April 2019-April 2020 round up...

We are so sorry that it has been some time since we updated you all on what we’ve been up to over the last year since our first gathering in April 2019, but here it is!

Poole Farm Open Day:

As some of you know The Kintsugi Project’s first home was at Poole Farm in Plymouth. We celebrated Poole Farm’s open day on 9th June 2019 with volunteers and taster sessions of Mindfulness walks, Radio and Upcycling where we met lots of people.

Wonderzoo mental health panel:

Our team joined our friends at Wonderzoo for an evening of art, spoken word and song to discuss mental health and the benefits of connecting with nature.

Our new home at Leadworks:

Our progress slowed down a little after this as we struggled to get accessible indoor space at Poole farm though we still have access to the wonderful outdoor space there. We therefore needed to spend the next few months looking for another home in Plymouth. We eventually found a wonderful home nestled within Leadworks Warehouse in Stonehouse – another Plymouth based social enterprise that we have worked closely with. The Leadworks warehouse is home to some other great organisations who share our goals of using creativity and connection to create a stronger better community so our home feels perfect. Leadworks will have art studios, a cinema, an exhibition space, a music recording space and already has an amazing cafe, public library and jam space to host lots of hangouts. Check out their Facebook page or website at www.leadworks.space for more details.

When lockdown lifts we hope to be in a position to partner with some of our friends at Leadworks to offer a range of accessible jam nights, yoga and wellbeing sessions, art sessions and opportunities to help us run the cafe.

The Big Office Party:

At Christmas time, not all of us have office parties to go to so at Christmas we partnered with Leadworks and Pride in Plymouth to host an open office party at Leadworks Warehouse with mince pies, father Christmas and festive drinks. Hopefully you will join us this year!

Our Garden Project:

Mansel has been working hard to plan and develop our accessible community garden and we are pleased to say that following a major grant award from The North Yard Community Trust this has kickstarted our build so a massive thanks to them for helping us get going. Mansel and a team of volunteers started the build in March 2020 before they had to stop due to Lockdown. When lockdown is lifted it will be full steam ahead and our garden will be open for business!

A massive thank you to Jewson for helping us with materials and machinery. Plymouthpalletanddrum.co.uk for their help with supplying pallet collars and Mole Valley Farmers for their help towards gardening tools. We are also so grateful to the many individual family, friends and contributors who have helped support us financially.

The garden will have a hardcore finish with raised beds, a parking bay to drop people off and a community hut. Much of the work has been done by Royal Navy volunteers, Andy and Tommy from the army, Mansel and his retired civil engineer brother-in-law Paul. Once built it will be a fantastic hub for our community to connect with nature and each other. We plan to offer gardening and growing sessions, cook clubs, plus occasional events to include music and barbecues however we are also really keen for the space to be used in new ways so we want you to bring along ideas of what you want to try.

Radio update:

Our wonderful volunteers Lewys and Adam have been plugging away creating shows for Kintsugi Radio. All shows are accessible via our Facebook page so check it out! They’ve been working hard to source radio kit to get our very own studio up and running from our base in Leadworks so we will look forward to welcoming you to the studio after Lockdown lifts.

In the Navy:

Kintsugi have partnered with the Royal Navy to work with volunteers looking to use their skills and support community projects whilst benefiting their own wellbeing. Our Navy volunteers have grafted to help us get the space at the Leadworks warehouse sorted and begin the build for the garden. Huge, massive thanks to Adam Heap, Kevin “Sprozy” Sproston, Martyn “Bev” Allatt, Ryan “Sharkey” Ward, Sen Wooley, Carl “Charlie” Mallone and their bosses at PSG, HMS Drake - we couldn’t have done this without you.

Fundraising:

We’ve taken part in some fab fundraising this year with a little help from our friends. Girls Out Loud hosted an amazing karaoke night at Union Corner, we ran a Tombola at St Levan Park Fun Day, and were donated an amazing £300 from Co-op community fund.

University connections:

We were pleased to have delivered several days of training on behalf of Exeter University on working with disabilities and difference as part of their mental health training courses. We have also built connections with trainee clinical psychologists at Plymouth University who are hoping to come on placement with us at Kintsugi to lend us their expertise and help us develop our community offer.

Join our Community:

This is a difficult time for lots of us right now, perhaps because we are missing connection, missing our usual routine, or feeling worried about our own or others health. It’s completely normal to feel more anxious in a time like this so we wanted to share some ideas about how to manage those big feelings. We’ve opened a Facebook group called Kintsugi Community where we plan to share advice, videos, have chats and watch parties to help us connect - please join via our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiprojectuk/ or join the group direct here https://www.facebook.com/groups/256378219080709/ and help us be together.

If you want to get in touch - please do we'd love to hear from you - email us on info@kintsugiproject.org

Take care,

From The Kintsugi Project team :)