This week began slightly differently, with my daughter being at home for the first couple of days. This meant that I took a couple of days to care for my munchkin and |I have to say, it was lovely.
Awesome Archie non-profit has been going for 3 years now and I don’t mind admitting that I can count the number of days off I have had on one hand. Everyone understands that creating a start up from scratch (whether a charity or a business) has to be a real, full time commitment. It’s only now that I am starting to feel confident enough to let our historic work speak for itself and take the odd break 🙂
Daisy and I spent some time just watching movies and being creative, it was blissful.
Archie has also had some revelations of his own this week. He is suddenly willing to be a tad more independent! For his Dad and I this is AMAZING news. Like lots of kids with autism, Archie needs to be in control of his own decisions. He needs to achieve things in is own time and in his own space and although we always encourage, we never push. This week Archie did his very first click and collect order and last week he did some weeding! When you consider that not too long ago, he couldn’t bear the garden because of bugs and would never have spoken to a shop worker, this is AWESOME!!
Click here to see Awesome Archie in action (weeding and click-and-collecting!) 😍
Oakey bear scuptures. A day of creative joy.
Well as you may know, art is a HUGE part of my life. It guards my mental health and regulates almost all of my anxiety. This week I had the most phenomenal experience at WG, all thanks to their amazing parent teacher association “FROWGS.”
On Thursday we had a visit from Chris Oakey (funded by FROWGS) for the kids of William Gilpin school to create a life size wicker sculpture. I have never worked with wicker before and I absolutely LOVED IT!
Chris explained…
“I divide my time between teaching in schools and making bespoke willow sculptures for homes and businesses. I have regular schools that I teach in weekly and also deliver ‘one off’ Curriculum Enhancement Days.
During the first lockdown I was aware that I wasn’t covered by furlough as I had just started the company. Whilst at home I decided to ‘free my mind’ by making a life sized human sculpture. I had always had a passion for sculpting since my A-levels. I had never used willow before but I placed the finished sculpture in my front garden. I started to get knocks on the door and letters posted through my letterbox asking for commissions. That was the start of Oakey Bear Sculptures!
Now in my third year, I have been fortunate enough to make hundreds of sculptures for homes, businesses, castles and even Royalty! One of the most exciting parts of my newfound career is that I never know where the sculpting may take me. I was always told that art was a ‘hobby’ and not a career. I am happy to say that this isn’t true.”
WG were lucky enough to have Chris for the whole day and the kids (and adults) were all so interested and inspired.
“Curriculum Enhancement Days allow children of all ages and abilities to learn through ‘hands on’ experiential learning. The tailored lessons are designed to promote self-confidence, self-esteem, promote risk management, resilience, problem solving skills, teamwork skills and independence.
These sessions can be tailored to the National Curriculum and specialist STEM days.”
I want to say thankyou so much for such a superb experience. I will definitely be sculpture creating with my kids this summer hols.
For more info please visit the Oakey Bear sculpture website here.
Rebecca Clapcott (Awesome Archie Non-Profit).