Craft room upgrade and team textiles

The craft room is incredibly well-used, and the groups that utilize it have storage cupboards filled with equipment. The only exception is the large cupboard at the back, from which we removed many children's toys. One of our groups, Hobby Craft, has a card-making section that has become an excellent example of the circular economy. The cards this group creates are displayed for sale, and the money generated goes towards funding the group's use of the space. When this initiative was launched, it was a remarkable success, surprising everyone involved. We've greatly enjoyed this local circular economy social enterprise.

Another crafter in the same group loves to knit. She has created quirky, fun miniature figures with funny faces, some serving as keyring holders, others as toys or decorations. She is on her way to raising £100 for another charity she has committed to support.

The amazing Stella Sewing Group meets on Tuesday afternoons and early evenings. These workshops are filled with incredible sewing creativity, including upcycling, repairs, and reimagining clothing. The artwork produced never ceases to amaze us. Stella has made three fantastic outfits from upcycled clothes for our mascot, Monty. He is also our "Nothing to Landfill" champion, so we avoid discussing landfill around him, as he becomes anxious due to escaping landfill on three occasions. Thanks to Stella, Monty now has a Christmas coat and hat, a working apron, a sports vest for his big day out, and a beautiful sleeping blanket, ensuring he, like the hub he calls home, is saved from destruction. He is one very lucky bear.

Currently, all the sewing machines are serviced and repaired through at Stirling, but we aim to change that. Stella is keen to become a sewing machine mechanic so we can carry out our own repairs and servicing, helping all the other crafters maintain their own machines as well as the equipment at the hub. Once she is trained and we have enough tools available, we plan to create volunteer patches that can be sewn onto upcycled clothing, allowing all volunteers to be recognized by our logo stitched onto clothing of their choice.

To achieve this, we need to purchase some equipment and completely renovate the large cupboard, including adding a new security lock and light inside. Additionally, two heaters in the craft room are not functioning. The emergency exit door also requires urgent maintenance and draft proofing. As we approach our second winter, we've learned that we need to install effective draft-proofing and insulation in this room, as it is north-facing and vulnerable to westerly winds. Currently, we are using inefficient portable heaters for warmth.

There is availability in this space on other days, and once we improve heating and upgrade equipment, we could hold share-and-repair café days. We have been a part of Circular Community Scotland for quite some time, as well on the Share and Repair Scotland Network, which leads our zero waste group. However, the time it's taking for our visions to become realities feels far too long, and our team is getting frustrated. We created our initial business plan in September 2024 and have already surpassed most of those objectives. A significant part of our plan focused on developing sharing libraries and upcycling, recycling, and zero waste initiatives, alongside Repair Cafés and a shift towards local shopping and circular economy initiatives. Yet, a year later, it feels like we are no further along, at least from the perspective of our crafting groups and the external community.

Our management team recognizes this frustration. Now, in September 2025, we have joined Social Enterprise Scotland, which is part of the global People and Planet First social enterprises movement. This movement advocates for a transition from consumerism to citizenship, promoting the idea that the simple acts of fixing and reinventing things instead of buying new can help reduce global overconsumption of resources.

As we begin our journey with Circular Community Scotland, they have offered to fund a learning exchange program for us. This program will allow our groups to visit another center that is further ahead than we are, with a day fully funded for the experience.

We have met the amazing team called stitch the gap at the share and repair conference we, would the sewing and crafting group lead like to organise a visit to them or them to us, or another group maybe that fixes or maintains sewing machines?

Previously, FEL held cycle maintenance evening classes in the craft room. They generously gifted us cycle maintenance tools for our sharing libraries. Our ambitious cycling project aims to bring the community together through various cycling initiatives. By creating a network of traffic-free trails, we hope to encourage more people to take up cycling for both recreation and transportation. With the support of experienced cyclists like our volunteers, Michael and Kenny, we want to ensure that everyone has access to cycling opportunities. While we started in the craft room, we have now moved to another space.

Whether through the bike festival we held—which will now be an annual event—or our maintenance workshops using our own tools and stands, we aim to rejuvenate cycling for all. We also have other community events planned, such as a local culture and heritage cycling Easter egg hunt. It’s starting to look like a "Sustrans revolution" (pun intended) around the hub!

We are committed to not just improving cycling routes but also promoting environmental sustainability. Our vision includes working on local biodiversity projects and organizing regular litter picks to keep our trails clean and free of trash. Additionally, the introduction of our cycling library and the provision of cargo bikes will help make cycling accessible to more members of the community.

We also discovered disabled access issues during the Relay Your Way event that promoted inclusivity in sport, we are working on improvements on that