Archive for Uncategorized

School on the move

Posted by Ben on Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010

Press release:
A class of middle school children have donated their entire school to our charity.
Chairs, desks, musical instruments and classroom supplies for up to 500 pupils are on their way to the African Workshop’s community centre in Mali thanks to the efforts of pupils at Bebside Middle School, in Blyth, Northumberland.
The youngsters and their teachers [...]

Demon Barbers

Posted by Ben on Saturday, June 12th, 2010

A huge thank you to the amazing Demon Barbers! This incredible band played a pair of gig to promote their new album – The Adventures of Captain Ward – and donated all their profits to the African Workshop. Added to a raffle on the night they collected over £550.
The London gig was brilliant. The Demons [...]

Football – Goooaaaaallllll!

Posted by Ben on Saturday, June 12th, 2010

The World Cup is in Africa! Football fever is gripping an already football mad continent, and the kids at the African Workshop love to play…
Footballs are expensive in Mali, but we have four teams over there playing at any opportunity they can get. They use bundles of bags and plastic if they have to, plastic [...]

Demon Barbers gig

Posted by Ben on Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

The fabulous Demon Barbers – winners of the BBC best live folk act 2009 – are launching their new album with two amazing gigs in aid of the African Workshop.
First up is The Boardwalk in Sheffield on 3 June, hotly followed by the London leg at the Borderline on 4 June.  Come and celebrate the [...]

Bike to the sea

Posted by Ben on Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

I made it to the seaside under my own power, cycling from my front door to Brighton Pier on Saturday morning. That’s 60 miles on a single speed bike!
I set off in the pause for breath at 8am on a Saturday morning, just before London exploded into the sunshine and went to bbq itself in [...]

Folk Against Fascism Village Fete

Posted by Ben on Friday, April 2nd, 2010

We are massively pleased to be taking part in the Folk Against Fascism Village Fete at the Southbank Centre on May 2nd
This will be an amazing day “featuring a free afternoon of morris dancing, ceilidhs and lots of traditional fun, bringing all the festivity of a village celebration to the banks of the Thames.?? Ceilidhs [...]

Creative Junction

Posted by Ben on Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

A huge thank you to Creative Junction for running an incredible day of events last week at Inter-change. They invited 200 young people to take part in workshops and to discuss ways that creativity can help build bridges, start dialogues and break down barriers.
I was invited to speak about The African Workshop and to help [...]

Sponsor my aching thighs!

Posted by Ben on Thursday, March 11th, 2010

I’m back on the bike for my annual ride to Brighton in aid of the African Workshop. This is one of our main money raisers so dig deep! If you make you feel better, my legs will really hurt…
***Bank account details at bottom of this message or visit www.africanworkshop.org***
Your money will help us continue to [...]

Photos by Sarah Hickson

Posted by Ben on Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Back from Bamako and sunk into the London rain and cold, it has been brilliant to look through Sarah’s beautiful pictures from Bamako. She has really captured the colour, characters – and kung fu moves – that make the workshop so special!
Check out the images in the gallery.
A huge thank you to Sarah, and best [...]

Hand in hand

Posted by Ben on Wednesday, February 10th, 2010

I met up with Drissa today, the man who is the reason I ever came here. We first wrote to each other when we were eight (read the story) and today he took my hand and lead me through Bamako.
We slid through the market, past wax prints and soap stacks, mounds of drying shrimp softly [...]