Hello to all our lovely Tadcrafters’ team and supporters,

We’re into the holiday season now and have been enjoying some warm weather, but that doesn’t seem to have slowed down many of our busy team of volunteers. Here’s a round up of what we’ve been up to in the last month and a summary of all our current projects for anyone wanting to join in.  

32 patient property bags to St. Gemma’s Hospice

30 banana box bags to Spirit of Christmas

10 Yorkits kits to Nairobi

378 bras to the charity Smalls for All,

12 blankets and 5 patchwork quilts to Martin House Childrens Hospice

47 baby Hats to York Hospital

14 worry monsters and 23 worry worms to North Yorkshire Children and Family Services

30 drain bags to St. Leonard’s Hospice

Visit to The Woodmeadow Trust, Escrick

Machine feet loaned to a Ukrainian refugee

Became official sponsors of The Barn

Bunting loaned to York Hospital Charity

 News

We have worked closely with Tadcaster and Rural CIC since well before they took over the old Manor Farm site, but this month we became an official sponsor. We look forward to continuing to work with The Barn team to make positive changes happen in the community providing improved facilities and activities in the town.

We have got through to the final stage of the York St, John University Community Research Grants where we will be having collaborative conversations with potential researchers to explore whether we have a shared interest and ethos to write a joint project plan. If successful it would mean that we will have support to kick start some projects to help the community to save money, reduce waste and make sustainable choices as part of the Sustainable Tadcaster initiative.  Please follow the Sustainable Tadcaster Facebook page and tag us in to any sustainable and money saving ideas you would like to share.

Please have a look at the calendar at the end of the newsletter for future events.  

   

 TadCrafters Tadcaster Group Update

We had a busy session in June stuffing and finishing off lots of worry monsters.  It was a lovely cool session despite the heat outside.    Considering the weather, we had a surprising bumper month of big blanket donations, but thankfully Martin House Children’s Hospice have a large linen cupboard although it is now pretty full so perhaps worth having a rest from making quite so many over the summer.

The next drop-in session will be on Tuesday 11th July.  NBBecause of the school holiday clubs at The Barn our August session will be on a Friday, 11th August.

Knitters/crocheters- We could still do with more twiddlemuffs (no metal bits please) but if you would like to work on something smaller, you could have a go at flowers to decorate twiddlemuffs, poppies in readiness for Remembrance day, and also forget-me-nots to help organisations supporting people living with dementia.  The link to patterns for knitted and crocheted forget-me-nots can be found in our projects list below.

For a full list of all our current projects and where to find instructions please see the list towards the end of this newsletter.

 Beekeeping Group Update

May and June have been challenging for the bee group. At the beginning of the season one of our hives had very few bees that had survived the Winter. We thought we might have to “retire” the hive, but the bees did what they should have done and produced a Queen cell, which hatched. Unfortunately, after leaving the hive for several weeks the Queen didn’t return to the hive and there was no evidence of new brood. So, we had to empty the hive. This entails blocking up the entrance and then sweeping all the bees out of the boxes and frames. We’re not sure what they would have done. Maybe tried to move into their neighbouring hive or just went off to live in the wild.  We still have one good hive for the rest of the season, so should still have honey to harvest. and next season we will set about creating a new hive.

We are checking the bees most weekends so if you would like to join us, just for a look or to help with regular inspections please contact us on tadcrafters@outlook.com.

 TadGrafters Wood-working Group Update

A volunteer from The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is going to visit the team at the next workshop to discuss how we can support each other by making bug hotels, hedgehog lodges, and bird boxes etc.  Please come along to add to the discussion.

The Grafters are next due to meet on Weds 13th July 1-3pm at The Barn.  NB there will be no August TadGrafters meeting.

 Gardening Group update

The gardening group returned to Tadcaster Primary Academy at the beginning of June to finish off the tidying up started the previous month. We also had time to go to the Quaker Burial Ground to weed around the hedge saplings that were planted last year. They are really coming on and we are looking forward to having a very healthy hedgerow in future.

Towards the end of the month the group visited Three Hagges Woodmeadow at Escrick to for a guided tour to find out about the work going on there, and to see the meadows in full bloom. The Quaker Burial Ground isn’t quite up to that standard yet, but we hope to see it improve year on year as it matures. Woodmeadow Trust is a pioneering charity taking practical action to address the catastrophic decline in biodiversity in the UK, and have supported us at the QBG.  You can learn how they have created woodmeadows and their plans to promote a national network of woodmeadows by visiting them too, it’s free. https://www.woodmeadowtrust.org.uk/

If you are not already a member of the gardening group and would like to get involved, please contact Sue T at tadcraftersst@outlook.com and contact tadcrafters@outlook.com to be put on the mailing list.          

 Sherburn Crafters Update

The next Sherburn Crafters meeting is on Thursday 27th July from 11am to 1pm at Sherburn Old Girls School. Projects and tasks are very similar to those from the main, Tadcaster, sessions but it is a smaller group.  You are welcome to attend both if you wish. Session times over July and August will be unaffected by the school holidays.

If you would like to joint the group just turn up at the session and email tadcrafters:outlook.com to ask to be added to the Sherburn mailing list.

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

  • Personal effects bags for hospice patients and bereaved families at St. Leonard’s and St. Gemma’s
  • Syringe driver bags for hospitals and hospices
  • Drawstring book bags for the Banana box toy project
  • Liners, shields and drawstring bags for YorKits feminine hygiene kits
  • Heart-shaped cushions and drain bags for breast surgery patients
  • Tombola items- miscellaneous kits

Knitting/crochet– yarn and needles 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 woodwork, gardening, or bee-keeping groups.
  • If you are interested in doing something to help tackle climate change, however small, follow the Sustainable Tadcaster Facebook page. Please get in touch if we can support you to kick-start a new initiative such as running a repair café, library of things, circular economy or recycling scheme etc.

Wish list and other ways to help

  • A huge thank you to the many people who have donated many, many things to us and have kept us going. If you have some surplus that you would like donate to us please be aware that we are short of storage space so please try to stick as close as possible to our wish list, or speak to us first. Smaller donations can be made at The Barn, ideally at one of the Tuesday drop-in sessions. NB fabric that is only fit for rags can be shredded and recycled. You can put it directly into the collecting point outside the Salvation Army and save us a job. We cannot use worn, dirty or smoky clothes, fabric or yarn.
  • New or clean, nearly new polyester/cotton or other lightweight woven fabric
  • New or nearly new knitting yarn. Any colour or weight but double knitting would be great.
  • Items, especially hand-crafted ones, suitable for our tombola stalls
  • New or clean, nearly new winceyette (brushed cotton) sheets/fabric for Yorkits
  • “Gently worn” bras and new pants for “Smalls for All” http://smallsforall.org/
  • Vintage fabric, equipment and haberdashery *

*Any items not suitable or surplus to our own use we give or sell to people who really appreciate them, whilst also raising funds for our projects.

  • 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
  • Please share our social media posts and encourage others to join in.
  • 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/      If you live in Tadcaster, contact us direct for a discount. NB these items are not stored at The Barn or available for viewing at sessions.
  • Support our campaign to find a place of our own. If you know of a local business that could provide us with free space that we could use to store goods and run workshops from please put them in touch with us.

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, and Tadcrafters Sales 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

Please check the monthly newsletters for updates to these dates, times and venues.

DateEventTimeLocation
Tues 11th JulDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 12th JulTadGrafters1-3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Thurs 27th JulSherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Fri 11th Aug*Drop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 9th Aug*TadGrafters1-3pmNo session
Thurs 24th AugSherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Tues 12th SepDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 13th SeptTadGrafters1-3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Thurs 28th  SeptSherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Tues 10th OctDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds11th OctTadGrafters1-3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Thurs 26th  OctSherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Tues 14th NovDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 15th NovTadGrafters1-3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Thurs 23rd  NovSherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School
Sun 3rd DecChristmas Market10am- 3pmKirkgate, Tadcaster
Tues 12th DecDrop-in workshop10am- 3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Weds 13th DecTadGrafters1-3pmThe Barn, Tadcaster
Thurs 28th Dec*Sherburn Crafters11-1pmSherburn Old Girls School TBC*

* NB this is or may be different to usual due to school holidays