Bounce Theatre is delighted to be taking a project made with members of The Grace Dear Arts Project to the 2022 WOW (Women of the World) Festival.

Imagine is a new magazine that imagines the power of the media to positively represent young people’s thoughts, views and opinions in order to promote good mental health.

Their first issue is themed to coincide with International Women’s Day so has a thread running through of thinking about equality, feminism, body positivity and leadership.

The magazine will be printed and distributed at the WOW marketplace on Sunday 13th March. It will then go online digitally for a wider audience to download for free.

The project has been made possible thanks to support from The Grace Dear Trust. The charity aims to raise awareness and reduce the stigma which surrounds mental health, so people can speak openly about their feelings. Find out more about them here : https://thegracedeartrust.co.uk

Listen to the podcasts which helped make the magazine:

https://soundcloud.com/user-906114856/ep-3-conversations?utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Bounce Theatre is proud to have printed brand new Sugar & Spice zines for anyone who’d like to join in at home.

Containing a range of different activities, from pop-quizzes to spot-the-difference scenes of our local area, the packs are a nostalgic and creative exploration of Tooting.

“For the past six months, Bounce has been working with young people to uncover some of the heritage of Tooting High Street. The packs are a way to mark some of our ideas, the activities we have tried out and celebrate the project so far.”

The company was delighted to send some of them to St. George’s Hospital as part of the Arts Team’s Creative Resource Collection Station.

Sugar & Spice is a heritage lottery-funded project, intending to animate the hidden heritage of Tooting High Street. Sugar & Spice celebrates the people, the places, and the spaces which helped shape the High Street as we know it today. The project will culminate in an ambitious performance, travelling decades in 90 minutes, and a pop-up museum for Tooting.

Join the projects: Sugar & Spice

Help us build the Museum of Memories

Email Lauren@bouncetheatre.com to share your memories of Tooting. We can send you questions from young people to answer or we can arrange a telephone reminiscence call to record your memories and contribute to the project! We are looking for your answers to questions such as:

What was it like growing up in Tooting?

What was fashionable when you were growing up?

What sort of music did you like?

We wondered what it was like to sit in the Granada cinema during the film club? Could you tell us about that?

How has our High Street changed?

Who is the most famous person you know that grew up in Tooting?

Do you remember any big events celebrated in Tooting?

What could young people do growing up when you did?

What were your favourite shops in Tooting?

How did it feel to go shopping when you were younger?

What was the thing everyone wanted to buy when you were growing up?

Read the zine:

Thanks to generous support from the Big Lottery Fund, we are delighted to continue our lunch club, Turn Up Join In into 2022.

Turn Up Join In is based at the Home Café in Earlsfield. We meet on Tuesdays 11.30am-1pm. We offer a freshly cooked lunch, collage art, storytelling, and chat for residents age 18+ across Wandsworth. Initially a social prescribing pilot for Wandsworth Arts Service & Enable Leisure and Culture, the project flourished during the Autumn of 2021. Bounce is delighted to have sourced additional funding for it to continue.

The lunch club is open to anyone in the community, who for whatever reasons feels like they would benefit from company. We recognise that loneliness is a feeling that can affect anyone, no matter your background or circumstances. The lunch club is a positive opportunity for people to take care of themselves and hang out with others. Some of our members have said that the project helps them with their mental health, and others feel the value of an accessible space and company after living alone during lockdown.

“My son says I have changed. I am less depressed. I tell him that it is because of my Tuesday club. I am having counselling for depression. I told my counsellor about this, and they said to keep coming. I have benefited very much. My health is improving. My anxiety is slowly improving. Very amazing. I can now speak and be positive. It has helped me to focus. Coming on a Tuesday has helped with depression and loneliness, socialising, chatting with people and improving my concentration by being creative. This meeting group is more than medication. It is healing.”

We are proud to be hosting an intergenerational group of residents who connect through art and cultural activities, and feel happier and better connected to the community because of it. We look forward to sharing their work in events and exhibitions during 2022.

If you would like to join in or would like to refer someone to our lunch club please email louise@bouncetheatre.com for details.