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Hanover residents share their arts and crafts skills with their neighbours
'I love crafts and I like teaching others, so I was happy to lead the new group.'
Jane Wallbridge, resident and tutor
When Croxley Green residents said they were interested in an arts and crafts class, residents Jane Wallbridge and Yvonne Walker were keen to offer their help.
Jane has taught music and enjoys crafts – and Yvonne is a dab hand at needlework.
The two estates, one home ownership and one rented, come together every two weeks. They vary the materials, so they could be working with clay and paper – or embroidery if Yvonne is there. Residents who rarely go out pop down just for the class. And the crafts are geared towards those with arthritis – that includes Jane who says crafts, such as claywork, help flexibility in her hands. The crafty bunch, when they’re not concentrating, have a good chat too – so it’s a very sociable activity. Jane particularly appreciates the enthusiastic thanks she got from one usually quiet resident with dementia.
Estate managers Candy Sands and Verona Douglas-Grant say they’d recommend a resident-led group to others. Verona says, “Anyone can run a group if they have some knowledge of crafts.” And Candy says that materials needn’t cost the earth either: “Jane and Yvonne managed to get some help from the Hanover ‘Greenshoots’ fund, but residents could also fundraise themselves.”
Hanover will be publishing more stories like this in its second annual edition of Inpractice – to be published on 4 October. For more information about our Inpractice publication please click here.
