Our Community Safari Zine

This zine was produced to introduce Dwellbeing as part of a ‘Community Safari’ in August 2025.

Members of Dwellbeing hosted a visit from a group in Gateshead. In an interactive tour of Shieldfield we shared about our work and introduced some of the people involved.

Click the image to access the zine.

Read on for a summary of the day below…

It was wonderful to introduce everyone to Jill at the Forum Cafe who talked about what a key hub the space is for the community and how all Shieldfield organisations work together. Hannah then talked about the roots of Dwellbeing, how we are structured and governed and the things we are working on together. Val explained Flourishing Together our social group and her role as a Steward, Edyta shared Get Chatty and Get Crafty, our regular Tuesday gatherings. Dan talked about the work we’re doing as part of our community archiving project. 

Then we took a short stroll to the meadow where Helen Lunn explained the work of the Shieling Group around public spaces, mentioning Isaac’s recent work and publication around demolition and community security. We saw our wild, wayward and wonderful meadow where previously a beautiful dene would have stood and heard about our MUGA and the Annual Shieldfield Cup rallied by Andrew Wilson (who sadly couldn’t join us on the day).

Walking back towards Wretham place, we visited my favourite little alleyway which always delivers the lovely experience of bakery and laundrette smell. It feels so nourishing to me, a sense of a thriving place. Finally we arrived at Shieldfield Art Works and their beautiful garden where Lydia talked about our partnerships and Kaltouma told us about our growing groups. Ishrat shared the work of our community chefs and we then tasted some of their produce in the delicious lentil soup we shared over lunch. Izaak kindly popped over to tell us about the partnership with the NewBridge Project and the Youth Programme, playing us some of the jingles they have recently written. Colin shared his experience of volunteering with the group, the characters he meets and the way that we get to know parents through their kids. It seemed like we could have stayed there all afternoon listening to each other, sharing advice and finding solidarity. 

We hope that ripples and conversations from this gathering will continue on.