Eat your heart out Tiffany’s! With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, romantic gift hunters need look no further than Norwood. The charity has launched a new online shop which sells jewellery and other items made by adults with learning disabilities.
www.norwood.org.uk/gifts carries a wide range of one-off bracelets, brooches, earrings, necklaces and rings hand-crafted at jewellery workshops held at the RD Crusaders WorkHub in Stanmore. The initiative is a social enterprise project which allows people to gain important employment based skills and to become involved with the website.
The product range has already proved very popular and also includes canvases painted by people who attend Norwood art sessions. There are plans to add additional items and extend the project to include residents at Ravenswood, Norwood’s residential community for adults with learning disabilities in Berkshire.
Linda Looney, Life Long Learning Project Development Manager, said: “This project is in its infancy, but as it grows our aim is to generate enough money from the sale of items so that the people who make them can earn an income.
“We also hope to teach people the necessary skills to enable them to run the business with our support. “This is a vital step on the road towards greater independence and hopefully will encourage people to set up their own businesses in the future.”
Miriam Goodman, who lives in a Norwood residential home in Hendon, is a regular participant in weekly jewellery-making sessions at the WorkHub.
“I think it is nice that people will buy jewellery that I have made,” she said. “I like pretty things and I like making jewellery with hearts on them. I like making bracelets most of all. It would be nice to get money, but I do it because I enjoy making jewellery."
Further Norwood social enterprise projects are also in the pipeline. An eco-friendly car washing service in Hatch End, run by adults with learning disabilities, is set to be launched later this year.
