Woolly and Warm
Supported by the National Lottery Community Fund we helped to deliver wool based traditional crafts to help people struggling with the cost of living crisis.
Summary of key findings
- 289 people across Herefordshire took part in the project with ages ranging from 7 up to 94.
- CLaN CIC worked with other well-established organisations such as the Hope Centre, Bromyard, West Mercia Womens’ Aid and The Living Room, Hereford to reach those most in need.
- Sessions provided people opportunities to try new skills and work with wool to create useable items which participants reported that they would help keep them warm in the colder months.
- Engagement in sessions also provided people with a safe space to explore and discuss thoughts and feelings.
- There was a statistically significant increase in self-reported levels of wellbeing
- Participants reported sessions to have benefits which positively impacted on their general wellbeing, opportunities for social connectivity, new skill acquisition, self-actualisation & confidence, and mindfulness & relaxation.
Hidden Herefordshire: discovering its wildlife and wild places
This was a joint project with Herefordshire Biological Records Centre and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund to the tune of £99,000. Its main aim was to invigorate and educate the recording community so it would be better understood. In all we ran 65 Natural History courses, involved 4319 people, ran 34 public events, 41 sessions with schools and contributed over 50,000 new biological records. A full evaluation can be found here.
Lost Words Felting
Inspired by ‘The Lost Words’ by Robert McFarlane and illustrated by Jackie Morris, we worked with the children of Eywas Harold Primary School to wet felt some of the beautiful species we find in Britain. The whole school were involved with the project with the younger children felting bark, leaves, conkers and flowers whilst the older children worked on the intricate animals.
Making Time
Making Time was a pilot project devised and delivered within a secondary school setting we ran sessions exploring a variety of traditional crafts and skills with both students and teachers. With the aim being to better equip students to cope with stress and pressure of school and increase general well-being levels away from a traditional classroom environment.
Through collaborative working with the school and local authority young people aged 11-16 who are vulnerable, disengaged or disadvantaged as well as looked children looked after were identified as be potential participants for the project.
The project ran from October 2018 to March 2020 and was kindly funded by National Lottery Awards for All. A BBC Radio overview can be found here.
The full evaluation report can be accessed here.
‘I’m happy throughout the day’ Participant
It makes me more confident, I can do things during these lessons and I feel quite relaxed and then out the lessons as well, I really do enjoy them.’ Participant
‘This was an unusual project but which we felt fitted well with our school
ethos and aims for our students. We had every confidence in the team
running it.’ Sue Gaston, Head Teacher, Fairfield High School
The Shire Our Place - Celebrating the Golden Valley
Over the past year we have worked with the local community in the Golden Valley, Herefordshire, to celebrate the area they live. These celebrations have been portrayed in felted pieces that we have sewn together into four beautiful panels that will be displayed in the Hub at St Peter’s in Peterchurch. It was kindly funded by the Elmley Foundation.
Nomadic Museum of Natural History Evaluation Bursary
Our Nomadic Museum of Natural History is a mobile wildlife engagement project that aims to capture peoples enthusiasm for nature. Evaluation has been difficult as standard approaches are not appropriate. Space on the museum is limited, we work with a wide variety of ages (some of which are not at writing age) and participants are not engaged for a set amount of time. However we were granted a bursary to undertake an evaluation exercise which you can read here.
Living Well at Queenswood
As a member of New Leaf Sustainable Development we ran a programme of interactive workshops which drew attention to the skills, healthy living & healthy eating enabled by a more active sustainable lifestyle. Funded by Awards for All we engaged people in Queenswood Country Park‘s natural setting to develop understanding about the benefits to self & environment of living more sustainably. Legacy projects included the building of a cob oven and compost toilet.
Snodhill Castle
CLaN were contracted to undertake an extended habitat and badger survey for the Snodhill Castle Preservation Trust. Having fallen into disrepair over millennia the site was taken over by the trust in 2016. As part of a restoration project we got involved to update the work that had been done with regard to the ecology of the site. Home to protected species such as Dormouse (Muscardinus avellanarius) and Slow worm (Anguis fragilis) it needed an up to date extended phase 1 habitat survey as a lot of the site had been cleared and grazed since the trust took over. We mapped the site, undertook new survey work and analysed the badger activity on site which led to recommendations as to future works which would preserve the buildings without harming badgers or other wildlife. The site is now managed as open parkland with several veteran trees and a developing grassland flora. For more details visit their website