Thank goodness it's Friday in Knighton!

This week's guest post is by Doreen Matthews - a member of the thriving Knighton Mid Powys Mind Friday group. It was written at the height of summer 2016.

I love Fridays. So say the members of Knighton Friday Group.

We meet as friends, share stories and experiences of our lives and talk of what our week has been like. The group is so important to us. Life for most of us is not easy, events may have happened to us which cause anxiety and depression, but one of the big things in life is loneliness.

I met a friend who I have known for many years, and I was asked to have coffee. I was in a hurry, but I did stop and we talked about many things. The comment was: “My world has got smaller; I seem to have lost confidence, so find it hard to live my life, and feel rather worthless.” This person has tried to find help but does not like groups and when seeking help it has not really worked. I could not find answers, but I did listen and give gentle understanding. As we parted the remark from this friend was: “I feel so much better now that I have met you today. I always feel better when I meet you.”

The comment: “My world has gotten smaller” has stayed with me. I thought my world had gotten smaller too since my husband died. I have lost so much confidence, and if I did not make the effort to go out and meet people I would end up a very lonely person.

Friday Group has been so important and good for me, and I have been a member of Mid Powys Mind for 15 years and I have learnt so much from the activities. Doing a craft and being creative is so good for the brain. I feel more relaxed and my spirits uplifted. It takes me out of my casual domestic world.

Over the years I have seen members come and go. We have had our highs and our lows, sometimes despairing as to whether we can go on. Something always happens. A new member comes along - a new friend and we feel encouraged. I do wish people would realise how special and important they are to the group - I always like to see who is coming in through the door.

When someone comes along for the first time we know how hard it is for them to walk into the room. First impressions count and we can make or break at that first meeting, so we have to be careful how we deal with this. When people ask us “how are you?” the usual answer is to say “I am fine, very well”. The truth is in many cases they are not fine and sometimes want to talk. We must remember to give them the chance to talk, but with our own busy lives we tend to just hurry along. A nice smile can do wonders; a cheerful considerate person can make a difference. A nasty remark will put people down for hours.

Earlier this year we were told there would have to be a cutback due to lack of funding. We took on the running of the group ourselves straight away, with involvement from Mid Powys Mind. We all put a little extra money in to give us a working fund, and the Rotary Club gave us a generous donation to keep us going. We used some of the money to buy season tickets to The Whimble Nursery Garden. The tickets allow a member to visit the garden whenever they want. It is a place of beauty which is a natural therapy to make us feel better. We are using the gardens for some of our meetings and our next visit will be reading poetry and taking in the scents and colours of this lovely garden. We will have tea and cake and perhaps buy a plant. Walking through the wild flower meadow on our last visit with friends made us feel we were in another world. We had a visit to Monkland Cheese, of course we all now know how to make cheese, but we haven’t got a cow so we will leave it to the experts!

Some of our activities this year have included: chalk painted wooden spoons, making pretty boxes, woofing down homemade rhubarb and strawberry crumble, and cream gateau, and last week we made raffia mats which resembled Hobnob biscuits. Oh yes, we love our crafts. We really enjoyed “Havin’ A Laugh” with the comedians, they found us very comical; we ladies taught them a lot about life.

We felt, as a group, that we would like to reach out to others and it was decided we would make little posies for the Queen's 90th birthday. The result was breathtaking when we looked. Our work, arranged in baskets, was then taken to Cottage View Residential Home. The shades and perfumes of roses and sweet williams just gave off a feeling of joy and happiness. We had collected so many flowers and the happy “buzz” of busy bees being creative made me just stop and listen to our ladies. I thought of how happy everyone sounded, we were friends together, so contented in one another’s company. We all went up to Cottage View Residential Home and presented each resident with a dainty bouquet as we all sang Happy Birthday to the Queen. The feedback from the home let us know how glad they were to have us there, and we hope to return again.

The group has become very strong and we are getting new members. Everyone is so enthusiastic, putting in an effort to make things work. “We make our motto, we can achieve anything”. I think we can be proud of ourselves, and we are becoming noticed in Knighton.

We are now looking forward to an afternoon picnic at Aston-on-Clun on a member's lawn. Then we will be dancing with Powys Dance, we just love that! Our imagination makes us swans, sugar plum fairies, salsa dancers, fashion models or whatever we want to be.

The great thing about our group is that we are friends who care about one another, friends who laugh and have fun.

The Knighton Friday Group meets every Friday 1 - 3 pm at St Edwards Community Room, St Edwards Close, Knighton. 

If you would like to find out more about the group, which is supported by Mid Powys Mind, please ring 01597 824411, or contact Nic Williams by emailing: vo@midpowysmind.org.uk

Celf - supporting ambition in the arts

Our guest author this week is Rachel Dunlop, the Project Co-ordinator for the Arts Council of Wales funded Powys-wide Learning & Practice Project at Celf o Gwmpas in Llandrindod Wells. 

Rachel has an MA in Fine Art and is passionate about supporting ambition and realising creative aspirations. She co-ordinates residencies, workshops, gallery trips and exhibitions at the charity whilst bringing people together to learn through a creative means. 

As part of our year-long Learning and Practice project, throughout June we have been running sessional weekends for artists who have experience or knowledge of the arts and mental health.

The Learning & Practice Project is made up of multiple strands. Blue MacAskill is working with ‘at risk’ young people through film making, and Stephen Park is holding sessions at various venues throughout Powys during his residency – including The Welfare, Ystradgynlais and Oriel Davies, Newtown. Working together, they are developing knowledge, practice, experience and creative aspirations and promoting wider understanding of arts and mental health.

Stephen Park - Artist in Residence

In November 2016, Celf o Gwmpas is hosting a week of events and activities -Boxing Shadows - in a celebration of arts and mental health as part of WALLS:MURIAU Welsh Mental Health Arts Festival 2016 (details at the end of the post).

The aim of the peer-to-peer training sessions in June 2016 is to provide a platform for artists to develop and elevate their professional practice while giving them the opportunity to exhibit work as part of a Wales-wide Festival.

Our first session was on 11 June at Centre Celf, Llandrindod Wells. We were aiming for up to 6 participants for the group, and found that we were oversubscribed! We began with Stephen introducing himself, and playing ice-breaking games where we got to know each other and tried to remember everyone’s names! 

Stephen explained his ideas of finding creative ‘flow’ as an artist. He showed us images of artwork that he felt had achieved this ‘flow.’ ‘Flow’ is achieved when we are being creative but not too restrictive and not too perfect. Imagine it as a line… extensive on the left (creating freely without inhibitions, restrictions) and then intensive on the right (where we’re being too careful, too precious with our work). Stephen explained that the ‘sweet spot’ is somewhere near the intrinsic, but still creating with an element of freedom. It’s when we arrive at this spot that we are in a rhythm of creating work as an artist which is vital to developing and sustaining our practice.

We then did some ‘High Pressure, Low Expectation' exercises where we had to create something by following a brief, for example, creating a drawing by using no more than 5 lines. It didn’t matter what it looked like, it was the process that was important. This is important to apply to our own practice as artists. We’re often so caught up in what we want the end result to be – we might have an exact idea of a painting or a sculpture in our mind - but we need to accept the process itself may change the course of the result. It’s when you accept the validity of the process that the work becomes authentic.

On Sunday 12th we worked more intensively on ideas of teamwork to find ‘flow’ with each of the participants and started creating the beginning of a series of artworks. Participants had the job role of the Art Director where they took ownership of their series - deciding the colours, shapes and subject. The only rule was - they had to form a pattern. After creating three/four of their series, they then switched from 'Art Director' to 'The Artist's Apprentice' and moved around the group to each person's station, observing and attempting to follow the pattern. The aim was to have a collaborative series of artworks based on finding a creative flow and working together – and we did! It was interesting to see how each person had interpreted the Art Director’s series from their own perception. 

With the first weekend being one of such encouragement, we then organised individual mentoring sessions with each artist to apply these ideas to their own practice. From 12 - 18 June each of the participants had a one-to-one mentoring session with Stephen. This gave each artist time to chat with Stephen about their own work, what they’re interested in, and the direction they’d like to go with it in the future. It’s important as artists to have regular feedback on the work we create and to gain a wider understanding of the artwork in context. As well as this, some pieces that we may have disregarded others might see value in. As the peer-to-peer training sessions are for artists who have already established a level of professional practice, it’s been a fantastic opportunity to meet with Stephen who gives solid and constructive advice on developing their practice.

For the remaining sessions in June, the artists are putting ideas they have learned into practice by creating work for the Boxing Shadows Exhibition at Centre Celf in November. Between now and November, they will be working on a personal project developed in these sessions. We’ve set up a private online forum where the participants can share ideas, comment on each other’s work and encourage each other after the sessions end and throughout the summer as they live all over Wales. In addition to this, we will be having two gallery visits during the summer months to gain inspiration, as well as meeting up at the start of November to curate the Boxing Shadows exhibition as a group.

Boxing Shadows Programme:

Thursday 10 November 4 - 6pm - Exhibition Preview at Centre Celf, Llandrindod Wells

Providing a platform for the artists involved to exhibit and screen work. In parallel with Stephen Park's residency exhibition - showing new work created during his 6 month residency in Llandrindod Wells.

Friday 11 November 6 - 8pm - Performance at Centre Celf 

Performances/Stand-up comedy evening with:

• Artist in residence Stephen Park.
• Writer, performer and outsider artist Sean Burn.
• Havin' a Laugh showcasing a Powys-based project helping to build confidence and improve mental wellbeing through comedy. 

Tuesday 15 November 10am - 4pm - Panel discussion & Artists' Talks – Centre Celf 

Artists in training presenting their practice with Stephen Park talking about his residency and:

• Blue MacAskill (tbc) tackling issues of aspirations, isolation, rurality and immobilization through creativity and art. 
• Sean Burn reclaiming the languages of lunacy, reflecting on his own lived experience of long-term mental distress. 
• Jane Cooke, Senior Officer, PAVO Mental Health Team, psychotherapist and trainer exploring forms of expression that bypasses a diagnosis in the minds of both client and mental health worker, and leading an investigation of creativity as a tool for encounters at different levels of experience. 
• Amanda Wells (tbc) former Celf o Gwmpas mentored artist and instigator of Celf-Able, a group of disabled artists in Mid-Wales, who meet to do art together, share skills and break down barriers.

Many thanks to Rachel for telling us all about this exciting project at Celf o Gwmpas. To find out more contact Celf o Gwmpas, tel: 01597 822777 or email: events@celfogwmpas.org

Our comedy workshop @ Celf

Yesterday as a team we explored how comedy could inform our work around participation - specifically around engaging with people who have been in contact with mental health services or those close to them - and learned new ways to tell stories or describe experiences.

Who better to enlist to help us than Owen Griffkin of Havin' A Laugh fame. And what better premises for our workshop than the Celf Centre run by the art charity Celf O Gwympas in Llandrindod Wells. The place is stuffed full of weird and wonderful and very inspiring artwork. You only have to look at some of it to find yourself smiling. And, they even have red noses of their very own! Perfect for those of us working on a Comic Relief funded project called Standing up for emotional health and wellbeing (that would be Anne then, far right in the photo).

Artwork at Celf by Dean Warburton

In our very own bespoke Havin' A Laugh workshop Owen took us through a series of games over the course of a couple of hours. We were amazed to discover that there was much humour to be found in our own everyday lives and stories.

Owen Griffkin - the comedy master - and Jane Cooke, our Senior Officer Mental Health

In the first session some of us had travelled billions of miles (think Universe, speed of light, Star Wars kind of community transport) to put the most important question imaginable to The Oracle. Two of us had the slightly challenging task of answering the questions (as a sort of bizarre two-headed Oracle), one word at a time, each after the other... talk about throwing us in at the deep end. 

Questions ranged from the fairly predictable "What is the meaning of life?" to the intriguing "Why is there a colour purple?" to a rather random travel enquiry: "How do I get to Atlantis?" The answer to the latter being, quite obviously: "Atlantis relies upon your soul being attuned to many places including the underneath of your feet exactly." So.... now we know...

Artwork at Celf by Dean Warburton

Next up: Truth and Lies.... Each of us had to tell three facts about ourselves to the others in the group. Simple enough, surely? But, there was a catch. (Of course). One of the facts had to be a lie, and the others had to guess which one... Blimey, we never knew this could be so hard... our colleagues turn out to be masterful liars!

Here are the three facts Jane told us about herself.... which one do you think is the lie...?

1. All of my three children were born on a Thursday.
2. I did not start speaking properly until the age of 4.
3. My childhood ambition was to be a show jumper and a hairdresser.

One of my truths involved attending a Star Trek convention many many light years ago, but perhaps the less said about that the better....

Anne Woods - Participation Officer, and Philip Moisson - Powys Patients' Council facilitator

Further games followed, far too many to mention here, but you get a feel for the state of comedy affairs by this stage of the afternoon...

One of my favourite games was The Interview. We took it in turns to interview each other for a number of job vacancies, including Waste Recycling Operative and Koala Bear Midwife. We were either super-confident or extremely nervous, Owen explained to us. One of the funniest sessions was Anne being interviewed, as a nervous potential Rocket Scientist, by Phil. Here is how it went:

Phil: How are you?
Anne: A bit nervous.
Phil: There's no room for nerves in rocket science.
Anne: Oh. Sorry.
Phil: So, what would you bring to our next expedition?
Anne: Not much. But I'd give it a go.
Phil: What do you know about Rocket Science exactly?
Anne: Just a little. But I could go to the library and read up on it.
Phil: Right....
Anne: The main thing is... well, let's just hope we come back from the expedition.
Phil: D'you think you're confident enough for this type of role?
Anne: I am a worrier. But I do double and triple check things. I might have to restart the countdown... Once we got down to 7 I'd have to go back up to 10...

Anyone out there looking to employ a nervous Rocket Scientist then...?

By the end of the afternoon we were absolutely exhausted we'd all laughed so hard. So we sat down and had a much-earned rest for half an hour. At the same time ('cause we're so good at multi-tasking) we ate a few biscuits, drank coffee and/or water, and chatted about how we might put these techniques to use in our participation work. We started off by acknowledging that some of us had been quite apprehensive about the session, and even a little nervous going into some of the games, but ultimately had found them extremely enjoyable and very rewarding.

We also decided that using funny and engaging ways of looking at life could be a great way of showing the realities of life for people in contact with mental health services. For example, for exploring day-to-day life on a mental health ward, or what it's like waiting to access talking therapies. At the very least some of the games could be used to break the ice at meetings and we all agreed they created a very levelling experience where we are all people together sharing some small details of our lives.

What do you think? Would you like to have a laugh? Find out more about the Havin' A Laugh workshops running at Mid Powys Mind. Or let us know your thoughts in the comments box below.

By the way, the next Stand up for emotional health and wellbeing meeting takes place this coming Monday 29 February in Llandrindod Wells. It will be at the Resource Centre, Mid Powys Mind between 3 - 5pm. If you have been in contact with mental health services, or are close to someone who has, and would like to speak with mental health professionals or give some feedback about your experiences, we would love to see you there. And if you would like to find out more about the project please contact Anne by emailing: anne.woods@pavo.org.uk or ring 01597 822191.

The Cash Cow at Celf - even she has a red nose!

Havin' a Comedy Christmas 2015

"Tis the season to be jolly....." 

Yes, it's that time of year again. It's unbelievable how quickly it turns up each December.  In 2014 we posted Top 10 Tips to Survive Christmas, as we recognise that the festive season is not everyone's favourite period.

For Christmas 2015 our team have been inspired by local comedian Owen Griffkin's new comedy workshops to think how laughter has kept us going over Christmases past.

Each of the team has come up with a book, or film, or memory that has made them laugh in Christmases gone by whilst wondering whether to embrace the holly (ouch) and mince pies with family, friends or even complete strangers, or just run and hide.

"Fa la la la la, la la la la...."

Angharad

Many things remind me of Christmas and the laughs I’ve had, such as watching classic 1990 Christmas film ‘Home Alone’ with Macaulay Culkin. But the highlight of any recent Christmas was watching my dog, Bella (a fluffy white bichon frise) open my mum’s Christmas presents for her. As the centre of our little family, she is without a doubt put on the highest pedestal, treated like a human and the focus of me and my mum’s lives. I’ve had the blessing of owning Bella since my last year in primary school, which makes Bella around 14 years old (an old lady!) yet she still has the personality of a puppy and hasn’t lost any of her diva like qualities yet. She is spoiled, and rightly so!

Last Christmas, the buzz and excitement of smelling her Christmas dinner and her presents under the tree were too much to bear, and she began like a puppy, tearing the corners of the wrapping paper off. We normally get her to help open a small section of our presents, but last year, she came into her own! Without any warning she took centre stage and started unwrapping presents in the middle of the living room, swinging the paper around with her mouth as best she could, determined to find out what was inside! After some playful growling, swinging wrapping paper and presents and holding them down with her paws, she had unbelievably managed to open two well wrapped presents! This memory always makes me laugh at how loving and funny animals can be, who enjoy Christmas as much as anyone else! It also made me and my mum hysterically laugh, along with us clapping and cheering her along!

‘Animals are such agreeable friends - they ask no questions; they pass no criticisms.’ George Eliot

Anne

When Jackie suggested this topic for a blog, my heart sank slightly. Call me Scrooge but Christmas isn’t one of my favourite times of year. 

But then I remembered my favourite scene from "The Wrong Trousers", an Aardman Animations film starring Wallace & Gromit that was first shown on Boxing Day in 1993, and will be forever associated with Christmas for me. It’s the train set chase scene where Gromit is attempting to stop criminal penguin Feathers McGraw escaping after a diamond heist. When Gromit grabs the box marked spare track and frenetically starts to lay track to keep the toy train on the rails, I was in hysterics. It’s well worth watching the clip on YouTube. I defy anyone not to smile whilst watching it.

Jackie

Way, way back in 1982 I ripped open a Christmas present whilst on holiday in Dorset. It was a copy of the now legendary Adrian Mole book by Sue Townsend - “The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole aged 13 ¾”. I started reading, was hooked after two pages, and didn’t stop until I’d finished a few hours later. The Christmas pudding was long since cold, the mince pies just crumbs swimming in spilled alcohol, and my elbows had turned black and blue from lying still for so long. It was the funniest book I’d read in ages by a classic writer of comedy fiction. Who hasn’t heard of Adrian Mole?

Sue Townsend went on to write a total of 8 books about Adrian Mole, taking him from angst-ridden teenager in the Thatcherite years of the 1980s to the brink of middle age in the The Prostrate Years and Gordon Brown’s New Labour era of the late noughties. I haven’t read the later volumes - so there is more laughter to look forward to yet.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes from the original classic:

“I must say that I take my hat off to Sainsbury's, they seem to attract a better class of person. I saw a vicar choosing toilet paper; he chose a four-roll pack of purple three-ply. He must have money to burn! He could have bought some shiny white and given the difference to the poor. What a hypocrite!”

“It is the first day of spring. The council have chopped all the elms down in Elm Tree Avenue.” 

“I have never seen a dead body or a female nipple. This is what comes from living in a cul-de-sac.”

Jane

Some years ago my mother came for Christmas. She was (she died this year) a very difficult person and there was always a fair amount of tension with her around. During Christmas Eve she snapped at one of my teenage children for not doing, in her eyes, sufficient washing up. A general shouting match ensued with my mother shouting at said child and ripping up the Christmas present she was going to give to this offspring - who obviously shouted back that no-one had wanted Granny to come anyway and me shouting at my mother in defence of my children. 

Meanwhile my husband was at his work’s Christmas booze-up - which was legendary. My daughter rang the most likely pub, found him and summoned him back. Eventually he wove his way home and into this maelstrom, lay on the floor and declared “I love you all!”. I can’t actually remember what happened next - but I found a mention of this in some notes after my mother moved out of her house into a nursing home - she had written “Christmas with Jane and children, least said”. For us this is now a traditional family Christmas story, and I guess it goes to show that Christmas can be difficult and tense and also, at least in retrospective, hilarious too.

Support over Christmas

Wellness and Recovery Learning Centres around Powys are open at some point over Christmas and the New Year and would welcome your visit. Click here to find their contact details and links to their own websites.You can link to national helplines here.

If you need help urgently find information here.

Have a Happy Comedy Christmas and we look forward to hearing from you in 2016!

Comedy and Wellbeing - Havin’ A Laugh Project

by guest author, Owen Griffkin

Gein's Family Gift Shop

There’s an old saying which goes -  "Laughter is the best medicine." There’s also a joke, which is nearly as old, which retorts, "Unless you are diabetic, and then it’s insulin".

I was a stand-up comedian for a good while back in the last millennium, and now I produce a host of comedy nights in and around the Mid Wales area and I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with this adage, having seen first hand the benefits of a ‘right good b%***y laugh’.

Anyone with any experience of mental health issues knows that laughter is a wonderful way to feel better as it decreases our stress hormones, produces endorphins and increases memory, alertness and learning.

It’s for this reason that I have been working with the Wyeside Arts Centre, the Arts Council of Wales, and the Garfield Weston Foundation on a pilot project right here in Powys to help build confidence, improve mental wellbeing and break down some of the stigma attached to mental health issues.

I had the idea after holding workshops for the recent DIY Futures project and again with Powys Mental Health Information Service. The workshops comprised of simple and quick word play and story-building exercises, which had the participants finding new ways to share experiences in a safe environment. These were a lot of fun and there was huge interest in a longer-term project.

Participants on Owen's Laughter Workshop
Individuals' Forum Day, Caersws, April 2015

Finally after consultation and planning the idea has finally come to fruition (hooray!) in the form of the ‘Havin’ A Laugh’ project and we will be running some taster workshops this October. This will lead on to the main part of the project in early 2016 which will consist of 4/5 more in-depth sessions.

The project will be led by James Meehan and Kiri Pritchard McLean, two of the team behind ‘Gein’s Family Giftshop’ - a deliciously dark sketch show group who have just had a mini-series produced on BBC Radio Wales, and appeared in an episode of the ‘Inside No.9' programme on BBC 2. They have been nominated for most of the major comedy awards over the last two years and we couldn’t ask for anyone better to be heading up this project.

The sessions will be suitable for anyone from any background, of any age and physical ability.

There won’t be any pressure to perform and the focus will be on looking at your stories in a new way, confidence building, and, most importantly, having a laugh and enjoying ourselves.

There will be an OPEN TASTER at Wyeside Arts Centre on Wednesday 14th October from 1:00 - 4:30pm which is open to all and is a great way to see what you can gain from the project.

For more information or to book a place please email owengriffkin@gmail.com

UPDATE!!

The Open Taster at Wyeside Arts Centre is no longer going ahead. However, there are three other Havin' A Laugh workshops taking place which are open to all:

Tuesday 13 October - 1 - 4pm & 5.30 - 8.30pm

The Wellbeing Centre, Mid Powys Mind, Llandrindod Wells

Thursday 15 October - 2 - 4pm

Wesley Church Centre, Hospital Road, Builth Wells