A Beautiful, Natural Space at the Heart of the Community
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Clay Pizza Oven
We wanted to get the community involved in making a clay pizza oven to provide a focus point for family gatherings watching the sun go down over the trees. We thought it would be fun to use local clay and get the kids to muddle it with their feet... let the squelching commence!
What We Did
We spoke with some local folk who had made clay pizza ovens in the past and, using their knowledge, came up with a plan of how best to create one of our own. We wanted the community to come and use it freely (like the original BBQs which were provided for service families on the football field) and envisaged it providing a centrepoint for gatherings and celebrations.
How We Achieved It
We were put in contact with Fun Palaces - an organisation with an ongoing campaign for community at the heart of culture, and culture at the heart of every community. They provide funding for organisations to join hundreds of other communities around the world on the first weekend of October every year to create their own 'Fun Palace'. We leapt at the chance to be part of such a fun event, and gratefully received a grant to make our own pizza oven.
Oct. 2019 -The Result
We gathered the community and made a huge pile of lovely squelchy clay for all the children (and grown ups!) to muddle with their feet and water to mix it up. This amazingly squishy sensation was loved more by some than others! Once we'd all muddled the clay (after plenty of giggles!), our clay was ready. We started to mix it with hay from the meadow to create our 'glue' and some talented local folk built our beautiful pizza oven. Making it in October was probably an error with foresight as it took AGES to fully dry. We had to create a shelter to protect it from the elements and check it regularly. Once dry we held a pizza making evening to celebrate our creation and we all enjoyed making delicious food from our efforts.