Art room clear up begins!

On Tuesday 18th July we welcomed external volunteer Helen to the centre, Helen works for a global recruitment company. She gets to give time back each year to a charity/cause of her choosing and we are happy to say she chose Creative Living Centre!

Diane one of our volunteers who supports the ‘Arts for all’ sessions on Mondays at 11-12.30 had noticed that a lot of our art materials were in a mess, there was a lot of empty paint pots, blunt pencils, disorganised drawers and unusable brushes! Therefore, we decided a clear up was needed and Helen came along just at the right time.

Helen and Diane spent the whole day removing old unusable materials, sorting & sharpening pencils, pens, brushes, paints, scissors, cleaning and tidying. You can see from the photos what a great job they have done in order to work out what materials we have and what we might need to support both our Arts for all group and our Art Therapy sessions facilitated by Anne-Marie on Mondays & Wednesdays.

We want to say a massive thank you to Helen for giving her time on the day and to our volunteer Diane for coming in for an extra day and for all her efforts week in, week out for the centre.
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There is still some more work to do to complete the job so if you have some time spare and would like to get involved, please get in touch with our Take part coordinator – Tom Wild by contacting reception@creativelivingcentre.org.uk

The second outreach event was at Outreach in Radcliffe on Thursday 27th, this was specifically a volunteer recruitment event for local non-profit organisations. ‘Outreach’ is a charity who aim to provide person centred support to adults living in their own homes or within residential services.

There is a great space for all the organisations who were attending such as ‘Little Britain Anglers, Transport for sick children, Bury VCFA, North West Air Ambulance charity amongst others. Next door is the brilliant café run by volunteers providing vegetarian food and great coffee!

Tom spent the day chatting to potential volunteers, networking with the other organisations and even bumped into some Creative Living Centre members having food in the café at lunchtime!

We want to say a big thank you to Norman Shaw – Volunteer programme manager at Outreach, for arranging the day, setting up and being on hand to help out throughout the day. It was great to make another local connection and to hear about the amazing support that the charity provides.
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Our Take part coordinator Tom Wild has spent some time off site this month promoting the centres services for members, recruiting new volunteers, networking with local and national organisations and raising awareness of Creative Living Centre.

The first of these was the ‘Work & Wellbeing’ event hosted by Bury adult learning services on Thursday 20th July. This event was a great space to meet local partners and build on existing relationships and start some new ones! Tom met many individuals who were interested either in becoming a member or to explore becoming a volunteer. The applications have been flooding in and training will take place over the next few weeks.

We want to say a massive thank you to Sue Scott and the team at Bury adult learning services for organising the event and for all their support on the day! Lots of engaging conversations and useful information which will help support our staff, volunteers and most importantly the members of Creative Living Centre. Tom also popped in to see the Jubilee quilt which Creative Living Centre members contributed to last year in Bury art museum
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2023 marks the 39th year of Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June), when Creative Living Centre will join thousands of charities and voluntary organisations recognising the contribution volunteers make across the UK. With this year’s theme of ‘Celebrate and Inspire’ we hope to encourage people to be the change that we want to see and get involved in volunteering in whatever way works for them.

The contribution of volunteers is often unseen and unrecognised by many, visible only through the incredible impact of their volunteering, so taking the time during Volunteers’ Week to celebrate their efforts and all they contribute to our local communities, the voluntary sector and society as a whole has never been more important.

This Volunteers’ Week Creative Living Centre will be celebrating their volunteers, by posting celebration and inspiration stories on some of our volunteers on social media/website, going out for a group meal, giving out some gifts and recognition of the huge amount that volunteers give to CLC.

“Here at Creative Living Centre, we will be celebrating our volunteers’ contribution of time and support and so much more to the service. We couldn’t do what we do without them and Volunteers’ week is a chance to recognise the fantastic work our volunteers do in helping support our members and staff. We have 16 current volunteers and more on the way, they help with many of our groups including walking group, bike group and art group. They also help run our social spaces such as warm hub and lunch service. Alongside this we also have co tutor trained volunteers who help support delivery of well being workshops. Our peer mentor trained volunteers support our members with a specific request over a 6-week period to help them achieve their goal.
Our members hugely appreciate and value the support of our volunteers, making a brew, having a chat and contributing to their positive outcomes.”
- Tom Wild – Take Part Coordinator
​Volunteering Stats During 2020 (UK Civil Society Almanac 2022)

• ​16.3m people volunteered through a group, club or organisation in 2020/21.
• Levels of formal volunteering fell significantly from 2019/20 to in 2020/21.
• More than a quarter of the population were regularly involved in informal volunteering and about half did so at least once in 2020/21.
• Most people have formally volunteered at some point in their lives, dipping in and out of involvement over time.
• People volunteer in different ways, reflecting their lifestyles, values and priorities. The way they get involved has changed during the pandemic.

We have a new member of our team at the centre. Anne Rabbitt joins us as our new Office and Reception Administrator. Anne says:

"I'm really looking forward to meeting members and getting to know them. I love reading and cooking - If anybody has any good recommendations for books or recipes, please let me know!"

I'm sure you'll join us all at the centre in wishing Anne a warm welcome.

New course alert! Creative Journaling with Susan starts this Tuesday and will run for four weeks. Members only, no need to book. Just drop in 12.30pm-2pm at the centre. Each session is £3 on its own, or you can get a day pass to the centre to attend this and our other member drop in sessions for just £5.

On Wednesday 10th May our regular walking group took part in the Greater Manchester Walking Festival event and arranged a walk at Burrs Country Park near Bury. We had a great turn out with 15 people in total completing the walk, which was designed by two of our volunteers, Jane & Evan.

It felt like we had 4 seasons of weather as we walked through trees and along by the River Irwell! We discovered some of the stone sculptures located in a clearing, the stones were carved by Julie Edwards in 1997 and were recycled from a bridge in Bury which was dismantled. The stones had markings left by the original masons and Julie turned these into symbols of the historic industries of Greater Manchester including hammers, screws and fish!

There were some great discussions and conversations as we walked through the park on all sorts of topics, we had some great feedback from our members about how good it was to get out, have a walk and a chat.

We returned to the creative living centre and many of us shared lunch in our sunshine café at our regular lunch service which happens every Wednesday.

If you're interested in taking part in similar events, our Walking Group meet Wednesdays 11am - 12.30pm at the centre, and a lot of the gang stick around for lunch service afterwards for a cuppa and a chat, 12.30pm - 2.30pm

A massive thank you to our volunteers Jane, Evan, Helen, Angela who helped on the day 😊
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Tom Wild
Take Part Co-ordinator

Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week. The theme this year is anxiety. Anxiety is a normal emotion for most of us, but sometimes it can get out of control and become a mental health problem. Here at the CLC, we are supporting Mental Health Awareness Week to increase awareness and provide support for individuals experiencing difficulties with anxiety.

This year we have a special timetable of events which will be free and open to all, including non-members. You can find out more on our dedicated page. These events are additional to our usual timetable and won't affect the usual schedule for members.

On Thursday 30th March we welcomed a team of 7 volunteers from Lloyds Banking Group to the Creative Living Centre to get a fresh coat of paint on our hallway walls and reception area. One of our regular volunteers Esme also lent a hand with the planning of colours and helped facilitate during the morning to support the team. She also has very special plans for some of our other wall spaces! (More news to follow soon)

Our walls had begun to show their age somewhat, scuff marks, blu-tac stains and drawing pin holes were covered up by the team. In our reception area a bright purple welcome now awaits our members and visitors! In the main hallway the walls have been refreshed in white ( a blank canvas to be developed) and in the hallway leading to our café the team also added some bright lilac/purple to the walls and noticeboards.

We want to say a massive thank you to the team from Lloyds bank for giving up their time and energy to come and help us brighten up our hallways and for documenting their visit so well! We hope that they might return to help us out with other projects next year.

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Also a huge thanks to Esme for helping co-ordinate the painting project and supporting on the day, we can’t wait to see your next art endeavours at the centre!

Tom Wild
​Take Part Coordinator

We've got five delicious new additions to our Cooking with Confidence series coming up in May. Every Tuesday 10am-12pm. All ability levels welcome. Here are our weekly themes:

2nd May - Cooking Crumble
9th May - Fun with Flapjacks
16th May - Love those leaves (amazing salad dressings)
23rd May - Perfect porridge
30th May - How to use grains (Mediterranean couscous salad)

Call the centre to book your spot!

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