Coming Soon: Plymouth Wellness Fair

May 25, 2022May 20, 2022

Coming Soon: Plymouth Wellness Fair

Lee and Emma are looking forward to offering a zen doodles workshop at Plymouth Wellness Fair on 18th June 2022. Come along and join in with this free mindful art session to see for yourself how it can really lift your mood. There is no artistic talent required!

You can also hear special guest experts deliver presentations, speak to wellbeing champions and explore the range of stallholders for all things wellness and wellbeing. This is an event for anyone looking to make positive changes to their lives. If you have any questions about mindful art you can chat to Lee and Emma on our stall.

Founder of the Pillars of Wellness and Wellbeing CIC, Lauren Packham, says,

“So many of us have struggled over the last couple of years, and if you work and have children, you will feel this more than most. Mental health services are at breaking point, and if you work chances are you are ‘not sick enough’ to get help, or you are on an extremely long waiting list. But there are many things we can do to help ourselves, and coming to this event could provide you with a valuable piece of information that could really help you and your wellbeing.”

Free tickets are available for those on a low income. £3 (+34p booking fee) to book in advance. Pre-booked ticket holders will be entered into a prize draw. Those who come via public transport or walk will receive an additional prize draw entry, Lunch is included for the first 50 people who book a donation/paid ticket.

Find out more: Plymouth Wellness Fair

Plymouth Wellness Fair | 18 Jun, 09:30 – 17:00 Devonport, Devonport Guildhall, Ker St, Devonport, Plymouth PL1 4EL

May 20, 2022May 20, 2022

Plympton Lamb Feast Returns!

The village of Plympton St Maurice is getting ready for the return of our popular midsummer festival on Saturday 18th June. Peggy, and volunteer Joanna, will be hosting a Mindful Art Club stall at the Lamb Feast, so come along and have a chat, have a go at some art, and see the art that has been created in our weekly groups at The Brook Inn, Plympton. You can also find out about our free art groups, evening courses, retreats and staff wellbeing sessions.

The Lamb Feast has been held for hundreds of years on the Castle Green, beside the ruins of the Norman castle. The village will be decorated with bunting, the green will be busy with food, craft, cake and plant stalls, charity stalls, swing boats, vintage cars, a dog show, a tug of war and dance displays. After two years with no festival we can’t wait for it to return!

Read more about what’s on: Midsummer Festival

Book your place at the Mindful Art Retreat, held in Plympton St Maurice, Sunday 3rd July.

Come to our free weekly art group, 11.00am on Thursday mornings at The Brook Inn, Plympton.

April 22, 2022April 22, 2022

Marbles Lost and Found

On Tuesday 10th May 2022 at 2.00pm we will be talking about our art club at Marbles Lost and Found support group at Moments Cafe and Memories Matter Hub in New George Street, Plymouth. Come along for a friendly chat about how to boost your mental health.

Marbles Support group is so different then any other support group out there! Founder, Nicky Nurrish says,

“It not only gives you mental health support, awareness and wellbeing tips and tools, you will also meet and make friends with fellow warriors, meet experts in the field of mental health, in a non judgemental, safe space where you are listened to and heard. Each month we have a guest speaker join us to tell us and show us what support they offer, what they do and more and this upcoming group session we have the wonderful Mindful Art Club coming in to work with us. Remember if you are nervous about attending don’t be, it’s a warm and friendly environment, I can meet you beforehand. The group is a mix of disorders, mental health issues.. we have mix and mingle time, group check in time, marble news and upcoming events, guest speaker, break (with free cake and drinkies) and last part of the session we discuss together what we want to do as a group to help each other and plan a social event together. So come join us for what’s going to be a educational, supportive and most of all fun session, we are more than our mental illness remember.”

You may also like the Marbles Together Facebook group.

April 12, 2022April 10, 2022

Luke Pollard MP Supports Our Funding Bid

We recently met with Luke Pollard, Labour and Co-operative MP for Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, who was very supportive of the work we are doing in the Plymouth community. He was kind enough to write this supporting letter which may help us to receive further funding.

Mindful Art Club is a professional, and well-known organisation that has developed many minds for the better. I have complete faith that any grant money requested will be well utilised for the benefit of the area and assisting greatly in personal development and
wellbeing.
Luke Pollard, MP

It was a pleasure to meet with Luke, who shared his thoughts on how we could best secure more funding and continue to serve the Plymouth community.

March 5, 2022March 5, 2022

Lord Mayor Visits Mindful Art Club

On Friday 4th March 2022 The Lord Mayor and Consort visited our weekly art group, held upstairs in Moments Cafe, in Plymouth City Centre.

It was a pleasure to meet The Lord Mayor Mrs Terri Beer, and Consort, Mr Colin Beer, who joined us for coffee and a chat, and then took part in the mindful art session, with ten other participants.

The session included a check-in, guided mindfulness, mindful art, and then a simple art project, with the opportunity to chat and relax. The Mayor and Consort engaged in the group discussions and enjoyed the activities.

Terri Beer was born and raised in Plymouth and has lived in the city all her life. She was educated at St. Maurice Primary School and Plympton Secondary Modern School (now Plympton Academy). Our very first Mindful Art Club was founded in Plympton and still takes place at The Brook Inn on Thursdays. Mindful Art Club has now grown to offer sessions in community services all over Plymouth. We also offer one day retreats, staff wellbeing sessions and evening classes.

Join our club by signing up here to find out what we offer in your area.

June 29, 2021June 29, 2021

New Group: Plympton

Learn to practice mindfulness and art for self-care at The Brook Inn in Plympton St Maurice, starting Thursday 15th July 2021. Each session includes five minutes of guided mindfulness, five minutes of mindful drawing, a simple art project, and the opportunity to chat and relax.

Come along and grab a coffee or tea in time for a 11.00 am start. The group lasts for an hour and a half. There is no set cost for this group but we are running it on a ‘pay what you feel’ donations basis. Mindful Art Club is a not-for-profit community group.

This weekly art group gives people the opportunity to share their feelings, practice mindfulness, create art, relax and chat. Mindful Art Club:

Improves mental health
Improves social connection
Teaches new skills (relaxation exercises and art for self care).

Send us a message now to book your place in this friendly, fun new group.

Find us at: The Brook Inn, 33 Longbrook Street, Plympton, PL7 1NJ

There is parking at the pub and the nearest bus route is 21A. Alight at Longcause.

June 27, 2021June 27, 2021

Surprise Donation From Plymouth Art Students

We have just received a generous and unexpected donation from the final year Fine Art students at Plymouth University.

They recently completed their degree show with Plymouth University on the Fine Art course. Prior to lockdown they raised some funds with a bake sale in order to provide them with funds for a suitable venue to host their final degree show.

After searching for a venue, they eventually found one free of charge at the Royal William Yard in Ocean Studios… meaning their funds were still untouched.

So with some funds leftover, they decided as a cohort to donate to a group or charity which they really felt linked with their own work and efforts in their show. A common theme of their work was ‘anxiety’ and ‘mindfulness’ as well as ‘self- awareness’.

So we decided to donate our unused funds to a great cause, I hope this helps in any way possible. I thought it might be nice to give you a back story… Best wishes, all our love,
Fine Art Plymouth Cohort 2021 xx

The ‘Under Current Circumstances’ University of Plymouth
Fine Art Degree Show was from June 20th – June 24th (2021)

You can see their artwork on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/uop_fineart/

On behalf of all of our clients Peggy and Emma would like to thank these fine art graduates for their very kind and unexpected donation.

June 16, 2021June 17, 2021

New: Evening Group

Do you work during the daytime?

Is travel a challenge for you?

Want to experience Mindful Art Club in the comfort of your own home?

We have the easy solution!

We are launching a new evening group on Zoom.

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

About this event

No art experience required! Friendly and informal. Just grab a coffee and join in. Hosted by south Devon artists Peggy Melmoth and Emma Sprawson.

Tuesdays 7.00pm – 8.00pm.

Connect with others, share your experiences of COVID-19, and discover new ways of practising self-care through easy art and mindfulness exercises. Practice being here in the present moment, and accept where you are right now, without self-judgement.

We start with a brief chat about how everyone is feeling, then a short guided mindfulness session, followed by a simple art activity that anyone can do. Our mission is to make mindfulness more fun! We’re not teaching art techniques, we’re just here to play.

You will need any pen, felt tips, some plain paper and a cup of tea or coffee.

You will also need to download Zoom, free video-conferencing software, to your computer, tablet or smart phone, before the day. https://zoom.us

After payment you will receive an email from Eventbrite saying, “Check the event page for all the information you need to join.” The link in that email will take you to a page with the Zoom invite. *Check your spam folder, notifications folder or promotions tab for the email!*

Book now for this exciting new online art club!

May 17, 2021

Providing a Lifeline to Those in Need

Mindful Art Club has provided a lifeline to people across Plymouth facing mental health challenges – and now our group is back operating in the community.

For Mental Health Awareness Week Plymouth Live has published a feature article explaining that we were gutted when a drug and alcohol rehab centre announced its shock closure two years ago.

“Having worked at Broadreach House for several years, (Emma and Peggy) had been able to support people from all walks of life and had seen first-hand how beneficial different creative activities could be for people struggling with their mental health and other issues.

Wanting to continue to serve the community and support people facing challenges in their lives, the colleagues teamed up to launch a “mindfulness art club” to support people manage their anxiety, stress and other mental health issues in a relaxed and safe creative environment.

The club became particularly popular at the start of 2020 and soon became a lifeline for members, with many people relishing the opportunity to connect with others in a non-judgemental environment while being able to talk freely about how they’re feeling and any stresses or anxieties in their lives.”

Read the full article on Plymouth Live, The Plymouth Herald website.

February 15, 2021

New Art Groups to Start After Lockdown

Who are Mindful Art Club?

Are they a business, a charity, a CIC or a community group?

And what are they going to do next?!

Mindful Art Club® is an unincorporated association. We have a small group constitution and a management committee. We recently held our annual general meeting to report on the organisation’s activities. The three trustees were present: Emma, Peggy and Clare, and the minutes were circulated to our regular volunteers, Lee and Linda.

First Emma reported on our funding bids. We were unsuccessful in two bids since the last general meeting. However we have been successful in bids with Comic Relief, Sparks Community Fund and have also received £250 from Plymouth Octopus Project. Emma is about to submit another bid to POP and a bid for Arts Council funding to run two groups.

Because of this funding Peggy reported that the following groups will begin after the current lockdown restrictions end.

Sunflower Women’s Centre on Mondays, funded by Comic Relief.
Zoom on Tuesdays funded by individual donations.
Ivybridge Salvation Army to start after lockdown, funded by DRLC
Emma to start a Friday group at The Clipper in Union Street, Plymouth funded by Sparks Community Fund.
Various online courses to be funded by Devon Recovery Learning Community.
Friday afternoons at Ocean Studios to be funded by Community Sparks Fund.
Rees Centre, wellbeing course, Tuesday evenings funded by individuals.

Since our last meeting we have networked with a lot of different community organisations including Devon Mind, the Wolsley Trust social prescribers, Plymouth Argyle, Shekinah Mission, Devon Recovery Learning Community and The Clipper.

We have decided to invest in regular professional supervision meetings with a mindfulness teacher, retreat host and counsellor.

We have written a six week course, Doodle Your Recovery, and a three week course Zen Doodles for DRLC which will be run on Zoom.

We have joined the Loneliness Action Group with Labour councillor Kate Taylor, Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care.

We have been featured in The Plymouth Chronicle twice and Emma has been on PTown Radio and Omnium Radio.

We celebrated one year in business with a dinner party, and made a video of it and sent thank you cards as a PR activity. We promoted our anniversary on our website and social media.

And finally, Emma and Peggy have both completed a five week business course called AWE Sofa Sessions with Dartington School of Social Entrepreneurs. Emma is now going to study the Nuts and Bolts of Business course with them.

To find out about when our next online courses and real life groups are launching join our mailing list now. As a thank you for joining, we’ll instantly send you a mindful colouring bundle with meditative art activities inside, to try at home.

Tag: News