What a difference a month, and a bit of sunshine, can make!  It’s been a busy one for us, yet again, all made possible by so many fabulous volunteers in each of our groups, and people kind enough to donate some excellent quality fabric and yarn to keep us going.  Thank you.

This is what we have donated or worked on over the last month, in addition to all the work done by volunteers at home and the usual crafting sessions in Tadcaster and Sherburn:    

  • Bee keeping group meeting and training
  • Tree planting at the QBG
  • 20 sewing kits to Afghan refugees
  • March Tadcaster workshop session and our 6th birthday
  • 20 twiddlemuffs to Bridge Street Dentists
  • 112 little knitted hearts and 60 worry worms to Together Through Loss and Change CIC
  • TadGrafters March session
  • Yorkits workshop session at York Minster
  • Directors meeting
  • 40 bags to St. Leonard’s Hospice
  • Sherburn Crafters March session
  • Lantern-making workshop and parade
  • Snowdrop collecting and re-planting at QBG
  • Yorkits Session at Manor Academy
  • 8 blankets and 6 quilts for Martin House Children’s Hospice
  • 48 Banana box bags to spirit of Christmas
  • 1 ostomy worry monster for Second Chance Ostomy Yorkshire
Some of the finished kits made at the YorKits session at the Minster >

< Drawstring “rucksacks” made for Spirit of Christmas Banana box project to give books and educational toys to struggling families

 TadCrafters Group Update

After the last Tadcaster workshop session we were seriously considering having to buy some wool to keep our knitters busy but, since then, we have had 3 pretty substantial donations from people having a clear-out and so the knitters will be able to dive in at the next session and to turn the yarn into something really special, like big blankets for Martin House Children’s Hospice. Thank you so much to the people who have donated fabric and yarn over the last month to keep us going.  Despite putting up lots of shelves in the loft at The Barn, we are pretty much bursting at the seams for fabric at the moment so if you are thinking of donating some, please have a look at our wish list to see if we can use it.

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who participated in our big Yorkits Workshop in York Minster on 10th March, during York International Women’ s Week.

You will be interested to know there were almost 200 participants, in two different sessions, beavering away making various components for the kits, which resulted in 60 beautiful brightly – patterned full kits made from scratch – which will enable 12600 extra days of education for our schoolgirl recipients! If you would like to join a Yorkits workshop session, they take place at Manor Academy, Poppleton, York, on Saturday mornings.  The next sessions are 30th April and 28th May.

The next TadCrafters session, will be on Tuesday 5th April 10am to 3pm at The Barn in Tadcaster. This is a week earlier than usual due to kids’ holiday clubs running at The Barn over the holidays  

For a full list of all our current projects and where to find instructions please see the list towards the end of this newsletter. Please stick to this list as we are struggling to store and find homes for different items.  We do not require hats, scarves, baby clothes or twiddlemuffs at the moment.

 Gardening Group update

Since the weather has shown signs of improvement the gardening group has become more active. Five heritage variety apple trees have been planted at the Quaker Burial Ground and more recently, snowdrops, aconites, primroses and foxgloves have been added both there and at the Barn. The snowdrops and aconites have very kindly been provided by Millrace Garden in Garforth. This lovely garden is part of the National Open Gardens scheme and has two open days planned for this year. More information can be found at: https://ngs.org.uk/view-garden/20316

The next planned activity is to tidy up the wildlife garden at Tadcaster Primary Academy. This will be on Saturday 2nd April at 10am. If you are interested in getting involved please come along to this or contact Sue at tadcraftersst@ outlook.com-Sue

Planting the rescued snowdrops in the sunshine >
< Planting the heritage variety apple trees including one named after George Fox, the founder of the Quakers, which we thought was particularly appropriate

 

Beekeeping Group Update

April will see us launching into “proper Beekeeping” on a regular weekly basis.  The bees are now getting more active and we need to make sure they have all they need and are growing their numbers. We will also have to prevent them from swarming.  For this reason we have a rota for regular weekly checks.  If you would like to join us please let us know by email.  We are all new to beekeeping and some of us have joined Barkston Ash Beekeepers, who are running an introductory course, so it doesn’t matter if you are a complete novice.

The next Bee Group meeting will be on Tuesday April 12th at 7.30pm at The Barn. Our local Bee mentor, Andy, will be giving us some more refresher training. Please feel free to join us.-Sara

 

Sherburn Crafters Update

The number of volunteers attending the Sherburn Group sessions continues to be very healthy with some established regulars and more people joining all the time.

Meetings are usually the third Friday of the month, however, the next meeting is on Friday 29th April to avoid Easter. 11am to 1pm at the Old Girls School.

 

TadGrafters Wood-working Group Update

The Grafters are next due to meet on Weds 6th April from 4-6pm at The Barn.  This is a week earlier than usual due to kids’ holiday clubs running at The Barn over the holidays. 

We have a few spare places at the moment and it’s been great to see people coming down to see if they would like to join us. If you are interested, you only need to bring yourself and you don’t need to be an expert (although that would be nice).  You will be very welcome.

 

Other News

Lantern Parade: It was a shame that we had to postpone the lantern parade from February to March but the weather was absolutely superb, and the turn-out was really great with hundreds of people taking part with a wide variety of lanterns, or just walking along or watching. We even managed to welcome a few of our local Afghan refugees who had a wonderful experience and really enjoyed taking part in one of the lantern-making sessions too.  A huge thank you to the usual suspects: Kirsty and David from the Barn for organising it, Angela and Rookes Haulage, and the Community Action Group, everyone who took part, and of course the lantern-guru himself, Tony Wade.  We look forward to working on similar community projects with you all again.

Julia Lewis’s BBC Radio York lantern that she made in the parade>  
< You can reach our Etsy shop by following this link https://www.etsy.com/shop/tadcrafters/  

Our new Etsy shop is doing well and providing us with a modest income to help pay for the boring stuff like venue fees, accountant and insurance etc. If you know of any craft groups who might appreciate a supply of good quality fabric remnants, at bargain price, please let them know or ask them to get in touch with us direct for regular orders. . Each purchase will support our activities, help lots of people, reduce waste and make us less reliant on grant funding. If you’d like to visit the shop you can follow this link and get 20% off if you purchase 3 or more items https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/Tadcrafters?coupon=SAVE20

Please can we ask for your help in another way? We have won a few awards in the past and this only happens when someone nominates us or supports a nomination. If you think we deserve a nomination for Community Group of the Year or you think Lynne deserves Volunteer of the Year (which she definitely does) please go to the Radio York and/or NYCC website and fill in whatever details that you can- Thanks!

BBC – Make a Difference  (deadline 29th April)

www.northyorks.gov.uk/community-awards (deadline May 6th)  

List of Current TadCrafters projects 

We welcome anyone new who would like to join us but ask you to please stick to our current projects as other items can be hard to find homes for. We need to focus on a few projects at a time so we can support everyone, maintain our standards and supply items that are wanted by worthy causes, in appropriate quantities.  We are able to supply materials locally for free at our drop-in sessions and instructions are provided by email or by links if provided below; if you need help, please ask!

Sewing– supplied in kit form at the drop-off sessions

  • Red, white and blue bunting for the jubilee celebration
  • Personal effects bags for hospice patients and bereaved families
  • Worry Monsters for Children’s Services and local schools
  • Drawstring book bags for the Banana box toy project
  • YorKits liners, shields and drawstring bags for feminine hygiene kits
  • Heart-shaped cushions and drain bags for breast surgery patients

Knitting/crochet– yarn available at the drop-off sessions

Other projects

  • If you can’t knit or sew there are non-sewing tasks such as threading drawstrings and decorating twiddlemuffs that are really useful to the team, please ask.
  • Picking-up/dropping-off supplies for people who are unable to make the sessions. Team up with someone who cannot drive or has other commitments on session days.
  • Join our wood-work, gardening, or bee-keeping groups.

Wish list and other ways to help

We are really short of storage space so please try to stick as close as possible to our wish list.

  • New or clean, nearly new polyester/cotton or other lightweight woven fabric
  • New or clean, nearly new winceyette (brushed cotton) sheets/fabric
  • New or nearly new knitting yarn. Any colour or weight
  • Items, especially hand-crafted ones, suitable for our tombola stalls
  •  “Gently worn” bras and new pants for “Smalls for All” http://smallsforall.org/
  • Vintage fabric, equipment and haberdashery (see below)
  • Any items not suitable or surplus to our own use we sell to people who really appreciate them, whilst also raising funds for our projects.
  • Please share our social media posts and encourage others to join in.
  • If you would like to make a financial donation/direct debit to help us do what we do you can do so on the Local Giving website which can be found at: https://localgiving.org/tadcrafters
  • Sign up to Easyfundraising to raise money for us at no extra cost to you when you shop online, https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/tadcrafterscic/
  • Visit our Etsy store to purchase top-quality fabric remnants that are surplus to our requirements https://www.etsy.com/shop/tadcrafters/

Keep in touch

If you need to get in touch with us, and need a response, please use email. This is to protect your personal details and because messages and conversations on social media become lost. Someone will get back to you but it might not be straight away due to other commitments. The Tadcrafters Chat Group or Sherburn Tadcrafters Chat Group is a great way to keep in touch with other Tadcrafters and be inspired. You can also follow the Tadcrafters Page on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@Tadcrafters). 

To be put on the emailing list/s (wherever you live) please request it by emailing tadcrafters@outlook.com  and add us to your list of contacts so we don’t end up in your junk. There are usually only one or two emails a month.

If you would like to be kept up to date about any of the specific group activities please email us and ask to be put on the relevant group mailing list and your email will be forwarded to the group leader.

See you soon, Su.

Directors Tadcrafters CIC: Su Morgan, Lynne Howard Sandra Levitt and Sue Tennant

Tadcrafters Calendar

DateEventTimeLocation
Sat 2nd AprGardening10am-12pmTadcaster  Primary Academy, Grange Road
Tues 12th AprDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Tues 12th AprilBeekeeping Group7.30pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 13th AprTadGrafters4-6pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Fri 29th AprSherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Sat 30th AprRag Market10am- 4pmHebden Bridge
Tues 10th MayDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 11th MayTadGrafters4-6pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Fri 20th MaySherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Tues 14th JuneDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 15th JuneTadGrafters4-6pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Fri 17th JuneSherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Tues 12th JulyDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 13th JulyTadGrafters4-6pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Fri 16th JulySherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Tues 9th AugDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 10th AugTadGrafters4-6pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Fri 19th AugSherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Tues 13th SeptDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 14th SeptTadGrafters4-6pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Fri 16th SeptSherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School