Ruff Necks CIC

04/06/2026

Crochet Queens and Knitting Kings assemble! Ruff Necks CIC needs your help!

We are looking for 15-20 capable crochet artists to volunteer their time and skills to help us costume our first youth theatre project - Shakespeare Swung: King Lear!

If you are a crochet whizz kid or know of one to share this post with, please get in touch or share using the link below:
https://forms.gle/jDrkHgUCM2Bux4jPA

We provide the materials, you volunteer your time.
Each piece is fairly simple (roughly 3-6 hours work, depending on your capability), but we can't do it without you!

Your work will be featured in our theatrical performance and you will of course be invited to see your work in action.

Fancy a quick summer project good deed? Get in touch!

02/06/2026

Yesterday we received our favourite kind of delivery from - INSTRUMENTS!

When ordering from a list of percussion names, it's sometimes easier to rename them until you've memorised them all. Here are some of our replacement name offerings for the incredible percussion instruments that we use in our youth theatre projects!

Our first pilot workshop kicks off this week and we can't wait to show you how our participants get on!

For now, which was your favourite? What would you rename it?

27/05/2026

Don't worry, we haven't gone anywhere...

It's half term and we are parents...

However, our R&D pilot workshops are starting next week and we are just dotting the Is and crossing the Ts on our plans.

20/05/2026

Yesterday we had our first big no. In the landscape of arts and funding, this answer is likely to come many times, but it's how you choose to respond that matters.

For the neurodiverse who suffer with RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria) these nos can be crushing, but it's how we choose to bounce back that defines whether we succeed or fail.

We took our own advice and followed our model to recentre. We ran and moved our body as we saw fit. We wrote, just a five minute burst. We played, we composed, we released. More on this to follow soon...

But in the wise words of William Shakespeare, it's good to remember, "Our doubts are traitors, / And make us lose the good we oft might win, / By fearing to attempt."

Try not to let fear stop you! There will be hurdles: jump them, fall over them, but then get back up; your race is still there to be won!

15/05/2026

It's the end of Mental Health Awareness Week and we wanted to share a real-life story of the positive impact the performing arts can have on young people's well-being.

Without teachers and practitioners supporting young people to experience the arts, their value to our mental health often goes unseen.

We are getting closer each day to being able to deliver our Youth Shakespeare projects in Folkestone and Dover, but still need your support to get us over the line on our fundraising target. If you are able, please like, share, follow and pledge what you can.

https://www.spacehive.com/shakespeareswung

Together, we can make a difference to the lives of young people, like Cassie!

12/05/2026

What a lovely day finalising some pilot workshop dates with our local partner schools - we even got awarded a golden sticker!

We only have 2 FREE WORKSHOP spaces left available for partner schools and community groups, so please do get in touch - you don't want to miss out!

With our workshops getting booked up for Terms 5 and 6, it's also time for a new planner for the new academic year!

We are so excited to launch Shakespeare Swung: King Lear in its entirety this September. Our musical and movement production of an adapted Shakespeare play - giving young people the tools to feel confident in both body and mind: https://www.spacehive.com/shakespeareswung

08/05/2026

Our new website is really starting to gain traction! You can keep up to date with our blog posts AND sign up to receive information about upcoming projects! Why not check it out?

We are over the moon to announce that we are now 58% of the way to our total project fundraising goal thanks to the generosity and support of 38 backers - including Kent County Council. KCC have agreed to pledge a whopping £3,782 from their public health fund to support young people's wellbeing thr...

08/05/2026

Behind the Scenes look at a CIC Director admin day.

A lot can happen in the day of a CIC Director, and not all of it is exciting... There are huge administrative burdens when starting out, but all of it is vital to the successful running of our youth Shakespeare projects.

As you can see, our founding Director, Ellie, prefers her 'outdoor office' to being cooped up inside when the weather allows. Despite the serious look of focus on her face, she loves days where she can knuckle down in nature and push things forward.

From CPD to content creation, no day is ever the same, but there is always admin to be done, including learning how to run our new website: www.ruffnecks.org

06/05/2026

We are over the moon to have reached 57% of our fundraising target to support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to ignite their creativity and boost their mental well-being through the power of performance.

If you want to be a mental health hero and support our work and the young people in our area, please share, follow and back us using the link below (and in our bio):
https://www.spacehive.com/shakespeareswung

Without your help, projects like ours won't get off the ground to deliver our niche work into the communities that need it!

05/05/2026

Oh yes! We now have our very own website and she is a thing of beauty: www.ruffnecks.org

We are so thankful to Sara, The Karma Creative who has gone above and beyond to support Ruff Necks as a start-up not-for-profit. After our first meeting, Sara got to work straight away on building our branding and matching her inventive and exciting graphics to our personality and ethos.

Now you can learn all about us and our work as a community theatre company, delivering youth Shakespeare projects in Folkestone and Dover. Empowering creativity and boosting mental well-being!