KINGSHILL HOUSE
Wishing you a happy and creative new year!
2020 has been a year like no other, and like everyone, we have had to change and adapt our way of working. Change can be a positive experience and here at Kingshill House we have created relationships with new partners and strengthened our existing connections with the community of Cam and Dursley.
2020 - A Year Like No Other
Our aim was to encourage people to reconnect socially and to build resilience and trust, in what is for many of us, an altered world.
Our normal business restarted in the summer and lasted until the start of the second lockdown in November, with workshops and classes running at 50% capacity. Autumn classes included stained glass, acrylics, watercolours, drawing, photography and flower arranging.
Our year in review...
We adapted our way of working and created new community links, established partnerships with national organisations and secured key funding to enable the growth and success of Kingshill House.
partnerships with national organisations and secured key funding to enable the growth and success of Kingshill House.
Dance Outdoors
Working collaboratively with the NHS, World Jungle and Kelly Hogg, our dance instructor, we ran a popular dance class for those over 60 years of age and who have been shielding. The first session took place in our large garden here at the House and as a result of the successful class we set up an indoors Dance session at Sharpness village hall and each week there was a full house of 15 energised and happy people.
The Brighter Side - Community Postcard Project
We revisited the postcard project, which initially ran during the first Lockdown. We asked Year 6 pupils of the local primary schools to design a postcard which reflected a moment of joy they have had during time spent at home. We gathered all of them and printed them onto boards, which were then shown around the community. Then in October, all the boards were placed together in our grounds and shown as an exhibition in conjunction with Tyndale Arts Week. We are planning to run a third and final postcard design project, and will add these to the ones created last year, culminating in an exhibition at the House, showing all the cards. This is a fantastic opportunity to capture living history and to document how young people felt during a tumultuous and challenging 12 months.
Two art exhibitions were hosted in September, one with the theme of ‘Coast’ and another titled ‘The invisible woman made visible’, by Krystyna Dembny.
This particular showing strayed from usual themes that are shown at the house, as it centred around a post-menopausal naked woman called Sally who is suffering from cancer. The work portrayed optimism, resilience and the power of great friendship, and the exhibition raised over £600 for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Feedback from attendees to this exhibition clearly demonstrated how powerful the art was and how it moved them:
'A stunning and profound body of work. Emotional depth, laughter, sadness, poignancy and friendship all in two rooms. The placing of the pieces was genius – the first room light, fun, friendship, the second colder, sombre, departing, sadness, memory, fading. Brava.'
Hallowe'en at the House
During October Half Term we ran a Creative Pop Up café which was aimed at families with primary aged children. This event was free to all and we were thrilled that on the two days that it ran, we reached capacity within an hour of the doors opening.
On the 2nd morning we had the added bonus of hosting the travelling storyteller Bill Church. He regaled five different groups of families out in the marquee with spooky tales.
In total, we saw 101 families through the house, gave away 197 goody bags to children and offered 127 parents tea, coffee and cake! Of the 324 people through the house, 214 came from the GL11 postcode – that’s 70 families from the local community. Half of the attendees to the Friday session had never been to the House before – this was a fantastic event introducing the community to the venue.
We took in more than £120.00 in donations and had wonderful feedback – KH is ‘the lifeline link to the community'.
2020 - A Year Like No Other
Our aim was to encourage people to reconnect socially and to build resilience and trust, in what is for many of us, an altered world.
Our normal business restarted in the summer and lasted until the start of the second lockdown in November, with workshops and classes running at 50% capacity. Autumn classes included stained glass, acrylics, watercolours, drawing, photography and flower arranging.
Our year in review...
We adapted our way of working and created new community links, established partnerships with national organisations and secured key funding to enable the growth and success of Kingshill House.
partnerships with national organisations and secured key funding to enable the growth and success of Kingshill House.
Dance Outdoors
Working collaboratively with the NHS, World Jungle and Kelly Hogg, our dance instructor, we ran a popular dance class for those over 60 years of age and who have been shielding. The first session took place in our large garden here at the House and as a result of the successful class we set up an indoors Dance session at Sharpness village hall and each week there was a full house of 15 energised and happy people.
The Brighter Side - Community Postcard Project
We revisited the postcard project, which initially ran during the first Lockdown. We asked Year 6 pupils of the local primary schools to design a postcard which reflected a moment of joy they have had during time spent at home. We gathered all of them and printed them onto boards, which were then shown around the community. Then in October, all the boards were placed together in our grounds and shown as an exhibition in conjunction with Tyndale Arts Week. We are planning to run a third and final postcard design project, and will add these to the ones created last year, culminating in an exhibition at the House, showing all the cards. This is a fantastic opportunity to capture living history and to document how young people felt during a tumultuous and challenging 12 months.
Two art exhibitions were hosted in September, one with the theme of ‘Coast’ and another titled ‘The invisible woman made visible’, by Krystyna Dembny.
This particular showing strayed from usual themes that are shown at the house, as it centred around a post-menopausal naked woman called Sally who is suffering from cancer. The work portrayed optimism, resilience and the power of great friendship, and the exhibition raised over £600 for Macmillan Cancer Support.
Feedback from attendees to this exhibition clearly demonstrated how powerful the art was and how it moved them:
'A stunning and profound body of work. Emotional depth, laughter, sadness, poignancy and friendship all in two rooms. The placing of the pieces was genius – the first room light, fun, friendship, the second colder, sombre, departing, sadness, memory, fading. Brava.'
Hallowe'en at the House
During October Half Term we ran a Creative Pop Up café which was aimed at families with primary aged children. This event was free to all and we were thrilled that on the two days that it ran, we reached capacity within an hour of the doors opening.
On the 2nd morning we had the added bonus of hosting the travelling storyteller Bill Church. He regaled five different groups of families out in the marquee with spooky tales.
In total, we saw 101 families through the house, gave away 197 goody bags to children and offered 127 parents tea, coffee and cake! Of the 324 people through the house, 214 came from the GL11 postcode – that’s 70 families from the local community. Half of the attendees to the Friday session had never been to the House before – this was a fantastic event introducing the community to the venue.
We took in more than £120.00 in donations and had wonderful feedback – KH is ‘the lifeline link to the community'.