The clock chimes on the hour as six women gather around wooden tables scattered with wool, thread and some craft magazines. Kettles whistle as the organisers of CraftA Makerspace offer teas and coffees; smiles widen as the drinks warm up the crafters who come in from the cold December afternoon.

The ground floor of Woolwich Clockhouse Community Centre is a safe space to share feelings – and a laugh.   

Three months since the small community group first got together to crochet over a cup of tea, CraftA Makerspace say they are achieving their aim of tackling social isolation.

Viveca “Viv” Cameron and Sylvia Becker, who founded the group, describe it as a “small nonprofit organisation”. The idea was “to alleviate social isolation through making friendships, crafting together and most important of all, to disclose things in a private, safe space”.  

Becker, who manages the project, joins with Cameron to hold weekly meet-ups. “It’s what the name says really,” explains Becker, “it’s a space for makers to make, to show and maybe share their ideas”. 

“It also allows protection of people’s integrity, plus being completely inclusive, so that there’s no judgement”, Camerons adds. People from different backgrounds can attend the crafting workshops, the most recent being macrame, the art of knotting string in patterns. 

According to the 2021 Census, loneliness has risen since Covid-19. In one month from April 2020, 5% of people or roughly 2.6 million adults said that they “often” or “always” felt lonely. From October 2020 to February 2021, the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey for the Office for National Statistics showed loneliness had increased to 7.2% of the adult population or roughly 3.7 million adults. 

People come to CraftA Makerspace “to enjoy themselves”, says Cameron and the range of activities on offer includes knitting, crocheting, macrame, journalling, collaging and making wreaths. 

Bill Kumari, a crafter of Nepalese ethnicity, attends weekly, to knit. Even though her knowledge of English is limited, she manages to commune with others over craft work. She knitted a beautiful sweater during the sessions. 

Violet O’Neill, another member of the group, told SouthLondonLines she had made a lot of friends as well as learning how to crochet. “The group passes the time…it’s nice here, we have a good laugh,” she says. Cameron says Makerspace doesn’t aim for numbers but quality. “So I suppose the feedback is most important for us”. 

“All the number of people who attend, the most important thing is quality. So I suppose the feedback is most important for us”.

Viveca Cameron: Chair of CraftA Makerspace

The venture is of a piece with Cameron and Becker’s record of volunteering, charity work and crafting. Both previously ran events in Greenwich, but also in Bexley, Abbey Wood, Lewisham and Kings Cross. But the idea of the Makerspace was always “bubbling” away in the back of their minds, says Cameron, and after noticing the rising level of loneliness, they decided to do something that had a positive impact. 

First, they did meet-ups with makers, collecting a small amount of money that went to charity. ”Then we sort of started getting introduced to the community sector,” says Cameron. “Got involved, got more information from a group called Metro gaps. They put us forward for our first funding from the National Lottery”.  

A nonprofit was the result and it was based in an arts cafe. “Then we started a festival called Southeast London Wool and Textile festival,” says Cameron. It was big and had more than 1,000 attendees. Cameron says “it ran over three barns, essentially to sell maker’s products, but from that we wanted to do something philanthropic”.  

That’s how CraftA Makerspace was born and Cameron says it took a fund from Greenwich Council to finally allow the project to get off the ground. 

Happy crafters aside, how is the venture going, three months in? There have been some setbacks within the broader charity sector, including where the funding is going and who decides what to fund. Cameron says “there is an issue particularly within the culture sector about utilising what we call sort of art-washing areas, meaning: the government goes into an area, gentrifies it, more people come in and displace the original inhabitants”. 

She is clear she does not want to bring politics into the culture sector, but says “participatory budgeting” is needed. That would mean “the opportunity for people to have a say in what happens to resources that go into their specific area”. 

For the time being, though, as the little group crochets and knits and sip its tea and chats, the fledgling initiative seems to be crafting a shared sense of community.