THE ART MINISTRY NEWSLETTER CHRISTMAS 2012

We exist to provide subsidised

arts and crafts facilities for

all, especially those disabled

or disadvantaged

THE ART MINISTRY

1 Church Road

Hadleigh, Essex

SS7 2DQ

Contact:

info@theartministry.org.uk

07582 025163

We’re on the Web!

Visit us at:

www.theartministry.org.uk

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Registered Charity No.: 1108227

The highlight of The Art Ministry’s 20th anniversary celebrations was an exhibition of students’ work at Hadleigh Old Fire Station at the end of September. The aim of the exhibition was to increase the self esteem and broaden the social interaction of our students by sharing their work with a wider audience from across the community, including local residents and supporters from the last 20 years. There was a day time exhibition open to the general public, which was well attended despite torrential rain throughout the day. This was followed by an invitation only evening exhibition, together with a welcome drink and buffet. The evening exhibition was attended by over 70 people. They viewed the students’ work and heard talks from our founder Angela Cotton about the early days, and from Trustee Allan Webb about what we are doing now and our future hopes. The exhibition was funded by the Big Lottery Fund.

20 Years of Caring through Creativity

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Adventure Island Skydrop - our brave group of 5 are centre left

Two New Awards!

To mark our 20th year, the Trustees have introduced two new annual awards aimed at recognising exceptional contributions to The Art Ministry over the previous year. Jean Fowler received our Volunteer of the Year award in recognition of the contribution she made across many fronts, including running our Parklands outreach project, producing our newsletter and being our central contact point at all hours of the day and night.

Employees of Southend based firm, the Hood Group, received our Supporter of the Year award for the funding and support that they have given to our Children’s Class. The employees have raised many thousands of pounds for the class and other charities by arranging their own fund-raising activities. In November they held a charity gig, Hoodstock, and raised over £750.

MONDAY CHILDREN’S CLASS It has been a hectic start to the new school year for Class Leader Allan Webb. The class has more than doubled in size and with the help of the class volunteers, who have also grown in number, he took the children to Colchester Zoo in half term, a glutton for punishment having only just taken them to Adventure Island on August Bank Holiday. Children in Need funded the zoo trip and the Hood Group funded the trip to Adventure Island – thank you to both of them from all the children.

Many of the children took part in the Lions competition to design a poster to depict the theme “Imagine Peace”. After a talk about what peace meant, the children put pens, pencils and paint brushes to paper and prolifically produced posters – try saying that quickly! Kay Large from the Lions visited the class to assist with the judging and to award prizes for the best posters. Our best entry went on to the regional competition and was awarded best in its category.

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Make a Difference Day The Art Ministry brought our 20th Anniversary celebrations to a conclusion on Saturday, 27th October, by taking part in national “Make a Difference Day”. We ran free arts and crafts sessions for anyone and everyone and highlighted the many different skills that can be used in the wide variety of volunteering roles on offer at the charity. The event was a great success attracting new volunteers and students.

PARKLANDS RESIDENTIAL HOME

We have now been visiting Parkland Residential Home in Benfleet for 18 months. We have been encouraging residents in creative activities and are pleased to be able to report progress. Our clients are elderly and often frail. Some of them have difficulty in physically using a pencil or brush. They have difficulty too, with concentration and sometimes feel the very idea of creating something a challenge. Despite these problems they come regularly, look forward to our sessions and are producing work that deserves genuine praise. It has been very satisfying to see withdrawn and almost silent people beginning to become responsive and interested in what is going on.

There is a display of colourful work in the dining room. It includes collages produced individually and as a group. The residents are producing a variety of work.

URGENTLY NEEDED V o l u n t e e r s a r e urgently needed to help at Parklands from 2pm to 4pm on the 2 n d a n d 4 t h Wednesday of every month. It’s great fun for residents and volunteers alike so get in touch if you are interested.

Why not join us for a relaxing three course evening meal on Thursday 14th March 2013. The cost will be £25 a per head, part of which will go to The Art Ministry. There will be a pre-dinner drink and tea and coffee after. We will also be having our usual splendid raffle.

To book your place, please use our ”Contact” details.

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CLASS FOR ADULTS WITH LEARNING DIFFICULTIES This class is growing with 3 new class members, bringing our total to 7, and 2 new volunteers, Amy and Charlotte. We are as lively and creative as ever. Some of our most recent favourite projects include sequin art, which is particularly enjoyed by Cindy - “I find it very therapeutic, I love all different arts, I like to get occupied, it gives me something to do, and it's colourful and I love making Christmas cards and model making!” Nicola, another new member has found she has a love for beaded jewellery making and has progressed to very intricate and beautiful designs. Wendy prefers to make clay pots and has made them all different shapes sizes, colours and patterns.

Hadleigh Farm Olympic Mountain Bike Course Collage

Our Fabric Group has made a large collage for public display depicting the Olympic Mountain Bike Course. The collage was hung at the Tea Rooms at the Salvation Army Training Centre and Farm in Hadleigh in time for the Olympic Mountain Bike Event.

The Fabric Group are taking a well deserved break until the start of next year. Please use our “Contact” details to register an interest in joining.

Crossroads Care Essex

After lots of talking about it we finally got around to piloting an arts and crafts class for adults with various difficulties at Crossroads Care. They all receive day care at their new resource centre in Thundersley. Angela Szczypka, organised the session and three volunteers helped her work with five adults. A great time was had by all, stamping homemade Christmas wrapping paper and decorating cotton bags – we expect to be asked back.

MONDAY ADULTS’ CLASS – TRANSPORT UPDATE We now hire a Wyvern Community Transport minibus on Mondays to bring students to and from class. It is driven by our own volunteer Charles Sims who has been trained and registered by Wyvern. A small charge is made for the service so we can cover the very reasonable hire cost. Please use our “Contact” details if you would like to use this service to get to or from the Monday Class.

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HELEN RUBINSTEIN

After two years in the role, Helen Rubinstein carried through her declared intention to stand down as a Trustee at our November meeting. This was despite our best efforts to persuade her to stay on. Helen, as some of you know, is a successful local artist who has recently won a prestigious commission to produce the illustrations on Christmas cards for Essex County Council. Her business is growing and this has led to her needing to reduce her involvement in The Art Ministry.

During her time as a Trustee, Helen carried out many roles. She took part in the regular performance reviews that Group Leaders have, and made sure that all their reporting was up to standard. Until recently Helen led our Fund-Raising team and often attended fund-raising events. She represented The Art Ministry at numerous meetings and events arranged by CAVS. Helen also helped arrange the annual competition for local school children to produce a painting for the Castle Point Mayor’s Parlour. As a Volunteer, Helen would regularly assist at our Parklands Residential Care Home sessions, as well as often helping out with classes run in our art room. It is true to say that there was not much that she didn't turn her hand to or enhance with her wise and valuable efforts and energies. We owe her a large debt and are gladdened that she will still remain active as a Volunteer and advisor whenever time allows.

Thank you Helen on behalf of everyone at The Art Ministry.

MORE PHOTOS OF THE SUMMER FUN DAY

Great Work! Allan Webb and Maureen Kelly braved the cold to run stall at the Leigh Lights event to raise funds for and awareness of The Art Ministry. They raised £25 and generated interest from some potential new students and volunteers. On 2nd December Jean Fowler and Pauline Kenny ran a stall selling art and craft materials at Hullbridge Community Centre. They were in the foyer, wrapped up in quilted coats, scarves and fur-lined boots because it was freezing. They kept warm by drinking mugs of steaming hot tea. The first two hours were very slow with very few visitors, but then it picked up and they sold over half of their stock. They managed to collect £73.00 towards The Art Ministry funds.

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NEW EVENTS CO-ORDINATION TEAM Great news, Trustee Emma Waters has agreed to set up and run our new Events Co-ordination Team, basically running anything that doesn’t have a primary purpose of raising funds, such as participation in the Hadleigh Art Trail, Make a Difference Day, and attendance at the Castle Point Show – weather permitting! The team will work alongside Anita Lysiak’s Fund-raising team and both will meet together next in January. Fund-raising Opportunities

Give as you Live – sign up to their website and if you go through it to buy goods and services on the internet, many of the big suppliers plus lots of smaller ones will make a donation to The Art Ministry. In addition to this The Art Ministry will be given £5 for every new customer it refers to Give as you Live provided they spend £10 by the end of the year. It costs you nothing extra but you must be signed in to Give as you Live when you shop and sign up in the first place via this link: www.giveasyoulive.com/invite/R9UvYAA1i3hKlOnAYIDzow7aj0-2B8OtQ-3D Yellow Moon – Buy your arts and crafts materials on the internet via Yellow Moon and they will donate part of the sale price to The Art Ministry – just search for our name or enter our code WTH12508 before you buy. If you also sign up to Give as you Live they will donate an extra 2.5%. It’s part of Baker Ross, but donates to charity. www.yellowmoon.org.uk Each One Counts – Recycle your printer cartridges or mobile phones through this site and you may be able to raise funds for The Art Ministry. www.eachonecounts.co.uk/page/charity/218 All of the links are available on the Fund-raising page of our website.

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Funding Update We are pleased to announce that local trust Fowler, Smith and Jones Charitable Trust, has made a grant of £1000 to The Art Ministry. It is great that they have continued their recent much needed support of The Art Ministry. The Distaff Club from Canvey Island has selected The Art Ministry as their charity of the year. The majority of their fund-raising activity will be for our benefit. To mark the occasion Trustees Allan Webb and Anita Lysiak addressed the Club at the end of October with a presentation about our charity.

Contact: info@theartministry.org.uk 07582 025163 1 Church Road, Hadleigh, SS7 2DQ

www.theartministry.org.uk