Why does Wigan & Leigh need a women's workshop?

A safe, supportive and creative space, run by women for women. 

We upcycle furniture and homewares in a woman safe workshop. We offer free workshops that support women to be confident, to feel like they belong and are valued, and to express their creativity in a purposeful way. ReMade is nurturing, inspiring and accessible, supported by volunteer mentors and visiting creatives. 

We support women who might be going through tough times in all sorts of ways - but you don't have to have a problem to access us. All women are welcome. 

We do reach out to women who are experiencing inequalities, who might be in contact with the criminal justice system, who might be experiencing poor mental health, who might have issues with drugs or alcohol, women who might be living in extreme poverty. We reach out so we can remove barriers, and make ReMade an inclusive space. The peer support experienced by a group of women sharing experiences regardless of their background, economic or work status, is a joy to behold. Women end up belly laughing when they haven't laughed for months.

We sell high quality upcycled items to the public, so everyone has the chance to buy creative, original items for their homes while supporting our project. The sales of these items go towards buying more paint, more brushes and sandpaper, enabling more work to be done by more women. 

  We supported 62 women in 2021, 78 in 2022.On average during 2023 we worked with 35 women a week. On average during 2024 we worked with 40 women a week.We support women to paint furniture, express themselves creatively, make decisions about their futures, gain skills, think about work, sort through budgets and benefits, find the resources they need to make their houses into homes, to access counselling and therapies, to connect with positive peers, to share skills, to become informed about their rights, and to live their best possible lives. We're not a women's centre, we are a different space for women. Women tell us that it's the refuge they didn't know they needed. The workshop drop in's are free to access to ALL women. We are financed through a mix of grants and a little bit of earned income, which enables us to give our resources to women who really need us. We work with lots of partner projects to give women as many choices in life as possible.  

Why women only?

ReMade gives women the chance to connect with peer support in a women's only space. Being in our women's only workshop gives women the opportunity to share intimate and traumatic experiences that might not otherwise come out in a mixed gender space. Women have the space to share stories of their lives, and be heard by women who understand. The empathy and connection that comes out from this is inspiring. Women have said 'its a refuge', 'i feel so much lighter now' and 'it's like kintsugi, i'm the broken vase and this place is the golden glue sticking me back together'

Have a read of this piece of research about women's only spaces:

https://www.actionaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/publications/a-feminist-approach-to-safe-spaces-for-women-and-girls-in-humanitarian-response-actionaid-uk-publication_0.pdf

What's the point of it?

Remade is an organisation with purpose -  to make a safe and equal world for women. Big talk for a tiny project - this is true.  Achieving this is not something we can do alone, it takes a strong alliance of women to work together to get anywhere close to this.   We are open to partnerships, input and mutual support - being an iterative organisation that doesn't ever stop growing is essential to our goals.   We work in an environmentally and socially responsible way, bringing us closer to SDGs 3 - Good Health & Wellbeing , 5 - Gender Equality, 8 - Decent Work & Economic Growth & 10 - Reduced Inequalities - though of course all 17 SDGs are applicable to all our decisions.  

For more information on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals have a look here