Where We Work
Communities of support
Our hubs are the local focus points for building community, where people can come to have a meal together, take part in training sessions, meet a support worker, or access our housing and other opportunities.
Durham
Our Durham hub is located in Langley Moor and houses our woodwork and craft space. We also run a women’s craft group in Gilesgate on Tuesdays.
Handcrafted Durham, Unit 21 Skillion Business Centre, Littleburn Industrial Estate, Langley Moor, Durham, DH7 8HG
Chester-le-Street
In prime position on Front Street, our Chester-le-Street hub is home to a training kitchen where we run cookery sessions every weekday, open to every skill level. We also run a women’s group on Wednesdays. The Chester-le-Street hub also houses our enterprise projects, which include screen printing and plastics work.
Handcrafted Chester-le-Street, 70 Front Street,
Chester-le-Street, DH3 3BB
Engage
Our Engage hub works with young care leavers and asylum seekers – in particular, unaccompanied asylum seeking children – to provide housing, support and activities. The Engage hub’s work is based in Chester-le-Street but covers the whole region.
Handcrafted Chester-le-Street, 70 Front Street,
Chester-le-Street, DH3 3BB
Gateshead
Our Gateshead hub is based in a converted pub, offering a training kitchen, community cafe, a wood workshop, and on-site supported housing. We run a women’s group on Thursdays as well as various other activities on weekday afternoons.
Handcrafted Gateshead, The Shakespeare, 88/96 Fife Street, Deckham, Gateshead, NE8 3RR
The Shakey
The Shakey is our community cafe based in our Gateshead Hub, serving a range of breakfasts, hot & cold drinks, homemade baked goods and snacks. It’s run by some of our fantastic trainee volunteers, who whip up everything from chai lattes to bacon rolls.
Open weekdays 9am-12pm. Food is served until 11am, followed by a free community meal from 12-1pm. All welcome!
Closed on bank holidays, weekends, and over Christmas week.
The community space and kitchen is also available for event hire. Please contact Tim, our cafe manager, at tim.crichton@handcrafted.org.uk.
The Shakey Cafe, 88 Fife Street, Deckham, Gateshead, NE8 3RR
Sunderland
Our Sunderland Hub is currently based out of the @NextDoor Project in Pennywell, Sunderland where we provide woodwork sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. We also offer supported accommodation across Sunderland.
Hope4All@NextDoor, Petersfield Road, Sunderland, SR4 9BB
Testimonials
Changing Lives have been working in partnership with Handcrafted for some time, and have seen the improvements that they have made to the service since they first began. We see Handcrafted as a valuable partner, providing effective support to our residents, most of whom are socially excluded and have been given up on by other services.
Handcrafted provides a safe environment for residents, so that they can explore new skills, gain confidence and improve self-esteem. This has been demonstrated on a number of occasions, when residents have been given the support specific to their needs, staff have shown patience and understanding in dealing with individuals who can be very challenging.
We work very closely with Handcrafted and have formed a unique working partnership together, we have seen a massive difference in the confidence that our residents have when they have engaged in this service, and that is due to the staff at Handcrafted going the extra mile, to make a difference to our residents, showing empathy and understanding and without judgement.
Long may this continue…