We thought it would be good if we gave you all an update as to what we have done over the last couple months and tell you about what we plan to do at The Maker's Place, Spring Farm in Ash at the beginning of this new year, 2022!
Christmas Event - Before we get started on what exciting things we have planned we must say a massive thank you to all who attended and helped at our Christmas event, we had a wonderful time and are so pleased with how it went.
The weather held up and some great memories were made, take a look at some of the photos. There was a large Hope, Joy, Peace tree by the entrance made from silage bails, a trail of lights around the farm area and Christmas quotes. Donkeys to ride, baby guinea pigs, pigs, rabbits and cows to see. A super newly painted nativity photo scene, a puppet show, three interactive 10ft high pallet Christmas trees not to mention some tree themed crafts inside the cabin and a fire pit with chocolate banana boats and orange cakes!! We managed to get Tamborino’s pizza van and Noodles ice cream van to come which was a great addition too. We also had some lovely things for sale in the new marque.
One of our guests made a little video montage, amazing!
Other things we have done since the last update:
Light Parties – Our light parties went well, we sold out quite early on for the primary aged party and the youth party ended up being nearly full too. It was our first lot of light parties at the farm so we will make adjustments for future ones but the feedback we received was great.
Through donations and sponsorship to do toilet squats we raised enough money to twin our toilet with not just one other toilet but two!!! The certificates can be seen in the cabin toilet. It's great to support and fund toilets in more needy areas around the world.
Ash School – it was wonderful to have a small group from the local primary school come and visit The Maker’s Place. Becca led a session showing year 2’s how to make little willow lanterns and Sarah showed them the animals and veg patch. We hope to have them back again sometime.
Nov/Dec 2021 Workshops –
As well as the Christmas event we ran various workshops in November and December including glass soldering with Tracey from Glass Garden Studio, willow weaving and star making with Carol, lampshade making with Becca, needle felting with Jenny @madebyjennyx, wreath making with Sophie, fabric folding pine cones with Linda and wooden stars making from kits we made last year at The Maker's Place.
We also ran fortnightly adult and child activities on Saturday mornings these included willow lantern making, twig pencils and whistles, ceramic painting, and pallet trees.
Future Craft Workshops & Groups
We are very excited to tell you we have just uploaded new workshops on the website and have got some lovely things planned from now until May. We have paint pouring, patchwork cushions, willow hedgerow baskets, cyanotype sun pictures, resin art to name but a few. Do check out the workshops page on the website or click the button below.
One of the main differences you will see is our Wednesday workshops have moved over to Mondays. We have tried to book in Monday daytime and evening workshops where possible.
The workshops will continue to be kept to a small size of 6/7 people in order to ensure adequate space but also a great tuition ratio. We have tried to keep the costs of these workshops down by supplying a volunteer from The Maker’s Place team to welcome and support the craft tutor.
Cancer Groups - We are still really pleased to have Craft Therapy in Cancer with us on a Tuesday and Friday afternoons. The workshops on a Tuesday will often reflect the Monday's craft activities and will be free but these are for cancer patients of Yeovil Hospital only please.
Friday afternoons 1-3pm cancer patients can also come along and bring items to mend, projects to build or learn DIY/woodwork skills. Both men and women are welcome to these different cancer groups.
Make & Mend - Tim and the team are still based at the farm on a Tuesday evening 7:30 - 9:30pm. This group is open to all to pop along with broken items and learn how to fix them.
Saturday Make Togethers - We are in the process of restructuring our Saturdays. We are looking at making these possibly every month, longer and providing more activities. Watch this space.
Sketchbook Scripture – is going back to a monthly free session on the first Sunday of the month in the afternoon 2-5pm. Please sign up on the website if you plan on coming, we will try and do a zoom along for those who can’t attend in person. This is open to all ages, under 16 year olds to be accompanied by and adult unless previously arranged.
Youth Group - We are pleased to still have MCF youth group with us on the last Sunday of the month.
Support – We continue to be hugely blessed by the people who support us with encouragement, practical help, financial gifts and prayer support. We have a monthly zoom update and prayer meeting on the first Monday of the month at 8pm and a WhatsApp (predominantly) prayer group, if you would like to join either of these please get in touch with Becca. We also type up the notes from the prayer meeting so if you would like these forwarded then please let Becca know and she can email them across. People are involved from a variety of places and churches which also makes The Maker’s Place special in that way. Our team share the same core values and would also like to provide people with the opportunity to learn about and grow in the Christian faith which is their strong foundation and motivation. They want to share what they have been blessed with in order to bless others and introduce people to the Master Maker in a non-threatening or imposing way. We are looking at starting a discipleship group on a Thursday evening later in the Spring so watch out for news on that.
We are going to be looking into some more funding options for other ideas we have for other groups. Depending on how much and where the funding comes from all depends on what we can provide and how often. We would love to make more sessions free at the point of entry but unfortunately this is not sustainable without financial support for expenses or more voluntary support. Watch this space though we are never short of ideas of things we could do!
Save the date - Saturday 16th April we hope to be running another all age Easter Event most probably 11-3pm. More information to follow.
Think that is about it for now. Thank you for your time in reading this. Do feel free to share to others who maybe interested.
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