Free Leach Pottery afternoons where St Ives locals can have a go

Pottery has a way of slowing everything down. You sit, you get your hands dirty, the wheel does its thing, and for a couple of hours nothing else gets a look in. That is roughly the idea behind a set of free afternoons being run for local people in St Ives, in a workshop that happens to be one of the most famous pottery addresses in the country.

The Leach Pottery runs what it calls Community Afternoons, free drop-in sessions built for people aged 18 and over who would get something out of a gentle, supportive and creative workshop. They are also open to anyone who has taken part in the pottery’s community partnership programmes.

No sign-up sheet, no commitment

The sessions are deliberately loose. There is no requirement to turn up every time and no expectation that you carry on if it is not for you. Come when you can, try something new, leave it there if you like.

For anyone who has never touched clay, that matters. A drop-in with no register and no fee removes most of the reasons people talk themselves out of these things.

📷Credit: St Ives BID

Throwing demonstrations, then your turn

The next Community Afternoon is on Monday 21 September, 2pm to 4pm, at The Leach Pottery. The session is built around throwing demonstrations and a have-a-go, so participants watch different throwing techniques first and then get on the wheel themselves.

Watching before doing is the useful bit. Throwing looks straightforward until the clay is spinning under your own hands.

📷Credit: St Ives BID

Two more dates for people already involved

There is a Pot Collection and Tea Bowl workshop on Thursday 20 August, 10am to 1pm, and a further Pot Collection session on Friday 11 September, 1pm to 4pm, for people who have previously taken part in the community workshops.

Pot collection is the part that tends to get overlooked in a pottery course and is often the best bit. Work made weeks earlier comes back out of the kiln fired and glazed, and it rarely looks quite the way anyone expected.

📷Credit: St Ives BID

How to find out more

Full details of the programme are on the Leach Pottery’s community studio afternoons page. The sessions were shared locally by St Ives BID, which described them as a chance for residents to connect, create and enjoy the pottery’s community programme.

The Community Afternoons are free, they are drop-in, and nobody is expected to have made anything before.

📷Credit: St Ives BID