Emma Denby

KHL & WICKES OPEN DAY – Jeff Brazier’s visit to KHL Workshop in Corby for Mind, the Mental Health Charity

Organised by Corby Community Arts & Wickes

KHL Workshop have received 2 grants from Wickes Community Programme whilst developing the workshop in Corby. The first was received to stock up the wood workshop with new tools from their store and allowed us to run woodwork workshops for the community back in January and February 2023.

Following on from this, a new project was created by Corby Community Arts to create a memorial bench for Brian Dunn, the founder and backbone behind the original idea to build the community workshop. After completing this project, they have since been awarded this grant again to grow the outdoor space for the memorial benches and patio to be developed into a beautiful area to relax and spend communal time enjoying the outdoors.

This project has been recognised by Wickes for the positive implications it can have on mental health, and with the project being impacted by the effect loss can have, it provided a platform for a voice to speak about mental health and coping with loss.

As part of an initiative to talk to Wickes employees and the community about how outdoor spaces, exercise and community can be a huge part of healing and helping mental health, Jeff Brazier came down to the workshop to help build new planters for the outdoor space. With the timber, tools and plants which were supplied by Wickes, Jeff helped us cut timber lengths to size and to assemble the planters to create beautiful planters which were added to the patio. We had a brilliant chat about the project, the work he does for MIND charity, and it was so great for him to get stuck into building the planters for the community members at Corby to enjoy. Thank you to Jeff, Wickes and Amy Kennet – the Operations Manager and community champion at Wickes who’s waving the flag for KHL!!