Community clubs are changing lives

The group at Ibbison Court have been approached by Blackpool Council to create historic posters to go outside the King Edward Cinema, Central Drive, this December.

Organiser Angie Buss, 61, said: “We are very excited about the new poster project.

“We have been spending a lot of time drawing and painting the posters around the history of the building.”

The group has been going for just under a year and provides a range of different activities including card making, gardening and knitting.

Angie said: “The club offers a bit of everything. We try to fill any gaps that are missing in the area and hope to involve as many people in the community as we can”.

They have even started to take part in community events and were seen at this year’s Breakin’ Conventions festival at the Grand Theatre doing graffiti.

Over the year the group has grown tremendously and now not only caters for art, but have a choir, a gardening club and even a group called Memory Lane which focuses on dementia and allows the older members to reminisce about their past.

Angie is pleased with the feedback from the members and was particularly touched by one lady’s story.

She said: “There’s a lady there who lost her husband earlier this year and is now living with her son.

“He said that she needed to get out of the house and join a club to take her mind of what had happened.

“After hearing about the club she decided to come along to some of the sessions.

“She tells everybody that joining has changed her life and her grandchildren think it is great that she is drawing and being creative at home.

“I say that if you can do that for just one person, then it is all worth it.”