Hi there, Thanks if you filled in the evaluation for the computer club sessions in December. Here is general feedback from the online form followed by some anonymised personal feedback that we collected in person.
Feedback from online form

Evaluation of the Computer Club at Todmorden Makery

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Summary structured using green, yellow, and red categories

Green: working well / clear positives

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• Good level of interest and sustained engagement.
• Strong value placed on meeting people and social contact for computer enthusiasts.
• Weekly sessions help maintain focus and allow questions to develop.
• Increased confidence in sharing ideas and getting feedback.
• Practical learning valued, including Linux use, command line tools, and system understanding.
• Curated choices and suggested directions reduce overwhelm.
• Interest in creative outputs and applied work.
• Community-facing projects seen as motivating, including a local website for the local area.
• Laptop reuse and resale viewed positively.

Yellow: emerging issues / areas needing development

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• Mixed experience levels among participants.
• Need for differentiation between beginners and more experienced attendees.
• Desire to work more deeply on a single topic rather than covering many.
• Strong interest in privacy, security, and tracking, but recognition that research and myth-busting are needed.
• Need to frame security topics carefully to remain empowering.

Red: risks / constraints to manage

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• Lack of clear pathways may reduce momentum if sessions feel too open-ended.
• Risk of privacy and security discussions becoming overwhelming or anxiety-inducing.
• Loss of tacit digital skills when changing tools or platforms.

Computer Club feedback (handwritten notes)

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Participant A

Green and Pleasant Computer Club 💾🌱

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Computing that is calmer, lighter and more in our own hands

📍 At Todmorden Makery, Tod College, Burnley Road, Todmorden

You are invited to join a short pilot of the Green and Pleasant Computer Club, a friendly weekly group exploring slower, low-stress and more eco-aware ways of using computers.

Sessions run on Mondays, 12.00 – 14.00.
Pilot dates: 24 November, 1 December, 8 December, 15 December.

Our volunteers have fixed up a few laptops donated from a local school. We’ve also bought hard drives for them- on offer are 4g or 8g Ram.

They have a version of Linux on them called Mint- it’s very similar to Windows but has less problems with viruses and going out of date. If you need the Windows operating system the computer guy at Tod Market could put that on pretty cheaply.

The Makery and some of the workers and directors of the Makery are involved in this project. It’s a good one and we are helping to promote it.

Click the following link to book on - https://www.northern-broadsides.co.uk/iron-people/
A Summary of the workshops follows.

Slowing the Flow Creative Writing Workshop
Saturday 18 Jan, 2pm – 5pm
Todmorden College

After running the workshop for a few years, here are some useful bits of information.

It’s Mick here with a post about asking for potential volunteers for the digital devices work we do. At the Makery, we’ve done a fair bit on finding new homes for digital devices of laptops and phones. And also helping people to use phones and laptops them with a monthly Tech and Tea.

It’s been working really well. people are happy to donate us their old devices, we wipe them and test we can get them working well and people on limited funds really need these devices.

These workshops are run by some of our members as unpaid volunteers as a way to highlight some of the ongoing skill sharing that happens at our drop in sessions. The resources for these workshops have been provided as part of our ongoing support from CFFC - Community Foundation for Calderdale.

A form to sign up for the workshops is included at the bottom of this page.

Sign up via this form or send us an email.

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These induction and welcome and orientation events are supported by CFFC as part of a community grant to support our work with volunteers.

• When: Friday 11 October at 1.45pm – 3pm
• Where: The Makery, Todmorden Community College, Burnley Rd, Todmorden OL14 7BX
• Price: FREE No need to book – just drop in

Katrina Heath, a Todmorden resident and a freelance in theatre as a producer, director and facilitator, has invited the Makery to host and for the Makery members to take part in the Northern Broadsides project Iron People.

What is Iron People?

In early August 2024 our colleague and friend John Sutcliffe was admitted to Calderdale Royal with acute liver and kidney failure and long standing heart failure. We are sorry to say that John passed away in the early hours of 21st of August. His passing was thankfully painless.

John was a well liked and irreplaceable member of our team at the Makery. He will be greatly missed.

Hi there,

Here are some notes from the Members meeting on the 7th of June.

If things are not quite right there is an online version here that you can comment on and the record can be updated.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dQaSBD2ZLE8aB5geDY5NzD5SULVeCBE68nEXhXphfeY/edit#heading=h.npu6qshlhfpp

All the best from the meetings’ hosts.
Mick, Nicola and Caroline
Minutes / Notes from Makery Members Meeting - 7th June 2024

Come visit the Makery community workshop and find out what we do.

Makery Tour Wednesday 29th May: 14.30 - 15.00 pm

Wednesday 5th of June - 19.00 - 19.30 pm Makery Workshop - Todmorden College - Burnley Road

This is a chance to come visit the Makery to find out what is happening and what is available at Todmorden’s community workshop.

These event make up a series of orientation events to help you find out if there is something for you  at the Makery or we can help you  make new things happen.

Happy Leap Day! Here is a very quick newsletter for the Makery.

First of all many, many thanks to Todmorden town council for funding us towards our core costs of rent, insurance and materials etc. The town council were are first funders back in 2021, and while are have been very lucky to get generous donations from our members, we still rely on this support. Many Thanks Again!

In September to November 2023 we ran the following workshops for Todmorden residents with help from the local Ward council who paid for resources and workshop leaders and CFFC who provided support via Nicola our volunteer coordinator.

Many Thanks to Grace for Making this Video.

https://youtu.be/jF1mdf1aY4A

For quite a while we have been finding new homes for older laptops that people have donated. We wipe the hard drive put on low power operating system and make sure it works well enough to browse the web.

We are now widening this out to phones and tablets. They are tricker to fix so we are also doing a partnership with St Augustine’s refugee project who can fix the devices that we can’t.

Vikki took a fun wide angle picture of our making session today for the after-school club.

We wanted to create a fun activity that mixed technology and craft making. Doing these puppets really seems to have attracted a good mix of people.

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

Gil & Artemus Video of Puppet show

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIqoLOo52cc

Robyn’s

Have a look at our upcoming workshops here.

The Makery has been a fantastic project to get involved with. As we come up to our second birthday we now have 6 weekly drop-ins and other regular Men in Sheds and Women in Workshops sessions. These are great spaces for doing repairs, getting on with your making projects or getting help to do particular project. These sessions are now usually thriving and lively. It can be a bit hectic for some. We now have a dedicated quiet session on Wednesdays at 1.30.

Drop In Sessions 
Tuesdays 6.30 - 8.30 pm
Monthly on First TuesdaysMakery Workshop - Tod College, Burnley Rd

“Build, brew & bond”

Upcoming dates Tuesday 5th September

Tuesday 3rd October

Come along to Women in Workshop at the Makery (Todmorden’s Community Workshop project).
At these sessions you will have access to the tools and materials available in the workshop. Wood, Textiles and DiY etc.
What happens? It’s an informal learning space. Women come to work on their projects or to ask for help with specific ideas. Sometimes there are demonstrations of specific skills.  If you have questions feel free to get in touch on todmordenmakery@gmail.com

Elaine and Christine ran a fantastic workshop on making decorative repairs. You can come into a Wednesday or Friday drop in in the days if you want to try to get help doing the same.

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Ben Duxbury ran this workshop which managed to fit in making stools into a very short timeframe by carefully planning the workshop to allow different pairs of participants to make one piece each which slotted together at the end.

We invite you to the Makery community workshop to use some of our equipment  and materials at these workshops. These Events are kindly supported by Todmorden Town Council.

You can book in the following ways

• Pop into the college and sign up at reception
• Text your name and the date of the workshop to 07763395917 - we’ll text back to confirm
• Email us on todmordenmakery@gmail.com
• Follow us on facebook and message us there

If you have questions feel free to get in touch at todmordenmakery@gmail.com

First up a practical one.

We are open today Wednesday but closed on Friday the 17th March 2023. Then  it’s back to normal service.

Secondly - you are invited to an event at the Makery next Friday

Come share ideas with us
Every now and then we have a Meet Up & Eat Up to share food and ideas for project, events and other things at the Makery.

All welcome to this open
Meet Up & Eat Up gathering