For this blog post, we’re trying to give you a flavour of the very many things that happen behind the scenes to help support your experiences at St Margaret’s House. So, we asked a member of staff we had with us from October to December last year as our Programme and Operations Assistant to explain what these three months have involved… Millie, over to you!

An Introduction

For many people, their first interaction with St Margaret’s House can be through our website. There you can see the broad range of our What’s On, learn about our variety of spaces, or find details for contacting the staff and tenants. The first thing someone will read is “St Margaret’s House: a home for creative health”, followed by “we’re a community Arts and Wellbeing Centre in Bethnal Green”. This is the foundation of everything we do, but there’s so much more to this sentence that must be explained.

Ringing the doorbell on my first day was somewhat nerve-racking, as first days are for most people. The warm introduction into the office by Mads, our Admin and Operations Officer, began my understanding of St Margaret’s House as a centre for community arts and wellbeing. It is this that I have come to know, in its entirety and in its nuance...

Arts and Wellbeing

It was the arts and wellbeing team I worked with first, quickly coming to understand the extensive range of projects we deliver. At the helm, a team made up of a director, producer, participation manager and coordinator working alongside our many practitioners – as well as the participants and audiences themselves.

It would be easy for me to simply comment on our vivid exhibitions (see Mulch, above) and the energy of the Freshly Squeezed scratch nights of new theatre writing. Perhaps, on top of this, the arts at St Margaret’s House can be best illustrated by hearing the gentle chatter and giggles from participants at Kantha Embroidery – a free programme for local people to learn the heritage craft from Bangladesh – on a Friday morning in The Create Place, our making studio. Perhaps it can also be defined by the whole office coming together to gather plenty of charcoal for a weekend art workshop for local residents to explore health research from their perspective, or, personally, by the delivery of a special gluten-free cookie for me from a Crafterschool participant, an afterschool programme for local children (below – name removed).

However you choose to describe the arts offer at St Margaret’s House, there is a small team working tirelessly behind the scenes with talented artists to curate a special feel within every space, perfect for those experiencing the arts for the first time, or for those returning to what they love.

In the dictionary, ‘wellbeing’ is defined as general health and happiness. This would perhaps most obviously be attributed to our yoga classes, our multibed massage and acupuncture clinics, which are all led by fantastic people that I have had the pleasure to chat to (or open The Canvas shutters for – our dedicated wellbeing studio). These activities are designed to be accessible and affordable, and their quality can be attested to by the office staff who have frequented them when there is an occasional last-minute space.

Personally, I have found an everyday sense of wellbeing in The Gallery Cafe, where my colleagues behind the counter remember everyone’s drink orders. This space is often the first in-person interaction members of the public have with us at St Margaret’s House, so the joy of the cafe team is an infectious part of curating wellbeing for the organisation. It is a perfect start to my day, popping in there for a matcha latte and finding a buoyant energy.

Community

I truly feel that St Margaret’s House is the centre of the community here on Old Ford Road, Bethnal Green. The benefit of having eight spaces for our activities, and for hire by other organisations and practitioners, means that the staff, volunteers and local people can all interact in a variety of ways, widening the sense of community. Our current Artists in Residence, Virginia and Laura, can say hello to those in The Create Place on their way to their dedicated studio (we offer free space to local artists on a rolling three-month programme to support emerging artists to take risks and experiment with new ideas). Dan, the regular Saturday Circus practitioner (sessions for local children and families), has also delivered workshops with Ghyama Arts, involving participants from the BPCA (Bangladeshi Parents and Carers Association – one of our long-standing tenants). I set up clothes for the second-hand fashion show that took place in October, enabling members of the public to dress up in a range of finery from our charity shop, Ayoka, and walk the Mulberry Hall catwalk. This show was held to maintain the sense of community developed in Ayoka whilst it was shut for its much-needed refurbishment.

For the latter end of my time here, I have spent half of my week in Ayoka. When it first reopened (following a brief stint from me ripping up the floor and painting the ceiling), there was a genuine shift in energy across St Margaret’s House. The space, lovingly renovated by the Operations team and some Ayoka volunteers, is refreshed. Every day that I am in the shop, somebody will come in and say, “I haven’t been back since the refurbishment – it looks amazing!”- perfect feedback for everyone involved. Yet it is the Ayoka team that ensures it's not just a beautiful shop but it’s also a safe community space. Nigel, the Ayoka Manager, encapsulates this sense of community. His knowledge of the area and of the locals is a testament to his work. Our creation of the Charity Shop Hop (a map and tote bag showcasing Ayoka alongside seven other local charity shops), thanks to Shahena (a talented local artist who runs our monthly Art Cafe, alongside the Gallery Cafe Front of House Co-Manager, Honey), exemplifies our wider reach in the area. On a personal level, this community energy is individualised by our Ayoka volunteer, Dee, keeping back the perfect pair of jogging bottoms for a regular customer, knowing that they’ll need extra warmth in the winter months.

A Wonderful Time

Through every aspect of St Margaret’s House, creative health is sustained and embellished. It is the undercurrent to everything we do – everything I think we do successfully, in the weird and wonderful ways of a charity organisation. Arts and wellbeing work hand in hand, from the office through to each venue and community project and beyond to build a foundation of community.

Over the last three months, I have worked with practitioners, updated databases, ripped up floors, organised clothes for a fashion show, run children's activities, painted ceilings, submitted fundraising applications, and so much more... Such a variety of things, but very much indicative of how much there is happening, or the feeling you get when you first walk through the door.

Most importantly, I have learnt so much, both about the wonderful place that St Margaret’s House is and from the people I work with every day. I also believe that every individual who interacts with us will take something unique away from their time at St Margaret’s House. From the Monday team check-in in the office, to the post-it notes left on desks in quiet conversation between staff, I have seen that work can be a heartfelt space.

Thank you to you all! Without all the small (and big) things everyone at St Margaret’s House does, nothing would be possible. Perhaps this has given some insight into why we are an ever-growing “community Arts and Wellbeing Centre in Bethnal Green”.