Craft Corner

We are excited to announce that the first weekly BCWP craft corner is taking place at The Crypt, St George's Church, St George's Rd, Kemptown, Brighton BN2 1ED on Monday 22nd November 2021 from 6.30-8.30 pm.

Everyone over 18 yrs. is invited, members free, non members by donation for materials.

We have project ideas and the materials to produce them, ready to go but we also welcome and encourage you to bring along existing projects with the idea that this can become a sociable crafting event where members gather, use the space, materials and equipment, make friends, share ideas, swap experience and learn new skills. So if you want to come along and knit (and natter), finish that abandoned lockdown crochet project or hem some trousers, then this is your chance.

Jo a keen crafter and recycler, will be hosting the weekly event and will be on hand to introduce and guide the project ideas, help with your projects, assist with equipment and tell you where the tea and coffee is.

We would like the crafting to be as sustainable as possible and encourage projects that have recycled waste and up-cycling at the heart of the idea. Less Hobbycraft and more trash nothing is the aspiration, which not only saves money but also encourages sustainability and helps recycling become habitual.

Please be aware that some of the crafts require the use of cutting tools and materials with potentially sharp edges that could scratch. We can provide PPE.

You don’t need to book you can just turn up on the night. Please wear comfortable clothing, a mask if you like, use the hand sanitiser that is available and bring change for a donation towards materials and tea and coffee.

If you have any of the following at home (even if you can’t make it on Monday) we would be very grateful for any of the following items -

• Paper (of different size/colour/thickness)

• Sketchbooks

• Colour pencils/pens/markers

• Glue

• Scissors

• Paint brushes

• Paint

• Old sponges

• Old fabric/cloths pieces

• Old magazines/books with images

• Glitter

• Stickers

• Scrapbooking bits

• Sewing tools (thread, needles etc.)

• Jewellery making tools (pliers, thread etc.)

• Beads

• Old cups

• Boxes/beauty bags to store things

• Cardboard packaging/boxes (e.g. cereal boxes)

• Plastic bottle lids (rinsed & dried)

• Aluminium craft wire/garden wire

• Old electrical cable (broken phone charger cable)

• Drink cans (rinsed & dried)

• Ribbon

• Buttons

• Knitting wool/crochet yarn

We look forward to seeing you, creating some fun items, and having a great evening.

Tool Library is Open

We’re nearly there...

Tool donations have been trickling in on an almost daily basis.

Thanks to everyone that has donated we really are grateful. When the donations arrive, they are not always in the condition we would want them to be in before loaning them out. Some just need a bit of a dust down others need a thorough clean and a lick of paint and others need repairing. Some tools that have been donated will probably never be loaned through the Tool Library, they will be saved for when we have a proper workshop space. Some will be repurposed like a saw that had a missing tooth that has been converted into a display item.

Others, like screw drivers, of which we have dozens will be sold on at some point to raise much needed funds. Some will be donated to other community groups that want tools, and others will be used for skill learning and other education projects. We will always find a use for donated tools, regardless of condition.

We are spending much of our time restoring and cleaning tools that will be used in the library and Ron Porter has been a real tool restoration champion and restored about 100 hand tools and power tools. As the tools are cleaned and restored, they are being added to the online Tool Library. Once we enable Ordinary Membership members will be able to reserve tools they wish to borrow. We hope this can be sorted out very soon.

This week we have made our first significant tool purchases. Using the funds, we have been awarded from the National Lottery and Brighton & Hove City Council we have purchased several drills and other cordless power tools that will be put on to the online library in the next few days. We also purchased the toolboxes we will use to make up the tools kits that we want to add to the Tool Library. These tool kits will contain all the tools we think you will need to carry out basic DIY type tasks.

Garry Meyer, the Founder of the Brighton Community Workshop Project said, “I am so impressed that all the hard work of our directors and volunteers is finally making this Project into a reality”, he added, “Without all the support from our many friends and the great organisations that have got behind us we would never have been able to get to this point, I will be forever grateful.”

If you would like to help out in the Tool Library restoring, repairing and repurposing tools, or would like to help populate the Tool Library inventory then come along on Saturday 4th September to find out how to get involved and help get the Tool Library up and running.

Raising funds

Can be a lottery.

For any community interest company raising funds is a distraction from the fun of doing the activities you are setting everything up to achieve.

We want to provide a space so everyone can Make, Learn, Share, & Repair.

Whilst the Sharing & Repairing is coming along, (we anticipate that the Tool Library will up and running by September) - We have began repairing some of the donated tools, and next we will begin cataloguing them in the online inventory system once the computers arrive next week.

The Make & Learn aspects of the Project depend on factors beyond our control, the nervousness around covid being a major hurdle - but once we have a couple of workbenches in place, we will be able to think about organising classes.

All of this costs money and whilst Fundraising can be a (necessary) distraction from the main driver of the Project, it also has the potential for fun stuff too.

Iceland, putting the fun into fundraising

Take the Munasafn RVK Tool Library Toolraiser event for example.

" Play JaJa ding dong!" - Iceland

Each year, In Reykjavik the RVK Tool Library hosts their Toolraiser event - this year they have a 2-day Festival planned with over 20 bands alongside art exhibits, food, drink and loads more.

How cool would that be? We would love to do this, what a fabulous way to raise funds and the profile of the Brighton Community Workshop Project as well as build ties within the wider community, local businesses and creatives.

We can dream.

Of course, other forms of fundraising are available...

The most common form being grants and awards applications.

We have applied for a loads of grants and awards, but mostly our applications have been rejected...

The reality is that there are many organisations chasing very limited funding opportunities.

Many funding organisations have recently prioritised Covid support related projects, and rightly so - but this has meant the funds available to more niche Projects like ours have dwindled.

On a positive note

We are grateful for all the donations we have received from you folks.

So far this year we have received nearly £450 in donations from organisations and individuals, which is fantastic - Thank you.

Early on, during the project's inception we raised £4,000 via Crowdfunding - this provided us the means to keep things going, got us an exhibitors stand at Bentley Woodfair, paid for the garages and showed us there is a demand for what we're doing.

More recently we were granted £8,000 from the Brighton & Hove City Council Carbon Reduction Fund. This money has allowed us to rent the space in The Crypt and plan the development of this space and develop a functioning Tool Library.

You’re a winner baby!

We can start looking even further ahead with our plans because...

We have some amazing news to share.

...we are proud to announce that we have been awarded £10,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund.

This is extremely encouraging and came as a big surprise as these awards are notoriously difficult to win - and we achieved this funding on just our second application.

But don't get too excited

Though this does mean our bank balance is now reasonably healthy we are quite a way off the funding required to provide the dream Workshop space.

The Crypt is fine for small projects and four or five people working on projects, but it doesn’t allow for activities that create excessive dust and noise.

Commercial rent on a workshop space that would meet our requirements could be up to £30,000 annually, this would be a huge amount to secure each year.

There's no rush though, we have plenty of time to get there and we have a lot to learn, our current focus is on The Tool Library, with some smaller crafting workshops taking place in the crypt in the meantime...

Can you help?

Would you like to be part of our fundraising team? We are looking for people that want to get involved and help but have limited time and may not be able to volunteer at The Crypt but still want to help out and be involved.

If this is something you would like to get involved read more about it here or please contact admin@bcw.org.uk to get the ball rolling.

If you would like to support us with a regular donation you can do this by becoming a Supporter Member - details available on our home page.