Discover Bucks Craft Directory: A Warm Welcome Awaits You!

Welcome, Welcome!

I'm going to start by writing a little about me and why I decided to start the Bucks Craft Directory. It's headed so you can bypass my tale of woe if that's not your thing and get to the good bit!

When I had the Shop - Freya Jones Art & Craft, You could mainly find me Spinning, Weaving, Knitting and then making that into clothes.

A bit about me and my tale of woe (tiny violins please)

Hi! I'm Freya Jones, for 7 years I ran Freya Jones Ltd, an independent craft shop specialising in the ancient crafts of Spinning, Weaving and Felting, along with Paints and knitting yarns, crafty gifts and quite frankly, anything I found fun or inspirational. A major part of my business was running craft classes multiple times a week and I got to experience how magical creating a community of like minded people truly is. I also had a stint at being the chair of the Bucks Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers and had first hand experience of how difficult it is to get members for these groups, encourage people to be on the committee and generally grow these groups with literally no budget for marketing. Our groups are dwindling. Our guild was 65 years old when I took over as chair and we were facing closure due to decreasing membership. However within 3 months I had 80 active members and a full committee - mostly of people under 30. I proved by this that there IS a need and a desire for these groups - It's just about getting the word out there that they exist. 

Covid certainly put a spanner in the works for face to face meetings and it killed off my craft courses which never truly recovered in time before the cost of living crisis hit, my rent increased and HS2 started shutting the road I was located on. So I made the sad decision to shut my beloved shop. I then had a two year pants time losing multiple family members  under the age of 60 and it crushed my mojo. While I was feeling very pants, I saw multiple independents shut, lots of groups close for lack of members and the situation looked bleak for art and craft offline.

With this grim outlook (!) I decided to get a full foot reconstruction - I've had various bones in my feet cut in half and held in a better position with plates. Hopefully after I'm fully healed I'll be able to walk more than 10 minutes before being in agony. Oh the joy of disability! So I find myself on essentially 6 months bed rest with a brain whirring round and a desire to help the community that I love and adore.

Now you will mostly find me trying out everything, I've done miniature making, fossil hunting, rock tumbling, metal detecting, bricklaying, carpentry, plumbing and plenty of reading

We've finally got to the Bucks Craft Directory

I decided that I could try and answer the two questions, What can I do with my free time? and How can we get people to know we exist? in one easy to navigate website.

This directory aims to provide a place for everyone in Buckinghamshire to find a group to join, a class to learn something new, simply a social group to combat loneliness or an exciting event to kill a few hours. I find, personally, that I'm always keen to do something new, but I haven't the foggiest of where to start looking. A lot of the things I MIGHT be interested in are niche and require an exact search, such as learning how to weave and unless it's there in front of you as an option you might never think of it to explore. So hopefully I can put all the niche, wonderful things that Buckinghamshire has to offer, under your nose so you can pick and choose how you want to spend your free time.

From an group point of view - I hope that this website serves as a vital free marketing tool to get your group out there, gain new members and help support your group/class/course or gain visibility for your independent shop/gallery/café.

This county that I've called my home for practically all my life is chock full of inspiring, amazing people. I think sometimes when I see the often viciousness of online trolls, I lose sight of that. But when you get together with a group of people face to face - something really magical happens, there's an electricity of fun in the air and my goodness do we need it. 

So help me make this directory something amazing, please send me all your suggestions of groups etc so I can spend my 6 months bed rest doing something worthwhile, and when I'm literally on my feet again, I will be able to trawl the streets, finding all these amazing places and people myself. Together we can build something really useful! and fun!

Warmest Wishes,

Freya