Crafting fun and friendship at the courthouse

COURTHOUSE Crafts has been a Heathcote institution for almost thirty years.

The High Street outlet is packed to the brim with colourful crafty creations made by the district’s residents.

Along with the broad range of hand-made items on offer, there’s also wool, haberdashery and second-hand goods.

Co-op president Alison Jeavons said the group was originally founded to give women the confidence to make and sell the items they enjoy, as well as an opportunity to get out of the house and experience working in a shop.

“From day one its aim was to help local women and it still does,” she said.

Ms Jeavons said she joined Courthouse Crafts and began volunteering after taking early retirement.

“I’ve only been with the organisation a couple of years,” she said. “While I am the president I haven’t been around very long, I didn’t duck quickly enough at the last AGM.

“I joined when I retired because I loved lockdown, I would stay home all the time if I could.

“But I know that that’s not healthy, so I volunteered as a way to force myself out of the house one day a week.

Ms Jeavons said she initially had to push herself to do join the group, but that effort is now paying off.

“But I really enjoy it now and I love the women that we work with,” she said.

“Most of them are late 70s and into their 80s, so they’re not spring chickens, but they’ve seen a lot of life and some of them have a pretty wicked sense of humour.

“Everybody looks after everybody else, so somebody’s a bit under the weather and everyone’s checking up and making sure they’re ok.

According to Ms Jeavons there was another practical benefit to working in the shop.

“We have members and non-members,” she said. “A member is somebody who volunteers one day week and then we have non-members who still contribute items for sale, but they pay a higher commission because they don’t volunteer.

“This is important because we help provide an income for people who are struggling to make ends meet due to the cost-of-living crisis.”

Courthouse Crafts is housed in Heathcote’s original judicial building which was constructed in 1863.

It combines soaring ceilings and an historic interior with crumbling infrastructure, facilities are basic and the building needs repair.

Plans are in place to include the space in the new Heathcote Civic Precinct.

This means the co-op will ultimately need to find a new home, although it received a reprieve for 2023/24 after municipal budgetary constraints put the building’s redevelopment on the backburner.

With the future in mind, Ms Jeavons is careful not to make any promises about what’s to come for the group.

“Commercial rents have gone through the roof, and we need to be on the main street to have any hope of surviving,” she said.