Better Together’s Chatty Chairs, which aim to encourage people to start up conversations and make connections within their community, continued their journey around Norfolk.
Last week they visited a community lunch in Norwich. Bridge Plus+ organised the lunch.. The topic was mental health and the importance of reaching out and talking to each other. Local MP, Clive Lewis, also visited the event and made use of the chairs.
The Bridge Plus+ is a Norfolk based black/Asian and minority ethnic (BME) organisation aimed at improving community cohesion through innovative community engagement activities and service delivery to promote race equality and community cohesion.
Volunteers have devoted many hours to decorating two ‘Chatty Chairs’ that are set to tour Norfolk as part of efforts by Voluntary Norfolk’s Better Together service to tackle loneliness and social isolation. Both chairs where kindly donated to the project by members of the local community.
The volunteers from a community art group discussed how they would like the chair to look. They wanted it to stand out and have a positive and welcoming vibe about it. Work soon got underway. Painters, crocheters and knitters, all used their own talents and imagination to make the chair. The result was something very special.
They were first unveiled to the artists’ families and friends in August at a local art exhibition in Burston. In September they were used to mark Suicide Prevention Day. Since then they have travelled around South Norfolk, before going to the James Paget Hospital in Gorleston.
If you would like to find out more about the chatty chair, host it, or even make your own chair please contact: Pam.spicer@bettertogethernorfolk.org.uk
Back to News