News
Winter/Spring 2024 News Round-Up
Lots has been going on behind the scenes since our last news round-up in December 2023…
In February, after a couple of months dwelling in the depths of the FWinc digital dungeon over the winter, we launched our new website! Back on our old domain url. Our old Wix site was getting rather big and hit a paywall so we decided to rebuild our own with the support of our old friend, Dave, from Buxton-based MM&B Studio. Hopefully it will work better on smartphones and tablets and it is more easily navigable. We didn’t really have time to think about a redesign so please let us know what you think about it, and if you find any broken/missing webpage links, please let us know!
In late February, we restarted our Changing Faces project workshops at The Green Man Gallery after having a break over the winter, welcoming a group of new young people. Spaces are still available if you would like to refer someone – we’re continuing to mid-July. Since we restarted we have enjoyed making mandalas, mosaics and masks, doing some embroidery of iconic moments, and making flowerpot people for the Buxton Flowerpot Trail.
Talking of the Buxton Flowerpot Trail, in early April, we launched this year’s trail, which is going for gold! Celebrating the Olympics and Paralympics taking place in Paris later this year. There’s still time to get involved – the registration deadline in Sunday 23 June. Find out more on the project page here.
During May (and the first day of June), we ran some pick-up-pots stalls and making workshops at the Buxton Spring Fair, Buxton Markets, Buxton Rotary Fair and at The Green Man Gallery. We’ll be posting pictures from these shortly. These were really successful events for us, so much so we started running low on flowerpots and had to make a call for some more! We’re still happy to accept some more, by arrangement, particularly big pots and little pots.
We have also run flowerpot-people-making workshops with TimeOut Group, an adult disability group in Handforth near Cheadle – see pictures here – and at The Gables Nursing Home in Buxton. The group from Handforth will be visiting Buxton later in the summer to hunt down their creations!
In May, we also joined Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust for their Arts & Culture Group Volunteering Fair at The Pump Room. We didn’t speak to any possible new recruits, but we had a good catch-up with the other groups at the fair including fellow puppet enthusiasts, Two Left Hands. We’re always looking for new people to get involved with our team. Please get in touch for a chat if you are interested in joining us. Find out more about how you can support us here.
Finally, back in the background, we have been designing and fundraising for a brand new project; and we’re delighted to say, we have secured enough funding to go ahead with its core activities. We’ll be announcing what it is shortly, once we’ve done a little bit more planning and the flowerpot trail is sorted. It’s a bit of a new direction for Funny Wonders, so it’s all quite exciting; but rest assured, it involves social, creative, participant-led activities for young people – so right up our street! Watch this space!
