Recent updates

The latest news from our projects

  • Tooting Twirl - 30% Paid

    An update for Transforming Tooting Bus Circle into a Pop-Up Village Green

    Jun 27 2017

    Good Afternoon Twirlers! :)

    ​After a busy week of crowdfunding, we've just reached our 30% target - thanks to ALL who made this happen!!

    ​However, we now only have exactly two weeks today to raise the remaining 70% , and access our crowdfund! We'll be stepping up our campaign as we move into the weekend, so look out for members of the TT team handing our flyers and putting up posters on a street near YOU!

    ​If you're still excited for the event, do come along to our Meet and Make evening tonight at the Centre for Catholic Formation (CCF) on Tooting Bec Road, TONIGHT :30, where we will be making some hand-held twirling ribbons, and working out how to install a twirly flowerbed on our pop-up village green. All hands welcome! :)

    Also, please keep sharing our event, and the story behind it, with your friends, neighbours, and even the postman.
    It will all help us reach our target.

    In the meantime, best wishes,

    ​The Tooting Twirl Team

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • A sneak peak..

    An update for St George's Bristol Crowdfund

    Jun 23 2017

    Tiptoeing though throngs of builders today with a camera in hand to record progress..

    Happy to report that all areas of the site are a hive of activity - from relaying the front steps, re-configuring the crypt as well as great progress on the site of the new extension itself.

    A blog-post of images will follow next week as we focus on raising that essential final £100,000 to complete the appeal.

    Here is a sneak preview of one shot taken today.. can you work out of where..?!

    All will be revealed soon!

    Please continue to support our appeal and keep sharing .. we do need to get to our final target asap to pay for all this work! 

    Please help ensure that we can fulfill our vision for St George's in full, and complete down to the last detail, this final transformation of our much loved hall into a world class concert hall for all of Bristol to be duly proud.

    Many thanks for all your support!

  • A Twirly 24 hour update

    An update for Transforming Tooting Bus Circle into a Pop-Up Village Green

    Jun 21 2017

    Dear Twirlers,

    Thankyou all SO much for your contributions to our fundraising efforts in this first day of crowdfunding.

    We are excited to announce that, in our first 24 hours, we have raised a total of £495 towards making the Tooting Twirl a reality!

    However we have still raised less than 25% of our target with only 20 days to go, so if you are as excited at the prospect of transforming the Tooting Broadway bus turning circle into our very own village green as we are, please encourage your family and friends to make a small donation to our campaign, and help make our twirly dreams come true!

    We’ll be sending you regular updates on our progress, and tweeting from the Transition Town Tooting account as the campaign goes on, so please do tweet us directly, or follow us at @tttooting.

    In the meantime, thanks again, and spread the word!

     

    Lucy, Richard, Jeni
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  • Superheroes in Disguise

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

    Jun 19 2017

    “Little Boys are just Superheroes in Disguise” said the top of one of the children today. Boys and girls are treated no differently in the Project but when a boy arrives for the first time it sometimes helps to provide distraction by propelling one of our fleet of toy cars in his direction. Or a doll in a toy push chair!

    Anna Burness, who runs the Project, has reminded staff not to assume that all our cultural norms are the same. At 11 am each morning the children sit at chairs around a table and eat bread and chopped-up fruit together. But some will be living with their family in a single room with no chairs, a bed the only dining area and a diet dependent on what can be achieved on a minimal income. 

    Thank you for supporting this project.  Your donation makes a world of difference!  We have one day left of the campaign.  If you know anyone who might be able to pledge their support please let them know about us and share bit.ly/brrchild  THANK YOU!

  • First workshop space at M Shed booked for the seagull project

    An update for A unique and amazing flock of beautiful friendly seagulls

    Jun 14 2017

    Hello everyone and thank you to all who have pledged money for this project so far. Thanks to the generous donations so far I have been able to agree  a date and book the very first  big workshop at M Shed. The date will be Sunday 15th October 1.30-4pm ..so exciting

    I just need another £60 and I can book the second workshop 

    Today I have been working on a pattern for a black headed gull ..photo soon 

     

    Thank you again - Vic

  • Early Years journeys with books and music . . .

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

    Jun 12 2017

    We want to say a BIG thank you for supporting this campaign.  Here is a little glimpse of what was happening in the project last Friday.

    “Spot is busy packing – he is going to stay with his grandparents for a week.” Although the world of Spot the Dog is very different from the world that the children in the Early Years Project inhabit, some of them are now able to turn Eric Hill’s colourful pages and make their first ventures into the wonderful world of books. Ventures into music too – the Project has some simple xylophones and when Afrah, one of the Project’s staff picks up a bongo drum, very soon all the children who are old enough to stand – and some of the staff – are dancing to the rhythm she creates.

    But when the rain stops, there is a rush for the little garden. Water play has to be closely supervised for some of the children, even when dressed in the Project’s water-proof clothes and wellies, to throw themselves in.     

    Do you know anyone who may be interested in pledging their support?  Please ask them to look up: bit.ly/brrchild and pledge anything they can!

    Thank you 

  • A Sound Foundation to build on..

    An update for St George's Bristol Crowdfund

    Jun 8 2017

    Following a sell out Festival of Ideas event with Bernie Sanders last Saturday the hall is now closed to public access until late September. A large crane together with a constant flow of earth removing and incoming cement lorries have taken over the site for the summer as the construction programme moves into full swing. We also now have scaffolding in place at the Great George Street entrance as the stonemasons get to work on a full restoration of our pennant step and the boundary and terrace walls, as part of HLF funded works of our project.

    Arrival of the crane on site last Sunday:

    Progress on site with the completion of the retaining wall and foundation slab for the new extension:

    We are so grateful to you all for your generous support - we now have the final £100,000 to raise to complete our £6.3M appeal. Reaching the £200,000 target of this crowdfund campaign will get us there! Any further support you can offer by continuing to share our campaign will be so appreciated. We are so close now and with your continued help and support we are sure to complete the appeal in the immediate weeks ahead.

    Thank you again for all your support as we progress to now build on our newly laid and solid foundations.

  • A Fairer World

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

    Jun 8 2017

    It is Ramadan and many BRR members are fasting.  The fasting period is a time of developing inner strength; something which is so important to getting through the asylum process.  Today the Welcome Centre main hall has been used as a polling station but the Advocacy and Information team, Asylum Support and the Early Years Project were still supporting individual members and families.  We are hopeful that the government that forms at the end of this election will support our cause and work towards a fairer world!

  • Upfest 2017 Rewards & Hotel Winner!

    An update for Upfest 2017 - Street Art & Graffiti Festival

    Jun 8 2017

    Hey folks,

    Thanks for your patience whilst we've got your fundsurfer rewards together, everyone should have received an email now with details of how to get your reward, if you haven't then it's because our mailing software doesn't like you (sorry about that), if that's the case please can you email upfest2017artists@gmail.com and we can advise on how to get it or have it sent.  

    If your reward was a PAHNL T-shirt or PAHNL print, these have arrived today, if you can collect, please come and grab yours from the gallery (Upfest Gallery 198 North Street, Bristol, BS3 1JF) else email upfest2017artists@gmail.com with your address details...

     

    And the winner is.....

    As part of our campaign we offered two nights free accommodation for two at the newly renovated Grand Hotel courtesy of our hotel partner Mercure Hotels for one of you lovely supporters.

    We put the numbers 1 - 464 into a hat (actually we used googles random number generator) and the winner was No 115!

    The lucky person with No 115 ticket was DrHelen !  (DrHelen we'll be in contact soon with details of how to book in at the hotel).

     

    Thanks again to everyone that supported, see you at the festival!

    The Upfest Crew

     

    For further info about the festival visit our website https://www.upfest.co.uk/ or event page and make sure you follow us on twitter @upfest

  • The End of the Campaign

    An update for Don Davies Independent Parliamentary Candidate for North Somerset on June 8th

    Jun 7 2017

    Dear All,

    Thank you so much for all your wonderful contributions to Don's campaign.  It has enabled us to do far more social media advertising than we would otherwise have had the chance to do as well as putting the advert for Don in the North Somerset Times, buying a Vote Don Davies banner, printing leaflets, laminating placards and posters and a myriad of other work on Don's behalf.

    Don has asked me to add his thanks to this note and say that he has been touched by the level of support and offers of help he has had over the past seven weeks.

    With very best wishes,

    Don Davies Campaign Team