Crafts.
To reproduce the creation of appropriate crafts in a DVD format to be made available for free to the local schools, libraries and the museum and sold to other interested parties.
How the project works
Volunteers are currently helping young children in schools within the Borough and passing on their craft skills of knitting, sewing, rag rugging and card making.
Children from the following schools are taking part in the after school craft clubs:
Middlemarch Junior School
Queens C of E Junior School
St. Francis Catholic Primary School
St. James C of E Junior School
Stockingford Community Junior School
If you would like to get involved with the Community Craft project, please contact Sandra White on 024 7631 5151 or email sandra@volunteercentre.org.uk