Members of the East Leeds community, who wanted to do more for themselves and their community, embarked on a 3-day blitz of workshops, fun activities and building friendships. At the UK’s very first Self-Reliant Group Camp (hosted at Kentmere Community Centre), budding SRG members learnt all about movement, and how they could be a part of something that would benefit both themselves and their community.
Day 1 kicked off with balloon art sessions led by Glitter Fairy’s SRG and Be Your Own Boss SRG member Sarah (of Diamond Balloons), who taught our members how to make balloon flowers and reflected upon her experiences of being in an SRG. Members shared their skills, knowledge and interests with one another through the bunting exercise and collaboratively discussed ideas about how to support Kentmere Community Centre to build upon the brilliant work that it already does.
Following on from this, Day 2 began with special guest and Vice Chair of Trust Leeds Cath Follin leading a session on 8-steps to achieving your dreams. Our new SRG members spent the day applying these steps to their own mini community-based project to help support Kentmere Community Centre. One of our SRG members even made her own bubble mixture, and everybody had great fun making giant bubbles.
By Day 3, members had shared (sunflower seeds & skills), saved (in an old Ferrero Rocher tub!), enterprised (one SRG member sold a soft toy she had made) and achieved goals for their community by creating useful resources for newcomers to Kentmere Community Centre – including a ‘Did you know?’ PowerPoint and a factsheet on all things Kentmere.
The Kentmere Community Pioneers SRG ticked every box of what it means to be in an SRG – and we couldn’t have been prouder of such a creative and inspiring group of people. To round of the event, members were awarded medals, and SRG member Khalid even presented us all with a ‘Coke can’ trophy.
Thank you so much to Rachel and the staff at Kentmere Community Centre for providing us with such a welcoming atmosphere to host this event, and to Gemma and Sammi for providing such a delicious lunch. But most of all, thank you to the wonderful members of the Kentmere Community Pioneers SRG for your ideas, your support, and your friendship.
Supported by the 2014 to 2020 European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme