We Are Bloxwich

Image 1 of 1

Image 1 of 1

Funded on
25 Jul 2022

To Capture the stories of the people of Bloxwich. What Life was like in the 1940's and during the War Life as a young person growing up and witnessing the development of Bloxwich and it's growth.

£15,938 Raised of £15,932

13 Backers

100%

Our Delivery Report

Funded on 25 July 2022 | Delivered on 22 February 2023

£15,938

RAISED

13

BACKERS

54

DAYS TO FUND

BIGGEST PLEDGE

£3,500

From Walsall Council

£5

MOST POPULAR PLEDGE AMOUNT

40

people have visited this project!

National Lottery Heritage Fund donated £2,591

Project Image

One Love Community Music and Arts CIC donated £171

5 m² of public or community space created

One Love Community Music and Arts CIC

One Love Community Music and Arts CIC donated £256

Community events created

4 Community events created

20 Artworks created

One Love Community Music and Arts CIC donated £650

£0 Revenue generated

20 kWh of energy saved

One Love Community Music and Arts CIC

One Love Community Music and Arts CIC donated £680

More about our impact

The environment

Most of the project was digital and therefore our overall footprint was relatively small, equally all sessions with our participants were filmed in the daytime minimising the need for extra lights. Also most of the participants were filmed at a time which fitted in with their weekly visits to the Coffee shop

The local economy

For many of our participants, their weekly involvement helped to boast the number of sales within the Cafe / Coffee shop. Equally their presence within Bloxwich also helped local shops as it increased activity on the High Street.

Volunteering, jobs & education

We now have two sessions run by Volunteers which has continued after completion this has led to 4 Volunteers been involved every week for 3 hours supporting a further 12 women. We have also had 2 male Volunteers get involved and helping to organises Table top sales and helping to promote other activities and engagement which has seen 40 other participants weekly in spin off activities..

Arts, culture & heritage

We have created an ongoing Arts and craft session which is dedicated to heritage type arts, we have also developed the sewing class teaching traditional skills. We have started a exhibition of memorabilia and we have kept the conversation going through our wall displays within the Cafe and Coffee shop.

Activity, health and leisure

Through the engagement of the participants we have developed several classes which now promote healthy living and better use of leisure. We have weekly Pilates stretching sessions and also Yoga sessions, these are well attended and have continued to operate weekly. We also run a 8 week Mindfulness session which promotes health and wellbeing.

http://one love community.org

One Love Community Music and Arts are a Community Interest Company, which basically means we are not for profit. We set up in 2017 as a response to recognsing that many people struggle with loneliness and social isolation due to many factors in the community.

We recognised that depression and in some cases anxiety often led to poor mental health and feelings of low self worth. Equally we saw that many people turned to depression tablets, Doctors, and in some cases self harming as a means to helping them cope with every day life. Whilst exploring ways to address these issues we decided that one of the most obvious things was the Nothing to do, nowhere to go no one to talk too scenario. So we thought, why not open a Coffee shop with a seperate Creative Art activities, that was in 2018, supported by the National Lottery Community Fund we carried on through the Pandemic reachig more and more people and learning more and more about the gaps in the system, the struggles of everyday individuals and the stresses and strains that came with lockdown, but factors around, divorce and family break ups, relationship break ups, especially in later years 40 and 50 plus. We learned how to help, how to care and how to give hugs and a smile when words failed. But more importantly we learned how effective the Creative Arts can be in tackling mental health issues, helping people to be distracted away from depression and how we can use the Arts to rengage with society, make new friends and rebuild self worth.

Moving to Bloxwich we have gone from strength to strength ever since. In Bloxwich we have not just found a new home, but equally a community rich with diverse tales and stories of life in Bloxwich since the Wars, but also about the many changes, population increases and the cultural mix that has steadily taken place over the past few years. Our aim is to capture the stories of the changing Bloxwich, but also the resilence and character that exists not just now but over many many years.

We aim to use the Creative Arts again to capture on Video these tales and digitalise them for Heritage and also preserve them to audio history in Walsall archives. We want to develop and replicate some of the skills that may get lost in time of weaving and crafts, knitting and lock or Dart making. Our Campaign will provide a legacy which will link Blocheswic first mentioned in the Doomsday book of 1086 to a modern day Bloxwich 2022 - We Are Bloxwich

Project Owner: One Love Community Music and Arts CIC The Project Owner takes legal responsibility for receiving and spending the funds raised and ensuring the project is delivered.