Tag Archives: Workshops

Arts, Books and Postcards, Community Arts, Editorial and design, Events, Heritage, Uncategorized

The Unremembered project

IMG_2934We’re pleased to have been commissioned to make a wreath for The Unremembered project in Hastings and St Leonards.

This is with the Big Ideas Company to develop activities with local community groups to explore the history of the Labour Corps – service personnel during World War I, and often forgotten in this part of history.

We created the wreath with 22 older people who meet at the Elizabeth Blackman Centre in Hastings, East Sussex. The session was facilitated by Strike a Light Director Cath Tajima Powell and it went really well. We’re really pleased with how it’s turned out!

The Unremembered project background:

This project is about the Labour Corps – Service Personnel in the British Army who have essentially been pretty forgotten and aren’t really commemorated anywhere. The aim is to raise the profile of the Labour Corps and share this learning with community groups.

Who were the Labour Corps?

 Image: Collection of John Sheen author of histories of the Northumberland Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry.

 The Labour Corps supplied the army with weapons and ammunition, food and fodder, water and fuel. They built and maintained roads and railways. They were essential to the war effort.

British and Allied Forces struggled to cope with the demand for manpower after the huge losses of men during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. From January 1917, manpower was drawn from the UK, China, India, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, the Caribbean and many other places within the British Empire.

Tens of thousands travelled thousands of miles to defend freedom and although they rarely saw service in the frontline, many died or were seriously injured. Today their contributions and sacrifice are all but forgotten. They are The Unremembered.

 

 

 

 

 

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Arts, Community Arts, Events, Heritage, Textiles, Uncategorized

Free drop in families puppet making session – 25th November, Jubilee Library, Brighton

Free drop in families puppet making session – The Unremembered Project

Workshop takes place at Jubilee Library, Jubilee Square, Brighton on Sunday 25th November 11am-1pm.

We’ll be exploring the theme of The Unremembered in World War I in a child friendly way. Come join us!

Ages 5 +).

See more here: https://www.facebook.com/events/256086941925313/

4D6861CD-F3FA-46D9-AB05-0369B6305770.jpeg

Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage is running free activities this November 2018 in venues across Brighton and Hove to look at the theme of The Unremembered – commemorating the Labour Corps service personnel in World War I.

With support from creative facilitators, we’ll be creating articulated puppets on templates designed, created and compiled by children. We will be using fabric scraps, wrapping paper and wall paper to create overlaid uniforms for these puppets and to bring them to life.

marionette

A sample of the articulate puppets we’ll be making in our workshop, popular during World War One. We’ll be making simplified and much less militaristic versions of the image.

The puppet theme for this project is two-fold – An engaging and accessible way to teach young people and community groups who are unaware of this lost period of history about the Labour Corps, and also puppets as a symbol for the role of the Labour Corps in terms of having no control over their work or location, that they were moved around like mules and treated as such.

This will help to remember some of the soldiers who served with the Labour Corps and their link with Sussex and draw this forgotten history into the light.

unremembered-logo-blackv2-1

We’re pleased to have been commissioned to become a hub in Brighton and Hove by the Big Ideas Company to develop activities with local community groups to explore the history of the Labour Corps – service personnel during World War I, and often forgotten in this part of history.

Arts, Community Arts, Events, Heritage, Textiles, Uncategorized

Free drop in families puppet making session- 25th November, Jubilee Library, Brighton

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Free drop in families puppet making session (Ages 5 upwards) – The Unremembered Project

This workshop takes place on Sunday 25th November 11am-1pm at Jubilee Library, Jubilee Street, Brighton.

We’ll be exploring the theme of The Unremembered in World War I in a child friendly way. Come join us!

Ages 5 +).

See more here: https://www.facebook.com/events/256086941925313/

Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage will be running free activities this October and November 2018 in venues across Brighton and Hove to look at the theme of The Unremembered – commemorating the Labour Corps service personnel in World War I.

With support from creative facilitators, we’ll be creating articulated puppets on templates designed, created and compiled by children.

We will be using fabric scraps, wrapping paper and wall paper to create overlaid uniforms for these puppets and to bring them to life.

marionetteA sample of the articulate puppets we’ll be making in our workshop, popular during World War One. We’ll be making simplified and much less militaristic versions of the image.

The puppet theme for this project is two-fold – An engaging and accessible way to teach young people and community groups who are unaware of this lost period of history about the Labour Corps, and also puppets as a symbol for the role of the Labour Corps in terms of having no control over their work or location, that they were moved around like mules and treated as such.

This will help to remember some of the soldiers who served with the Labour Corps and their link with Sussex and draw this forgotten history into the light.

unremembered-logo-blackv2-1

We’re pleased to have been commissioned to become a hub in Brighton and Hove by the Big Ideas Company to develop activities with local community groups to explore the history of the Labour Corps – service personnel during World War I, and often forgotten in this part of history.

Arts, Community Arts, Events, Heritage, Textiles, Uncategorized

Free drop in families puppet making session – 1st November, Brighton Open Market

Free drop in families puppet making session (Ages 5 upwards) – The Unremembered Project

Workshop takes place at Brighton Open Market, Marhalls Row, Brighton on Thursday 1st November 12-3pm.

We’ll be exploring the theme of The Unremembered in World War I in a child friendly way. Come join us!

Ages 5 +).

See more here: https://www.facebook.com/events/472087369948249/

Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage will be running free activities this October and November 2018 in venues across Brighton and Hove to look at the theme of The Unremembered – commemorating the Labour Corps service personnel in World War I.

With support from creative facilitators, we’ll be creating articulated puppets on templates designed, created and compiled by children.

We will be using fabric scraps, wrapping paper and wall paper to create overlaid uniforms for these puppets and to bring them to life.

marionetteA sample of the articulate puppets we’ll be making in our workshop, popular during World War One. We’ll be making simplified and much less militaristic versions of the image.

The puppet theme for this project is two-fold – An engaging and accessible way to teach young people and community groups who are unaware of this lost period of history about the Labour Corps, and also puppets as a symbol for the role of the Labour Corps in terms of having no control over their work or location, that they were moved around like mules and treated as such.

This will help to remember some of the soldiers who served with the Labour Corps and their link with Sussex and draw this forgotten history into the light.

unremembered-logo-blackv2-1

We’re pleased to have been commissioned to become a hub in Brighton and Hove by the Big Ideas Company to develop activities with local community groups to explore the history of the Labour Corps – service personnel during World War I, and often forgotten in this part of history.

Arts, Community Arts, Events, Mosaic, Uncategorized

Wild at Heart project

We have received  funding from The Homity Trust towards a new project called ‘Wild at Heart’. This project is a partnership between Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage, the Low Carbon Trust based at Brighton’s Earthship, and the Restorative Justice Department of Children’s Services, in Brighton & Hove City Council.

Our project will deliver a series of planned activities to take place at the Earthship based in Stanmer Park Brighton (The Earthship  was built as a community centre for use by Stanmer Organics, a Soil Association accredited site in Brighton) to deliver training and skills around the environment and local plant life and planting with a group of dedicated young probationers with community service hours to invest in supported learning.

The participants will engage with activities with various groups based at Stammer Organics (next to the Earthship) including the Permaculture Association Plot and Green Woodworking.

With this project, Strike a Light plans to support the community to:

  • Transform a local area
  • Create ownership for service users and the local community
  • Improve local community relations
  • Revitalise the area
  • Pass on creative skills and education
  • Encourage environmental awareness

Between January  and April 2018, this will involve the delivery of a mosaic mural to be situated on the front of the Earthship which will be designed and created through training and workshops with probationers, Probation staff, Low Carbon Trust members, and volunteers. The mosaic would showcase local flora and fauna and be the first sight as visitors enter the Earthship area in Stanmer Park.

We will run 12 weekly sessions at the venue in the park to support this restorative justice, as well as self-managed learning with the young people attending the activities.

We will provide guidance and support for both the Restorative Justice Team, and the participants to learn about local flora and fauna, offer ornithological talks by the South Downs National Park Authority, (also based at Stanmer Park), increase understanding of the heritage of the area, explore the principles of permaculture, and create a beautiful mural which will remain in the location as a testament to this project, and be enjoyed by all visitors to the area into the future.

A key tranche of this scheme will be training ten young offenders, as well as Children’s Service coordinators and Low Carbon Trust Directors and volunteers to learn about the medium of mosaic with the end result being a the participatory creation and installation of community focussed bespoke mosaic mural. This will be sited on the font of the Earthship building on a long term basis to promote sustainable ideals and environmental awareness, including the venue being part of the South Downs National Park.

These activity and learning sessions sessions will be facilitated by a creative practitioner and supported by the Restorative Justice Team who would be responsible for the subsequent health and safety and supervising behaviour.

The participants’ ages range from 10 – 18 years old, with the majority of these being between 13-18 years old. The young offenders are a mix of male and female, however the client base is predominately male. All of the young people live in the Brighton and Hove area and in a mix of in school, college, some form of education, employment or NEET (not in education, employment or training). They include looked after children, as well as those living with parents.

This venue was the first Earthship to be built in England. Earthship Brighton is an off-grid building that heats, cools, powers itself from the sun, harvests its water from the sky and treats its wastewater onsite using plants. The venue’s focus has been spreading a positive message of climate change education and helping people to modify their behaviour to live with a lighter carbon footprint through the training and events it offers.

The aims of the Earthship Brighton since it was built 20 years ago, has been deliver a sustainable community centre in response to a genuine local need, change values in the construction industry and inspire positive action in individuals to generate environmental change through modifying people’s behaviour to less carbon intensive lifestyles. This resonates soundly with our project aims to engage with disaffected young people and support their understanding for community involvement and development to the point where they are engaged in a way that means they would be less likely to re-offend.

This project offers a new opportunity for engagement, lifelong learning and enjoyment, whilst offering participants, volunteers and staff the facility to support youth involvement and gain relevant sills themselves. This project will also allow volunteers to contribute their own ideas to the project in the form of the final mural design.

Outcomes from this project will be:

  • The youth offending community to feel a proud sense of ownership within their locality
  • Improving lock spaces that require renovation
  • Creating a locally based project combining creative arts and environmental themes.
  • A new bespoke mosaic mural supporting a colourful, safe community spaces

Arts, Books and Postcards, Community Arts, Events, Heritage, Plays and musicals, Uncategorized

The Unremembered – Project dates for Brighton

Project Details:

We’re pleased to have been commissioned to become a hub in Brighton and Hove by the Big Ideas Company to develop activities with local community groups to explore the history of the Labour Corps – service personnel during World War I, and often forgotten in this part of history.

Events:

Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage will deliver workshops in October and November 2018 (We will confirm dates very soon) in Brighton and Hove with ten different groups in ten different venues across the city to look at the theme of The Unremembered. We aim to commemorate the Labour Corps service personnel and their experiences.

Free drop in families puppet making sessions (at following venues and times):

  • Monday 29th October – 1.45-4.15pm: ONCA at The Barge, The Waterfront, Brighton BN2 5UU
  • Thursday 1st November – 12-3pm: Brighton Open Market, Marshalls Row, Brighton BN1 4JU
  • Saturday 24th November – 12-5pm: Black History Day at The Dome, Brighton.
  • Sunday 25th November – 11-1pm: Jubilee Library, Jubilee Square, Brighton.

and

Monday 19th November 2-3pm: Talk on Labour Corps and Sussex at Strike a Light, Brighton Open Market, Studio 8 (Mezzanine), Marshalls Row, Brighton BN1 4JU.

*** More dates tbc ***

The Unremembered project background:

This project is about the Labour Corps – Service Personnel in the British Army who have essentially been pretty forgotten and aren’t really commemorated anywhere. The aim is to raise the profile of the Labour Corps and share this learning with community groups.

Who were the Labour Corps?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: Collection of John Sheen author of histories of the Northumberland Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry.

 The Labour Corps supplied the army with weapons and ammunition, food and fodder, water and fuel. They built and maintained roads and railways. They were essential to the war effort.

British and Allied Forces struggled to cope with the demand for manpower after the huge losses of men during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. From January 1917, manpower was drawn from the UK, China, India, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, the Caribbean and many other places within the British Empire.

Tens of thousands travelled thousands of miles to defend freedom and although they rarely saw service in the frontline, many died or were seriously injured. Today their contributions and sacrifice are all but forgotten. They are The Unremembered.

Events:

We are working engaging with freelancers and volunteers to deliver a series of history and resource led activities which focus on the art of making articulated paper puppets (a common past time a centenary ago) with community groups and families.

These puppets are a mixture of pre-printed on cardboard outline templates which can then be designed, created and compiled by participants and for those with dexterity issues or the very young, pre-designed printed templates which can be assembled with support and displayed.  We will use fabric scraps, wrapping paper and wall paper to create overlaid uniforms for these puppets and to bring them to life.

We will also create activities to create dressing paper dolls, so creating the one dimensional paper dolls through templates which are cut out and then one dimensional clothing made relevant to our theme which can then be folded over the puppet body. These dolls were popular during WWI and were still printed then despite paper shortages.

Both these forms of puppet making are ideal for classroom and community projects because they are made with everyday craft supplies and reused materials.

The puppet theme for this project is two-fold – one that it is an engaging and accessible way to teach young people and community groups who are unaware of this lost period of history about the Labour Corps, and secondly that the puppets can be seen as a metaphor for the role of the Labour Corps in terms of having no control over their work or location, that they were moved around like mules and essentially treated as such too. This will be a way to valorise those men and celebrate their role.

This will help to remember some of the soldiers who served with the Labour Corps and their link with Sussex and draw this forgotten history into the light.

https://strikealight.org/projects/the-unremembered-project/

 

Arts, Books and Postcards, Community Arts, Editorial and design, Events, Heritage, Uncategorized

The Unremembered project

We’re pleased to have been commissioned to become a hub in Brighton and Hove by the Big Ideas Company to develop activities with local community groups to explore the history of the Labour Corps – service personnel during World War I, and often forgotten in this part of history.

The Unremembered project background:

This project is about the Labour Corps – Service Personnel in the British Army who have essentially been pretty forgotten and aren’t really commemorated anywhere. The aim is to raise the profile of the Labour Corps and share this learning with community groups.

Who were the Labour Corps?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: Collection of John Sheen author of histories of the Northumberland Fusiliers and Durham Light Infantry.

 The Labour Corps supplied the army with weapons and ammunition, food and fodder, water and fuel. They built and maintained roads and railways. They were essential to the war effort.

British and Allied Forces struggled to cope with the demand for manpower after the huge losses of men during the Battle of the Somme in 1916. From January 1917, manpower was drawn from the UK, China, India, South Africa, Egypt, Canada, the Caribbean and many other places within the British Empire.

Tens of thousands travelled thousands of miles to defend freedom and although they rarely saw service in the frontline, many died or were seriously injured. Today their contributions and sacrifice are all but forgotten. They are The Unremembered.

 Events:

Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage will deliver workshops in October and November 2018 in Brighton and Hove with ten different groups in ten different venues across Brighton and Hove to look at the theme of The Unremembered and to commemorate the Labour Corps service personnel and their experiences.

We will do this through engaging with freelancers and volunteers to deliver a series of history and resource led activities which focus on the art of making articulated paper puppets (a common past time a centenary ago) with community groups and families.

These puppets will be a mixture of pre-printed on cardboard outline templates which can then be designed, created and compiled by participants and for those with dexterity issues or the very young, pre-designed printed templates which can be assembled with support and displayed.  We will use fabric scraps, wrapping paper and wall paper to create overlaid uniforms for these puppets and to bring them to life.

We will also create activities to create dressing paper dolls, so creating the one dimensional paper dolls through templates which are cut out and then one dimensional clothing made relevant to our theme which can then be folded over the puppet body. These dolls were popular during WWI and were still printed then despite paper shortages.

Both these forms of puppet making are ideal for classroom and community projects because they are made with everyday craft supplies and reused materials.

The puppet theme for this project is two-fold – one that it is an engaging and accessible way to teach young people and community groups who are unaware of this lost period of history about the Labour Corps, and secondly that the puppets can be seen as a metaphor for the role of the Labour Corps in terms of having no control over their work or location, that they were moved around like mules and essentially treated as such too. This will be a way to valorise those men and celebrate their role.

This will help to remember some of the soldiers who served with the Labour Corps and their link with Sussex and draw this forgotten history into the light.

 

 

 

 

 

Arts, Books and Postcards, Community Arts, Events, Heritage, Plays and musicals, Uncategorized

Mazel tov Brighton – Movement Through Tradition 

Strike a Light continues with its’ project Mazel tov Brighton! Movement through Tradition celebrating links between Judaism and Brighton and Hove lives with residents of the Jewish Care charity run home Hyman Fine House.

The project celebrates Judaism through active aging, finding physical as well as mental ways to address early onset dementia. We are doing this through dance activities and physical workshops, whilst exploring Brighton’s Jewish history.

We began this project in April 2017 and due to further funding, will be able to run it until summer 2018 thanks to Brighton and Hove Dementia Action Alliance

https://strikealight.org/projects/mazel-tov-brighton/


strike_a_light_logo_transparent107x107px

Arts, Community Arts, Events, Heritage, Uncategorized

St Peters – Preston Park – free creative activities

20180206_141320We are pleased to have been commissioned by St Peters- Preston Park to deliver a series of six free creative workshops at the church and in their grounds between May-September 2018.

See more about this project here: https://strikealight.org/projects/st-peters-preston-park-workshop-dates/

The workshops are a key part of the HLF-funded Project Restoring the Chancel: Highlighting the 20th Century History of St Peter’s, Preston Park to engage local people around St Peter’s to:

  • Visit the church for the first time.
  • See the church as an enjoyable place to spend time.
  • Look afresh at the church and particularly the stencilling in the chancel.
  • Find out more about St Peter’s and the history of the surrounding Preston Village area.
  • Find out more about the practice and history of the art of stencilling.

downloadWe’ll be delivering free creative families drop-in workshops (printing, mosaic, brass rubbing, and stained glass making) at St Peter’s on the following dates:  31st May, 24th June (Preston Village Day), 14th July, 31st July, 16th Aug, 8th September. Each workshop will run from 11-4pm. 

All the event dates and further information are over on our Facebook page so you can pop them in your diary. Come join us!

St Peters

Arts, Books and Postcards, Community Arts, Editorial and design, Events, Heritage, Uncategorized

ST PETER’S – PRESTON PARK WORKSHOP DATES

St Peters

We are very pleased to be commissioned by The Friends of St Peter’s – Preston Park, Brighton to deliver a series of six creative workshops at St Peter’s, Preston Park between May-September 2018.

The workshops are a key part of their HLF-funded Project Restoring the Chancel: Highlighting the 20th Century History of St Peter’s, Preston Park and are intended to engage local people around St Peter’s to:

  • Visit the church for the first time.
  • See the church as an enjoyable place to spend time.
  • Look afresh at the church and particularly the stencilling in the chancel.
  • Find out more about St Peter’s and the history of the surrounding Preston Village area.
  • Find out more about the practice and history of the art of stencilling.

20180206_141320.jpg

Activities:

We will deliver six creative drop-in workshops at St Peter’s on the following dates: 31st May, 24th June (Preston Village Day), 14thJuly, 31st July, 16th Aug, 8th September. Each workshop will run from 11-4pm, though the timings for 24th June, Preston Village Day, are still to be finalised.

Each workshop will focus on one core creative activity, with some simpler and/or quicker activities running alongside. The activities to be delivered at each workshop will each respond to some element of the church’s interior, exterior or history, or the creative processes embodied within the building, including stencilling, repetitive patterns, print making, mosaics, etc.

Strike a Light – Arts & Heritage activities will include:

  • Block printing on paper/calico in the form of flags, pennants or large hangings.
  • Creating your own portable letterpress
  • Small mosaics
  • Other forms of printing
  • Stained glass making (using plastic)
  • Geometric pattern making with spirographs.
  • Brass rubbing

All welcome, and especially families with children up to the age of around 11. However both older/younger children can attend and the range of activities will cater for this.

Children will remain the responsibility of their parents/carers and will not be left in the care of Strike a Light.

Adult Workshop:

One of our event days on Saturday 14th July, is intended to be an adult-focussed activity and will encourage adults to try new things, so this particular date isn’t open to children.

download

Strike a Light will be working alongside Hare and Humphreys, the conservators who will be undertaking the conservation of the chancel. Hare and Humphreys start work in late-May and from that time on parts of the chancel will be covered with scaffolding, obscuring some of the stencilling.

Block printing tea towel.JPG