Jack Leslie Campaign Donates to Art Club

The Jack Leslie Campaign have recently auctioned a piece of artwork and raised £300 to split between their campaign, and Mindful Art Club.

The Jack Leslie Campaign raised funds for a statue to honour the Plymouth Argyle footballer denied an England cap in 1925, just because he was black. The statue was unveiled on Friday 7th October 2022. Campaign founders, Matt Tiller and Greg Foxsmith, continue to promote and share Jack’s story by taking it into schools and organisations. Matt Tiller (pictured with Peggy and Emma) gave an informal talk at Mindful Art Club in December 2022 while the art group created some Jack Leslie themed artwork.

Read more about The Jack Leslie Campaign.

At a recent auction, Guardian cartoonist, David Squires, cartoon raised £300 and the proceeds were split between The Jack Leslie Campaign, and Mindful Art Club.

See the cartoon here: Plymouth Argyle’s Jack Leslie – a true football pioneer

This generous donation from The Jack Leslie Campaign will help to boost our Crowdfunder, which is raising funds to provide weekly mental health support groups at Moments Cafe in Plymouth City Centre, starting in September this year.

Mindful Art Club was set up to support adults towards emotional, social, physical and mental health and wellbeing. We are immensely grateful for any donation, no matter how big or small that lets us continue our valuable service.

Invited to Tea With The Mayor

We were honoured to be invited to a tea party at Lady Nancy Astors house on Plymouth Hoe, where the mayor presented several different community organisations with certificates to recognise their work. Thanks to Plymouth Astor Trust for a grant to continue our weekly support group at The London Inn, Plympton on Thursdays.

The Lord Mayor, Sue Dann, has chosen Trevi and Gifted Women as her charities to support this year. The Lord Mayor of Plymouth Charity Campaign 2022-23: Trevi & Gifted Women We first met her when the Lord Mayor and Consort attended our Mindful Art Club at Moments Cafe in June 2022.

We enjoyed meeting all the other community organisations at this event, chatting, and learning about the history of Lady Astor and the house. Lady Astor’s granddaughter Alice was also at the event to tell us a little about the Astor Trust.

Read more about our group at The London Inn, Plympton.

Wellness Day: 1st April

A collaboration brought to you by Pillars of Wellness and Wellbeing and the Mindful Art Club, this wellness day will provide sessions to assist you on your journey to wellness. A retreat-style day for anyone wanting to try new practices to help them on their healing path.

Pillars of Wellness and Wellbeing are a local organisation offering practical advice on ways to improve wellbeing.

Lauren from PWW says, “There are many things we can do to improve our mental and physical health that sit outside of the main stream and we understand that these things can often be out of reach for many. Mental health issues can affect anyone, but there are so many things we can do to bring a sense of relief at difficult times. The activities throughout the day have been carefully selected to provide a nourishing and restful experience, with practitioners who are highly experienced in their fields. This event will include sessions in yoga, qigong, sound healing, breathwork, meditation and a talk about the importance of good nutrition. Come along, meet new people, try something new and enjoy a day of wellbeing-focused activities.”

This event by Pillars of Wellness & Wellbeing CIC and Mindful Art Club CIC is at Devonport Guildhall, Ker St, Devonport, Plymouth PL1 4EL

To book your place follow this link, scroll down to ‘Free Ticket +Contribution’ (write a price) and input your contribution as zero (unless you want to donate). Although the top line says free tickets are sold out, please be reassured this is not the case.

Book now for Wellness Day.

Free Mental Health Workshops

Mental Health Connections: Learning from each other and finding what fits’, is taking place on Sunday 9th October 11:00-16:00 at Devonport Guildhall.
This event is part of the Messages from the HeARTlands exhibition in collaboration with Hope in the Heart and The Intersection.

Grassroots mental health organisations from around Plymouth will be gathering to share their knowledge and support through a number of workshops and talks throughout the day. You’ll also have the chance to see the incredible artwork and stories shared about lived experience in the exhibition.

Mindful Art Club will be offering a free session at 1.00pm. Other workshops include sound therapy and Soul Singers.

There’s no need to book for the event, however if you’d like to take part in any of the workshops listed please head to this link to book because there are limited spaces for each one.

We look forward to seeing you there. Join our mailing list to find out about other free events to boost your mental health.

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.

New Group: Moments Cafe

We are looking forward to hosting 12 weeks of art sessions at Moments Cafe in Plymouth City Centre in the New Year, 2022. This is thanks to funding from The High Streets Heritage Action Zone initiative .

These sessions aim to teach people from diverse backgrounds about the heritage of the conservation area in Plymouth City Centre. We will talk about the history of the various places in the centre, and do an art project based on that subject. For example, we might talk about The Messenger sculpture outside the Theatre Royal, and then ask the participants to design their own sculpture. Another project would be to talk about the history of Royal Parade and bring in some photographs of what it used to look like. At the end of the 12 weeks we will take anyone who wants to go for a walk around the conservation area so we can look at the landmarks as a group.

We know that the residents of Plymouth have suffered during the lockdowns with increased mental health problems and social isolation, and so we want to give people a safe place to connect with other people. Our groups are about meeting new people, being in a supportive group, building confidence, learning new things and having fun. We want to include people from diverse communities in Plymouth and give them a safe space to be creative, have fun and form friendships.

Each session includes five minutes of guided mindfulness, five minutes of mindful drawing, a simple art project, and the opportunity to chat and relax.

“Moments Cafe is a warm, caring, friendly environment for all. The cafe acts as a subconscious support network for a lot of people. The cafe attracts a lot of people who are vulnerable, and they are supported through open conversations and a non-judgmental atmosphere. Moments Cafe want to develop their offer to the community, and have ongoing projects upstairs that will benefit their customers, and our community as a whole. The Mindful Art Club is a great opportunity for both organisations to provide the community with a fun, inclusive, creative and sociable network in a central location in Plymouth.”
Emma Oxland, Moments Café manager.

The High Streets Heritage Action Zone initiative is funded by the Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport’s Heritage High Street Fund, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government’s Future High Street Fund and the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Book now if you are interested in coming along to these art sessions. Your place will be fully funded, i.e. at no cost to you, but places are limited. These sessions will take place on Friday afternoons.

Tag: Plymouth