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The Birmingham Scrapstore Morsbags Group

If you haven’t heard of the Morsbags movement we are supporting people to make bags which will replace the need for plastic carrier bags. Plastic causes so much harm to the natural world and by making a simple bag from fabric that would otherwise be thrown away is your contribution to saving the planet.

Morsbags are made by volunteers, crafter, sewing groups, children in schools, and just you in your home and they are then given away for free, to encourage more people to think twice before buying a plastic carrier bag.

There is support to make the bags, and we will even source you fabric and labels if you join our ‘Pod’. When you make your bags just let us know and we can add our total numbers for the Birmingham Morsbag Pod to the website at www.morsbags.com . On the website you will find a brief history into how the movement started, and instructions on how to make one.

So far our Morsbag numbers have reached over 1500! Many, many thanks to all those who have made and given away these lovely bags which contribute to helping us to rid the planet of plastic bags.

If you would like more information about making Morsbags or joining the Scrapstore please contact Diane on 0121 236 2917, or Diane@bpcn.org.uk

We are also taking part in the Jewellery Quarter Festival on 21st and 22nd July 2018 where we will be introducing everyone to the Morsbag movement, giving away free kits to those who attend our Flower workshops. Workshop attendees will have to opportunity to win a beautiful sewing box donated by Korbond.

Here is the link to the Jewellery Quarter Festival for more information;

https://jewelleryquarter.net/jq-festival/

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We have moved our Jewellery Quarter premises!

The Jewellery Quarter Scrapstore and office and have now moved to a new building, The Argent Centre, so that we can offer our services in a more focused way. The new JQ Scrapstore opened on Tuesday 3rd July 2018.

This new Scrapstore is going to look very different and will cater for the crafters amongst you. You will be able to source fabrics, card, tubes, carpet tiles, printing materials, ribbon, and all sorts of wonderful craft resources. Please check out our Facebook page to take a look. We are based in the Argent Centre, Unit 301A, 60 Frederick Street, Birmingham, B1 3HS. There is street parking, as before, and a lift service. Please press the buzzer, near the main entrance, for Unit 301A and we will let you in……..go into the lift and press floor 3 ….turn left and there we are!

We are also able to offer training and workshops at our new Argent Centre site as we have our very own training room. Our workshop/training timetable will be available soon and we will continue to offer workshops at other city venues too. We hope you will pop in to see us and take advantage of the new layout and resources.

Of course, we continue to offer wonderful resources at Yardley where some of the larger items can be stored as well as everything you could need for loose parts play in your setting or business.

Our other exciting news is that we were given the opportunity to attend at the Creative Craft Show at the NEC on 29th June to 1st July 2018. Our Scrapstore stall advertised what we do and offered free workshops to make fabric flowers (using fabric from the Scrapstore) and participants were given a Free Morsbag Kit.

Korbond donated a beautiful sewing box which was handed to one of our Volunteers as she supplied us with all the Morsbags that we gave away on the day.

Our Manager, Emma Payne, gave a presentation at lunchtime each day promoting Scrapstores, recycling and loose parts play and what we do towards this in Birmingham! It all went fantastically well!!

A huge thank you goes out to all our wonderful Volunteers who supported us!

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Good Practice Award – Summer Term Winner announced

Five after school providers entered our Good Practice Award, as the panel spent time looking over all the work that had been completed it was blown away by the amazing work that the settings are carrying out with their children.

Some entries were able to demonstrate the utilisation of a small space, whilst others spread their project across a larger coverage.

The panel decided to award the children at Busy Bodies Before and After School Club (based in Boldmere Primary School) the Good Practice Award.

The children worked incredibly hard on a recycling project. The panel loved that the children used  a number of resources to look into recycling such as books, internet, discussions with each other, and the involvement of parents before putting together a display.

The display used a vast range of items that had been brought in by the children, which normally they would throw away. The panel particularly loved the snakes made out of tights and old socks, cherry blossom trees made from newspapers, and window scenes created from old calendars.

The children not only showed a fantastic creative flair, but involved and consulted with all users of the club and demonstrated an amazing awareness of what we throw away and how it can be re-used to create master pieces.

Congratulations Busy Bodies, and keep up the good work.