The company runs sewing and creative classes in the London Borough of Lewisham. The primary aim of Make Mee Studio CIC is to make sewing and creativity as accessible, inclusive, and as environmentally and socially beneficial as possible. At Make Mee Studio CIC, we ran a number of projects and worked on initiatives that have benefited the community in the financial year 1st March 2024 -ending December 31st 2024. - The CIC experienced continued success with their funded Sew Together project - A free 18 week course for local residents who would not usually be able to afford sewing classes or who are experiencing isolation. Following overwhelmingly positive feedback from participants during the pilot year and a long wait list. The CIC applied for and gained a £20,000 National Lottery grant to continue this project. These workshops began in September 2024 and we will be able to run 72 weekly workshops, running until July 2026. By the end of the project we predict we will have provided free sessions for over 110 people. - The CIC continues to partner with local support agencies such as social prescribing network Community Connections as well as working with local charities who support sanctuary seekers. The Refugee Council, and Lewisham Migrant and Refugee Network. We feel this is an important part of the project providing a place for integration and community building as Lewisham is a Borough of Sanctuary. As part of the funding we provide travel expenses for those who need it, so getting to the course is not a barrier to entry. - The CIC continues to offer free or low cost subsidised places at weekly sessions called The Sewcial. We are funding these places from our takings from other courses. At the Sewcial people can use our studio and equipment to work on their own sewing projects and socialise with other makers. Building a diverse local sewing community. - Following the success of the free mending workshops in the last financial year. The CIC is working on a collaboration between Lewisham Council Strategic Waste Team, Lewisham Libraries and Lewisham Council Housing to run 24 free mending workshops for residents around the borough. - The CIC ran 2 series of subsidised sewing workshops with local charity Lewisham Refugee and Migrant Network - women’s group. Teaching practical sewing skills to the women who have experienced gender based violence. - The CIC worked with Lewisham Libraries on a Arts Council Funded project called Imagined Worlds. We collaborated with a local author teaching three free intergenerational workshops based on world building, the history of banner making and teaching practical making skills to produce a collaborative community banner for an imagined future world that is now displayed in our home at Crofton Park Library. - The CIC organised a free make to donate session during a local festival, teaching sewing skills to local community members and donating what they made to local Refugee and Migrant Charities. - Co-Director Jaime Greenly attended a year-long programme from The School of Social Entrepreneurs gaining skills from experts in running a successful social enterprise. Focusing on how to improve our traded income. We also received over £3000 in Match funding from this project and have been making strategic changes to our plans putting into practise the skills learnt to improve the business. - The CIC provided 2 work experience placements for local school students. - We have provided 4 regular weekly or bi-weekly volunteer placements and have a team of ad hoc volunteers who join us to help out at our community focused sessions, like the mending drop ins and our sewcials. The volunteers gain skills in teaching, organisation and meet new people. - Where possible, The CIC sourced materials for our workshops from local and sustainable sources, purchasing end of roll and remnant fabrics and receiving donations of materials.

The company’s stakeholders are the participants that attend our classes and courses as well as other local organisations in the charity/ support sector. The CIC continues to use feedback and evaluation forms to monitor our impact and progress. The valuable feedback from our Sew Together project meant we were able to prove our impact when applying for the National Lottery funding. We gained a greater amount of funding for the project, we believe this success is down to our thorough report of the initial pilot scheme. We can now run that project for another 2 years. We have used our links with support organisations in the area to develop our funded projects with the needs of specific target audiences in mind. Building links with local refugee charities has been a particular success for this financial year. The CIC regularly asks for feedback from our students on all of our courses and tests new ideas with focus groups.

The total directors’ remuneration was £52,938.72. There were no other transactions or arrangements in connection with the remuneration of directors, or compensation for the director’s loss of office, which required to be disclosed.

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration