Aycliffe based craft company, Crafter’s Companion has raised almost £1,750 for mental health charity, MIND, following two ‘Crafternoon’ fundraising events held at its UK stores. The total monies raised at the ‘Crafternoons’, which were held out of its Newton Aycliffe and Chesterfield stores, and via online donations were then fund-matched by Crafter’s Companion and the County Durham Community Foundation. ‘Crafternoons’ are a fundraising initiative of Mind’s which enable friends, family or colleagues to get together and hold a fun afternoon of crafting to raise money for the charity. Newton Aycliffe’s ‘Crafternoon’ invited guests to have a go at various papercrafting and sewing make and takes, enjoy coffee and cake, donate via the ‘honesty boxes’ and enter a raffle.
The store was also decked out with bunting, courtesy of its weekly sewing clubs, and staff donned Christmas jumpers to get everyone into the festive spirit. Crafter’s Companion also set up a Just Giving page which generated additional funds online. Sara Davies MBE, founder of Crafter’s Companion said, “We were very excited to welcome both regular customers and local novices to our first ‘Crafternoon’ fundraising events and we are delighted at the monies raised. Crafting is a great mindfulness activity which allows participants to unwind and destress, freeing the mind from negative thoughts. Given that we have all the tools to hand to run Crafternoons from our shops it made total sense to set up these fundraisers for a very important charity.
“Each of our stores operates an ongoing community engagement programme as part of our CSR policy, and owing to the success of these first sessions, we hope to make ‘Crafternoons’ a regular feature on our fundraising event calendar.” Crafter’s Companion is a leading craft supplies company which sells its products globally online, on TV shopping channels, via independent retailers and in its own UK retail stores in Newton Aycliffe and Chesterfield. The Newton Aycliffe store opened in May 2016 and includes themed shopping areas, a coffee shop, a central hub for workshops and two dedicated demonstration areas
