Charity’s search for a new home

Busy Buttons must vacate premises by February

A Windsor charity is looking for a new home ahead of the Windsor Yards redevelopment.

Busy Buttons CORE Charity has offered creative opportunities to more than 2,500 young people through holiday programmes and school workshops.

The volunteer-led registered charity supports children from low-income families, offers alternative provisions for children who are unable to attend school due to anxiety and special educational needs and hosts a weekly ‘Creative Calm’ group for ladies facing anxiety.

Chair and founder, Louella Fernandez-Lempiäinen said: “The last Busy Buttons CORE charity’s holiday camp at the current premises was a great success.

“But the charity now needs to find a new home.

“The once-empty unit gave room to the charity to create a world of creative experiential inclusive learning and fun with community engagement and cohesion.

“We understand that the redevelopment is imminent and appreciate all the support we had from the landlord in all these years we have been there. Many meaningful life-changing memories were created at Windsor Yards.”

Busy Buttons has been told to vacate the premises by February 29, 2024.

The charity has welcomed more than 20,000 participants over the years in its varied programmes such as The Duke of Edinburgh Award, theatre performances, art exhibitions, lantern parades, community and family events, creative fairs and more than 30 creative projects such as The Platinum Orb and The little GREAT Exhibition.

Busy Buttons was founded after owners, Louella and Lautaro Lempiäinen, experienced a life-threatening attack by a group of young people.

Soon after, they started mentoring youngsters in South East London to feel a sense of self-worth beyond violence and crime which led them to leave their careers in the film industry and grow the initiative into a registered charity.

They resourcefully dipped into their film and television experience to create the eclectic Busy Buttons design studio in Windsor Yards using upcycling and repurposing on a shoestring budget.

Art collector and V&A and British Museum consultant, Davinder Toor added: “The work Busy Buttons is doing is desperately needed and enriching.

“Bringing together the arts and heritage workshops is mind-opening.”

The charity’s inclusive approach to creative education saw three Windsor students work selected from 21,000 national entries for display at the Royal Academy of Arts’ Young Artist Summer Show and being awarded ‘Best Craft School 2023’ by the Crafts Council UK for its hands-on curriculum.

During the pandemic, Busy Buttons offered more than 2,000 hours of online support and produced an online performance ‘The Princesses Play’ with animation, puppets, role-playing and music to depict real-life stories from senior citizens in local care homes about their childhood during the Second World War.

If you can help Busy Buttons find new premises or help pack and fundraise, contact: community@busybuttons.org or donate at www.busybuttons.org/ donate