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  • Classical Genesis
    Senior Member
    100+ crafts club
    • May 2008
    • 307

    Looking to the future

    Approaching my 64th birthday in the new year has prompted me to stop and think about the remainder of my working life.

    It is my intention to reside in London when I retire which will bring me into closer contact with my family and as a consequence, new opportunities will inevitably arise. When I first started teaching in January 2008 part of the reasoning behind this course of action was the empowerment of female craft workers, a thought which annoyed certain female friends who didn't really think they needed empowering. Irrespective of the views of those who have paid me to teach them and quite apart from the skills they have acquired from attending my courses, I look back over almost 6 years wofk and question just how much of my original purpose has been realised and I must conclude, not a lot.

    It is with this though in mind that I contemplate the future. London is home to many women who will never have the opportunity to travel to the countryside, stay in a nice B&B and attend a craft course which will help them to migrate into a new career. Either because of poverty or oppression, inadequate language skills or community barriers there are those who will find integration into the wider community difficult or impossible to achieve. It is my intention, therefore, when I retire, to offer my skills on a voluntary basis to those organisations and associations which provide support to those who would otherwise experience some difficulty with the process of integration.

    Craft work is a great leveller in society and can provide an abundance of self respect, confidence and satisfaction for those who are lucky enough to be given the opportunity to participate.

    You all have craft skills and many of you who read this will be women who's concern in matters of womens health, welfare and status will far exceed mine. I would greatly appreciate any input that any of you might have in guiding me toward those movements which could possibly provide me with the facilities I need and help me to achieve much more of what I had in mind when I first ventured into the world of craft education. Please feel free to contact me outside the forum if you wish to. In doing this you could just make an old man very happy ... C
    Learning together for profit or pleasure
    I could be unhappy with my life but someone keeps sending me spring

    Blog https://classicalgenesis.wordpress.com

  • nattynetty
    Super Moderator
    Super mega humungous crafter with too much time on their hands and chats too much!
    • Jun 2005
    • 13031

    #2
    Good for you, I can see many ways where passing on your skills in a volunteering capacity would make a great difference. My initial thought was that learning basic curtain making skills (and tips on where to buy cheap fabric) could prove very useful for women who are moving into their own home after escaping domestic abuse - it could help rebuild their confidence and also help make their new accomodation feel more like their home. I suppose the same could also be said for woman who have had mental health issues, young mums, care leavers, asylum refugees and any other woman who has issues/circumstances that will have affected their confidence.

    I'm no expert but Id imagine the fact you're a man could prove a problem with some of the more vunerable groups but you'll never know for sure until you contact some of the agencies/voluntary groups that support these woman. I know our local children centre (known as sure start in some other areas) run various free courses that are aimed at building woman's confidence and/or assisting them back into the workplace. Some of these are open to anyone registered, others are only available to those on certain benefits and others are by invitation only to woman identified by support workers which I guess would include the most vunerable.

    The other option is to contact all the colleges, adult education places, children centres close to where you're moving to and see if they offer any free/subsidised courses to vunerable groups and offer your services there.

    Good luck and make sure you keep us all updated.
    Visit Natty Netty for a huge selection of Iris Folding supplies

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