Four mums who all had a shared passion for making, creating, baking and growing set up an informal craft group that became a creative catapult for other ventures in the community.

I’m a community builder in Coopers Edge and after meeting four mums who all loved making things of all types, I suggested they met to think about how they could do more of the stuff they love – together!

We met at one of the mum’s homes and planned how to get an informal group going. They set up a Facebook page and did their launch event, inviting people to put down whether they had any skills they would like to share or what things they would like to learn.

I supported them to apply for a Small Sparks grant (£250 funding) which initially helped pay for materials – glue guns, a printer and other little hobby craft treasures! As well as promotional things like leaflets and posters.

They meet when they can and various people from around the community have helped teach things – like seed bomb making, crochet, jewellery making, red work and much more.

It has been a really informal fun way of getting together, getting to know their neighbours – but also supporting each other when times are tough.

Some of the team have recently been supporting the start-up of a new venture – a local Handmade Craft Market in Coopers Edge which has had two successful markets so far. The Handmade Market has really begun to bring the creative people from out of the woodwork in Coopers Edge even more…