Culture and learning take centre stage at The Grange

Following seven weeks of workshops, service users from the Grange Day Centre in Shrewsbury staged a drama performance at the centre on 12 March.

The piece, called Hidden Voices (Letters from Africa), was supported by PEDAL (Personal Development for Adults with Learning Disabilities) and was based on a group of friends in Zimbabwe who gather to read some letters which have been found in a large wooden chest up in an attic. Two teams were setup, one in modern day whose role was to read the letters, with cast members contributing about certain paragraphs and creating a lively conversation. The other team reinacted sections of the letter as if in Zimbabwe.

Councillor Barbara Craig, Cabinet member for community services said “Events like the Hidden Voices project are a great example of involving the local community to interact and learn new experiences."

Funding for the drama project came from the Community Champions Grant, a grant set up by the DfES (Department for Education and Skills) to help provide support for people with small-scale ideas for projects to help improve their communities.

Cate Wallington, Day Centre Manager said: “We are very grateful for the grant we have received from the Community Champions, which has allowed us to host this exciting project.”

The Grange centre offers employment and training advice as well as a variety of other activities such as pottery workshops, art classes and lap top courses to disabled people in Shropshire. The centre has also entered their Garden into Britain in Bloom competition.

17 March 2008