What a summer!
Drumming
As Covid–19 lockdown restrictions eased, we were able to resume our African drumming sessions outdoors at Campbell Park. In June and July, this meant drumming in groups of 6 people in each bubble. August brought more easing and we were able to drum together. We had a few cancellations due to wet weather; the sessions that ran were a great welcome to us all to be able to have fun and laughter drumming together again.
We have completed new Risk Assessments, invested in new PPE and have a new Infra-Red contactless thermometer and new procedures and cleaning measures in place. As from September we will be running two African drumming sessions a week. We return to Holy Trinity Church Wednesday evenings and have a new open-air session Friday afternoons at Willen Lake North, please go to our Classes and Workshop page for details. All African drumming places are booked in advance as numbers per session are limited to be Covid compliant.
New Office
We moved office! As mentioned before this was such a stressful time for us at Nkiru Arts, desperately trying to find a new home for all our drums and equipment in the middle of a pandemic, almost impossible to get hold of people, as we found so many were not contactable due to being on furlough. Eleventh hour miracles do happen, we would like to thank all at Community Action for their help, without them we would have been turned out onto the street. Not only have we found a new base, but delighted to have a bigger room and in a lovely clean building!
Face Masks
We began at the start of lockdown making Face Masks, Our volunteers have churned out over 1200 masks for our customers and over 600 have been made to be distributed to those in need in the local community, Materials for 600 masks were funded from a small grant from MK Community Foundation.
We have found that since Mask wearing became compulsory on public transport and in shops, every Tom, Dick and Harry has started knocking out cheap and nasty masks. We cannot compete with these poor imitations that are flooding the market. As a small Arts for Health we are not funded and still need to find ways of generating income to pay our overheads and subsidise the activities we do for the community and those in need.
Therefore we are launching a new quality Face Mask; after months of making we know what works and what does not, we have made improvements as we have been making and now have designed the best and most comfortable mask like no other on the market. This is a mask for the office, to wear with your suit, to wear at business meetings, to wear on a special night out to go with that nice suit or dress, to wear at a wedding or formal social event or even funerals or court appearances. This is a mask that will compliment your outfit and not look like an old rag on your face. These masks are made with quality fabrics, double or triple layered depending on fabrics, comfortable fit, that is adjustable and great styling. These masks start at £22.50 and speak quality. We also offer a bespoke service to make a mask to your specification to match a wedding dress, evening gown, and suit, please enquire. We will help match a Mask to your suit/dress when you need to travel to and from a function or event or special night out by taxi, train or car share.
Gift Wrapping
We are currently working on Risk Assessment to offer Covid safe gift wrapping service for December. Again this service will need you to book your wrapping slot for drop off and collection from our new offices. Our gift wrapping is a quality service, we use quality paper and trims to give your gifts that luxury look wrapped with care. We offer traditional wrapping and also Japanese style wrapping. Book early to avoid disappointment.