Crafternoons in Horsham
This October Sussex Green Living will be opening the doors to something new at the Horsham Repair Café. We are calling it Crafternoons, and the idea is simple: an afternoon each month where people can sit together, bring something they are making, and enjoy a couple of hours of creativity and company. The support of the National Lottery Community Fund has made it possible to add this new strand to our work, and we are excited to see where it leads.
Crafternoons will take place from twelve until two, alongside the usual Repair Café. The set-up is very informal. Some people might arrive with their knitting or embroidery, others with a sketchbook or some mending to do. There will be craft materials provided as well, many of them rescued or repurposed. The community café will be open for tea, coffee and cake, and the pace will be slow and sociable.
It is often said that making is good for wellbeing, but what matters most is the way it brings people together. Craft has a way of starting conversations that might not happen otherwise. Someone might show a neighbour a new stitch or ask for advice on a tricky bit of sewing. Another person might just enjoy the quiet background hum while they work on something of their own. These are small moments, but they help build connection across ages and experiences.
There is also the simple pleasure of turning old materials into something fresh. A piece of fabric left over from an old curtain can be cut and stitched into a patchwork square. A handful of beads from broken jewellery might find their way into a new necklace. Paper scraps become collages or hand-made cards. What looks like waste in one setting becomes the start of a new project in another. This kind of transformation is satisfying and it also reminds us that we already have so much to work with if we pause and look differently at what is around us.
Crafternoons are the first of several new activities made possible through National Lottery funding. The Repair Café and Green Hub have already kept hundreds of items in use and out of landfill and now the team is beginning to look ahead to a new adventure. We are exploring the possibility of creating a mobile Library of Things. This would allow people to borrow useful items such as tools, kitchen or garden equipment and toys, without the expense and waste of buying new. The idea is beginning to take root across the country, and projects like the Mobile Share Shed created by the Network of Wellbeing show what can be achieved when communities commit to sharing. Sussex Green Living hopes to bring something similar to life here, building on its track record of mentoring repair cafés across the Southeast.
The first Crafternoon will take place in October and will then continue every month. There is no need to book, and no requirement to be an expert. It is enough to come along with whatever you enjoy making, or even just with curiosity and a willingness to try something new. We hope it will become a regular pause in the month for people to gather, make, chat, and see where their imagination takes them.
If you would like to keep up with dates and details of Crafternoons, the Repair Café and other Sussex Green Living activities, you can sign up to our newsletter or visit our events page.
