Micklefield Community Art Club

I was very happy to be able to start a new art club in Micklefield. Micklefield is an old mining village situated about 3 miles from Garforth.

I grew up in Garforth, I had friends who lived in Micky and I was always aware of the mining heritage, it shared with Garforth and neighbouring Swillington. All these areas have become highly developed in recent years. There aren’t many amenities in Micklefield and Swillington and I think most people commute to Garforth and the surrounding area for shops, work and education. Garforth has a busy main street and we have five primary schools and one high school, we also have two trains stations. I’m still trying to work out how come Micklefield hasn’t had its amenities protected due to this development, maybe its due to the commercial strength of Garforth Mains Street alone… I’m just not sure.

After receiving funding through Point North Community Foundation, I approached the local primary school to hire their hall for community art club. Our first meeting was in May and we have held four so far. I have only just figured out how to work the alarm system properly and Im grateful for the schools head teacher for her patience. One week we even had a little hedgehog who tried to attend. We had to turn him away because he didn’t book on.

They have had a small attendance, which I expected as Garforth was like that when I started back in 2022. Time is a key factor in sustainable social practice and I am trying to think things through to make it work. I recently was happy to see our little club in the Point North Newsletter that is share with many different community groups in the north east.