There were some derelict buildings behind our Shop that were used by the butchers Thornalleys as storage and a bakehouse where they made pork pies, haslet and sausages.  Our landlord asked us if we would be interested in them.  We applied to The Lottery for a small grant to renovate the first two rooms and started holding craft classes there in 2015.  A short while after the landlord offered us the another room, called the Bakehouse, and we were lucky enough to win a competition on ITV's Calendar for £50,000. We spent all the money on the equipment we needed to make this room into a fit for purpose pottery and glass studio for classes for all abilities. 
Here are some before and after pictures!

The Big Lottery Fund chose Alford Craft Market Centre to be one of only five community groups to be filmed for ITV’s The People’s Projects Competition in our area on ITV Calendar News in March 2016. We were eligible for up to £50,000 to renovate and equip the Old Bakehouse, a large building next door to our Craft Centre in Alford, as a Pottery and Glass Studio. We were successful in winning the grant from the Big Lottery Fund and The Bakehouse Project was one of the three out of five projects to get the most votes from the public! 

Watch us as we film the
ITV producer + photos

 Watch our film - The Bakehouse Project - that was shown on ITV Calendar News 3rd March 2016