05/10/2020
By Jamie Tobin

Back in 2010, L’Arche Brecon fulfilled a long-term dream of setting up a welcoming and productive day activity enterprise for members of the Community and for other people looking for work and activity in the local area. Thanks to a tip from a friend of the Community, we took on Rebound Books, an established business that was run by a young family in the north of England. They had the idea of taking old and unwanted books, often destined for landfill, and transforming them into notebooks, diaries and sketch books by using the covers and adding good quality recycled paper inside. With new plans on their horizon they passed the name, idea, equipment and large quantities old books onto us. 

The making process and the ethos of taking discarded items and turning them into something useful, beautiful and unique immediately clicked. We have been making and selling Rebound Books ever since!

The making process and the ethos of taking discarded items and turning them into something useful, beautiful and unique immediately clicked. We have been making and selling Rebound Books ever since!

Tracey, Julie and Robin at work

Throughout the year we are kept busy making the books and selling them online, at bookshops across the country and at markets and festivals. We also run a weekly soup lunch making session, bringing the community together with friends and visitors for a yummy meal and catch up. We've also had a vegetable garden for the last 3 years, and offer craft sessions, including seasonal mini-projects like Christmas card designing and apple juice pressing.

Tracey and Imogen serving up Soup Lunch

When Covid-19 arrived, things changed a bit. The great festivals we had lined up started being cancelled, and the markets too. Bookshops were closed throughout lockdown, and members of the workshop from houses outside L’Arche had to stop attending. Suddenly the workshop went from being a busy hub of activity to being quiet... and a bit strange.

We took time to adjust, adapt and re-evaluate.

When Covid-19 arrived, things changed a bit. The great festivals we had lined up started being cancelled, and the markets too.

 Steve painting a rainbow in support of front-line workers April 2020

If we couldn’t operate as usual what could we do? And what could we do to help the wider situation? In our workshop we have accumulated a lot of donated items, in particular fabric off-cuts and a sewing machine. We landed on the idea of creating face masks; PPE crisis in full swing, we felt this was a good offer!

It took time to develop, particularly finding a system to involve people, developing new skills, seeing what aspects of the tasks were enjoyable, which were tricky, satisfying, etc. We were up and running by May, and added them to the Rebound Books website for sale. Since then we have created hundreds of masks, sending parcels all over the UK - and even a few over-seas. More fabric was donated, and we streamlined the process. We had positive feedback and tweaked the design as we improved.

Since then we have created hundreds of masks, sending parcels all over the UK - and even a few over-seas. More fabric was donated, and we streamlined the process.

Masks ready for Posting

Going forward, we are keen to use the new sewing skills we have learnt. While we continue to make and sell Rebound Books, we are diversifying with sewed items such as bunting, pencil cases and more masks, still keeping with the ethos of turning unwanted items into useful and beautiful products. We also plan to expand our outdoor vegetable  garden project and keep in touch with the needs of our workshop members, hopefully welcoming them back as soon as possible!

 

 Recycled Bunting made from damaged tents and camping kit on display in the workshop

 

Visit the Rebound Books website