Volunteers?
Dzik-Holden Gosia 18/03/10
Hi there, I run a knitting club at my local primary school, which has proven to be very popular. I have 10 complete beginners who all need a lot of attention. We meet once a week (on Thursdays) for an hour. I am wondering whether it would be possible to access some help in the form of 1 or 2 volunteers to make the teaching easier and to provide the kids with more support and attention they so much need at this stage... The school is in Clapton, London (E5).
Hi Maeve. I am very happy to hear from you. Your help would be greatly appreciated, as the club is rather large - 10 to 12 complete beginners needing a lot of attention. I have been working with them since January and it is very hard yet very rewarding work. Tomorrow I am running the last knitting club of the summer term. Then we will break for the summer - returning at the beginning of September. You can contact me at info@stitchville.co.uk to discuss this possibility in more detail. Many thanks again for your response. Gosia
Hi Dzik-Holden Gosia, I have recently moved to the Clapton area and I am keen to participate in some volunteering; I am beginning a PGCE in September and I have lots of experience of working with kids and young people in a creative capacity. I have worked as a knitwear designer before but have been hand knitting for years and I relish the opportunity to pass on my skills and love of all things knitty! I notice that your post was done quite some time ago! I wondered do you still need some volunteers, or are you planning any summer schemes? Best regards, Maeve
Hi There! It's great to hear you already have a successful Craft Club on the go! We have just completed the first London Craft Club Volunteer Rep training on Friday. Over the course of the next 8 weeks, these Reps will be organising their own training sessions to prepare the members of their volunteer groups to go into schools and community venues and help with Craft Clubs. We will shortly be helping to match up schools who have signed up with the volunteers in their local area. If you need help straight away, why not make contact with your local WI or knitting group?
It can be difficult when first teaching children to knit, as some children require 1 to 1 attention when first knitting with needles. We often suggest starting with finger knitting - it's simple, low-tech, lots of fun and easy to teach to a larger group. You could have some students finger knitting and yarn-making with recycled materials while you concentrate on showing individual students the basics with needles.
The "Knit 1 Pass it On" initiative focuses on the sharing of skills. This applies equally to experenced knitters and also to children, who can to pass on their newly acquired knitting skills to others. Perhaps you could encourage the more able in your group to help the beginners too, and gain the sense of achievement that they have "Passed it On"?
Kind regards,
Craft Club Team
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