In the Loop – 28 June 2024

Hello everyone, I hope you are enjoying this beautiful weather and our long light days.

I know that everyone will be keen to know the latest about the September courses and when they will be available to book, so I’ll jump straight in with that!

All the courses for the full academic year will be added to Bristol courses for viewing the first week of July BUT you won’t be able to book those courses until the following week.

Booking will be live from Monday 8th July at 9.30am. You will be able to book in person at Stoke Lodge, over the phone and through our online booking system.

If you plan to book online, it may be worth logging into the system ahead of time just to make sure you remember your password! If you book online, you should receive two emails confirming your booking. One will be your payment receipt and one will be your booking confirmation. Please make sure you have received both emails and let us know if you only get one.

If you plan to book with us over the phone, please be aware that we have a new phone system here at Stoke Lodge. The calls now come through to us on our laptops and when we take a payment, we will ask you to put your card details into your phone rather than ask you to read them out. This is to make sure your card details are secure, we will walk you through the process step by step.

We have over 500 courses planned for 24/25 lots of old favourites as well as some new titles.

July and August Courses

If you can’t wait till September to get your learning fix we have some great summer schools running in July and August. These courses are available to book now!

July Courses:

Creative Writing Group F36L Wed 17 Jul 1pm to 3pm with Carolyn

Drawing outdoors with Mixed Media – Intermediates D64G Wed, Thu & Fri 17 to 19 Jul 9.45am to 1.15pm with Bill

August Courses:

Upholstery Summer School T34H Mon to Fri from 5 Aug 9.30am to 3.30pm with Nicky

Space for Creativity Summer School D78K Mon to Fri from 12 Aug 10am to 4pm with Laurel

High Summer Sewing Workshop T44C  Fri 16 Aug 10am to 3pm with Marilyn

Watercolour Summer School – All Levels D79F Mon to Fri from 19 Aug 9.30am to 1.30pm with Ellie

I Wish I could Draw People! Figures and Faces – Beginners and Intermediates D64H Tue, Wed & Thu 27 to 29 Aug 10am to 1pm with Bill

Drawing and Painting a Person from Life – Intermediates and Advanced D64K Fri 30 Aug 10am to 4pm with Bill

Printmaking and Surface Design Summer School P30E Mon to Fri from 29 Aug 10am to 4pm with Barbara at St Paul’s Learning Centre

Stained-Glass Summer School P37D Mon to Fri from 29 Jul 10am to 4pm with Ruth

Happy Pride Month

You may know that June is Pride month, a fantastic celebration of acceptance and equality, showcasing LGBTQ+ people and raising awareness of the issues that affect them.

LGBTQ+ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer.  The + is an inclusive symbol to mean ‘and others’.

The suggestion to call the movement Pride came from Lee Craig Schoonmaker in 1969 who said:

“A lot of people were very repressed, they were conflicted internally, and didn’t know how to come out and be proud. That’s how the movement was most useful, because they thought, ‘Maybe I should be proud.”

We are delighted to support the aim of Pride “to work towards creating a better society together, for friends, family and allies to show their support and for members of the community to live authentically and proudly.”

Bristol Pride festival runs from 29 June to 14 July with the Pride Day Parade planned for Saturday 13 July.  The walking parade will start in Castle Park at 10.45 and follows a 2-mile route around central Bristol ending at the Amphitheatre on the docks.  It is always a fantastic show of love and acceptance and probably Bristol’s most colourful event with hundreds of rainbow flags on display.

You can find out more about the work of Bristol Pride website.

Upcoming Elections

You will have no doubt noticed that we have a general election coming up on Thursday 4 July.  This is the first General election where you need to bring photo ID to vote so make sure you have some ID on you when you visit the polling station. Here is a full list of accepted ID can be found.

BS9 Arts Trail

A big thank you to all the learners who provided artwork for display for this years BS9 Arts Trail.  It was a great weekend and your work looked amazing on the walls of Stoke Lodge as always.  We had lots of wonderful comments and you should all be extremely proud of your stunning creations.

Thanks everyone, we look forward to seeing you over the summer and don’t forget the booking date for the 24/25 courses is Monday 8 July.

Kindest regards

Jenny