Birth Rites Collection moves to Bell House Dulwich and Lambeth Libraries and Archives

October 13, 2026 Cher Roque

London, 13 October 2026. The Birth Rites Collection, the only contemporary art collection in the world dedicated to childbirth, is delighted to announce its move to new homes at Bell House, Dulwich Village and Lambeth Libraries and Archives, where it will be based from October 2026.

The move follows a four-year hosting partnership with the University of Kent, where twenty artworks from the Collection were on permanent display across four buildings on the Canterbury campus, and where BRC delivered three in person Summer Schools and four online Summer Schools between 2022 and 2026. The Collection extends its warmest thanks to Rebecca Brown, Rebecca Ogden and Professor Darren Griffin at Kent, whose time, support and generosity made the Kent chapter possible.

In between hosts, the Collection was welcomed by Hornsey Library and Hornsey Town Hall, which provided a much-needed interim home over the summer. Our thanks go to everyone who stepped forward to help look after and keep the Collection safe during this transitional period.

At Bell House Dulwich (2026 to 2027)

The Collection will present a major free exhibition titled Birthing the Pluriverse - participatory works from the Birth Rites Collection at Bell House during the Dulwich Festival (8 to 17 May 2027).

The Colombian-American anthropologist Arturo Escobar describes the pluriverse as “a world in which many worlds fit”, a phrase he borrows from the Zapatista movement. Against the Western modern insistence on a single, universal account of what is real, what counts as knowledge, and what counts as life, the pluriverse holds open the simultaneous existence of many worlds, Indigenous, feminist, communal, embodied, relational, each with their own ways of knowing and doing.

Birthing the Pluriverse takes up Escobar’s thinking to open a space in which many ways of approaching birth can sit alongside each other. Western, medical and patriarchal frames are not displaced but held in conversation with Indigenous, feminist, embodied and communal ones, letting new thoughts emerge in the space between them. By picking out participatory and collaborative works, the exhibition decentralises control over what counts as truth and invites visitors to think with, not just look at, the work. The artworks are openings of perspectival dynamics, situations to be entered rather than objects to be viewed, and creative action is put to work to resituate birth, labour and technology. The voices of women, men, medics, birth professionals, midwives and carers are drawn into a broader reality, one in which marginalised and less-heard voices and ways of thinking are given space. The exhibition embraces diverse ways of being, knowing, organising and birthing life.

Bringing together the four newly commissioned works from BRC’s three-year partnership with Tommy’s National Centre for Preterm Birth Research and Imperial College London by Sarah Sudhoff, Hannah Conway, Anna Perach and Courtney Conrad, alongside participatory works from the wider collection. The exhibition will be accompanied by a full programme of artist talks, workshops and curator’s tours across both festival weekends and the week in between, with live performances by: poet Courtney Conrad, performing her Tommy’s and Imperial commissioned poems drawn from conversations with black midwives and black women on preterm birth, and artist, Leni Dothan’s Venus, Mary, Leni & Me contract series . The BRC Summer School will run in person at Bell House during the festival week (11 to 15 May 2027), bringing an international cohort into dialogue with the exhibition, with several Summer School lectures opened up as bookable events for a wider public audience.

Alongside the exhibition, BRC is launching an ongoing programme of public film screenings at Bell House, developed in collaboration with filmmaker in residence Liam Sherriff (liamsherriff.ca). The programme will screen moving image works from the Collection on a regular basis across the hosting period beginning in January 2027.

To launch the screening programme we will present ‘Gossip’ by filmmaker Hannah Renton, who will be present for a Q and A at Bell House on the 11th December at 7.30pm. Tickets will go on sale shortly.

Viewings of the Collection at Bell House are available by appointment, with the possibility to access particular works on request. Researchers, students, curators, midwives, clinicians and anyone with an interest in the Collection are warmly welcome to get in touch with Dr Helen Knowles at [email protected] to arrange a visit.

At Lambeth Libraries and Archives (2026 to 2028)

At Lambeth Libraries and Archives, the Collection will develop a programme of public workshops exploring art, childbirth and reproductive experience, with a particular focus on social prescribing for women preparing for birth and women in the postpartum period. The workshops will use the Collection as a visual archive through which to open deeper conversations about preparation for birth, bodily autonomy and the handling of birth trauma, delivered in partnership with midwives and midwifery teams. Early discussions are underway with City College Islington about developing a package that could be rolled out more widely across community and clinical settings. Subject to dedicated fundraising, this programme offers a new model for how a contemporary art collection can serve the lived needs of women around childbirth.

About the Birth Rites Collection

The Birth Rites Collection is the only contemporary art collection in the world dedicated to childbirth. Established in 2008, it comprises 114 works by internationally recognised artists including Judy Chicago, Anna Perach, Ana Casas Broda, Himali Singh Soin, Puck Verkade, Leni Dothan and Lauren McLaughlin. Previously hosted by the University of Salford (2009 to 2017), King’s College London (2017 to 2021) and the University of Kent (2022 to 2026), the Collection curates, commissions and collects contemporary art on childbirth, presenting works in gallery and public settings that explore the politics and practice of childbirth.

BIRTH RITES COLLECTION

About Gossip

A short film exploring the intertwined stories of care, persecution and resistance, among midwives and women accused of witchcraft is now part of the Birth Rites Collection.

Directed and co-written by Hannah Renton, Gossip unearths the untold histories of women persecuted as witches in the 16th century. Shot along the Essex coast and launched on International Women’s Day 2025, the film revisits the region’s history of witch trials and the struggles faced by women of the time. Through an evocative lens, it bridges the past and present, illuminating how women’s bodies and voices have long been sites of both knowledge and control.

“With Gossip, I wanted to tell a story of solidarity and draw a line between the witch trials and the ongoing struggle for reproductive justice and control over our bodies. Naming the film Gossip, a word that changed from meaning friendship to one of denigration and ridicule, highlights the psychological attack as well as the direct violence. The gossip we formed, of both professional actors and midwives, became not only the heart of the film you see but the entire filmmaking process.”

Gossip was acquired by the Birth Rites Collection at the end of 2025.

Hannah Renton is a writer and director from East London whose work explores tenderness, intimacy, and resilience. A graduate of the National Film and Television School, her films have screened and won awards at festivals internationally, including BFI Flare, London Short & Kiev MolodistInternational Film Festivals, as well as being shown in museums, archives, community and art spaces. Her film, Gossip, was shortlisted for a BAFTA Yugo Student Award for Best Live Action (2023) and have toured across the UK to sold-out screenings.

GOSSIP SCREENING

For press enquiries, images and interview requests:

Dr Helen Knowles, Director and Curator, Birth Rites Collection
[email protected]
www.birthritescollection.org.uk

Bell House Repair Hub – Update

June 30, 2026 Cher Roque

"I love that I don't have to throw this out and buy a new one," said one of our repairers at the electronics repairs event. They had just mended their bedside light. The repair hub is about people learning to do repairs rather than having repairs done for them. Perhaps the most unusual repair challenge at that event was with someone who had a device for firing balls so their son could practise his tennis shots.

The Bell House repair hub has run a series of events including fabric repairs, electronics and bikes. One neighbour brought a broken bike along and, when it was fixed, donated it to Bell House so that there will be pedal transport to lend to our visiting residents in the pottery and other projects.

We usually meet for three hours on a Saturday with details on the Bell House website. Future plans include repair hub sessions for children's toys, small items of furniture and repeats of our sessions on bikes and electronics. There is also a repair hub shed being constructed which will give the project a permanent home at Bell House.

Call for help!

We have an excellent leadership team led by Dave Lukes, John Clements and Ben Swift along with Liam and Sammy, but we need more help. You don't have to be an expert at repairing things – there is plenty of organising and welcoming to do. We will also need to buy tools, having been given a grant of £1,000. If you'd like to help please send an email to: [email protected].

Bell House Summer 2026 Newsletter

June 3, 2026 Cher Roque

Welcome! In this Summer newsletter we celebrate 10 years since Bell House opened its doors as a charity. Here’s just a few glimpses of what we have achieved so far.

Bell House Dulwich at 10: Education and Community

by Sharon O’Connor

Since 2016, Bell House has steadily expanded its programme and now offers creative workshops, courses, talks, performances and community events. Visitors might join an art class, attend a concert, learn lifesaving skills, adopt touch-typing or discover the world of honeybees. At times the entire house is transformed into an art gallery. People hone their sewing skills making quilts for premature babies. Filmmaking is both taught and used as a way to get events to a wider audience: 15,000 people have seen the local history talks via YouTube. Health-based projects began with dementia support and now cover anything from social prescribing to women’s health. The breadth of activities reflects a belief that learning should not be confined to any one area or stage of life.

Over time, the site itself has become an integral part of the charity with the rooms and gardens an active, inspiring resource. The cellars now house a letterpress and bookbindery studio offering a wide range of courses, while a purpose-built pottery studio welcomes newcomers and experienced potters alike. Regular open days invite visitors to enjoy the gardens and explore the house’s rich history.

Significant work has also been undertaken to preserve and improve the house. Restoration projects have included renovating 50+ windows and uncovering the historic ha-ha. At the same time, Bell House has invested in sustainability such as installing a ground source heat pump, solar panels and insulation, ensuring the building can serve the community while reducing its environmental impact. Similar skills are passed on to the community through the popular Repair Hub where people can bring objects and learn how to fix them.

As Bell House celebrates its first ten years, it does so with a clear sense that learning should be accessible, enjoyable and lifelong. Its success reflects the same spirit that shaped the house when Thomas Wright built it: a belief in community and shared benefit.

10 Years of Gardening at Bell House

by the Garden Volunteers

Volunteer gardening began in September 2017, a suggestion over coffee, between friends. "How about a gardening group?" There were nine the first Saturday, none of us professional gardeners but everyone keen and willing. We wanted to look after the garden, grow a community. We put up a welcome board and gave the growing group of volunteers coffee and croissants after ninety minutes of gardening.

One year in, we decided to start growing vegetables. A greenhouse followed, roses in the front, clearing of the front lawn and ha-ha, new compost bins. Duke of Edinburgh volunteers came forward with their parents, some of whom we persuaded to stay.

Our aim was gardening for community and wellbeing, but each new volunteer and new skill brought the chance to do more. In 2019, we opened for the Open Garden weekend, sessions became two hours, the grass became longer and we focused increasingly on how to support wildlife.

During COVID the garden became a lifeline. We stayed open, working within and adapting to changing requirements, with a list of suggested jobs on a board. We dug a bog garden in the hollow beneath the bridge and installed the winding dead hedge.

Eventually there were more volunteers, more expertise, more experience. We grew to three sessions a week, added ponds, shared produce, and were introduced to a fruit tree expert who advised on orchard trees to plant. After some consideration we began hosting the monthly Open Garden on the first Saturday of each month.

The year 2023 was when we started to grow organically. With the gift of the Pickwick garden, things really started apace. We opened up the fence line, recycled materials as habitat posts and shelters, built a circular log wall to enclose the bees in their new apiary. The next winter was spent organising and building sheds. Successful grant applications allowed the planting of native hedges and new beds with plants for pollinators. The polytunnel meant growing more from seed and propagation, and gave us somewhere to work on wet days. The Pavilion gave us an HQ to organise, run sessions and a warm space for coffee.

There’s more planned. The dry garden is starting to take shape and new beds, structures and planting schemes will emerge in the future. We’re recording wildlife, planning bio-blitzes, gardening as organically and as thoughtfully as we can.

We garden for wildlife, for visitors and for our volunteers. We’ve made friends, grown in our knowledge and gone on to do bigger things. None of this venture would be possible without the community we have created between us, the many many hours of dedicated volunteering, and the visitors to our open days who through their encouragement and generosity allow us to do more.

The Evolving Arts Events at Bell House - Behind the Exhibitions

an interview with Lucy Macdonald

How did you get involved?
I first started at Bell House as a beekeeper with Annie McGeoch as my mentor. Then, this time last year, having taken early retirement, it allowed me to pitch an idea to the Arts Events volunteers to put on an exhibition focussed on crafts grounded on traditional skills yet are contemporary. The display was entitled Threshold, running over three days in December with six exhibitors: a rug maker, basketmaker, embroiderer, painter and two printmakers.

A quarter of the exhibition sales went towards supporting the Bell House Creative Health project which partners with local health charities to demonstrate how art can enhance wellbeing and bring people together.

Do you plan exhibitions?
Yes, among six of us in the Arts Events group including Rosie Bayliss, artist-in-residence, and Anna-Maria Amato, group co-ordinator, where we rotate on who organises the exhibitions.

We had Saturday Characters in April, a life drawing exhibition co-curated by Rosie and Chris Allen, a member of the group and an apprentice in the Print Room.

I have just curated Viridis, a solo exhibition of Alexandra Oliver's landscape paintings, of which 25% of sales fundraised for the Bell House Adult Literacy group.

Beth Worth has an open call inviting artists to submit works for The Flower Show, taking place on June 12-14th.

We also branch out and invite others to curate. In October, Kirsten Hecktermann is putting on an exhibition of embroidered panels and smaller works by Kenyan artist, Dhahabu Ngambau Dadu, and will feature a stitching/free-hand embroidery workshop.

Collaboration?
All volunteers in the Arts Events group support one another from helping hang displays, to invigilating and running the Private View. The exhibitions wouldn’t be successful without the help of other volunteers, including those who lend their expertise. Sven Arnstein and Liam Sherriff recently recorded footage at the Viridis exhibition to create a short film. The Print Room members Simon, Tania and Chris have all helped with hand printing invitations and promotional materials.

Benefits?
The objectives of the group are to enjoy working with artists to support them on their career journey, foster collaboration, and raise funds to support the Charity's ongoing projects.

If this appeals to you and you’d like to join us, please contact [email protected].

Annie’s Nurture Group: Reflections

by Annie McGeoch

The Nurture Group evolved from the School Enrichment Programme, a single day out for up to sixty children organised in partnership with a local school just before the end of term.

At these meetings I noticed that there were some children who could manage those large groups and hectic days but some seemed at sea. I had a meeting with the headmistress of Crawford Primary school in Camberwell and we discussed what I and Bell House could do to improve the lives of some of the children. She suggested a Nurture Group where we would take a small group of children out for the afternoon. For three years we met on Wednesday afternoons at Bell House for an activity or an outing. It became clear that half a day was not always productive as we were short of time. By the time we had walked from the school to the bus stop, taken the bus to Dulwich Library and walked across the park to Bell House, we only had an hour before we had to travel back, often arriving late.

This year, we start making our way in the morning and return in the afternoon on Tuesdays, allowing an appropriate amount of time for travel and activities. The idea is that it's experiential learning - no aims and objectives, no measured outcomes. Just ten 7 to 10 year olds having a day out outside of school. The school selects the group members, described to me by the headmistress as the children who are perfectly behaved, though not necessarily in a positive way: they are the quiet ones alone in the playground, not engaging with the noise and all the activity around. Most were not born in London but speak adequate English while also speaking another language at home. They are from Afghanistan, Syria, Iran, Kosovo, with parents often working zero-hour contracts where one goes out to work when the other comes in to sleep, not allowing time or resources for outings. What the group is offering is a chance to make friends, to have something to talk about in school, and “stick out” a bit. It turns out they are envied by other children for their outings and the chance to go to Bell House.

The idea is to help them feel like individuals. We use their names a lot, talk about birthdays, family members, siblings, simply showing interest in them like we would with our friends. It’s about establishing relationships so they could support one another in school when surrounded by larger groups.

We have had outings at the Battersea Park Children's Zoo, Jurassic World, Horniman Museum and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Had hot chocolate at a café, practicing not to make a huge mess. A trip to the Vauxhall City Farm, and one afternoon spent in the park, talking to dogs and their owners. At Bell House we did clay sessions, a drama workshop, printing courses, and heard stories of the history of the house. Before the end of summer, we will head to Westminster Abbey, the House of Parliament, and finally, a picnic in Ruskin Park.

If anyone has ideas for activities or would like to help with the outings, message [email protected]. We will have a new group of children next year so it would be great to have a new team member or two - it's always good for the children to meet new people.

Bell House Pottery is delighted to welcome its second Potter-in-Residence in August

by Birgit Pohl

On 11 September 2023, a modern pottery studio was opened in the grounds of Bell House.

The pottery studio has been a core part of the Bell House mission to provide creative learning to the widest community. Working with clay can be a satisfying creative pursuit with tangible results. In a kind and supportive environment, pottery classes can also support people struggling with mental health.

Burgess Architects, who specialise in sensitive restoration of historic buildings, were commissioned to design the pottery studio with sustainability and energy efficiency in mind. Key features include solar panels, a ground source heat pump, and the use of natural materials such as Douglas fir, with its low carbon footprint. The big picture window at the back of the studio looks out onto the beautiful Bell House garden.

A variety of courses and workshops are being offered to potters of all levels.

This summer, we are pleased to announce our second Potter-in-Residence.

Megan Cox is a potter living and working in Liverpool. Her work is grounded in a philosophy of slow living - valuing thoughtful design, mindful making, and the quiet beauty of everyday life. Megan’s work is inspired by the traditions of British studio pottery and a deep fascination with medieval and Anglo-Saxon pottery. Drawn to the simplicity, raw beauty, and enduring forms found in these historical pieces, as well as the use of local, natural materials. During her residency, she will utilise access to the vast collections of pots found in London museum collections. Through an open, iterative process of making and testing, she is hoping to create a body of work that establishes a visual language connecting the past and present, resulting in a resolved series of functional vessels that integrate form and surface within contemporary use.

Megan is planning on running a workshop centred on stamp-making and surface decoration towards the end of her residency. Keep an eye on the website for updates.

Bell House Print Room & Bindery receives major grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund

March 3, 2026 Cher Roque

Good News! Bell House Print Room & Bindery has received a major grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.

Walk down the old steps into the basement of Bell House and you’re met not by silence but by rhythm — the clatter of type, the sticky crackle of ink, the soft thump of paper meeting platen. It’s a sound that once echoed through towns across Britain, when printing presses were as common as corner shops. Today, though, that sound has almost vanished.

That’s why the news that the Bell House Print Room & Bindery, co-founded by me and graphic designer Tania Hurt-Newton, has received a major grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund feels so significant. The funding will allow us to expand the Bell House Print Room & Bindery and create a new home for endangered crafts such as letterpress, etching and bookbinding — collectively known as The Bell House Heritage Crafts Studios. It will also, crucially, allow us to expand our community reach.

The new funding means we can do far more than keep the lights on. We’ll be able to restore and preserve our presses, train volunteers, create new teaching spaces and host a celebratory Wayzgoose — the traditional printers’ fair. Most importantly, it means we can welcome people who might never otherwise discover this world of type and ink: children, older adults, and anyone facing barriers to creative opportunity.

I’ve seen it time and again. Someone comes in convinced they don’t have a creative bone in their body. Within minutes they’re setting their name in metal type, eyes narrowed in concentration. Then comes that first pull of the press, and suddenly their face lights up - a mixture of disbelief and delight.

“Unlocking creativity” is an overused phrase, but here it’s literal. We’ve seen retired teachers, teenagers, refugees and artists all sitting around the same table, sharing rollers, jokes and cups of tea, producing something together that none of them could have done alone.

That’s what The National Lottery Heritage Fund is really supporting — not just machines and materials, but possibility. Thanks to players everywhere, we can preserve these skills and open them up to anyone who wants to learn.

One of my favourite recent visitors was a man in his seventies who arrived “just to watch.” Half an hour later he was at the press, grinning like a schoolboy. When he pulled his first print he said quietly, “I didn’t know I could still do something new.” That, to me, says everything.

We see this new phase not as preservation but continuation. The presses downstairs aren’t museum pieces; they’re instruments waiting to be played. Thanks to this grant, their song — and the creativity they inspire — will carry on for years to come.

We would love you to come and experience it for yourself when next at BH.

Please follow our instagram feed @intheprintroom and send us a message to [email protected] if you would like to visit. Or just walk down the stairs and say 'HELLO'.....

About The National Lottery Heritage Fund

Our vision is for heritage to be valued, cared for and sustained for everyone, now and in the future. That’s why as the largest funder for the UK’s heritage we are dedicated to supporting projects that connect people and communities to heritage, as set out in our strategic plan, Heritage 2033. Heritage can be anything from the past that people value and want to pass on to future generations. We believe in the power of heritage to ignite the imagination, offer joy and inspiration, and to build pride in place and connection to the past.

Over the next 10 years, we aim to invest £3.6billion raised for good causes by National Lottery players to make a decisive difference for people, places and communities.

Bell House Spring 2026 Newsletter

March 3, 2026 Cher Roque

The four seasons of 2025 have flashed by! We are excited to bring you the first of this year's quarterly newsletter with four new articles which we really hope you enjoy reading.

Diary Alert: Inaugural “Wayzgoose Celebration” planned for Bell House this year

by Simon Trewin, Print Room & Bindery

Walk down the old steps into the basement of Bell House and you’re met not by silence but by rhythm: the clatter of type, the sticky crackle of ink, the soft thump of paper meeting platen. It’s a sound that once echoed through towns across Britain, when printing presses were as common as corner shops. Today, though, that sound has almost vanished.

That’s why the news that the Bell House Print Room & Bindery, co-founded by Tania Hurt-Newton and I, has received a major grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund feels so significant. The funding will allow us to expand the Bell House Print Room & Bindery and create a new home for endangered crafts such as letterpress, etching and bookbinding, collectively known as the Bell House Heritage Crafts Studio. It will also, crucially, allow us to expand our community reach.

'Unlocking creativity' is an overused phrase, but here it’s literal. We’ve seen retired teachers, teenagers and refugees all sitting around the same table, sharing rollers, jokes and cups of tea, producing something together that none of them could have done alone.

We would love you to come and experience it for yourself when next at Bell House.

Please follow our instagram feed @intheprintroom and message [email protected] if you would like to organise a visit.

Printing & Bookbinding

Did you know? 13 acres of the Bell House Garden were donated to help create Dulwich Park

by Sharon O’Connor, House Historian

Dulwich Park was created in the late 19th century as part of a wider movement to provide green public spaces for London’s rapidly growing population. Sir Francis Peek, a local businessman, philanthropist, and governor of the Dulwich Estate, strongly supported the creation of parks and had been working towards establishing one in Dulwich since 1872.

That year, he offered the Estate a large donation to help create a public park, but his proposal was rejected. Undeterred, Peek continued to negotiate with both the Estate, which owned the land, and the local authority. In 1885 the Estate agreed to sell around 70 acres, taken from local farms and the gardens of large houses along College Road and Dulwich Common, including Bell House.

Thirteen acres were taken from the Bell House garden to help form the park. The garden had been extensive, stretching to where the rivulet and boating lake now lie. However, the Gowan family, who lived at Bell House, still retained three and a half acres for their garden.

Some Dulwich residents opposed the creation of the park, fearing it would 'lessen exclusiveness' and become a 'playground of the poorest classes.' Sir James Douglass, who lived at Stella House, 11 College Road, and was also an Estate Governor, initially supported the scheme but later tried to prevent it from going ahead.

Charles Gowan of Bell House also had concerns. When his lease was amended due to the loss of land to the park, he requested annual contracts in case the park’s presence prompted him to move. The Dulwich Estate was sympathetic and renegotiated his lease on a year-by-year basis for several years.

He must have been reassured however, as the Gowan family remained at Bell House for another decade. Their smaller, though still substantial, garden remained a source of pride. In 1890 and 1891, their gardener, William Farley, won prizes for his begonias, gloxinias, and sweet peas at the Surrey Floricultural Show.

Bell House Garden continues as a source of pride - particularly for the volunteer gardeners who spend time there each week, and for the local residents who can enjoy the Open Garden each month, due to take place on Saturday, 7th March.

We’d like to end with a quote from George, a Bell House garden volunteer:
“We garden because we care about the future - it’s a vote of confidence in the future.”

Gardening

Yasmin “tapping into her cheffing expertise to throw beautiful, bespoke plates”

by Jim Belben, Pottery Planning Group

We are thrilled to welcome a new member to the Bell House Pottery teaching team, Yasmin Hamouda.

Eureka moment

Yasmin has a distinctive story. She started out as a chef in Northern Ireland. She worked in hospitality for many years. She loved her work and was much in demand. She also ran her own supper clubs, offering creative tasting menus.

Then she had what she describes as her Eureka moment. In 2018, she started a pottery evening class and soon realised that

“I loved cooking, but I did not only want to make the food that went on the plate, I wanted to make the plate as well. So food and plate work together to enhance both. A conversation. That started me on the journey I am still travelling.”

Bespoke dinnerware

Yasmin took a pottery diploma in Bangor, NI, then came to London for a full-time ceramics degree at Central St Martins while still working full-time as a chef!

Since graduating she has developed her own unique approach to making. She works with restaurants, learning about their ingredients and their environment and their culture, then designs and makes bespoke dinnerware to enhance their whole restaurant experience.

Calm and peaceful

Yasmin came to Bell House thanks to our contacts at the nearby Kiln Rooms in Peckham – where several of our team have practiced. She teaches at the Kiln Rooms but has also taken on teaching an all-levels Wednesday afternoon throwing course, as well as regular taster sessions for beginners.

“I love the Bell House Pottery. Such a nice area of course, and the studio is so calm and peaceful. Super clean, well managed, it’s easy to teach here. The views into the garden are wonderful, I am so looking forward to the summer when we can enjoy the garden into the late evenings.”

Yasmin finally left cheffing at the end of last year but intends to continue to offer her supper clubs – food and plate in harmony – in the future.

Upcoming courses

You can see more of Yasmin’s work on instagram @yasminhamoudastudio, and you can catch her on her next Throwing on the Wheel taster session on Friday, 6th March 6.30pm or 6-week course from Wednesday, 15th April 3pm.

Pottery Studio

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.”

Benjamin Franklin

by Madeleine Hay, Dyslexia Committee

Jump. Hop. Punch the air. Lunge. Ballet steps. These probably aren’t the words that first come to mind when you think of dyslexia. Yet, for our Bell House dyslexia specialists, movement and whole-body engagement are central to how we teach. Why? Well, before we even look at the research, we know something simple: people learn best when they are relaxed, engaged and feel a sense of ownership over their learning.

Sitting at a desk using a traditional pen and paper approach may not tick these boxes, particularly in neurodivergent learners. But give the same child a Harry Potter wand to write letters in the sky, invite them to write giant letters on paper and jump on them to spell words, take turns in punching out letters in the air, and you see true learning in action: engagement, an eagerness to participate and, most notably, a child who remembers what they have learnt.

So, what does the research say about why adding movement has such a positive impact on learning? The most common signs of dyslexia include: difficulties with phonological processing (detecting and manipulating sounds in words), working memory, recognising spelling patterns and processing speed. One of the key challenges this creates is linking information — connecting sounds to letters, and letters to the spelling of whole words.

However, when we move the body and engage a range of senses, we simultaneously stimulate several different areas of the brain, encouraging new connections to be made and long-lasting memories to be formed. Consequently, when learning involves seeing, hearing, saying and physically doing, multiple pathways are created to link the same piece of information. The more pathways the brain builds, the easier that learning is to retrieve later. This is neuroplasticity at work — the growth and reorganisation of brain connections that are essential when we learn new skills or absorb new information. Importantly, purposeful movement can also support regulation and attention; a calm, alert brain is far more receptive to new learning than one that feels stressed or fatigued.

If you’re a parent, carer or education professional supporting a learner with reading and spelling, keep an eye on the Bell House updates and social media for the learning through movement sessions we are running in 2026. Every dyslexic individual is exactly that – individual, so there is not a one-size-fits-all solution for how we build movement into learning. The key is to work with a learner to find out how and when they want to move so that they feel in control of their learning. Dopamine, the body’s powerful, ‘feel good’ chemical is then released in the body, meaning we’re setting a child up to succeed in their learning. Get moving with your learner and build a great learning environment!

Join us for our next talk in the Dyslexia Series: Movement Therapy for Retained Primitive Reflexes by Learning DNA.

Dyslexia Support

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