Job #26 (woo hoo I'm over a quarter of the way through!)
was working at a craft centre. It's really the lady that runs it and the people
who go to it that make this place the crafting wonderland that it is!
I'll start off by explaining a bit about the company. It is
a community interest company, so is almost a charity but not quite! The company
is called Unravel & Unwind and is held in a wonderful space called Intra
which just oozes art appeal everywhere you look! There is another artist who is
also based in this space and it is just magical. Unravel & Unwind hold
'drop ins' 6 days a week - which they are hoping to extend to 7. There are
numerous craft sessions that people can come along to. You don't have to have
any previous knowledge and can even just come along for a chat without joining
in if that's what you need! Sometimes they are directed by an expert, and
sometimes they are like the session that I attended today where is it a learn
as you go format so everyone is teaching each other which is great! The company
formed very organically and Faye very much wants it to continue that way. There
were a couple of volunteers there today who were coming up with new classes
that they would like to run. Faye wants it to be a real community project, so
goes with the flow when it comes to new classes. The felting class that I
attended today is once a month and started in January as it was something a
couple of people fancied giving a go - they watched a YouTube video and away
they went! It's an absolute bargain too, for just £7 people can come along for
the day, and all materials are provided. I should add that all the materials
that Faye sources are made by local suppliers to continue with the community
theme. People also have the chance to display their work, quite a few have had
their pieces sell too!
Felting was so much fun and something I hadn't even heard
of! It's very therapeutic, and we had great fun experimenting and seeing what
we ended up with! I can't wait to go back and try some more classes and learn
some new skills!
The most amazing part of Unravel & Unwind however has
to be Faye who runs it! She suffers with a condition called Fibromyalgia among
many other things. This is a very difficult thing to live with, and left her
unable to work. This is how Unravel & Unwind was created, a business doing
what she loves on her own terms! Unfortunately companies aren't too quick to
hire people with invisible conditions like ours and in a way I can't blame them
as our bodies can be pretty unreliable at times. For those of you that don't
know much about Fibro, the body is in extreme amounts of pain and gets tired
very easily along with head fog and a multitude of other symptoms. You would
think this would make it pretty impossible to run a business, but with an
extreme amount of determination Faye is a shining light to all of us to show
that anything is possible if you set your mind to it. Pretty much everyone that
attends the sessions at Unravel & Unwind has an invisible condition of some
kind or another - although it's not a requirement! It creates a wonderful place
for people to come and socialise without worrying about the affects of their
condition. Every person in the room today suffers with memory loss, so it was
completely acceptable that we didn't know each other names, how we take our tea
or what we were even doing there! It's a great deal of pressure that we put on
ourselves in the outside world to seem 'normal' but faye has created a safe
environment where we can be our own kind of normal with no need to worry about
being seen as rude or feeling judged. There were even two people there with MVBD
too! It always makes me so sad to hear people's stories about invisible
illness, but it also gives me the determination to carry on the struggle to
find a way to overcome these things. Each and every person there today was a
true inspiration, I can appreciate the struggle that it would have been for
them to come along today. What a fantastic project, it really is a magic that
needs to be experienced to be appreciated as it is impossible to put into
words. Invisible illness can be so isolating and what Faye has done is create
somewhere that people can go and for a few hours can feel completely
understood.
This has definitely gone into my top 3 on the job list so
far! What an incredible job helping the community whilst helping your health,
being creative and helping others at the same time...I really don't know what
more you could ask for from a job than that!
I asked Faye a few questions to unravel (see what I did
there!) what it's like to run a craft centre, here's what she had to say:
1. How long have you worked in your job and how did you
get into it?
I've been working on Unravel & Unwind CIC since
December 2013, with the studio space opening in March 2014. The job found me, I
had been having visions of it while I was unemployed and recovering from the
last serious cfs/me/fibro flare that caused me to become unemployed. I had
started to teach myself to crochet as part of my personal healing and was
having no joy in finding employment. So with the help of the job centre I built
my own job.
2. What's the best thing about your job?
I love being able to be creative in the company of like
minded people. Sharing skills, knowledge and ideas is just touching the surface
of what I love. Everyone I interact with have their own story to tell, but the
common factor is that many suffer from hidden illnesses such as depression or
fibromyalgia, and all any of us want is to spend time with people who
understand while crafting. For some reason, while we are being creative we
don't "feel" our illnesses and we feel "normal" for a
while.
3. What's the worst thing about your job?
The paperwork - I deal with all the bookings, accounts,
social media and the end of year tax returns. This takes up a fair chunk of the
working week, but hey if it's gets too much I just turn my back on the computer
and get back to crafting 😊
4. If money, time, education etc were no object what
would your dream job be?
I'm going to be truly honest and tell you that I am in my
dream job. I just need more hours in the day and more energy to do all the
different types of arts & crafts that I want to try.
5. What stress rating would you give your job (where one
is super relaxed and 5 is super stressful)
Most of the time it's 1. I only
reach a 5 when I'm working out the accounts.
If you would like to sponsor me on my challenge by donating to the wonderful charity that is The Meditation Trust & their project researching the impact of Transcendental Meditation with helping people (particularly soldiers) to overcome Post Traumatic Stress Disorder then please visit: http://www.100jobchallenge.co.uk/donate
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