Independent Boarding and Day School

Stretchingpotential -realising

ambitionssince 1913Emily - Ballerina - Aspiring Medic

Registered

charity

numbe

r:52

8409

www.moretonhall.org | 01691 773671

Weston Rhyn, Oswestry, Shropshire SY11 3EW

SIXTH FORMInformation Evening

Tuesday 13th October, 6pm

OCTOBER OPEN EVENTSWEWILL HELP YOU MAKE YOUR CHOICE FOR 2016

01691 688080WWW.NSC.AC.UK

Apply on-line or come and visit uson one of the following days:

Everyone is welcome!

Aspire Centre, Burford, Tenbury WellsThursday 22nd October 3.30pm-7pmOswestry CampusWed 21st October 5pm-8pm

Walford CampusSat 17th October 10am-2pm

‘Aladdin’s Cave’ is on the move

Beautiful arts and crafts are made from scrap itemsThe scrapstore recycles of a vast stock of materials The ‘legend’ on this bag says it all about Scrappies

FROM a humble collection of po-tentially useful scrap in a small garage in Clun over 25 years ago, Scrappies was established as a charity and has developed into an expansive popular store serving Shropshire, the community and the environment in a variety of different ways.

Scrappies is the county’s only scrap-store and over the years the environment has undoubtedly benefited from the recy-cling of a vast stock of materials, much of which would otherwise have ended up in landfill sites.

The store has been run by a team of dedi-cated part-time staff and volunteers overseen by an enthusiastic board of trustees and man-agement committee.

InspirationTheir foresight has now resulted in the deci-

sion to establish a more focused and relevant service that meets the needs of those people excited by creative arts and crafts, as well as providing the opportunity to educate and in-spire people of all ages to recycle, re-use and re-make.

While continuing to collect and recycle scrap materials, the development of creative arts and crafts and the educational needs of modern so-ciety will be the main focus.

Thus, from tomorrow (Saturday) Scrappies can be found at its new location: 1 Sherratt Court, Beaumont Road, Church Stretton, just a stone’s throw from its existing premises.

Though it will still be an “Aladdin’s Cave” of available resources, more prominence will be given to the training and development of skills to encourage creative awareness in people of all ages.

Craft workshops will continue to be high on

the agenda, not only in-store, but also out in the community in schools, youth clubs and at local events.

Scrappies will also support agencies involved in the care of the elderly as well as children with special or additional needs.

The image of the scrap itself will also be en-hanced. Much of the stock, such as containers and innumerable odds and ends in all shapes

and sizes, will still have obvious practical uses. But many of the materials will no longer be regarded merely as handy quick-fixes for use in construction or repairs. They will also be more widely recognised as a medium waiting to be transformed into interesting and colour-ful hand-crafted items to be proud of.

Scrappies has the expertise to show how all this can be achieved and their ‘creative’ team

now boasts five professional artists and craft makers who run the workshops for children and adults.

Opening hours are currently Wednesday 11am-7pm, Thursday 10am-4pm and Satur-day 10am-2pm, but plans are in hand to ex-tend those in the future.

Schools and groups unable to visit Scrappies during these times can book an out-of-hours

appointment by telephone on 01694 722511.The store is largely dependent on a keen

body of volunteers for most of its day-to-day activities. Call if you are interested, and learn all about volunteering at Scrappies, and how it can be both interesting and rewarding.

Visitors are welcome to drop in at the new premises. You can be sure of a warm welcome and the staff will be delighted to show you

Report by Mary Queally

Special reportT

he

Jo

urn

al

Frid

ay, O

ctob

er 9

, 201

5

4