Local makers make it to market

Photo: creative practitioners’ stalls at the ‘pop up’ market

Chief Correspondent Rob Thomas takes a look around the exhibition…

TODAY (Saturday) and yesterday a ‘pop up’ market is showcasing the talents of local artisan entrepreneurs.

Organised by Gosport Cultural Consortium, the ‘Makers Market’ has attracted 37 start-up and more established producers, most of whom are based in Gosport and Fareham.

Each has a stall in the Gosport Museum and Gallery and their wares on display – and available for purchase – range from handbags and jewellery, through art in various media, to chutneys and beer.

No cake stall was spotted but teas, coffees and soft drinks are available.

The market is the culmination of the consortium’s ‘pilot’ events which it has been running to support its successful bid – as reported in last week’s Globe – for a grant from Historic England’s High Streets Heritage Action Zones’ Cultural Programme.

Wendy Redman, the Gosport Gallery and SEARCH Venue Manager who organised the Makers Market said: “We’re going to be building on this, using the £100,000 grant for a cultural programme in the High Street.”

Commenting on the market, she said many, of what she termed, ‘creative practitioners’ displaying their products, had been in lockdown, “looking at doing something to do – maybe having lost their job – and turned to craft activities”.

Prior to the market, the consortium had offered local producers four virtual seminars on business topics such as how to set up a stall and market their products.

The Makers Market is open today (Saturday) from 10am to 4pm, entry is free and the entrance is via the green doors off the High Street, opposite Iceland. The stalls are in various rooms but they are all on the ground floor and accessible.

Gosport Cultural Consortium is led by Hampshire Cultural Trust and has representatives from Bridgemary School, Gosport Heritage Open Days, Gosport Discovery Centre, Gosport Voluntary Action, Gosport U3A, and the Gosport Diving Museum.

It is an organisation that will have a major role to play in the development of the town’s cultural inheritance as it spends the grant on various projects including guided tours, heritage talks, creative projects in and around the High Street, and more opportunities for local producers and artists to display and sell their products.