Friday’s pickling and preserving workshop was a chance to learn how to save money by making healthy food to keep you nourished through the winter months.

Sign up to explore a new skill

Hastings Commons is currently running a programme of courses tailored to suit people who have never felt comfortable in formal learning situations. Erica Smith encourages you to sign up to a short course and discover how much fun it can be to learn a new skill.

The Alley Way Learning programme is a series of one and half hour introductory courses in venues across Hastings. The programme takes its ethos, and the inspiration for its name, from the successful Australian based Laneway Learning project. Courses are designed to make learning accessible to everyone within the local community.

In her wellbeing workshop for women at the Grumpy Cook cafe last week, Wendy shared ways to help attendees to empower themselves and live more happy and contented lives.

Alley Way Learning is an initiative to provide cost-efficient and varied learning opportunities, with classes taught by those from the community: whether that’s local experts and business owners or just people who want to share their knowledge, skills, and/or cultural heritage with others. The programme of courses was developed after asking people across the town what they wanted to learn – and what skills they would be happy to share with others. Neither the tutors or students are from traditional educational backgrounds.

So far, workshops have been run on Chinese calligraphy, women’s well-being and preserving foods. Classes have been held in the Observer Building in Cambridge Road and the Grumpy Cook cafe in Robertson Street. The introductory course in chess for women, which is being held this Friday at the Board Game Cafe in Hastings Old Town, has already sold out.

There is no set fee for each course – you are asked to pay what you can, with a suggested £4 fee per class. If you cannot afford to pay anything, that is not a barrier to you attending the class. And if you are able to pay more than £4 then you are welcome to ‘pay it forward’ to help others access the courses.

The next three courses programmed are:

Monday 21 October: Colombian Cumbia Folklore Dance
with Marlyn Lopez
7–8.30pm at OBX, Hastings Observer Building
Find out more and book via this link

Saturday 26 October: Hastings Local History
with Andre Palfrey-Martin
12–1.30pm at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery
Find out more and book via this link

Wednesday 30 October: Make a Patchwork Cushion
with Ruth
12–1.30pm at Hastings Observer Building
Find out more and book via this link

The popular art of Chinese calligraphy workshop was run by Hastings local Kim Chau (on the left).

Through the project, Hastings Commons aims to build community, to inspire a network of knowledge exchange and to uplift marginalised communities in Hastings.

The four main goals of the project are:

• To create accessible learning environments by delivering inclusive, diverse and creative classes in welcoming spaces at an affordable rate.
• To deliver classes and workshops that span a variety of topics, for an intersectional audience, focusing on learning new skills and cultural knowledge.
• To empower our local communities by offering training support and resources to members of the community wanting to share a new skill.
• To help combat isolation and create community cohesion by breaking down social barriers, where people learn and share together.

The courses cover five strands of teaching and learning styles which create environments that accommodate different access needs within our community. For example, some classes take place in relaxed and sensory friendly environments, taking into consideration different learning styles and providing a supportive environment for those whose first language isn’t English. Learning will vary from traditional hands-on workshops to movement activities and digital learning (online workshops).

The Alley Way Learning coordinator Santi Sorrenti is a (DIY) style outreach expert, grassroots organiser, and the Founder of G(end)er Swap – the first LGBTQ+ style outreach organisation in the UK that supports gender-diverse people to access clothes and style resources. Santi has been supporting the LGBTQ+ community via style outreach for seven years. Their work spans drag performance, delivering community workshops and diverse digital style content to create spaces where gender-diverse people can creatively explore, and find freedom in, authentic self-expression.

Santi Sorrenti

Santi says, “I feel honoured to be a part of this programme because it closely aligns with the work that I do in supporting LGBTQ+ people with style outreach services. My mission, in any community learning environment, is to always create an enriching learning experience for people where the opportunity to acquire new knowledge and skills transcends financial, physical, and social barriers. Through this, we build confidence in people, create dynamic community cohesion, and instill feelings of self-worth, resilience, and confidence in people. We are so lucky to have a plethora of creatives and makers, with lots of community events available in Hastings. We are, however, looking to connect with people who have not had a platform, or the right opportunity to deliver their knowledge and to broaden the spectrum and breadth of events in the town with Alley Way Learning.”

The Alley Way Learning programme is particularly interested in hearing from those with an experience of disability, a marginalised sexual/gender identity, from a religious or ethnically diverse background, or who are over the age of 60.

To learn more about the programme visit the Alley Way Learning webpage. This pilot programme was made possible thanks to the Awards For All programme by The National Lottery Fund and the Chalk Cliff Trust.

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