Bounce has recently been afforded the honour of being shortlisted for a Community Hero by Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce.

The Wandsworth Chamber of Commerce was founded over 50 years ago and has been championing the cause of local businesses ever since. The Wandsworth Business Awards showcase the best of Wandsworth to a wider audience.

We’ve been nominated for keeping our team in work during the pandemic, moving into social prescribing projects, and our work with young people.

Louise, on behalf of Bounce, says, “The award is a wonderful celebration of the team we have built during and after the pandemic, who all work to creatively support their community.”

Bounce was recently afforded the honour of being best charity/social enterprise at the Wandsworth Women in Enterprise Awards.

Wandsworth established the awards nine years ago. They recognise the tenacity, creativity, and adaptability of women in business. The day is also an opportunity to celebrate the contributions small businesses make to the community and local economy.

Louise, on behalf of Bounce, was delighted to receive the award for best female-led charity/social enterprise in Wandsworth.

We are recruiting! We have four posts falling under two job roles. Do you have the enthusiasm and ability to deliver for Bounce? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

The two main role types are below, please download the application packs with further details and instructions on how to apply.

LEAD DRAMA PRACTITIONER/FACILITATOR

To lead on and co-deliver our projects working with children and young people.

The facilitator may work alongside our Creative Learning Manager, our Artistic Director, and/or assistant practitioners/facilitators to plan, develop, and deliver workshops and events across the year. The facilitator will document observations and contribute towards workshop evaluations.

Rates of pay are based on £75 for half a day & £150 for a full day ( calculated in line with school hours). There will be additional time for planning and meetings for longer term projects.

ASSISTANT PRACTITIONER/FACILITATOR

To support/co-deliver our projects working with children and young people.

The facilitator will work alongside our artistic team to support the delivery of workshops and events across the year. The facilitator will document observations and contribute towards workshop evaluations.

The rate of pay in workshops will be £15.00 per hour which includes any preparation and set up time needed.

The deadline for applications is midnight on Wednesday 21st December 2022.

Initial interviews (via Zoom) will be held on either Friday 6th or Monday 9th January 2023.

Please send all enquiries to: lauren@bouncetheatre.com

Bounce is delighted to become a provider for Wandsworth Holiday Activities Fund (HAF).

Over the 2022-23 academic year we’ll be providing Christmas, Easter and Summer workshops in collaboration with our friends at the Home Cafe.

This winter, we’ll be at the cafe for hot chocolate, warm food, and a range of creative art activities to exhibit at the cafe to welcome in 2023. We’ll also be visiting the Southbank to hang out in the winter lounge, see an exhibition, and try some food from the markets.

Open to: Children in receipt of FREE SCHOOL MEALS Aged 7-11.

If you are eligible for F.U.E.L. and would like to book, please email: louise@bouncetheatre.com for place availability.

Dear Children is a celebration of the magic of Christmas – imagination. Santa and his Elf are on a secret mission, to check in on the children of Earlsfield. After the events of 2022, he wants them to know he’s still watching, noting their achievements and all the kind things they’ve done this year – as that’s the magic of Christmas.

Each show will be joyfully performed outside front doors and in gardens (whatever the weather!) Instead of tickets, or gifts, the local community are asked to make donations to Earlsfield Foodbank.

Conceived by our Artistic Director, Louise, she says of it, “Dear Children is a love song to the spirit of Christmas – to kindness and care. At the end of a year where we’ve talked about pandemics, war, climate change and poverty – we would just for a few minutes remember the power of kindness and hope. We are bringing it back to play a small part in trying to help Earlsfield Foodbank get through winter. As the queues outside the church get longer, food gets more expensive and it’s harder to meet needs. We hope that we can at least ensure January is a little more comfortable.”

Go to our What’s On page for more information about booking. Or email louise@bouncetheatre.com directly for details.

Bounce is delighted to be back in Kingston in the run up to Christmas with four days of wintery art workshops.

We are one of the providers of F.U.E.L. – part of the Achieving for Children Holiday Activities and Food programme. We are pleased to host art, drama, and sculpture activities for children and young people aged 7-12.

Children will be making wintery art pieces to take home to welcome in 2023. They’ll also be going to the theatre and every day we will provide a warm meal.

Open to: Children in receipt of FREE SCHOOL MEALS Aged 7-12.

If you are eligible for FUEL and would like to book email: harriet@bouncetheatre.com for place availability.

Bounce is delighted to share the digital version of our new poetry book “I am Tooting…”

I am Tooting… is a collection of poetry and art by children and young people.

It was made as part of a collection of projects for Sugar & Spice, a 2021-22 community heritage project in Tooting.

Sugar & Spice turned the dial back in history. At the end of the Second World War, areas like Tooting needed to recover from the impact of bombings, rationing, and tragic loss of many lives. We set out to discover how the community was rebuilt after the war. How did the small stores and businesses flourish? How did migration positively impact Tooting?

Over the years, one of the unique things about Tooting has been the diversity of food on offer. In Tooting Market alone, you can sit around a bench with friends, and each have a different plate of food from a different part of the world.

Originally, we intended to celebrate this in a cookbook. However, as we started working on this, we came to appreciate the best stories came from the children celebrating themselves, as they began to talk about their own heritage through food and clothes. It illustrates how interconnected our world has become.

I am Tooting… is therefore a celebration of Tooting, its young people, their families, and their connections to the wider world in 2022.

Read it here:

Bounce Theatre is delighted to have received a grant for £99,600 from the National Heritage Fund for a brand new project, Threads of Tooting

Threads of Tooting will weave together the story of the tailors, makers and textile businesses housed in Tooting since the 1920s. Using interviews, research and site visits local people will create and curate a series of exhibits to celebrate Tooting’s story. Together we’ll discover the local, national and international links between Tooting and the textiles industry. We’ll also look at the influences on tailoring over the years – from the bespoke to the off the peg looks that defined the decades.

Thanks to National Lottery players, we will be able to set up creative learning projects, community projects, and intergenerational work that is founded on residents’ memories and oral histories.

All of the work will be digitised for local schools to use in their history teaching. Along with this, the memories and photos collected will be donated to Wandsworth Heritage Service to expand and diversify their collection.

Louise Pendry, Artistic Director of Bounce says of the project,

“During our last project informal discussions and reminiscences revealed a relatively undocumented story about texiles and migration in Tooting since the 1920s. We are looking forward to collaborating with local people to uncover more!”

For more details visit the project page for Threads of Tooting or email louise@bouncetheatre.com