STORY: Green Community Hubs – Simon
For Simon, The Settlement – and the Green Community Hub that is now a thriving part of this coastal Cumbrian arts centre – means inclusivity.
As a former business owner, Simon’s ill-health has brought some huge life changes, and the relaxed, open setting helps him adjust. Despite these challenges, his entrepreneurial spirit still shines through and he’s got the future longevity of the project in his sights.
Speaking of his involvement, Simon said:
“I moved to Maryport in August last year from Alston and started doing things with The Settlement. I go to a pottery group here, have a studio here, and now I come to the Green Hub group on a Monday. Sometimes I might go off and paint – it just depends on what sort of mood I’m in.
“I’ve recently been diagnosed with ADHD and autism, so that’s quite difficult. I’ve also got long-term conditions because I’ve got Sjögren’s syndrome which affects my immune system, so I have both types of arthritis and fibromyalgia. They can’t control the pain I’ve got so it’s constant all the time. I decided that if I went at my own pace, that would be better than throwing myself in.
“On a good day you can do hundreds of things, but then you’ll have three or four bad days, so I just thought I’d start with this.
“I used to run my own business – I had four shops and a big interior design business – so it’s a bit of a change. There’s the old me that used to be able to do everything, and now there’s the new me that won’t always be able to do stuff. I have bad days where I’m in bed and things like that. So, I just thought I’d come here and do some bits and pieces and use my skills.
“I run the table-top sale now, so we sell vegetables, we sell some of the pottery group’s items, we have some plants to sell and we’re going to do some seed and plant swapping as well. I thought, that’s a way to put a bit of money into the pot so that we can buy seeds and things and keep it in a circle.
“I was told by one of the guys here ‘well, you’re more of an entrepreneur than I am, so why don’t you take over the table-top sale and get more people involved?’ I’m proud of it because we sold lots of vegetables and it was nice to see some of the town buying stuff. When we told them what it was for, we got a little bit extra. I’m hoping we can get it more developed.
“I’ve got lots of ideas. I come from a business environment, and I’ve realised if you get a self-sustaining group then it never has to ask for funding. You can get funding as extra, but then it doesn’t have to conform with tick boxes. I also thought it probably needs a weekend group for people that are at work, so rather than a Monday morning, have a Saturday afternoon or something like that.”
Aside from his ideas about funding and future development, Simon’s main impetus for getting involved in the first place was to keep himself going.
“I had about six months of not really wanting to get out of the house, so I’m trying not to do that again. There are lots of different people and it’s nice to meet other people who have got the same sort of problems.
“You never take your own advice though, do you, so I might say to somebody: ‘you shouldn’t be so down on yourself, you should be trying to be positive’. It lets you interact with people you probably wouldn’t know. One of the other group members is just around the corner from me and I wouldn’t have known he lived there. I just find it more inclusive. I like the group – they’re a good group.
I prefer to set my own routine and this Hub provides that. They’ll say ‘just do you’ and if there’s too many people and I feel a bit overwhelmed I might get a piece of canvas and go out the back and paint. I’ve learned to be a bit more self-reliant and that it’s okay to do my own thing.