Shylah Tench and the Creative Activities
Shylah recounts how she first got involved with the Creative Newington project via the Hot Dog Club.
She said: “One of my friends said there's a club down at the Centre. Do you want to come play with me and do it with me? And I said, yeah, I'll ask my Mum. My Mum said yes. And then we all started going with the whole family, and we had lots of fun. And then I started doing lots more creative things at home as well.”
Shylah talks about creating collage designs for the community centre window vinyls. She designed an ice cream tub with lots of different flavours, a park and her Mum made a house. Shylah talks about being ‘creative’ at Chill Club, the local youth group that meets at the community centre on a Monday evening. She talks about creating little mini books and how she still exchanges these with her friends
Shylah has attended the summer club over the past two years. During the first year, she helped to create designs and paint the vegetable and herb boxes that are located outside the community centre. This year, she painted the alley animals plus a sunflower, a couple of birds and a hedgehog, make clay bowls with leaf impressions and then painted them and now uses these for her ‘things’. As the conversation develops, Shylah talks about having ideas, sharing that with staff and being heard. She suggested doing den building in the Copse. When asking her how it felt that her suggestion happened she said: “I feel accomplished, because yes, I said it and then it happened. It's like I feel really accomplished and nourished. And, also like somebody else is absorbing what I said. And then it came into life.”
Shylah talks about her home and her space. “We have a little shelf just for me with glue, scissors, string, like loads of creative bits and stickers and paper and all that for me. Now we have this big wall and a shelf of creative stuff. And, I still have lots of creative stuff in my room.”
Over the summer, Shylah decided that she wanted to buy a camera. She looked up some ideas online and saw an idea for painting on shells. She decided to paint some rocks and shells which she says can take up to 3 hours to paint and to sell them to her neighbours for 50p each. She sold them all and has made £17 to date. Shylah says: “My friends really liked them, and so I sold them to the people around. I started going to different houses and selling them. In the end, I've made £17. I feel quite accomplished. Because people really liked it. There's one house that always buys a rock.”
Shylah talks animatedly about her expanding network of friends – “I've met lots of people at summer club, lots of people at youth club, and I've met lots of people around where I live. So, it's really nice.”
Shylah talks about her creativity changing over time. “I've been doing it [being creative] at summer club every day. And then when I get home, I finish the project off or I would start another one. Then when I go back to club the next day, I would do something else, and then I'll come home and finish whatever I was doing and I start another one. I do that all the time.”
Starting from being creative at home, to being part of different clubs at the community centre to her work being part of a community art installation. “And Roundabout has come here as well. And the creativity has expanded as well, because where there's lots more people, I think the creativity has got way bigger. I feel quite special to be a part of the Newington Community Centre. And it makes me quite happy to live around here because there's nice people and all that and a good community it’s, like, safe around here.”