walthamstow toy library — NEWS

Well, the days seem to be slowly getting warmer! Scribble and Smudge will be doing art workshops for The William Morris Gallery in May, June and July. A free under 5’s session where the families learn a craft and a little about the work in the William Morris Gallery. This May we will have sneak peek at the Morris Mania exhibition, celebrating all that has Morris patterns. Early years learning sequencing and counting to design a pasta medallion. I’m looking forward to making magic with the humble pasta.

Morris Mania is on May15th at The William Morris Gallery. See events

Walthamstow Toy Library’s 50th Birthday May Fair.
Come along and have fun for all of the family! This is a wonderful celebration of a service that has created friendships for families for life! A stalwart of our community and the launch pad to my company. I started volunteering at Walthamstow Toy library in 2008, creating a year long Arts programme for members and families within our community. Scribble and Smudge would not have been born without The Toy library.

I am forever grateful to Carolyn Sharma, who helped me on the programme all the while looking after 3 small kids! It was a frenetic and fun time. Here are some photos and a video from the Arts programme created for Walthamstow Toy library.

Celebrating Chinese New Year 2009. https://scribbleandsmudge.blogspot.com/search?q=chinese+new+year

Young Person’s Caribbean Carnival 2010. https://scribbleandsmudge.blogspot.com/2010/

English folk dancing 2008. https://youtu.be/veimIKd8ZLM?feature=shared

Toy chimes, with the @Barbicancentre in 2021 for Walthamstow Garden Party 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im7elGrH1nU

Chinese New year celebration for Walthamstow toy library in 2009, with a baby lion dance.

Young Person’s Caribbean Carnival with Church Hill nursery and Walthamstow toy library’s entry in 2010

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veimIKd8ZLM

Walthamstow Toy Library is 50 this year! Join us for a fun celebration on Saturday 17th May. We'd love for past members, volunteers and Trustees to come along, share stories and photos for an exhibition that we will be running at the end of the year. Everyone welcome.

* Street Party
* Bouncy Castles
* Face Painter
* Music & Dancing
* Food & Drink
* Craft
* Games

Helen Crockford manager of Walthamstow Toy Library and Scribble and Smudge for the Toy chime project 2021.

It's unbelievable how time has flown by. 10 years of fun, laughter, making new friends and forever inventing craft with and for persons young and old, throughout Waltham Forest and beyond. I hear families keep some Scribble and smudge craft for years!

Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years. It warms our cockles. Here's a list of persons and organisations that have helped make Scribble and Smudge what is is today:

Stow Film Lounge with nick and Joanne, Walthamstow Family Wassail with Lucy Gibson, Walthamstow Toy library, their trustees, Carla and Helen, Voluntary Action, Centre17, Disability resources centre, Walthamstow West children's centre, Maxine , Alison Emmett, Colette, Church hill Nursery, staff Sarah, Pat, Helen, Soraj, Natasha, Sandra Campbell, Naila, Joyce, Whitefield school and children's centre with Erin McCarthy and staff, The William Morris Gallery and creative kids team, Teanne, Sharon, Sue, Helen, Caroline, Vanessa, Victoria, Maria, Front of house Aliatz and Roger ( I can not thank the volunteers enough, thankyou thankyou), The Vestry House Museum, Gary and James, Anna and Karina, The world wild life fund team on Donana project Roberta, The Drones, Sheila at Pimlico toy library, Young Person's Caribbean Carnival, Roland at Inspiration arts, Andrea Encinas at British gospel arts, Low hall nursery, Groundswell Arts Angeline and Gareth, Greenleaf primary school, Crazy Beat Records with lovely Gary, Salaam Peace, The Barbican, Create, Artichoke, London Borough of Waltham Forest, Emma, Hannah Beharry, Yellow Bird nursery, English Folk and Dance Society, Safer neighbourhood team Pc Hassan and PC Francesca, Kin Design, E17 Art trail, Stella Creasy, St. Mary's arts Collective, Jen, Cameron, Vanessa and Gary and Alexandra Palace.

Persons who have helped make, create, craft and graft for Scribble and Smudge. A million gratitudes and love to you all : Kerry Luter, Carolyn Abbott, Lizzy Renihan, Erica, Alison Emmett, Tamara of the social element agency, Lucy Rainbow, Dee Honeybun, Caroline Jupp, Karen Logan, Gabi Vianni, Clare Needham, Stuart Mcghee, Jerome Anderson, Ali Reader, Marijke . Scribblers: Rhian Whitehead, Carolyn Sharma, Alison Worrow, Akiko Usami, Vanessa Brightwell, kin design, Kevin ( my beloved), my kids and my mum. My mentors: Sandra Campbell, Susan Warren, Laura Kerry, Akmar Hasmaruddin.

“Most importantly all of you who have ever come to any of our workshops. Thankyou. Wishing you all many more years of creativity to you.”

CommuniTea poster

Scribble and Smudge's 1st entry for the E17 art trail 2010.

Tea dance

Part of CommuniTea workshop, tea makers and drinkers watch my friends Clare and Stuart dance the afternoon away.

CommuniTea Logo

Made by Clare Campion from Kin-design. The workshop was supported by Kin-design and The Vestry House museum.

Spinning art at High Tide festival with Bebop Baby.

Our Hip impresarios of tasteful music Bebop Baby invited us to entertain families before a performance from Tuongu Fu. September 2017.

Everyones a spinner baby

Making record sleeve covers like the artist Peter Blake pop artist. for The Walthamstow Garden Party 2017. The Be magnificent art trail. Our spinning machine get it's first airing. made by Kin-design.

A lovely picture of the

Scribble and Smudge team too.

Sport'ability'

Trophies made with pupils to celebrate their sporting abilities. A collaborative project with Dee Honeybun, to create and document a film of everyones endeavours.

Den building 2013

A mega den build at The walthamstow garden party. Families get building with sticks and cloth. Nothing better than den building for a kid.

Plastiscenery

At The mill, workshops in the half term holidays creating plasticine Van gogh inspired landscapes and scenes

'Stow on the Bay

A fake Walthamstow resort, with fake icecreams made at a fake icecream parlour. Colour-in Kiss me quick boards of a fake Walthamstow touristic scene, that adorned Grayson Perry aka Claire and teddy bear.

creative kids, Flowers made in the William Morris garden

Slet for Hepworth

Slet the Eastern European exercise with artist Caroline Jupp, as part of a series of Slet workshops across Britain. This was par of the E17 art trail 2011

Tipi making

Playscheme at Church hill nursery 2009. Tipis were made from scractch, erected and the children decorated the outside with iconic first nation animals. Made and created with Old Scribbler Carolyn Sharma.

May dancing

With the English Folk and Dance society 2008.

Chinese New year celebration

celebrating year of the Rat, children at the toy libarray was entertained by a dragon and foot Juggling.

Shadow play

The children made birds for the story of Hansel and Gretel shadow puppetry. Artist Karen Logan helped create the scene and animals for the adventure.

Makaton story telling

We tried introducing makaton signing during story telling sessions at The Toy library with Amy Duck.

Listening to The Drones

Contemporary folk orchestra visit the Toy libarary. We play instruments and make suitably large bow ties to conduct.

collaborative painting

Walthamstow toy library 2008. With a fellow Scribbler Carolyn Sharma.

Festival of Light

Indian dance to lights made in balloons by families at The Walthamstow Toy Library 2008. Celebrating Divali.

British Gospel artist Andrea Encinas preparing us before we enter the stage to sing Caribbean songs at The Carnival.

singing at The town square at the end of the carnival

Young Persons Caribbean Carnival 2008

tigers and peacocks at our first carnival entry. We were the youngest troupe or mass, with Walthamstow Toy library and Church Hill nursery.

Young Persons Caribbean Carnival

Maori legends. July 2010

Record sleeve cover

Every participant got free vinyl and used spin art to design the record label in the centre. The spinning machine was created out of two record players and a volunteer to manually turn the turntables via a handle. Thanks to Kin design

Record sleeve collage

Made by a child at the Walthamstow garden party 2017. Their own Peter blake cover aka sex pistols!

Crazy Beat records

A warm and kind Gary who helped support Everyon'es a spinner baby with endless Vinyl. Thankyou, Thankyou x

1000 Origami Cranes

Made at advent'us' in december 2016. A small film is below with some of the wishes explained during the workshop. The cranes were moved to The Worls Wildlife Fund headquarters in Surrey as part of their campaign to save Donana's wildlife.

Walthamstow Wassail

A yearly welcome to the new year on the 12th night at The Vestry house museum. Running since 2012, a project created and lead by musician Lucy Gibson. We bring blessings to trees, bees and even cheese locally in our area. 2016 was the Mari Lwyd horse guardian of the Orchard.

Fellow Scribbler Rhian, sporting a hat at The Kids Film lounge! Lovely!

Wild thing

Making monster paper bag costumes with Church Hill playscheme for a workshop based on 'Where the wild things are'. My neighbour Edith trying on a monster for size!

Womens International Day

A day festival for women at Walthamstow Assembly halls. Families made dream catchers. A promise for a better future.

Sport'ability

Sportability, a project about unsung sporting heroes in Waltham Forest. See https://legasay.wordpress.com/

Lega'say' Stories of 2012

Stories about 2012 in Waltham Forest. The London Olympics, The Queens Jubilee and the Big 6. Animation created by families in a workshop and edited by collaborated film artist Dee Honeybun.

LEGO BATMAN MOVIE 1

Animation made at The Kids Film Lounge October 2017

Mural, 'Whale and the snail'

Mural made at Barclays children centre in walthamstow. It took 3 sessions to finish this beautiful mural.

Mural, Whale and snail

Beautiful school of fish sit on neighbouring cupboards to the whale at Barclays children centre.

Becontree Estate

A workshop at Valence house about our future place at Becontree estate in Barking. commissioned by Create London. 2014

Out door totem poles at Church Hill Nursery

Thankyou note

Aaargh, aint this sweet! Olive who attends Creative kids made this for the volunteers and I.

Third sector awards

We sat with WWF to see if Crane wishes would win an award for svaing Donana reservation in Spain. But we lost out to Bear Gryls scouts 100 years project.