Resistance and Resilience 2023

To mark International Women’s Day, join Creative Spaces Co. and Skywriters Ltd. for a relaxed writing workshop to share stories of change, challenge and triumph.

We’ll be meeting on Thursday 23 February from 6:30-8pm at Quaker Meeting House, School Lane, L1 3BT

To sign-up email IWDMerseyside@gmail.com

The Little Details:
- The workshop is open to all women, inclusive of Trans women and non-binary people.
- The workshop is free, pens and notepads will be available as well as light refreshments; please let us know if you need anything ahead of the session.
- Women need to be based in Liverpool City Region (Merseyside), and over 18 to join.

Children’s Mental Health Week 2023

We delivered two creative workshops for families to mark Children’s Mental Health Week. We joined The Friends of Rice Lane Rec and The Bluecoat to make positive affirmation badges and create a mindful picture to inspire positivity. We also shared tips on improving well-being, from reading for pleasure to enjoying scree-free time outdoors.

An affirmation is a positive phrase that children can use to feel more confident and resilient with any challenges they may need to overcome.

Thank you to the Liverpool ONE Foundation and the Community Foundation for Merseyside for continuing to support our work to support our work with children and families.

2022: A Year In Review

2022 has been a big year for us; we’ve grown from a start-up to an established social business working in more spaces with even more people.

So, we thought we’d share with you our 2022 round-up…

• We created 1440 free places for families to read, play games and make crafts at our weekly Story Box sessions across three community venues.

• We hosted 5 Reading Folk Book Clubs for parents.

• We created an International Women’s Day screen display at the Museum of Liverpool with Skywriters Ltd.

• We organised six community clean-ups of Thirlmere Park working with GoodGym Liverpool and planted a wildflower meadow with children from All Saints Primary School and Scouse Flowerhouse.

• Our 2022 Book Club read Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends; The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper, Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers, The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett and No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood.

• In the Spring, we brought our creative pop-up to 14 community spaces over the Easter break and Whit half-term. We read, played games and made lots of spring crafts!

• In June, we launched Writing for the Soul, with Square Pegs exploring memoir writing with seven wonderful writers.

• We had our busiest summer this year; we visited over 20 organisations bringing lots of stories, games and crafts with us. As well as hosting our Summer Story Box sessions for children under 11 and their grown-ups!

• We had a Spooktacular October half-term, bringing The Story Box at Hallowe’en to libraries, youth clubs and community centres across the city.

• At the end of November, we hosted a placard-making workshop with GFS England & Wales. 60 girls spent the afternoon talking about the issues they cared about and then made their own powerful posters.

• To end the year we hosted 10 magical Story Box at Christmas events as well as Christmas Party for Babies under-1 and gifted over 100 books to celebrate the season; with the help of the amazing FACTCO.

• If you would like to support our work in 2023, you can donate here.

The Story Box at Christmas 2022

On Sunday 11 December, families from across Liverpool came together to celebrate the whole Christmas season at a very special Story Box event in SARA Hall.

Thanks Liverpool ONE Foundation!

We’re delighted to share that the Liverpool ONE Foundation has awarded Creative Spaces Co. funding to bring The Story Box to spaces across Liverpool!

The Story Box comes in three sizes, weekly sessions for under-5s, special events for children under 11 and a book club for 8-11-year-olds.

We’re currently delivering weekly sessions for under-5s in Toxteth Library, The Old Library and Walton Life Rooms - families can book their free places here. Our under-11s sessions take place every half-term and in the summer holidays!

Creative Spaces Co. Director Rachael O’Byrne said, “We’re proud to work in libraries, parks, community centres and more, bringing books to life through interactive storytelling, games and crafts for children and their families. The funding from the Liverpool ONE Foundation, delivered through the Community Foundation for Merseyside, is transformative for our organisation and will enable us to continue our exciting work across Liverpool City Region.”