LANTERN WORKSHOP CO-ORDINATORS: VISION BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE
19th January 2012
All the workshop coordinators met on Friday 6th January to travel to Gaunts House in Wimborne for a day away. It was Three Kings Day and we hoped that the wisdom of the Kings would inspire us to take time to really look at the workshops, how they are now, ideas, plans and dreams for the future.
The morning was spent looking at each individual workshop. The workshop coordinators introduced their workshops, what they thought was working, what was not working and their hopes and plans for the future.
We then spent time pulling out key themes that reoccurred through these presentations and began to address these before lunch. It was clear that many of the workshops have evolved over time, being led by the workshop coordinator. We all felt it good that each workshop was individual and unique but we are now at a point to revisit our vision building, to create together our future direction.
After lunch we found it good to begin with talking about what we are not, as this then made it clearer what we are and what we can offer to the companions and day placements. Towards the end of the day we created an action plan, looking at what we want to achieve and when.
Currently I am typing up notes from the day and then we hope to share our thoughts with the wider community.
We feel we are in exciting times, with the development of the craft centre moving along fast (we have submitted the plans to the planners and are waiting for the outcome of this) and with an increase in interest from day placements.
Our intention is to continue to offer high quality, meaningful day activities, where high quality products can be created in the craft workshops and where companions and day placements can be involved in activities (such as the shop, café and gardens) which are a service to others.