Rockfield open day brings in the crowds
ON SATURDAY September 2 the Rockfield Centre hosted its ‘Spread the Word’ party with more than 200 people visiting the community huts over the course of the day.
Staff, volunteers, supporters, centre users and visitors to Oban all came together to raise a glass of fizz to achieving the first major funding milestone for the project, the recent award of almost £1 million from the Big Lottery Fund.
As well as all the congratulating and cork-popping, it was the perfect opportunity for the centre to launch its programme of activity for the autumn.
Those attending the party saw displays of some of the activity over the past year and had the chance to test out some new concepts for future groups and plans.
The September programme is packed with plenty of interesting and engaging activities.
There are the regular weekly and monthly music workshops, such as Songwriting Sessions, Scratch Choir, Fiddle Workshop and Let’s Make a Scene, a relaxed, open mic night for new music and spoken word.
There are also some new regular heritage events, courtesy of heritage officer Jamie Yates. The Monthly Blether is an informal get-together for Obanites, old and new, taking the topic of ‘journeys’ as its theme for sharing memories or old photographs. Know Your Roots? is a genealogy club with a difference, focusing not on official records and research but on telling stories and using family history to inspire creative projects, such as songs, poetry or visual art.
This month there’s even more to enjoy: the return of Breege Smyth’s ever popular machine sewing classes, plus the second Wurdplay spoken word open mic event run by Jamie Livingstone, which takes place on Saturday September 23.
The featured artist at Wurdplay will be award-winning Northern Irish poet and performer Rachel McCrum and as usual there will be plenty of room for local writers to perform their work.
Most of the activities are free to attend and where there is a charge the centre always includes some free places for those who can’t pay.
For more information on anything in the programme visit the website, therockfieldcentre.org. uk, or check out the Facebook page for details.
If anyone has any ideas for future activities, why not get in touch or pop by for a visit? After all, The Rockfield Centre is owned by the community – and that means everyone.