Growing Together: a heritage arts project with ESOL learners in Thornton.

Project Activities

- Growing and dyeing (9 weeks) – The project began in early March with planting dyer’s camomile, madder, and marigolds. Participants tended tiny plants throughout the growing season, learning about their traditional uses in textile dyeing. The group experimented with natural dye processes, creating vibrant colours from plants many recognized from their childhoods in Pakistan but had never understood they could be used for dyeing. “I realised how every time I peel an onion I could be using it for dyeing!”
- Textile making and twining – The group created twine from scrap fabric, combining their diverse experiences and stories. Using a specially built frame for bandweaving and twinemaking, participants were inspired to share traditional techniques from their own cultures. Salma drew on childhood memories to demonstrate how to make pyjama waistbands on a warping loom, even finding instructional videos on TikTok to refresh her memory.
- Embroidery and stitching – The project expanded to include hand embroidery techniques using silk, cotton and locally sourced white wool with the handmade twine. The finished artworks were then put into a dye bath. Participants learned different types of stitches while sharing their own textile traditions, creating a rich exchange of knowledge across cultures.

Key success factors

1. Respect for existing knowledge: The project valued participants’ cultural backgrounds and traditional skills
2. Holistic approach: Combining language learning with creative expression and community building
3. Seasonal engagement: Working within a full growing cycle created deep connection to the process
4. Intergenerational sharing: Older participants like Salma could share wisdom while learning new skills
5. Cultural bridge-building: Artists and participants learned from each other, creating genuine exchange

This project demonstrates how creative arts can serve as a powerful vehicle for community integration, cultural preservation, and personal empowerment. By centring the existing heritage knowledge of ESOL learners while introducing new techniques, the project created an inclusive space where everyone was able to be both teacher and student. The combination of practical skills, cultural exchange, and creative expression proved effective for building language, confidence, good mental health and community connections.

The project’s success lies not just in the beautiful textiles created, but in the relationships formed, the knowledge shared, and the sense of achievement and belonging it fostered among participants. Artist Claire introduced the idea of the collaborative twinemaking process through a quote from Robin Wall Kimmerer:

“As any little girl with tight braids will tell you, you have to pull a bit. Of course you can do it yourself—by tying one end to a chair, or by holding it in your teeth and braiding backward away from yourself—but the sweetest way is to have someone else hold the end so that you pull gently against each other, all the while leaning in, head to head, chatting and laughing, watching each other’s hands, one holding steady while the other shifts the slim bundles over one another, each in its turn.”

Personal stories from the project

Asma F's Story: "Now I have this language"

Asma F is the community evaluator for the project. She came to the UK as a qualified teacher but faced the challenge of rebuilding her professional identity in a new language and culture.

“I liked the calligraphy work very much, and the Islamic art. Now it’s embroidery. I love embroidery and I complete mine outside the sessions with Claire. I really enjoy it because it’s very good for mental health, it’s focusing work. And it’s very good to see something start and finish, especially for mental health.”

Salma's Story: "Finally at 65, I'm getting what I wanted"

Salma is 65 years old and lives directly across the road from the community centre. Her story is one of dreams deferred but not denied.

[This interview was conducted with translation support from Asma R.]

“When I was younger, I had this urge to work but I wasn’t allowed. Now coming to the community centre, I’ve got what I was looking for, and all the things I wanted in childhood I’m getting here now. I am very happy.”

For Salma, the community centre represents more than just a place to learn English. It’s the fulfilment of a lifelong yearning for education and creative expression that was denied to her as a child and young woman. “When I was younger I wanted to study, and I wasn’t allowed. And now finally at the centre, I’m getting a bit of everything done, learning a bit about everything, and I’m really happy about it. It’s finally coming together.”

The plant dyeing project particularly captivated her. Living so close to the centre, she became the unofficial caretaker of the community garden: “I just live across the road, so I just come across and water everything in our garden and look after the plants. I really liked the planting, I was happy with that.”

Her discovery of the plants’ dyeing properties amazed her: “I didn’t know the plants before I grew them here, only knew the names. I didn’t know you could make certain colours from the plants. Even the people in England have no idea that these plants make the colours! Asma was wearing a white scarf and they dyed it blue for her. We didn’t know before that you can make a dye with onion skins.”

As part of the Kala Sangam project, Arts & Heritage Officer Gemma Bailey from South Square worked with ESOL learners on a heritage arts project that brought together traditional textile techniques with community learning at Lower Grange Community Centre in Thornton. Through a full growing season over 18 weeks, the ESOL learners worked with artist Clare Wellesley-Smith and Gemma to explore plant dyeing, textile making, and embroidery developing language through sharing stories and skills from their own cultural backgrounds.

The established ESOL group meets twice weekly under the guidance of teacher Sabina. Participants include women from diverse backgrounds, particularly from Pakistani heritage, who come together to improve their English while building confidence, social networks, and employment skills. South Square approached the group to offer this creative project as a way for members to share their heritage and discover others’ cultural traditions.

Impact and Outcomes

- Knowledge exchange: The project created a powerful two-way learning environment. While participants learned contemporary textile techniques, they also shared traditional knowledge from their own cultures. This exchange enriched the project for everyone involved, with the artist Claire noting: “There are some particularly keen artists in this group, so it’s been a very rich project.”
- Community building: The shared creative process strengthened social bonds within the group. Participants supported each other through language barriers and celebrated each other’s individual and collective achievements, from nurturing seedlings to creating finished textiles.
- Cultural preservation and innovation: The project helped preserve traditional techniques while adapting them to new contexts. Some participants were able to share their cultural knowledge through the creative process, creating a living archive of heritage skills previously learnt in childhood.

Individual transformation:

"It's been very good for mental health, it's focusing work. And it's very good to see something start and finish." Before the project, Asma had never used a needle or known about embroidery. She now plans to take her learning back to Pakistan in order to teach family members about the dyeing properties of plants that they already have in their gardens.

"When I was younger, I wanted to learn but I wasn't allowed. Now coming to the community centre, I've got what I was looking for, and all the things I wanted in childhood I'm getting here now." The project fulfilled a lifelong desire to learn and create that had been denied in her youth.

Sustainability and future plans
The project’s success has led to continued programming, with plans for:

- Ongoing embroidery and sewing workshop sessions
- Exhibition opportunities at South Square and the new Bradford Arts Centre
- Pop-up exhibitions to share the work more widely
- Continued collaboration with Gemma and artist Claire from September

The community garden remains as a lasting legacy, with participants continuing to tend the plants and use them for dyeing projects.

Before joining the project, Asma had never picked up a needle or attempted embroidery. Through the sessions, she discovered not only new practical skills but also a bridge between her old life and her new one. The revelation came when she learned about plant dyeing: “I realised how every time I peel an onion I could be using it for dyeing!”

This wasn’t just about onions. When she told her mother in Pakistan about dyeing with indigo plants, her mother’s excitement was palpable. She also showed her the yellow marigold flowers they had used. “There are lots in our garden in Pakistan but people don’t know the use. I showed my mum. My mum is really excited about this, so now she will use the flower for dyeing the white cloths!”

The project gave Asma both a new vocabulary and new skills. “Before I came here I was a teacher, but when I came here it was difficult for me as I was not speaking my mother language. I started lots of different courses and did voluntary work and I have learnt different types of language in each place. Now I have this language about plants and dyeing and stitching.”

Looking ahead to her summer when she will return to Pakistan, Asma sees herself sharing her new skills: “When I return to Pakistan this summer I am thinking I will try things out because there are all these plants there and people do not know about those things, so I will teach them, especially the older people, then they can get busy with them.” “I really appreciate Claire and Gemma, the teachers here. It’s a very good thing we have done. I’ve loved it!”

A meaningful moment with the group came when traditional knowledge from her childhood found new purpose. When Claire taught the group about twine making, Salma remembered the pyjama waistband-making technique she’d learned from her parents and grandparents in Pakistan. “I told her about the pyjama holding device we used to make in Pakistan, taught by my parents and grandparents. I showed them what it looked like and we made some.”

This sharing of knowledge represented a full circle moment – her childhood learning became valuable again in this new context. She is inspired to keep learning as a result: “I don’t mind what is next really, as long as the community centre is open, they’ve got people coming in and there are things I can join in.”

At 65, after decades of waiting, Salma has found her place to learn. “Now the next thing is I would like to try a sewing machine!”