Doing something creative is a good way of relaxing or taking your mind off things, and it’s
great for your self esteem to learn something new or produce something that gives you or
others pleasure. Both our art/craft and music groups are an ideal way to do this, and it
doesn’t matter if you’ve never done art or music before. Both groups are run very informally
and you can attend when you want to – just as with our more general social support
activities. When you first attend, if you wish, you can let us know so that someone will look
out for your arrival and show you around.
Art and crafts
The group takes place on Thursday
mornings, 10am – 12-30pm. Many
different types of art and crafts are carried
out, most of which are chosen by the group
themselves. These have included mosaics, clay
modelling, decoupage, paint effects, papier mache,
candle making, puppets etc. as well as painting and
drawing. The majority of work takes place in the
conservatory at Faulkner Road, but we also go out
to draw and paint from life, including going to our
horticulture project in Knowle which provides a
quiet place, free from interruption to draw subjects ranging from the surrounding landscape
to individual wildflowers or gardening tools. We also undertake the occasional trip to art
galleries etc. particularly when there is a special exhibition on at the Birmingham Museum and
Art Gallery.
All art materials are supplied by Mind, and the two facilitators, Jo and Nick, are there to give
help and guidance if you’re new to the activity, and to stand back and admire when you’ve
finished or if you’re already an expert! The group also regularly make props and decorations
for the various social events that take place at Mind. As well as the usual Christmas
decorations they have made items ranging from giant packets of sweets to a 21 foot pirate
ship!
Music
This group, facilitated by Andy, a professional musician, is on Thursday afternoons, 1pm – 4-
30pm, also in our conservatory. 1pm - 2pm is for tuition, so if you’d like to learn guitar,
keyboards, drums etc, this is your chance! From 2pm until 4-30pm the group play and jam
together. A wide variety of music styles are played – it’s up to group members what they play
– and Mind provides all the equipment (although you are welcome to bring your own if you
wish). We have guitars, drum kits, keyboards, amplifiers, digital recording equipment and
other assorted stuff. Everyone is welcome whether you are an experienced musician, have
never played before, just want to have a go at singing or are interested in the technical side
of recording/producing music.
As well as playing music for fun, the group also write and record music - they have released
several CDs of original music and plan to do more. They also, for those who want to, play live
occasionally.
Book group
We have weekly reading/book group – but don’t worry, it’s not too highbrow! It is a relaxing
and fun way to read, listen to and discover books and poetry. The group meets in our
conservatory on Tuesdays, 11am – 12.
Other activities
In addition to our regular groups, subject to interest and funding and/or tutors/facilitators, we
are occasionally able to run one-off courses which in the past have included creative writing,
pottery and song writing – contact us to see if there are any on at the moment.
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