Inga, a sprightly 76 years young, and a member of Hilldrop Time Bank in Islington, now has the official title of Community Champion pinned and tucked under her belt.

Inga has lived an active and entrepreneurial life and so when she joined the time bank it was just another way for her to continue to be involved in her community.

She has been a volunteer in a wide variety of ways for many years – utilising her many talents. Inga is a silhouette portrait artist, and she has used this skill to raise money for her local community centre’s children’s activities and for the international charity, Save the Children.

She proudly told me she once appeared on The Generation Game with Larry Grayson and Isla St Clair, as “the expert”, and over the years she has portrayed in silhouette celebrities such as Rod Stewart, Lionel Blair, Kenney Everett, and Diana Dors to name but a few!

Inga also has a background in haute couture dress-making; she managed her own business for many years.

It is the skill of pattern design and dress-making that she is currently sharing with people in her community.

With funding from The Scarman Trust, Inga has funds to hire premises and has been able to buy six sewing machines, three ironing boards and irons and the materials needed to make patterns for made to measure clothing.

I first met Inga on the Canal Boat Reward Trip in August 2006 which had been organised by Mildmay Time Bank for the whole London time banking network. It was at this event I was able to share news of training and development opportunities the network had secured for time bank members in the capital. Amongst those opportunities was the offer of an “Inspiring Change” personal development taster and follow up course called Find your Focus which The Scarman Trust has been running.

Inga attended both of these short courses, developed her project idea and went on to make a grant bid for Community Champion funding.

Although there is a limit of 10 places for each of the two beginner’s courses, the first of which began on 24 January 2007, is very over subscribed!

With voluntary classroom assistance from Sandra the course got underway with a session on taking measurements.
Each participant was kitted out with calico, tape measures and helpful diagrams.

By the end of the course each participant will have made an item of clothing of their choice and have the skills to go on to their second stage of learning if they wish.

Belonging to a time bank is a great way for individuals to get support from others within their communities and begin to realise their ambitions and follow their passions.

On the above mentioned boat trip a number of new connections were made. We experienced the magic of mixing and matching in a freestyle way –

Follow this thread to see how sharing his passion for embroidery and quilting with Inga and attending The Scarman Trust courses led Scorpio Scorpio to develop his community project.

Scorpio’s story (link to another page ?? Time Bankers Tales – Scorpio’s story)

The Canal Boat Trip (link to Pan London Projects – The Canal Boat Trip ???)