Falmouth’s arts and cultural centre, The Poly, is giving the community the chance to have a go at pottery and be part of a collaborative exhibition, to be held later this year.

Sue Radmore, chair of trustees, said: "During our closure, we’ve been developing new ways to let people access our offer.

"In our community pottery we’re developing Poly Pottery Boxes containing tools, clay and worksheets which can be delivered straight to people’s homes.

"Thanks to funding from Arts Council England with the National Lottery, we’re delighted to be able to give free pottery boxes to individuals who might not otherwise be able to access hands-on creativity and the wellbeing benefits it brings.

"With the generous help of our delivery partners – Arts Well, Pluss, Falmouth Age Concern, Dracaena Centre, Falmouth School and Marlborough School, with more local schools and organisations working with us to sign up – we’re hoping to reach hundreds of individuals of all ages who, whether through physical or financial difficulty, don’t get to experience what The Poly has to offer.

"Our pottery box will teach participants how to make a figure from a pinch pot. Our aim is to bring all of these figures together for an exhibition at The Poly later this year - our community in clay.

"We’ve all experienced the isolation and difficulties that lockdown has brought, and sadly we know that some people’s horizons have really closed down.

"By taking part in this project, knowing that many others across the community are doing the same thing, we hope our community in clay will bring some hope, happiness and togetherness in what has been a difficult time for so many.

"We really want this project to be about the whole community creating something together, and so pottery boxes will also be available to purchase through a ‘buy one, give one’ scheme, to make as many free boxes as possible available to those who would like one.

"To register your interest in buying a box, please email us at info@thepoly.org and we’ll get in touch to let you know when they’re available."

The Arts Council funding is also enabling The Poly to take its Guild Shop online and, later this summer, to launch a heritage project to collect Poly stories and memories from Falmouth and beyond.

The community pottery boxes will be launched soon. Visit www.thepoly.org for the latest.