Getting Arty at the Lakeside Arts Centre

Hello bloggers, forgive me, but I haven’t blogged for ages and I’m now on a bit of a catch up!

April was the month to “do something arty” and we teamed up with orgaisation members the Lakeside Arts Centre who offered us a Gallery Tour and a Mono Printing Workshop.

I went along to the gallery tour which was fascinating. Ruth showed us around the whole building, giving us some interesting info about it’s history and we got to meet the artist in residence and have alook at her work. The tour finished with a look at the exhibition of American prints, Reuben, our smallest visitor snored all the way through that bit, which gave us all a giggle.

The mono printing workshop on the Friday was attended by several members who really enjoyed themselves and produced some very interesting results. Thankyou to Ruth who organised this for us.

The Lakeside is a fab place for a day out, there are the galleries and cafe. Plus a playpark, lots of paths and gardens to meander through, ducks to feed and boats to row on the lake.

The Bridge Centre gets a new volunteer

Mick joined the Skills Exchange in March this year and has a background in catering. When he found out that one of our Organisation members, The Bridge Centre, were looking for volunteers he was keen to get involved. The Bridge Centre is open Wednesday, Thursday and Friday and serves very reasonably priced meals and has a children’s play area and a second hand clothes, book and bric a brac stall.

Mick went along for an interview and started volunteering in the kitchen on Wednesdays. Janet, a worker at the Centre says

Mick has settled in really well. He can turn his hand to anything.

This is just one example of the many and varied things members can get involved with. We have 23 Organisational members, and there are opportunities to pick up new skills and Time Credits at the same time.

Thankyou Mick!

Promoting the Skills Exchange

No one can talk about the Skills Exchange better than our members, so it was great that Lynne and Lucy were able to help out on our stall at the recent International Women’s Health Day at the Vine Community Centre. This was a very busy event open to Women only and we had a lot of interest in the Skills Exchange.

Lynne and Lucy did a fantastic job of explaining how the Skills Exchange works and we had several people signing up on the spot! One of them, Carmen, has already been busy helping us with a recent mailout.

We are , in fact, having a great deal of interest in our Time Bank at the moment. More and more people are seeing the benefit of reciprocal volunteering. We have a stack of applications that we are processing at the moment and are looking forward to welcoming a bumper number of new members in the coming months. So, come on then, get a move on. Apply now!!!

The Great Spring Sowing

We had an information stall at the Great Spring Sowing this Sunday. The event was promoting the fact that it’s now Spring and prime time to be planting those seeds and growing veggies, flowers, whatever you fancy!

It seems that word has got around about how great Time Banking is , because we had the best ever day on a stall so far. A massive 12 people filled in application forms on the spot, which means another 12 members. This is fantastic, the more members, the more skills, the more exchanges we can arrange!

Thanks too to Louise who helped us out by talking to potential members and earned herself 4 Time credits in the process!

Courtyard Clearout 2!

Those of you who are regular visitors to the blog, or who are fortunate enough to get our newsletter, will know that March is the month to get gardening! We’ve promoted all sorts of ways to get involved. One of which was to come along to the Skills Exchange Offices on 14th March and help clear the courtyard.

I’m pleased to say that the weather stayed fine, in fact it was a lovely spring day, and we had plenty of volunteers. Between them they transformed the Courtyard from a leaf and twig strewn wilderness into a thing of beauty!! All ready for our Social on Thursday 26th March!

It was particularly nice to have some children of Skills Exchange members taking part. They particularly seemed to enjoy the sweeping up and the seed planting. Thanks to everyone who helped, you will be rewarded with Time Credits!!!