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30 January, 2009

GROW Group News

Grass Roots Open Writers (GROW) is a community writing and publishing group that is based in Hastings, East Sussex. We have 25 members.

We run a writing workshop in the Hastings Children's Library every Tuesday from 10-12. We use this time to take part in writing exercises, group discussions and to share our writing with others.

We run a weekly Skill-Sharing Workshop in the Roosevelt Court Lounge every Wednesday from 10-12. We use this time to share the skills and knowledge we each have. (Computer skills, DTP, Arts & Crafts, Punctuation & Grammar, Makaton, Aromatherapy, Maths, Finger Spelling and much more.)

We are starting a second weekly writing workshop in the Roosevelt Court Lounge every Friday from 2-3pm

We also arrange social gatherings, attend writing and performance events and share information about such events with each other.

The groups are run voluntarily, by the members themselves.

We have a website (www.grow.btik.com) and this is updated at least once a week. We use our website to keep our members informed about our activities as well as to showcase their writing and to build an online archive of our publications and a record of our achievements.

FUNDING

The venues we meet in are provided to us free of charge.

Our website is also provided to us free of charge, as we are a voluntary organisation.

The people who attend our groups each week make a voluntary contribution of £1. This covers the cost of ink, paper and printing of the worksheets and handouts we use in the groups and the GROW Newsletters.

We produce an annual anthology with an accompanying dvd. The cost of these are covered by selling copies to our friends and families.

Refreshments and other resources are donated to us by group members and supporters.

ORGANISATION

We have a committee with 12 members (minimum 7)

The committee meet every two months (minimum 4 times per year)

We have a constitution, which we adopted at our first AGM in 2008.

We have a bank account.

All the printing, DTP, design and maintainance of the website, books, newsletters, workshops, publicity and planning etc. are done by our members on a voluntary basis.

We apply for funding to help with the cost of hiring a minibus to enable our members to attend TheFED MiniFests.

GROW AIMS

To provide a safe and supportive environment, that helps our members to build their social skills, confidence and self-esteem, while improving their writing, reading and communication skills.


To organise writing workshops, social activities and networking events, produce our own literature and multimedia presentations.

To enable our members to find their own voice, experiment with new writing methods and explore different writing styles.

To help our members get actively involved with the planning, decision-making and running of the organisation.

To promote the organisation and publicise the work we do.

To offer training and support to help our members recognise the skills they already have, acquire new skills and to develop them further.

To assist our members to take part in social and writing activities that are organised by other local and national groups.

To encourage our members to help and support each other, and also to share their skills, knowledge and expertise when they feel ready and able to do so.

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