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National Recognition

We are thrilled by the national-level coverage of one of our renovations on the “inews” website last week. Mim’s article explains more of what we do as an organisation and how we see prison leavers begin to stand on their own feet and gradually turn their lives around.

We are passionate to see those who are homeless or vulnerably housed for a multitude of reasons (including leaving prison) find stability and begin the journey to independent living. Twenty one people are currently accomodated in our houses, determined to change their lives for the better.

Read the story in inews here.

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Our Saw-Some Soapbox

Most job descriptions don’t include “drive a wooden car made in three weeks down a massive ramp, over four jumps in front of 1200 people”.  However in my second month working with Handcrafted, this is one of the unexpected things I have done.

Along with the other teams, we had two attempts to get down to the bottom of the 450 metre track at Herrington Country Park as quickly as possible. This wasn’t without a shortage of drama, mechanical changes and spectacular crashes. Continue reading “Our Saw-Some Soapbox”

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The Power of Suggestion

There isn’t a roadmap for what we are doing at Handcrafted. We have a clear sense of our mission to restore and empower people through training in the context of a creative and inclusive community. We know that there’s always room for improvement and innovation. In formal meetings and casual conversations, we are preoccpied with how we can adapt to do it better. Everyone who comes along to be part of the journey has a stake in that.

Empowering people means not ‘doing stuff to and for them’ but enabling them to take initiative and determine how they will thrive and become the’ best version of themselves’. Over the last few weeks we asked our trainees to give Handcrafted some feedback and suggestions for improvement. After all, if it’s not working for the people it’s here for, what is the point in doing it? Continue reading “The Power of Suggestion”

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Enter … Aly – our new Project Development Officer

Narrator’s Voice: We’ve been running a workshop in Gateshead since January 2017, practically working out our conviction that the Handcrafted way of doing things can have a powerful effect in other localities. Initially open for just 8 hours a week, and running bicycle repair courses alongside woodworking in a small workshop, we were helped by a lot of interest from other organisations and began to settle into a niche that offered something new and made a big difference to our first brave group of pioneering trainees. You can read about the early days here.

Having moved to a new space in April this year, the project has picked up momentum and the time has come for it to have its own Project Development Officer, someone with the unique mix of passion, creativity, compassion and practical smarts to take things to the next level.

(Aly enters stage left wearing combat trousers and a headband and brandishing a drill, like some sort of pallet-repurposing freedom fighter) Continue reading “Enter … Aly – our new Project Development Officer”

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Medical Research

We are encouraged that the news of Handcrafted is spreading. This week, Wannie and her fellow students visited the workshop. She goes on to explain…

“As first year medical students we were asked to write an assignment on health inequalities and the relationship between social class and health. After hearing about the work of Handcrafted is doing helping people to get back into employment and inhousing the homeless we thought they would be the perfect charity to gain insight into.

After visiting the workshop and talking to the people using the services we were blown away by how the workers go above and beyond for the vulnerable people that enter their doors. Not only does the charity practically help people learn new skills but also empowers and gives them the confidence to face their challenge. Engaging in the workshop also acts as a source of therapy for some of the men who may have struggled with mental health issues.

Handcrafted is a perfect example of how charities can help some of the most disadvantaged in society have a fresh start!”