Art’s the way to stress relief

ARTS and crafts classes proved just the tonic for adults with mental health issues in Biddulph.

And the group of learners from the town’s West Street Care Home and Rethink who went along to the community learning sessions at Biddulph Fire Station run by Buxton & Leek College really caught the bug for learning. Now some are set to tackle functional skills such as Maths and English in September.

Thanks to a successful funding bid to Staffordshire County Council, the college’s Adult and Community Learning department set up the craft classes in Biddulph which were run by art tutor Perry Walmsley-Pitts.  The aim was to reach out to learners with mental health issues and mental and physical disabilities.

Course administrator Gill Roberts explained: “We ran salt dough and air drying clay modelling sessions where everyone could relax and interact with each other and the learners all thoroughly enjoyed themselves- so much so that all eight have expressed an interest in returning to learning in September.”

For details of other leisure courses run by Buxton & Leek College, check out the college website at www.blc.ac.uk and, to book your place, call 0800 74 0099.