We got something to share and we are a little bit in shock about it to be honest.
We have been recognised as a community group who has seized the opportunity to add value to our work by engaging creatively with business partners.
We are delighted to confirm that we have been shortlisted as a finalist for a Groundwork Community Award in the Best community partnership with business category. We have been invited to join the awards ceremony, to be held at the House of Commons, Westminster, London.
We Are Going To London !!
This has been a UK wide community award and we feel very humble to be recognised for our work. We love what we do and we are still in a little shock about the selection.

We managed to get out and about again last weekend and what a time we had!
Little Orchard Cider festival was simply an amazing time for all involved.
There was 7 of us that went to mix in with nearly 5000 others at the festival, and we were mainly all involved with TeX – our textiles project.
Our set up was half for trade and half for workshops and repairs.
We traded from Friday until Sunday and for those 3 days we met so many friends, old and new, we laughed until our bellies ached and we ate foods from the four corners of the earth that included Pad Thai, Fish and Chips, Pulled Pork, Pasties and Nachos.
Our workshops we more aimed at children where we made pompoms, friendship bracelets and we painted faces- all for free and with them able to take away what they made. We also offered a free repair service that saw multipul bags, jumpers, shoes and we even had one man wear a tutu while we repaired his shorts.  
Trade was so much better than what we thought, with our knitwear going down beautifully with the public alongside our wonderful hats that we make during the long winters in Cornwall. Unique, amazing, colourful were words that were heard often alongside the fast demand for business cards (that we actually forgot and hastily wrote out on request).
What these festivals mean to us is invaluable to what we do. It gives the makers the money they so often need to continue, it gives us the feedback we need to help find direction, it gives us the opportunity to get out and about as so often we simply can’t afford it due to living on such tight budgets and it gives chance to talk to people about sustainable fashion, industry waste and how we work to creating a circular economy. Things like Little Orchard Festival need to happen, not just for us to continue our work but simply for the fun it provides in the community, the way it brings people together and to remind us for just a short time that life is good and there are some beautiful people around.
We hope to be back next year as this year was such a blast !

Just over 12 months ago we made a film to promote Bodmin Town while it was undergoing major roadworks , a film that showed Bodmin was Open and whilst doing the film, through conversation with the local traders in one part of the town that was effected the most, Honey Fayre was born.
The conversations with the shop traders on the street told us that they wanted to increase footfall, that they wanted to highlight the area, its diverse independent shops and they wanted to break the negative talking down of the town. From a few coffees over a few weekends meeting them and listening to then and in return them listening to ideas it was apparent that the best way was to hold a pop up market that was youth centered  with the addition of support from community benefit groups.
We spent a month marketing the event through the normal channels, we got young enthusiastic entrepreneurs involved and within a few short weeks we had a massive crowd who wanted the event and 21 traders who committed themselves to be there.
The week leading up we made flags and bunting to decorate, we met and spoke with community groups who would be there to promote their work and we built up a small army of volunteers to help with the day.
6 am and the morning soon came around to start it all off. The feedback from social media was so positive we just knew it would be well supported and we had so much lined up for the first market for many years in a town that desperately cries out for community events like this to happen.
By 9.30 the traders had turned up, a couple got last minute nerves and pulled out but it left with 17 stalls who had put in so much effort to trade their wears and creations.
We had music, the most amazing youth street dance ( KBSK ), food and fantastic craftwork from youth as young as 13.
The whole day was very well supported by the public and the community really came together to show support. The mayor even turned up to pay a visit as she was very much in favor of this happening.
The over all feedback is for more and it was heavily suggested that seasonal would be best to start off with and with this we are looking at holding another in the run up to christmas. This in itself will create a few problems with organising as the area is a wind tunnel at times but the desire to create a covered area  / walk through was put forward and we are eager to explore this idea.
Trade was increased that day, one shop said they had doubled takings which to us was fantastic news. A young disabled chap who made fudge sold out by lunch time and he was simply over the moon with the interest. The kind messages of thanks from the young people was amazing though and with them asking if we could do this all again as this helped lift a great barrier for them when it comes to trading and testing their creations on the public.
So.. We hope to see you in December where we will grow off the feedback, involve more young people and do what we do best.. bring the community together.
If you would like to be involved with the next market, to trade, to volunteer, to offer support ( financial would be most welcome !) or if you know how we can create a covered walk way then please get in touch, message us and we will make this happen.
Thanks to all those that came and to Councillor Frost who believed in us enough to help finance a couple of gazebos that enabled people to trade.

Another date for your diaries - Saturday 8th September.
We will be running a pop up market - Honey Fare - on Honey Street, Bodmin.
We chose this location due to it being traffic free central in Bodmin, the independent traders are fantastic with so much to offer and its perfect for what we want to do.
The traders on the market will be Youth Enterprises, Social entrepreneurs or community groups. There will be bringing their locally made goods and services and it’s a great chance for them to highlight the fantastic work that they are doing.
The event has been made possible through a small amount of funding from Councillor Leigh Frost and supported by the Mayor of Bodmin Sara Kinsman as they are both very positive on promoting the great things about our town and the work we are doing.
We hope that this is the first of 4 markets we would like to hold each year and this can happen if it is supported by the community.
The venue is perfect for this with easy accessible parking, very supportive local traders and the fact that Honey Street is already pedestrianised meaning no road closures needed.
It’s been around a year in the making and after talks with the local and county council broke down last year it nearly never happened. However, after engaging with the local traders, youth and community groups they stressed how good this would be for them and we simply had to make it happen.
There is no cost for the market traders to be there as this will encourage more and it will give them the help they need to promote what they are doing as it is so often on a very tight budget.
The day will see some beautifully made crafts, fantastic mouth watering foods, music from buskers and street dance to set the atmosphere and entertain.
Come and join in, there may be space to trade if you fit the description above or just kick back, enjoy a little shopping, sample some of the great delights on offer and be part of the vibrant community of Bodmin.

We have been involved with Erasmus + for around the last 4 years either as participants, hosts or as partners on Erasmus + projects.
September will see our involvement enter a new experience with us being able to mentor a Young Entrepreneur from Turkey.
The Young Entrepreneur project that Erasmus runs is a fantastic opportunity for people to travel, learn and repeat on return to their home countries.
Yusuf will join us with the aim of learning and replicating part of our textile business back in Turkey on his return. Yusuf is from a family of Tailors and this will be the perfect opportunity to build on skills, knowledge and experience within the textile trade and for finding new opportunities in the future.
He will be with us for 2 months, staying with a local family to gain best experience and the whole program is funded by Erasmus and will give him expenses that will cover his stay, travel and living costs while here.  Everyone wins on this program.
We also have another involvement with Erasmus during September and we will be leading a team of youth out to Czech Republic to take part in a youth exchange on the subject of food.  The 4 young people will be meeting 38 others from across Europe in their first time visit to the country. The experience will see the participants look at food, the future of food and the differences in habits between the cultures. This again is funded by Erasmus and is aimed at creating new experiences and engagement for youth. Or part is mainly to guide them and offer support while they travel and find their feet in a new to them country. The experience is often a brilliant one and fun is high on the order of things.
We set off on the 22nd September for 8 days and really can’t wait as it will also be our fist time in Czech Republic and a country we have wanted to visit for a very long time.
Look out for updates, infoblogs and ways that you can join in on other projects with Erasmus.

The first of our 5 planned summer workshops started today and we were taken back by the talent that came through.
Wire work with silver and copper to make jewellery, a group of 7 and just the willingness to learn.
Only the sessional teacher had worked with wire before and with a handful of seaglass, a pair of pliers and a length of silver wire the students were soon creating something of beauty that they could take home and keep there after.
The workshops were taster sessions we are running through funding via Par Bay Big Local and are aimed at connecting with the community to see what they would like to do, and would they like to do more in the future. After todays session we know we have the demand for more, the ideas that came forward were positive and left us knowing that we are on the right track with our workshops.
If you would like to find out more then find us on Facebook where we have frequent updates, links to sign ups and a place where you can tell us what you would like to do.
Todays workshop, like the others 4 that are planned throughout the summer was held in Cornubia Hall Par. Its an ideal venue for workshops, its a place where communities can come together and its affordable. Perfect in our eyes.
link to facebook .. https://www.facebook.com/CultivateCornwall/

A brilliant networking event is planned for the 5th July and we hope its the first of many.
The Social networking event for social enterprsies will be held on Thursday 5 July, 6.30-8.30pm at Perranporth Beach,
Cultivate Cornwall will be there and we can offer lifts on the way to anyone who wants to join in so get in touch with us if you want to find out more, get involved or join in.

We love Mondays, we love flags and we love working with others so yesterday was needless to say a brilliant day for us.
Working with Par Carnival Group in a Community Hub - Cornubia, we spent the morning designing and preparing the making of this years Carnival Flags in Par.
To be honest, we get quite excited at these things as we know that the carnival is just around the corner, fun days lay ahead and 1000`s of people will come together to enjoy the day or in Par`s case a week of festival fun!

Par Carnival week al lstarts on the 14th July with a Fate at the running track.
You will find loads to do that day and if you have time, come along and see how you can be involved.

As a few of you may have noticed, we dont always go by the norm in what we do and over the weekend it was no different.
Following on with our mile of bunting our work over the weekend took us out of the office and onto the beach. Yes, you read that right, we decided to take our work to the beach.
Making a mile of bunting is no easy thing. Its 1609 meters and we have managed about a third of it so far.
Feeling like we are actually on target and knowing that everyone else was either on the beach or watching football somewhere we decided to work where we most wanted to be that day. The company was perfect, we had snacks and flasks of tea so we loaded the hand cranked Singers into the van, chucked in the gazebo, a couple of tables and chairs and away we went. The fact that our office is around only half a mile from the beach  made the decision easier and that there was an ice-cream van stationed there made it a must. 
Are we lucky to live so near? Maybe so but I do feel that we realise that days like that are important to our well being and our Team. We need to be good to ourselves and to take the time to enjoy the beauty around us. We took time to catch up, we found out who liked football during the world cup and we were surprised at the answer on that one. We took time to go for a paddle and even the little fish came to welcome us in. And then we did attract a lot of attention with what we were doing. A lot of `oohh, my granny had one of those, I love the sound they make` - referring to the Singer. Followed up by ` I used to make my doll closes with one of them when i was young and many more on similar themes.
That day we produced smiles along with bunting. Smiles from us, the people who stopped to talk, those who shared our tea and with those who join in to make the mile of bunting.
Another first for us as never had we ever thought about taking sewing machines to the beach to make bunting and to fill the day with smiles.
Hugely recommended and if ever you would like to join in, do the same or just pop by for tea, then get in touch, find out what we are doing next and make a date to put the kettle on.

So last week we met with Par Carnival Comity and we explored ways in which we could support the carnival this year.
What stood out was the support they have with entries from local community groups and with this they would not need us to help make costumes but they did have other ideas.
Par carnival is a week long event that brings all sectors and community groups together and this all ends with a carnival on the last day.
What came from the meeting was the fantastic idea of trying to line the route that the carnival takes with bunting - A mile of Bunting !!
This gave us 2 things that we love- A challenge and the chance to work with other community groups.
With this in mind we put out a shout via social media and soon enough we had offers from a community garden that is setting up a swap shop on Sundays and not only do they love the idea and want to be involved but they would like to highlight the swap shops so others can come along.
Another offer we had was from the Rainbows and Guides who would like to earn their badge in sewing and this would be the perfect opportunity. For this workshop we have planned to mix it up a bit between hand sewing, a hand cranked singer from 1910 and a more modern digital sewing machine so they can discover all aspects of sewing. Together there will be around 34 young children making bunting for the carnival. They also will be telling us about their designs that have been making for the carnival and to see if we can help them next year.
And yet more offers came in and this one wit ha huge element of fun.
Bunting on the beach..
We going to the beach to make bunting. Its that simple but with a huge element of fun. Ask yourself. When was the last time you went to the beach to make bunting? I know that I never have and nor has the team behind us so off to the beach we will go- with BBQ, beach balls, kites and armbands... and maybe a little bit of bunting.

/The first session starts on the 17th June in the community gardens Par and the beach session will be weather dependent  so keep an eye on our facebook page to find out when. https://www.facebook.com/texwithadifference/