We're delighted to be taking part in 'Culturally Mindful', a professional development and social impact initiative led by Wandsworth Council to support the diversification of the creative health sector.

Funded by the Mayor of London as part of Wandsworth's London Borough of Culture programme, the project gives our art facilitator, Mowbray, the chance to team up with a professional artist during a 12-day residency. They'll codesign a series of creative workshops that we'll later bring to our students — all designed to inspire creativity and boost their mental wellbeing.

Some of you may remember our involvement with the Giant Dolls' House Project a few years back. This thought-provoking programme invites people to reflect on home and environment by creating a dolls' house from a simple shoebox.

We first took part just after lockdown, when the ideas of home and connection felt more important than ever. So we were absolutely delighted to get involved again and reconnect with the project this year.

Students work has been on display as part of an exhibition at Battersea Arts Centre. It's running until 19th June, so if you hurry you might just catch it. If not, click the button below and check out the photos on our website.

We're incredibly proud of our students Daniel and Jodie who were each shortlisted for the Wandsworth Moves Together 'Sports Person of the Year' award. 

The awards ceremony, run by Wandsworth Council and Enable, took place at the Wandsworth Civic Suite and was hosted by Sky Sports presenter Emma Paton. The event honoured the individuals, schools, community groups and sports clubs going above and beyond to make physical activity fun, inclusive and accessible to all.

Both Daniel and Jodie have championed the benefits of physical activity, and worked with compassion and kindness to encourage others to get moving too.

Massive congratulations to Share student Georgia who completed the TCS London Marathon MyWay in April with an impressive time of four hours and 40 minutes. What an incredible achievement! Reflecting on the experience, Georgia told us, 'It was a really good day and I really enjoyed the run'. 

Georgia raised a whopping £2,521 for Share in the process, a contribution that will make a real difference to the work we do. 

Huge thanks to everyone who came along to our special evening event at the Share Community Café during Volunteers' Week. As well as thanking our volunteers, it was also a chance to express our gratitude to our funders, trustees and partners. We appreciate each and every one of you and everything that you do for us!

Catering students Shammah and Charlie were on hand to serve up Pimms and delicious mocktails, and we all enjoyed some fabulous food, thanks to the talented café catering team.

World Therapeutic Horticulture Day — a cause close to our hearts — gave us the perfect excuse to get even more creative last month. We made a short film at the Share Garden to explain just how powerful connecting with nature can be. Not only can it generate positive emotions like joy and calmness, it also helps to boost our physical wellbeing. Click on the button below to have a peek!

Thanks to the talent and support of our volunteer creative writing facilitator Janice, we run creative writing sessions for students. We'd love to share with you some of the wonderful poetry the group has created.

Each session has a theme, recently this was 'A Perfect World'. Students wrote two poems: the first uses the structure of the Louis Armstrong song 'What a Wonderful World' which they listened to for inspiration. The second was a little more light-hearted!

A Perfect World

I see kindness to everyone,
I see happiness all around,
I see mothers cuddling their babies,
I see peace in the world,
I see no more poverty,
I see no more knives,
I see everyone helping everyone:
I see a perfect world.

Every Day, the Best World Will Have…

Eastenders (including Friday!),
the new series of Dr Who,
singing at fun parties,
going to the park with a picnic,
puppies playing with my dog Ollie,
writing classes,
new colouring books!

Written by Joyce, Harish, Doddy, Gus, Charles and Robert

You could make a big difference to our work with just a small monthly gift. We rely on donations to deliver the range and quality of services essential to support disabled adults to have more choice and independence.

Regular giving in this way is vital to help charities like Share. Guaranteed income from monthly givers means we can plan and invest in our services longer term, providing more programmes and support for disabled people and their families.

Our café is open Monday to Friday from 10am until 3pm in Vauxhall. If you're in the area do pop by and sample our delicious coffee and cakes. You'll be helping our students to learn valuable employability skills in catering and hospitality, giving them the chance to develop practical work skills, nurture their personal growth and improve their emotional wellbeing. 

We're always on the lookout for new volunteers to support our projects. Whether as support workers in our daily sessions, befrienders, social buddies, or corporate volunteers, we have a range of opportunities to suit different interests and skills. Volunteering with Share is an incredibly rewarding experience and makes a big difference to the work we do. Please get in touch if you're interested and pass the message on to anyone you know who might want to help.