Tag: Covid 19

One Year Since First Lockdown

It’s now one year since the first coronavirus lockdown. This Facebook Live was our first attempt at offering our creative mental health sessions online. We hadn’t yet learned to use Zoom! Since then we have continued to support mental health and combat social isolation with socially distant groups, outdoor retreats and online sessions. There is a rich archive of 45 videos on our Facebook page if you want to try mindful art at home, for free, at any time. We offer creativity and company to anyone struggling in the Plymouth area, in Devon, in these difficult times.

In this video Peggy reads out live comments from people reacting to their very first day in UK lockdown, and viewers share different experiences of their first socially distanced Mothers Day.

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How to Share With Just Friends

How to share with just friends.

Posted by Facebook on Friday, December 5, 2014

Tier 3: Changes in January

We hope you are safe, and that you have had a chance to relax over Christmas. Although Devon is now in Tier 3 we are planning to continue to provide mutual aid and support wherever we can. However, some of our venues will be unable to open, even though support groups of up to 15 people are permitted in Tier 3. Details of how this will affect our regular groups are below.

In the meantime we want to offer you some fun resources to kick off the New Year.

Listen to Emma on the radio. She talked about how our art club continued to bring people together in a safe way, during a year when we were asked to socially distance ourselves from one another. Skip to seven minutes in to try a quick mindful drawing exercise.

Watch: MAC Awards Ceremony 2020 The celebrations were restricted to a very small, outdoor dinner party, because of the coronavirus restrictions.

Try our new online group. We are looking forward to working with Devon Recovery Learning Community in 2021 to deliver a new six week course, on Zoom, on Thursday afternoons. 

Learn: A quick video guide to using Zoom.

Join Our Tuesday Zoom group. A supportive online meeting offering creativity, company and social connection: A short mindful meditation and an easy art project.

Read: How to Do Art Club When You Don’t Really Want to Go Out. Includes a mindfulness recording to listen to at home, and some YouTube videos of us making art for fun.

Changes for January 2021 

Mondays The Sunflower Women’s Centre – All courses at The Sunflower Centre are currently postponed.
Tuesdays Our online group continues with new co-host Linda Langart! (£3.00)
Tuesdays: 7pm 8-Week Wellbeing Course The evening course is temporarily postponed. We will contact you with more details.
Thursdays Plympton group at The Brook Inn Postponed while we are in Tier 3.
Fridays The Sunflower Women’s Centre. Group cancelled.
Fridays Ocean Studios, Royal William Yard. Postponed while we are in Tier 3.

Full details about these groups are here: Mindful Art Community Groups When groups begin again booking is essential due to Covid-19 safety recommendations. 

If you’re on Facebook you could also join our Mindful Art Club group to stay in touch with others who come to our sessions. It’s a place to chat, maintain connections, support one another, and share your art from the Zoom sessions.

We wish you all the best for the New Year, and look forward to seeing you again when it is safe to do so.

Peggy and Emma

PS. Catch up with a video replay of one of our online art groups any time you like, on Facebook.

We’re Back Next Week!

We hope you were OK during the November lockdown. As you may know, we stopped all of our in-person art groups and just offered a weekly Zoom session for coffee, creativity and company every Tuesday. This will be carrying on throughout December. (We no longer live-stream this online group to Facebook because of some technical issues, so from now on you need to book a place in advance to get the Zoom link.)


We’re excited that our new 8-week wellbeing course launches in Plympton on 8th December, and this has proved to be very popular, with only two places remaining. Book now to confirm your place!

Things to look forward to in December 2020 include: 


Mondays 10.30am The Sunflower Women’s Centre (we’re back on the 7th).
Tuesdays 10.00am Our friendly Online Group (£3.00)
Tuesdays: 7.00pm 8-Week Wellbeing Course (Advance booking essential, starts on the 8th.)
Thursdays 10.00am Plympton drop-in group at The Brook Inn (£5.00) We’re back on 10th.
Fridays 10.30am The Sunflower Women’s Centre (we’re back on 11th).
Fridays 1.00pm Ocean Studios, Royal William Yard (we’re back on 11th).


Full details on how to attend these groups are here: Mindful Art Community Groups For most groups booking is essential due to Covid-19 safety recommendations. 


All our groups are held with Covid-19 safety measures in place, but please check the ‘Groups’ page on our website before travelling, in case there are new government guidelines affecting our meetings. 

If you don’t feel safe coming to a group at the moment we totally understand. Support groups are legally allowed to meet, and we have carried out a risk assessment on our work. But if you cannot join us in person we hope some of our YouTube videos might help you to feel less isolated. If you’re on Facebook you could also join our Mindful Art Club group to stay in touch with others who come to our sessions. It’s a place to chat, maintain connections, support one another, and share your art from the Zoom sessions. You may also like to join our mailing list to get the free mindful colouring bundle.


Looking forward to seeing you again.

Peggy and Emma

Our Plans For Lockdown

November Lockdown: We have made the difficult decision to postpone our in-person meetings for the moment. We will continue to offer our weekly online group via Facebook and Zoom every Tuesday at 10am. Participants can watch live on Facebook, or message us for the Zoom link.  Let’s stay connected! Our Facebook page is Facebook.com/MindfulArtClub

Wellbeing Course Postponed

We are still taking bookings for our new wellbeing course at Plympton Rees Wellbeing Hub. However, the start date has been postponed to Tuesday 8th December 2020

We hope to be back in the community offering support, mindfulness and art as soon as possible.

Keep safe.

Peggy and Emma

Art Club Safely Returns to The Brook Inn

Mindful Art Club are looking forward to returning to our old venue, The Brook Inn, Longbrook Street in Plympton, as of 10am on Thursday 17th September.

The new six person rules – which come into force on 14th September – are a change to England’s current guidance. But regular Brook Inn customers will know that landlord John Govier, and his team, have been following all the government guidelines since they re-opened, so this won’t make any difference to how they operate, when it comes in to force from Monday.

At-a-glance: How do the new rules affect mindful art classes?

  • Social gatherings of more than six people in England will not be allowed in law from Monday 14 September.
  • The new rule applies to pubs, cafes and public outdoor spaces.
  • However, gatherings can be more than six if it is for education purposes.
  • Support groups can take place in gatherings of any number if the support group is organised by a business or a benevolent institution to provide mutual aid.
  • Our mindful art classes at The Sunflower Women’s Centre will be run in groups of six, and booking for these is essential. (Phone 01752 977614 to go on the waiting list.)
  • Pubs and restaurants are still allowed to have more than six customers inside, but the groups of six have to be socially distant from each other.
  • Mindful art club tends to be around six to eight people. There is plenty of space for us to all sit on separate tables, safely distanced from one another.
  • The Brook Inn follows all safety and hygiene measures set out by the government, and always has done since reopening in July.

For Your Peace of Mind

At The Brook Inn and The Sunflower Women’s Centre we check temperatures on arrival, and take client details for track and trace. Paper and felt tip pens are provided, but you can also bring your own felt tip pens to reduce the risks of sharing pens.

If you have any questions or concerns about coming to Mindful Art Club during the current pandemic crisis please contact us.

You may also like to try a free, online class .

Mindful Art Club will be at The Brook Inn every Thursday from 10 am until 11.30am.

Can you spare 2 minutes to help us please?

Can you spare two minutes of your time to help us in our decision making please?

We have decided to continue offering online sessions, and are now also following the government guidelines to offer small, safe, outdoor art groups.

It would really help us if you would take two minutes to complete this quick survey to give us an idea of your current concerns and intentions.

The more responses we can gather, the better we can react to the new ways of working.

Many thanks.

Peggy and Emma

Click here: www.tinyurl.com/mac-feedback

How to Feel Connected in the Age of Social Distance

Would you like to socialise without even leaving your home?

Want to try mindfulness, but have no motivation to practice it alone?

Are you kind of creative, but don’t take art too seriously?

It sounds like you’d love our online art group!

Watch this short video to find out how we are responding to COVID-19, how to join us online, how did we meet, and why did we start an art club?

We interviewed ourselves in April 2020 to discuss how COVID-19 has affected our clients and how we can move forward with life after lockdown.

Watch Now:

Join us for a Facebook Live every Monday at 10am.

Now we’d love to hear your thoughts. How can we best support you? Go to https://tinyurl.com/MAC-feedback now and let us know.

[Video] New: Outdoor Art Group

Our new outdoor art group makes mindfulness more fun. We usually like to offer coffee, creativity and company, but for this group you will have to bring your own coffee! (Or tea.) Please also bring your own felt tip pens and paper, as we can’t share materials due to COVID19. The group meets at 10am on Wednesdays in Plympton St Maurice. Message us to book your place.

  • Isolated?
  • Anxious?
  • Stressed?

Watch now to find out how mindful art club can change all of that!

Now we’d like to hear from you. Do you have any questions about our new way of working outside? Leave us a comment below.

YOU Can Be a Part of This Community Art Project

Want to be a part of a collaborative art piece, that records our time in lockdown?

Want to feel more connected and together, even though we are separate?

Do you enjoy doodling, but fear that you have no talent?

This group project is for you!

There is no artistic ability required for this project. You just have to be willing to join in and have fun. You will need a piece of plain A4 paper, and whatever you like to draw or paint with.

Let’s feel more connected, and draw something for fun, without judgement! This project aims to represent the feeling that we are all isolated together.

Watch now, to find out how to join in and what you need to draw.