Action in the Alley

Tomorrow as well as the usual (Pilates, Wriggle Rhythms, coffee time and Tai Chi) and our new tablecloths (thank you Lisa for the inspiration) and new layout Penny will be providing entertainment from noon. After a chat on Monday we came up with a cunning plan. It involves getting out onto the green (or the end of the alley), with nibbles and cups of tea and showing people who aren't quite brave enough to come through the door/s, what we do as well as showing off her fabulous new vegetable scheme. The Hub on the Green is a drop off point for vegetables from the wonderful and local Shillingford Organics. Regular Friday hub users and local office people love it so Penny is ready to grow and grow. 

Today was a bit of a revolution. I kidnapped Simon Mills (who is the reason we started the hub and the rest of out work) and we planned. Rather than dealing with the day-to-day, which can be very exciting and time-consuming (apart from the washing up - that's just time-consuming), we looked to the future and it looks good. We have a plan of action and lists (I love lists) and tomorrow we are meeting with Lorna from The Fruit Tree. All of this is tied up with Darren doing more in reception which frees me up to go and explore elsewhere. I would love to spend the next few weeks visiting all the local groups who I have met through the hub but always when they come to us. 


On Tuesday evening we have given the hub to HARVEST for a meeting of local food people with the aim of creating a network. I hope to have more details tomorrow. 


We are getting lots of interest in booking the hub which is great. This seems to come in waves. People are now planning for courses starting after Easter. We do have big gaps in the 'after school' slot other than on Monday when we have the fabulous Make and Take Club run by The Craft Hub. If you are particularly interested in activities during this time slot please do get in touch.


I am collecting willing bakers to bake for the Cake and Craft Fair on Saturday 31st March. Zoe has promised another of her infamous lemon sponges, mum will be doing chocolate brandy cake and brownies, I'm covering cupcakes but I hope Hannah K will do a few too with her usual finesse, Lauren has promised something yummy. So it's looking good but We would love more bakers so please do get in touch if you are happy to make a little something. 

This weekend the hub is having a rest but next weakend we will be back in full swing with Sophie's Under One Roof Baby and Toddler Fair on Saturday 24th March 10:30-12:30, Lucie's Reiki course all day on Saturday in another room and a birthday party on Sunday. 

To ring Sophie for more details on the Baby and Toddler Fair ring 07738 237928

Respect Festival

On Monday I had a great chat with Penny who does so many fabulous things in and around Exeter. Penny has recently started her organic vegetable collection scheme at the hub and it has been so successful. Every week more and more people come on board and they all order weekly. Orders from individuals have got bigger which means one thing...Penny has happy customers and Lottie and I are two of them. I love it when someone come into the hub with an idea and within weeks it is a scheme that is up and running and working well for everyone. Thank you Penny. Now, never one to rest on her laurels, Penny will be in the alley outside the hub on Friday between 12 noon - 1:30pm (our coffee time) to show you what she is up to, answer any questions, make you a cup of tea, hand out the odd biscuit (hopefully) and hugs (if you are lucky) and share what she has created. 


Choir was in the safe and experienced hands of Sarah yesterday and the sounds coming form the hub were fabulous. When the crafters arrived we stood outside dancing. Peter will be back next week. We had new members and another new person will be starting next week so the choir is really growing. 


Yesterday Crafting was great. Sharon who worked at our cafe and community hub in Cullompton came to visit us with Lisa who runs her crafting sessions on a Tuesday. It was so lovely to see her. The group were printing their own wrapping paper. I love Tuesdays. 

I spent the evening at St Sidwells Centre at a meeting about the Exeter Respect Festival 2012. I volunteered us for bunting-making and there are lots of other opportunities to be involved either as a volunteer, a community group, a practitioner or preparing artwork/craftwork to decorate the park. I am still thinking it all through. I will talk to hub group leaders individually but if anyone would like to know more, do shout. With over 20,000 people through the 'doors' last year, most of you know all about it but if you don't then put 2nd & 3rd June in your diary and head to Belmont Park. It's a free festival and it's such good fun as well as a celebration of respect and diversity. We spent the whole weekend there last year. This year I will have to pop into Crikey It's Vintage briefly on the Saturday but then straight back to Respect. 


Today we have chocolate crispy cake and tea cakes to help us through Wednesday. 

Under One Roof Baby Fair

Sophie Headlong-Moore is launching her 'Under One Roof' all things baby/toddler organisation at her Under One Roof Baby Fair...

Hidden Photos of Crafty Swap Found on Camera

Doh...you go to all the effort of taking photos and then dump your camera behind the coffee machine and forget about it.

Tuesday Crafting Drop-ins at The Hub

A quickie of last week

I have been so out of touch with my blog and the trouble is that you can't press pause on hub-life while you catch up. I decided not to take my laptop home this weekend which is why I am so behind but it had huge benefits. I am going to try and do the same all week so by Friday I will either be refreshed with a new-found structure to my day or I will be a sobbing wreck because I have fallen so far behind. 


Catch up time...last Thursday which was our joint venture (The Craft Hub and The Hub on the Green) for International Women's Day. We held a crafty swap and it was really good fun. We raised £270 and had a great time, met lots of new people and ate lots of cake. 

We had some great helpers. Han, Pip and I were there. Lovely Sue ran the raffle, Nicola from Mrs Gingers Cakes baked for the event and Wendy was a big help tidying up and taking any unswapped and unwon (!) raffle prizes to Oxfam. Thank you everyone. It is magic when people muck in and a job gets done unexpectedly quickly. A big thank you to Rory, Tom, Dan and Florian who work next door and who were forced into buying cake. 


Friday was gentle. We had lovely visitors in for coffee. One lady was such great company but it turned out she lives bloomin' miles away. So I asked her to move! David (our jam maker) popped by and looked really well and was in great spirits. A lovely man called Adrian came in and we had a chat in the corridor. He's another one that I am sure could teach us/guide us at the hub. Penny's vegetables arrived. Tonight Lottie and I are having cauliflower and almond soup and last night we had kale and bacon. Penny is doing us the world of good. 


On Friday afternoon, Sarah Hewlett ran her self-help workshop on relaxation (stress & anxiety). It was such a good workshop. She is a wonderful teacher and I felt so sleepy and calm by the end. I really wanted to curl up like a dormouse and sleep for a week but obviously couldn't.  I did have a lovely weekend though so I think the Sarah and no laptop combo worked well. I hope Sarah will run more sessions in the future, so if you would like me to contact you with details of further courses as they come up, let me know. 

Sarah is also one of the panel on Health Question Time (see below).

This weekend we had a choir of 50 using the hub. They were from Coastal Voices. Penny arranged for me to borrow some chairs from the Cathedral which was amazing as I had no plan b! Thank you Penny and Ian. I went to Crikey It's Vintage (twice!) and had such a good time. I had fabulous cake from KABU. I also won in their raffle. I won the lottery too. Had breakfast at River Cottage, tea at Town Mill at Lyme and sat in the sunshine for the first time in yonks. Roll on Spring. If only every weekend could be like that one! 

If anyone would like to put up a lovingly coloured in poster for our next Cake and Craft Fair on Saturday 31st March, that would be wonderful. 

Homebirth Group...next week at the hub

Today's Crafty Swap for International Women's Day

Hub News...

I absolutely love what I do. I have the best place in the world to work and I have the best people in the hub to keep me company but tripping over my desk was the final straw. I have an excellent bruise and it's developing nicely but I can't show anyone because it's in a ridiculous place. 


There are lots of people in my new hub world that are so fantastically giving and I am the lucky beneficiary in lots of ways. I have had phone calls and text messages, Facebook messages and a knitted cup of tea and they were all just the tonic. If you are struggling, come and benefit from our hub people. They are the perfect remedy for people who are out of sorts. 


Today: Liz taught Luke to knit last week and this week he came in with a good 30cm of fabulous knitting. Liz also knitted me my cup of tea...

Thank you: We have a choir using the hub on Saturday and they need more chairs than we have. Penny has asked the Cathedral whether we can borrow some and arranged it all. She has made what could have been a tricky situation very easy for me so thank you Penny.

Thank you #2: Lisa Purchase and I had a very long car park chat yesterday. Lisa came up with ideas for the hub's coffee time and how to improve it. Lisa is our amazing contemporary craft teacher. We were bouncing a lot of ideas around yesterday about how to make enough money from what we do to make it sustainable. If you have any thoughts Blog Reader please do email. Even if it is a criticism of the way we do things now, if it leads to a better community hub I would love to hear it. 

New People: I met a lovely man yesterday called Adam who sprung out of nowhere. He was a bit like Carolina who I met last week. Very warm, very wise and very gentle. People like that are good to be around. Our Sarah Hewlett is like that too. Sarah is the one running the self-help workshop on Friday at the hub. 

Today: Today we were spoilt in the hub. Penny was on top play form (this is little Penny aged 2 not Penny's Recipe's Penny) so she was great company. Davy was making the coffees (I think it was Davy). Our lovely ladies brought in knitting patterns and needles for us as well as a beautiful little pink hat. So our 'Teach People to Knit' Kits (Jane how should I punctuate that???) are taking shape. 

Elbow Grease: Penny (not the 2 year old) has been on a mission this week. On Saturday I had a brass polishing lesson. I'll post a picture and you can see if you can work out which is my letterbox and which is the one Penny has tackled. It won't be hard! Then on Monday Penny brought in Brasso Deluxe (it's not really called that so please don't go looking for it) and with more elbow grease she was at it again. I can't get as 'into' it as Penny but at least one of the letterboxes is looking good. 

If you came to the craft fair you may well have seen Lauren's cakes (you would have had to have been there within minutes of her delivering them as they sold out fast). Lauren has a great website http://throughthemagicdoor.net/. Last night Lauren offered more cakes for our fair on Saturday 31st March. The answer was "YES PLEASE!" 

And finally yesterday I gave a couple a tour of the hub, The Sustainable Health Centre and the Devon and Exeter Institution next door. When they bumped into Darren in the reception area they immediately recognised him from his photo on the article he wrote for East Devon Coast and Country. How cool is that? That's practically celebrity status. 

We have had lots of enquiries about using the hub from a variety of groups this week including Carousel, two dance groups, singing for wellbeing, birthday parties, our music video and drumming! 

I love the hub!

Photos from this week...

This is one of the wet-feltmaking eggs that Monday's Make and Take Group were making...

Dawna and Lynda rag-rugging

Tuesdays Contemporary Craft Session run by the fabulous Lisa Purchase was very creative yesterday

Lisa and Jane making appliqué shoes

Vron and Sparkly Sonia (misbehaving) and making flower loom flowers

Sonia and her blurry flower