Between 2025 and 2026, Craft Forward continued to grow as a community-driven initiative. We expanded our Blankets for London project into Blankets for the World, establishing 11 volunteer hubs across the UK and Europe. Thanks to this expansion, we assembled and distributed an incredible 519 blankets for people experiencing houselessness across the UK and Europe. This is a 136% increase from last year. We held 20 free knitting and crochet workshops in London and ran two six-hour knitting marathons at Southwark Cathedral. With these workshops, we reached people of all ages with the youngest participant being 8 years old and the oldest over 80, creating a truly intergenerational group. Our London workshop participants travelled from all London boroughs except Harrow. 100% of participants replying to our formal feedback form reported wanting to attend another one of our workshops. We ran a special knit club session in partnership with the Victoria and Albert Museum, reaching a diverse group of participants (especially beginners) with our initiative. We ran a special session called Stitch Stretch and Snack, funded by the Mayor of London where participants could get involved with the knitting club, participate in a gentle group stretching session and eat a delicious free meal after. We collaborated with Aardman Animations on the Can Ewe Knit It? Campaign, where Craft Forward designed some themed squares for people to contribute to the Blankets for the World project across the UK. Through these efforts, we strengthened our community, bringing people together through making and mutual care.

Primary Stakeholders: Elena Lo Presti, Raschique Narwan, Eleanor Woods-Marshall (CIC’s Directors). We constantly consult stakeholders through a continuous feedback loop implemented in our workshop activities. 272 participants have engaged with our formal feedback form this year, providing valuable insights into the impact of our work. We have collected feedback from people of all age groups, starting from 8+, ensuring that our programmes remain inclusive and responsive to community needs. From our latest 2025 impact report statistics based on 272 responses to our formal feedback survey by participants: 99.6% of respondents said that Craft Forward contributes to making crafts more accessible, 93.4% of respondents said ‘yes’ when asked if the workshops helps to make them feel more connected to their community, 96% of respondents rated their satisfaction with the workshop 8 or above, 75.6% of respondents rated how creative they feel after the workshop 8 or above, 98.9% stated that the workshop positively improved their mental wellbeing. Our management team holds quarterly consultation meetings to analyse this feedback, allowing us to adapt and refine our activities to better serve our participants.

For the financial year, the director Elena Lo Presti received gross remuneration of £16,380 for their services to the company. For the financial year, the director Hana Baraka received gross remuneration of £1,094 for their services to the company. For the financial year, the amount of £6,036 is paid or payable to the director Eleanor Woods-Marshall for their services to the company.

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration