Dingy Butterflies

06/03/2026

UK Town of Culture 2028

🌟 Gateshead is aiming high! 🌟

We’re gearing up to make a bold bid to become Town of Culture 2028 - and it’s a move that reflects the creativity, identity and pride at the heart of our borough.

This builds on 18 months of work with community groups, freelancers and major cultural organisations to shape a long‑term culture strategy that celebrates who we are and where we’re going.

🗣 Councillor Angela Douglas, Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and Tourism, sums it up perfectly: “Our culture is shaped by our communities, our grassroots groups and our independent creatives… Applying to be Town of Culture is an audacious move, but it matches our spirit, ambition and pride.”

And what a year 2028 will be - the 30th anniversary of the Angel of the North and 100 years of the Tyne Bridge. Securing the Town of Culture title would elevate these milestones onto a national and international stage.

Bring it on 💪

24/01/2026

We are at The Land of Oak and Iron this morning running our Nesting workshop with Liv Hunt. It’s a free drop in event until 12 noon. Working with Tyne Derwent Way

05/01/2026

An opportunity to volunteer on our project Weaving for Wellbeing.

🌿 Female Volunteering Opportunity – Creative Workshops at The Comfrey Project 🌿

We are looking for female volunteers to support a series of creative art and nature workshops running on Fridays from October 17th.

Volunteers will:

- Welcome the women and help them feel safe in the space

- Support activities such as mixed media art, nature walks, fabric printing, leaf sewing, flax weaving, natural dyeing, and outdoor art

- Help set up and tidy away materials (fabric, paints, sewing kits, natural objects)

- Join in creative sessions and encourage participants to share ideas

🗓️ Workshops run on Fridays, 11am–2pm at The Comfrey Project, Gateshead.

💡 This is a fun and hands-on opportunity to support people, nature, and creativity, while gaining experience in community arts.

Please message us if you are interested!

Nicola 🧡

31/12/2025

What a great year to look back on. We have worked with many artists, organisations and community groups on various creative health and community projects. Looking forward to 2026 and what it brings. Thank you to .wills and many others.

30/11/2025

An exciting session recently for Weaving to Wellbeing, introducing the group to local flax farmer and artist . Rosie led us through the process of making flax into linen thread! We worked in the The Comfrey Project polytunnel which was perfect for a cold rainy day. Weaving for Wellbeing is funded by Arts Council England Photography by

24/11/2025

Weaving for Wellbeing with .wills and and . The group learning new creative skills, engaging with nature and the changing seasons and meeting new people. Funded by photography by

20/11/2025

Creative workshops in Ashington this Saturday

Our next workshop takes place this Saturday Hirst Welfare Centre


Pop-up Houses with Mack Sproates
Saturday 22nd November - 11:00 - 13:00 - 📍Hirst Welfare Centre

Make and decorate pop-up houses and explore themes of home, family and belonging in this relaxed creative session

Mack Sproates is a theatre maker, facilitator, artist and zine maker based in Newcastle. Their work is joyful, playful, cut and stick, silly and raw; aiming to help marginalised people’s voices feel seen and heard. They are inspired by DIY punk scenes, pop-culture, music and comic books.

Book here: https://forms.office.com/e/VEzp2QBZNS

This event is part of Northumberland County Council's Animating Ashington Autumn/Winter Festival - a programme of cultural events across the town being funded by UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and the North East Combined Authority, with the North East Combined Authority as lead authority.

16/11/2025

A fantastic winter bird walk around Saltwell Park led by bird expert Michael Turner. Did you know that Robin’s between October and March, are very territorial and can fight to the death over boundaries, but then go back to being friendly in the Spring and Summer months. Michael also has his Cabinet of Natural Curiosities next presented at the Lit and Phil on Saturday 13 December, 9.30-3pm.

11/11/2025

Here is the first blog post about our year long project Weaving for Wellbeing with artists Saya Rose Naruse 成瀬沙彩 and Savannah Rios-Wills in partnership with the The Comfrey Project. Working with women who attend the Comfrey exploring nature and the changing seasons through creativity. We will be posting regular updates as the project progresses. Funded by Arts Council England.

This is the first blog post about our year long project Weaving for Wellbeing, working with artists Savannah Rios-Wills and Saya Naruse in collaboration with The Comfrey Project. The first workshop took place on the 17 October 2025 welcoming the participants to the project and introducing them to wh...

22/10/2025

We are set up for today’s Connecting Communities The North East Social Capital Summit The Glasshouse International Centre for Music. Had some good conversations already and looking forward to finding out more throughout the day.

21/10/2025

Our friends at Climate Action North are holding one of their regular rewilding roadshows this Sunday.

Come along and meet the North East Rewilders at our next Rewilding Roadshow happening at the Metrocentre

When:- Sunday 26th October
Time:- 11am to 3pm
Where:- The Community Hub, Green Quadrant

This is an open event starting at 11am and a chance to:-

🙋‍♀️ Meet North East Rewilding Network members

👨‍👩‍👧 Join the North East Rewilding Network

🌳 Find out about Rewilding communities in the North East

🐬 Learn about Marine Rewilding in the NE

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Meet the Young Rewilders and join the group

🦋 Find about site visits, projects, events and volunteering opportunities

🌸 Meet the exhibitors

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Take part in interactive activities - lots for the children (and adults) to do!

Our exhibitors include

Climate Action North
The Sea we See - Georgina Fuller
Durham Wildlife Trust - Emily Routledge
RHS Nature Park - Jane Pollinger

And we are super excited to have The Missing Lynx joining us too so looking forward to meeting Faye Whiley and chatting all things with Lynx!

This Roadshow is kindly hosted by the Metrocentre and funded by Rewilding Britain. Thanks to Tracy Allison Sarah Dover for supporting us as CSR sponsors.

No need to book a place, just turn up on the day and we look forward to seeing you there Rewilders!

As it's half term we will also have lots of interactive activities for the children too so why not bring along the family for a day out.