HEALTH AND WELLBEING
Deployed Family Colouring Boxes
Community Development Officer,Meg Wicket has been co-ordinating the support to families of deployed personnel at RAF Benson for anumber of years
now.She continues to look for new ways to improve that support.
Meg met with RAF spouse, Amy who also runs her own colouring in gifts business, Ginger Rainbow and last Christmas arranged for her to run a craft workshop for children who have aparent deployed. During this event, pillow cases and t-shirts were created for sending out to the deployed parent.
Meg shared: “The feedback was really positive from those who were deployed so
we started to look at how to expand the idea so it could be done at home as afamily activity.Iwanted to be able to provide them with a kit with pre-printed items that can be personalised and so then, the Deployment Colouring Box was created.”
The kit includes: ✦ Apillow case to be coloured in and sent out to the service person
✦ Awash bag to be coloured in and sent out
✦ Three cards to be used for any occasion ✦ Awelcome home banner ✦ The box itself which can be personalised and used to collect keepsakes
✦ Apack of fabric pens for the pillow case and wash bag
Ginger RainbowGinger Rainbow By Amy Nolan By Amy Nolan
Last year Ibecame self-employed after moving into married quarters, mainly as aresult of our new location. Iwas lucky enough to be able to access the Unsung Heroes Business Start-up course after seeing it advertised in the HIVE where we were based. I attended the course and was able to use the information learnt and support to turn my product idea “Pillowcases With Love” into more of areality.
Idesign and sell colouring in gifts for kids and adults. “Pillowcases With Love” are pillowcases with aprinted design that can be coloured in, written on and sent off to adeployed person serving
away.The idea came to me as aresult of two experiences, the first being my husband asking me to send
him apillowcase when he was away (he’d had enough of Haribo sweets). The other was from aneighbour asking me if Ihad asuitable colouring-in product for her kids to colour in and send to their Dad who was, at the time, on deployment. The first pillowcase was ahand-drawn dinosaur family fixed onto apillowcase sold with apacket of fabric pens. Over the year the product has developed and Ihave been able to turn it into something that Iamnow really proud of.
Ihave known Meg for some years now, my first contact being when Iattended aroast dinner for deployed families, an event that Ihave to say was agreat boost during afairly long time apart from my husband.
Over the last year I have enjoyed working with Meg and the youth club facilitating art and craft holiday sessions, so was delighted when Meg approached me with her idea for the Colouring Box for the families she was working with. Meg really knows her community and had avery clear vision, which made it alot easier for me to complete the designs. Ihope that the families who receive the boxes have as much fun colouring them in as Idid designing them.
Boxes will be given out one per family when service personnel deploy and will be available to all families, not solely those with children.
Further information:
Ginger Rainbow (
info@gingerrainbow.co.uk) or browse the shop at
gingerrainbow.co.uk raf.mod.uk/RAFbenson
Business Start-up course:
wlv.ac.uk/supportingtheunsunghero 44 Envoy Winter 2017
raf-ff.org.uk
©Images Ginger Rainbow.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60
