For a small group of women from Sheffield, each dealing with issues of isolation, mobility & other physical and mental challenges, the idea of being involved in a drama club was perhaps the furthest thing from their minds. That was until they met Diane Cairns.
Diane runs a local community theatre group in Sheffield aimed towards women. It initially started with Diane pulling together a small amount of funding to pay for professional help to support the women in writing a short play. “It was all very much their story, about their lives – women’s lives,” says Diane.
It proved a powerful creative spark. “Some of the women found they had skills they never knew existed. It brought them out of themselves. You could see them growing in confidence.”
Following a major performance of the play at Sheffield Crucible Theatre, a second project with the Sheffield People’s Theatre was born. Now, with the group still growing, they’re soon to present their latest production; a 30-minute drama piece that’s receiving its premiere before the Lord Mayor of Sheffield.
The drama group has been made possible by assistance from Manor Assembly and a range of community grants, one of which has come from Newground Together.
Through our charities’ community grants, small community groups can apply for funding for various projects. In this case, the group applied for and secured funding for a creative scriptwriting tutor to do a 15-week workshop with the drama group.
Diane is hugely grateful for the support of Newground Together and the group’s other charitable partners. “I started working with Belle (from Newground Together) in lockdown,” she says, “so we could only ever have conversations over the phone, but she has always been very informative, very understanding, open and genuine”.
The impact extends beyond the drama group, as Belle notes: “Five of the group will be accessing other community, volunteering or training activities as a result of being involved with this. So, it really is having a lifechanging effect.”
As a not-for-profit organisation, all profits generated by The Compliance People are 100% gift-aided to our parent charity, Newground Together.