Six people from the local community have been given the opportunity to develop and grow new projects that will benefit Bodmin.
The Bodmin Change Makers project, facilitated by intoBodmin, is a result of National Lottery funding acquired last year, after the arts organisation applied to the People’s Projects fund. While they weren’t awarded the initial funding they were setting their sights on, they were still allocated some money to
bring a new programme to life: Change Makers.
Fin Irwin, director of intoBodmin, explained: “The vision for Change Makers was to bring together some community people who would then be supported to develop different skills and become community champions, running projects in the town. We’ve got six people signed up, with a variety of projects that they’re working on.”
Just some of the Change Makers projects include ‘Bodmin Now and Then’, piecing together the work of local photographer George Ellis, who worked in the area between the 1930s and 1980s, while identifying local people in the photos. There is also a Repair Cafe project, led by a volunteer who runs the repair cafe in Lostwithiel; Creative Wellbeing, exploring the connection between creativity, wellbeing and nature; and a project focusing on young people.
Change Makers is a six-month programme, which started in November 2023 and will come to a close in May 2024, and intoBodmin believes the encouragement of positive projects is vital to the community here in Bodmin.
Fin said: “There’s a lot happening in Bodmin, but also a lot of people who have passion, skills or time. In an ideal world, you would have all three of those elements, but ultimately, you could be a Change Maker if you have got the means to be there, the skills to put into a new project, the experience to volunteer and the passion and drive to see it through. Change Makers is helping to fill that gap.”
intoBodmin hopes to continue Change Makers in the future, but this is all dependent on funding. “I think Bodmin will get new groups and funding for projects off the back of this, and we feel confident that we can develop Change Makers into a project we can continue in the future,” Fin added.
Want to know more? Visit intobodmin.co.uk/projects