Recent updates

As if supporting such an amazing event was not enough and also being rewarded with spectacular gifts, everyone who donates to the festival will be entered into a free prize draw for a festival weekend stay at our offical festival hotel partner the Mercure at The Grand Hotel, situated in the heart of the city.

A two night stay (Saturday 28th & Sunday 29th of July, Room for 2) is up for grabs in this stunning listed building. Mercure Grand Hotel, having recently undertaken a £4million renovation of this historic building, artwork at the hotel was provided by Upfest artists to give a unique blend of street art style against the hotels stunning Victorian features.

Mercure Grand Hotel

Check out this review of renovations at the Grand by travel blogger Heather Cowper HERE

25% raised!

An update for UPFEST 2018

Apr 17 2018

Thanks to you, UPFEST 2018 has already raised 25% of its goal

Keep sharing the project to help us get to 100%!

https://www.fundsurfer.com/upfest2018

Ploughing ahead with grant applications!

An update for A preschool for Down Ampney and surrounding villages - Little Explorers

Mar 18 2018

Little Explorers are eight months into a capital grant application which if successful will pay 80% of the building costs needed to reopen the preschool(approximately £12,000). We have trawled through close to 150 different grants and it is hard to find one that fits. Our project is eligible for this capital grant because it will grow the local economy and improve our community by providing access to a rural service. We have been working closely with the grants office throughout the process which is both detailed and strict. We have passed through several stages already and they continue to encourage us to progress our application because our project - to reopen a preschool in Down Ampney - helps achieve their aim of increasing sustainable economic growth and jobs in our area. A new preschool in Down Ampney would create 4 new local part-time jobs as well as providing a new high-quality childcare option which could help some parents return to work. The biggest stumbling block for our grant application is being able to demonstrate that all project costs are covered - hence our crowdfunding campaign. Please consider giving - any donation no matter how large or small will help us meet our target. Do get in touch if you want to find out more http://thelittleexplorers.org Thanks for reading Karen :0)

First week in!

An update for A preschool for Down Ampney and surrounding villages - Little Explorers

Mar 10 2018

The Little Explorers crowdfunding campaign is one week in. We would love to engage the community to help us reopen the preschool in Down Ampney. We're having a particular push at the moment because by raising another few thousand pounds we will release significant funding via a capital grant to cover the building works (providing we are successful at the final stage of the grant process). This week we have had our first 4 supporters via the crowdfunding campaign and raised another £330 to add to the pot! Massive thanks to you - I can't tell you what it means to have your support. It is somewhat daunting to put this project out there and sit back to see whether people are going to engage with it especially when we've worked so hard on it over the last two and a half years. I continue to feel excited and hopeful that we will bring a well-needed and well-regarded preschool to Down Ampney. Other news this week includes a pledge from the Rotary Club to help out with painting and decorating and other small jobs which is fantastic. We have also had an interview with the Glos and Wilts Standard this week so watch out for an article in the paper next week. Thanks again all - and please do share our campaign with others you think might be interested. Karen :0)

Four weeks in and over halfway

An update for Nuts Over The Atlantic - Movember Fundraiser

Jan 14 2018

We are over halfway across the Atlantic and have just 1,100 nautical miles to go. In the last four weeks we have faced storms, seasickness, sleep deprivation and breakages on the boat. This has been tougher than we ever could have imagined, especially the night shifts when you can't see the waves coming towards you!

After hearing that the first boat arrived in Antigua and smashed the current world record we couldn't be more motivated to row as hard as we can to dry land to see our families and supporters.

Our biggest challenge throughout the whole experience has been to raise the funds required to get the boat ready and transported to La Gomera. With that complete we are now up against our next expense which is shipping the boat back to the UK, sadly we do not yet have the £6,000 required for this.

We have some great rewards on offer in return for your backing so please take a look and share with your family and friends.

Many thanks,

Team Nuts

@bythehundred

Tee Update... Apologies for the Delays

An update for #SaveHamiltonHouse: Saving the House One T-Shirt at a Time!

Nov 17 2017

Hi All,

Just a quick heads up. A few of you have been in contact regarding whether your orders have been received and whether the t-shirts have been sent yet.

If you've filled out a form or been in contact with your order, then we have it and it's in the process of being printed.

We've had a couple of delays mainly due to:

It taking a lot longer to get the 300 tee shirt orders in from everyone
The printer sadly having to move from their studio at HH with quite short notice

We are thankfully now back on track, the orders have been taken, the designs and blank tees have been delivered and the new studio has been set up south of the river. We are hoping to get all the orders now fulfilled by the 10th December.

Massive apologies for any confusion and delays and thank you for your patience. We know everyone is super eager to represent the campaign with their amazing new tees.

#savehamiltonhouse

Tee Order Details Deadline: This Friday 27th October!

An update for #SaveHamiltonHouse: Saving the House One T-Shirt at a Time!

Oct 24 2017

Hi All,

As most of you have seen, an order form has been sent out all the people who have bought something through the 'Saving the House one Tee at a Time!' campaign.

We only have 40 more order forms to get in and then we can start getting your tees produced and out to all you wonderful supporters.

If you've not received a link to a form, check your spam/promotions email filters and if you've still not found it, get in contact with savehamiltonhouse@gmail.com and we can get it all sorted.

Deadline for orders is this Friday 27th October.

Thank you all for your patience whilst we compile these 200+ orders and thank you to all who have responded so quickly.

#savehamiltonhouse

PS for all of you on twitter or fb check out this amazing animated infographic about the history, impact and current situation at Hamilton House and helps us share it as far and wide as possible.

To view the video on Twitter Click Here
To view it on Fb Click Here

Come and hear from a mother seeking asylum

An update for A safe haven for refugee and asylum seeking children

Oct 11 2017

Thanks to your support the Early Years Project is able to meet the needs of a growing number of children and parents. Each week the Early Years Team welcome new families and several of these children are coming regularly this autumn. As well as the children belonging to our group, we are also facilitating children moving into nursery places and school through our partnership work with a local Children's Centre.

One Mum recently reflected “My daughter loves the project. She sings us the songs she has learnt at home.”

One of the project's regular volunteers noted the positive impact that the project has upon the children’s lives, “Within a matter of weeks, you can see their confidence growing, their sense of security returning. It is very moving.”

Tomorrow BRR will hold its Annual General Meeting at the Assisi Centre Community Hall in Bristol. Our Fundraising and Communications Manager will share her experience of the crowdfunding campaign and one of the mothers who uses the Early Year Project will share her experience of how it has helped her and her child.

We warmly invite you to join us.

Whilst we celebrate the achievements of the last year we also look to the sustainability of the different services BRR offers to asylum seekers and refugees. We know that many people who contributed to the crowdfunding campaign support BRR in a wide range of other ways (volunteering, governance, donating items, organising fundraisers and giving regularly). If you would like to support in one of these ways but are not at the moment please get in touch. If you would like to set up a regular donation to the Early Years Project visit our Localgiving page and leave a comment to ask for the donation to go towards the EYP.

Thank you so very much

from the EYP staff team, volunteers and parents