Our Journey

Follow us on our journey through the years to find out how we started and what we've achieved in the last 20 years

This picture is from the 2017 generation of young people and volunteers who attended club.  Each generation of young people brings their own style and energy and each brings with it new memories. 20 years on from these early days and the children of the young people who first attended the club, now attend the same club.

​2005 - The Beginning

​Sometime in early 2005 a group of people from across the churches in Macclesfield got together at St.Barnabas Church and agreed to do something…anything…just something to bring faith to life and make a difference.  With sticky notes in hand people split themselves into various groups according to what they could offer.  One small group decided they could offer youth work; The Moss Project was its first name.

In July 2005, The Moss Project organised a 2-day youth club at St.Barnabas Church.  This included games, football, craft, and a graffiti artist – you may be able to spot the graffiti marks left on the wall next to the back door.
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This was the genesis of a new youth club for the Moss Rose Estate and in January 2006 a weekly youth club branded Cre8 came to life.  From that time on clubs have been the heartbeat of Cre8, bringing young people together in joyous chaos to take part in craft, games, challenges, and a meal together.

2006 - The Social Enterprise​

Rob Wardle, a key driver behind the Moss Project and hence Cre8 was living on The Moss and doing youth work through the church. 

As well as the Youth Club, he started doing practical work with young people. 

The first work project, in March 2006, was the building of a garden at the back of the local family centre…which is now The House on Belgrave Road.  Young lads between the ages of 14 and 18 from the estate, worked with Rob to turn a rubbish filled garden into a suitable useable area for families of the centre.  Rob was living on the estate with links with the family centre and a knowledge of young people in the area.  The young people were paid some nominal expenses for the work.   The family centre manager noted that: “The most singular achievement is not the garden but the engagement of a group of young people who were very lost and very bored” [Festival Guide 2009]
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This was the beginning of Social Enterprise.

There's Rob working on the garden!

Setting up camp on a grassy field.

​2006 - Residentials

​With a group of young people now attending The Cre8 Club Night, someone decided it’d be a good idea to take them camping in the summer of 2006.  So, in July 2006, the first Cre8 Residential happened.  The boys went camping at Gradbach, while the girls went to Barnswood.  The picture shows a serene display of flowers and tents at the boys camp.  The peace belies the chaos with only half the boys making it through to the second night of camping and the very inexperienced leaders hanging on by the skin of their teeth.

Residentials have become a key part of what happens at Cre8. They provide an opportunity to get away somewhere different, be challenged, have fun, and make some lasting memories.
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Residential have included things like: boats trips, camping, cycling cost to cost, London, the Boys Brigade, the farm in Wales, the sand spit in Wales, camping and climbing in the Peaks, Taize, Greenbelt, and last but not least the legendary Camas.

2007 - Camas​

In 2007, Rob decided that we should go to the legendary place called Camas.  With some trepidation a group from the youth club travelled 8 hours to Oban in Scotland, get on a ferry to the Isle of Mull, travelled for a further hour, before trekking down and 1.25 mile track with wheel barrows to a vegetarian outdoor residential centre with rudimentary facilities and no electricity.  Who would ever go a place like this? But this strange place has become a magical place for Cre8.  The yearly pilgrimage has become a really important and life changing moment for many young people and leaders at Cre8.

The picture with the sheep is from the first ever trip to Camas – The Moss meets the Islands.

The group picture is the top of the track and it’s a tradition to take one at the end of each trip. 

Biking on the C2C!

Photo of our running group.

​2008 - Cre8 Projects

With Rob doing practical work, clubs happening, and residentials underway, more people started to get involved.  Each person joining Cre8 brings their passion, energy and skill.  In 2008 there was a passion for Bikes and The Bike Project was formed. The bike project spent time riding and repairing bikes on a Saturday morning.  The first rides include the bikeathon and a ride through Wales.

A bit later others had a passion for music and Cre8 Music came to life. The first music project involved a few professional musicians teaching instruments at The House on Belgrave Road.  As the project grew, The Building on Mayfield Terrace was transformed into a purpose build music space with studio and practice rooms.  The music project flourished with young people learning an instrument, singing, and then performing in a concerts. The concerts in particular become places where young people can be celebrated for their achievements, skill, and courage.

Other passions that took shape over the years have included boats, football, cold water swimming, gardening, and running.  Each of these having their time to inspire and build community.

A live performance by one of our young people!

2008 - Cre8 Works​

From the beginning Cre8 has worked.  After the 2006 project of building a garden at the back of the family centre, a new project at the back of St.Barnabas Church was started – turning an piece of grass into a garden with veg plot and sheds.  Each Wednesday young people came to work and help clear the land and make the plot.

Cre8 Works Ltd was established in April 2008 when a gardener was employed to do private gardening work alongside a young person. 

Cre8 Works Ltd grew with the involvement of the local Housing Trust, Peaks and Plains.  They first provided opportunities to carry out void clearance work, i.e. clearing the back gardens of empty houses.  This required the expansion of Cre8 Works Ltd and the addition of new workers to lead it.  This in turned allowed the employment of more young people. Peaks and Plains subsequently provided more consistent opportunities through pathway clearing work; enjoyed by some and hated by others but it formed the back bone of work and helped a number of young people gain apprenticeships with Reaseheath college.

Due to reduced amount of work, Cre8 Works is not up and running…but we’re still working doing practical work.

The picture here shows the Cre8 Works team in 2013.

Having a meal together.

Family Fun Day.

​2011 - Our Community

Cre8 is not one person.  It takes a community of people coming together to make change happen.  And since its beginning Cre8 has facilitated the gathering of people through festivals, food, and events.

These pictures show the community fun days that were held, the meals and The House, and the more recent bingo nights.  All these gatherings strengthen the bonds and connection between people and helps us feel more connected and stronger as a community.

Not only does it take community coming together to make change happen, but it also takes people behind the scenes making sure policies are right and procedures are followed. 

For Cre8 and the early trustees, Worth Unlimited was the umbrella under which we operated and things were kept right.  We are indebted to their early support to help things be right.  

Cre8 Macclesfield Ltd was officially registered as a company in​ August 2011 and then in May 2012 it was officially registered as a charity – independent of Worth Unlimited.  

A picture of one of our Bingo nights.

2013 - Cre8 Facilities​

In 2013 Cre8 was given an opportunity by Creamline Dairies to set up an enterprise dedicated to cleaning Milk Floats; Cre8 Facilities.  This was successfully set and continues to run at Cre8 to this day.  Five times a fortnight, a team leader and young person visit the various Creamline Sites and keeps the fleet of vehicles clear.  It has become a key element in young people having opportunities to work.  Many have had jet washing as their first job and used it as a platform to move on to other things.  It has also allowed us at Cre8 to gain valuable experience jet washing.

A more recent enterprise has been the selling of Christmas trees….in the snow!!

Jet washing one of the Milk Floats for Creamline Dairies.

Jet washing a van for Peaks Plains Housing Trust.

Our grocery truck.

Growing vegetables in the garden.

​2019 - The Grocery

In 2019 the Grow project was established.  At its core was a drive to provide low-cost food by taking surplus food from the shops that would have otherwise gone to waste.  Also, to establish and promote a weekly timetable of health, wellbeing activities run by the local community.

With a new van bought and the project being established, Grow was up and running in 2019. 

The dreaded Covid years stopped much of Cre8’s work with young people, but Grow found itself in the unique position of being setup to take surplus food and give it out to people.  So instead of getting smaller, The Grocery exploded into life becoming an essential part of the food network within Macclesfield.  The Cre8 Grocery became a real leader in Macclesfield and has led to many other organisations see the possibly in surplus food and using in their locality.
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The Grocery is now a key part of Cre8’s weekly activities and as well have having a thriving grocery on a Tuesday at St.Barnabas it also serves local groups at Hurdsfield and Bollington who run their own form of surplus food grocery.  

2020 - Outreach​

Giving opportunity for young people to flourish is key to what happens at Cre8.  This often takes some invention, creatively, courage, and boldness. We have often called this outreach or offbeat. 
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The pictures show the early outreach through karting trips, then boat trips and more recently, from 2020, making planters with young people.  However and whenever, the key is to building relationships and making memories.

And boating trips too!

A picture of our karting trip.

Young people making planters.

This is a picture of Rob teaching a young person in the studio during a Learning Plus session.

A lesson on the landscape.

​2024 - Learning Plus

Learning Plus in some form or another has been a part of Cre8 since its beginning.  These are one-to-one sessions giving young people an opportunity to flourish and in particular to those who might feel on the edge of society for whom school might be a challenge.
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Learning Plus is now an established part of Alternative Provision in Macclesfield.  We are youth workers offering to help young people who might be struggling with school to grow in confidence and self-esteem and be recognised for the incredible awesome people they are.   

A guitar lesson for one of the young people.

2025 - Thank You!​

We are very thankful for having been here for 20 years.  There are many other stories that could be told and projects described.  There are countless people who have shaped Cre8 and made it what it is today.  If we could gather all the stories and memories over this short 20 years perhaps we’d have to write a large book about it. 

In amongst the fullness of things we often take time to be silent, pray, and remember that we cannot do these things on our own; faith in God and in each other is what leads to change which makes for community.