Bringing Together Art and Nature

The ArtShop Project at Caring For Life provides opportunities for people to try their hand at lots of different skills, in a supportive environment. Last year, one of our volunteers suggested doing a project based on mosaics, so we started some practise pieces, using donated coasters and placemats as backgrounds. 

Some beautiful items have been produced, and it was lovely to see a number of people really enjoy this activity - finding the repetitive way of working both therapeutic and soothing. This year we plan to extend this project and also work together with the Conservation project here at Caring For Life,  seeking to create some mosaics that will be placed in the gardens at Crag House Farm! This is an exciting venture and a new challenge for us all, bringing art and nature together in a slightly different way. 

Then, although Spring is still quite a way off, one of the gentlemen on the ArtShop Project is very keen that we start looking at a “Springwatch” display in the Centre at the farm. He has lots of ideas, which are under wraps for now, but which will all be on view in due course! 

#art #design #mosaic #spring #nature #conservation

At Home

It was wonderful to see so many people feeling really “at home” at Caring For Life over Christmas, whether it was in our supported homes or in the Centre at Crag House Farm on Christmas Day. It was a joy to be able to offer some people a home shortly before Christmas, and to see people safely rehoused.

On our conservation project at Crag House Farm there was something of a “housing crisis” at Christmas when the roof  blew off a well-used barn owl box. It was quickly repaired and  returned to its site. Another conservation  task undertaken at this time of the year is the cleaning out of nest boxes, in time for birds pairing up and nesting. It is really encouraging to be able to provide them with a safe home on site.

Our Being There housing support team work hard to seek to help people find a safe home and to settle in, so that they really do feel “at home”.

Finding suitable housing for people in crisis can be extremely difficult due to the shortage of suitable, affordable housing. Our Being There housing support team work hard to seek to help people find a safe home and to settle in, so that they really do feel “at home”. Providing ongoing support is crucial, as helping someone to feel at home involves a great deal more than ensuring they have a roof over their head. 

#CFL #CaringForLife #CragHouseFarm #Birds #BarnOwls #Conservation

Into a New Year

Shortly before Christmas, lots of those who attend the daytime projects at Caring For Life gathered in what was a very full Centre for the annual party, with plenty of laughter and general silliness! It’s always a lovely time to celebrate and to wish one another  a Happy Christmas. Great efforts were made in the lead up to Christmas, to ensure that everyone supported by Caring For Life was provided for at Christmas, and had the chance to attend at least one meal, party or special event. 

Once the Christmas celebrations are over, many folks can feel quite low, and a New Year “looming” can be quite a frightening thing for some of the men and women supported by Caring For Life. Listening to Big Ben strike midnight and the turn of a New Year can make any of us stop and wonder what the coming year will bring.

But if you are surviving on a very low income, you are about to lose your home through no fault of your own, you feel down all the time, you are facing treatment for a serious illness, or your home situation just isn’t safe; then, along with all that, you have no one “in your corner”, the turning of the year can be a stomach-churning moment.

We are so thankful that, shortly before Christmas, we were able to move two people into safe, new homes, and we were able to take a new resident into one of our supported homes, just in time for Christmas. All those we support at Caring For Life know that we care and that we will be there for them, and that means the world. 

Yet, as we move into a new year, none of us knows what will happen during the next twelve months. As a Christian charity, our hope and trust is in Christ and we pray that, during the coming year, many more people will find safety, a refuge and hope for the future in Christ alone.