​Builth Pottery HWB unites all ages in community to express creative skills

Artist Blue MacAskill, potter Alex Allpress, Mayor Cllr Gwyn Davies, town clerk Louise Hammond, Builth Pottery HWB course participants with family and friends who attended the exhibition preview.

A successful Mid Wales social enterprise, Builth Pottery HWB, is encouraging a community to come together to express their creative talent.
 
Participants aged from eight to 88 years recently celebrated with family and friends their amazing journey creating, making and firing at an end of term show of their brilliant artworks.
 
A packed private view of the exhibition, which is still running, was attended by Mayor Cllr Gwyn Davies and town clerk Louise Hammond from Builth Wells Town Council which has supported the innovative HWB. Bookings for the next course are now being taken.
 
The HWB has launched a programme of free summer events and more projects are planned for the school autumn half-term. Anyone interested in taking part in the programmes is advised to check out builthpotteryhwb/Facebook.com .
 
Fertile seeds for the HWB were first sown in 2021 when artist Blue MacAskill and potter Alex Allpress became custodians of the former Church Hall on Church Street, Builth Wells.
 
The sad building needed a lot of love care to bring it back to life and, in 2022, Blue and Alex engaged the wider community to help.
 
“We wanted the halls and rooms to run with families and children, able to be part of art and craft projects together in a safe, creative inclusive environment,” explained Blue.
 
“So, a local committee of like-minded individuals started MOCACYMRU, a social enterprise and not for profit charitable group, to bring more extracurricular creative workshops, programmes and opportunities to the community of Builth Wells and surrounding area.
 
“Builth Pottery HWB was born and this spring our first after-school programme began. Tireless efforts and voluntary hours of fundraising and preparation in the winter were successful.
 
“With funding support form Builth Wells Town Council, the PostCode Lottery, Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations (PAVO) and Heart of Wales Line, we set up a programme of lessons, workshops and AfterSchool Clubs to support and engage with all skills and ages.”
 
Since April, the local community has been engaged in a wide range of creative activities, including making pottery, hand building, sculpting, glazing, slip painting and decorating, slab building, coil pot making and tile making.
 
The groups run weekly during term time on Wednesdays and Thursdays at the HWB, with participants aged from eight to 88!
 
“There is no real age limit apart from the fact that everybody needs to get involved in the course, so the cut off for participation is year four,” explained Alex. “However, we are trying to add more courses for 15 to 19 year olds specifically, as well as parent and baby groups and family sessions. We are working on it!
 
“Everyone is given the opportunity to come and visit in some way, be it open studios, drop in sessions, our successful AfterSchool HWB on Wednesdays, which start up again in autumn, or our Adult Pottery Club on Thursday night, which restarts on September 5.”
 
Blue added: “We are far from finished. We hope to run a mini-art school taster, community design and architecture half term HWB and Christmas pottery sessions galore.
 
“As well as offering exciting garden projects, we are an Autism Friendly space and this education is so important in rural spaces and extracurricular schemes in Powys.”
 
Support from the Heart of Wales Line’s Community Grant Scheme has seen the HWB engage with walking and cycling groups to visit the pottery at the weekends to talk about their train connections and vision of the beautiful countryside that will inspire artwork at the studio.
 
“We are a community organisation that shows that our work promotes social and economic development, providing a voice for and bringing communities together,” explained Blue.
 
“Funding support is vital as costs to sustain a pottery and art studio in the community cannot be done without important investment. If we were to include firings, clay, glazes, kilns, tools and general running costs, the fees would be out of reach of families and participants in rural Powys.
 
“It’s vital we keep fundraising so that we can provide the opportunities here in rural Mid Wales that larger towns and cities take for granted. It’s so important to offer ambitious, innovative, exciting art and cultural projects in our communities.
 
“If we can’t offer this in our own home towns, why would young people stay, why would people feel connected to their communities?”
 
Builth Pottery HWB returns the week of September 4 and 5. For more information, contact Blue on [email protected] or call 07926211555.

Examples of the artworks created by people at Builth Pottery HWB.