Despite the rather gloomy weather, we had a wonderful time celebrating Easter on the Great Field and here at PiP. The Easter Bunny even hopped along (thank you so much to our volunteer Darcy)! Find out more about upcoming events this Spring, including the weekly chess club, our monthly coffee morning, after school art club and our wonderful revolving guests exhibitions with @artinpoundbury, a group of over 70 local artists.

Due to numerous requests, the café is now open on Mondays between 9.30 and 3.30 pm for drinks and snacks – with a full menu during the rest of the week (9-4 during the winter and until 5pm over the Summer).

We had a really fun-packed day on Monday 2nd April with a whole host of exciting free events for all the family to enjoy. There was an Easter trail around The Great Park with prizes, colouring and egg decorating ready for the egg roll which took place with an amazing number of people taking part – and of course, we had a range of special yummy Easter treats on offer in the cafe! Thank you to our wonderful Poundbury Waitrose for enabling our community outreach and to Discover Dorchester for organising the brilliant egg roll, ‘roll on’ next year!

Children had a wonderful time at our Easter Kids Club too with finger painting, a scavenger hunt, card/bag designing, making yummy Easter chocolate nests and a delicious lunch! Huge thanks to Dorchester Tesco, The Coop and Weymouth Asda for providing gifts for every child. A huge shout out too for our volunteers including Jackie, Darcy and Alison as well as to Lesley and Sandra for creating such a lovely day for the children.

Any proceeds from PiP Cafe support the wonderful work of our charity, the Talk About Trust and we are delighted to share our new About Us information with you! This includes detail about what we do, our goals, our impact and reach, why we're needed, how you can get involved and our diversionary outreach delivered from our community hub.

Do take a moment to have a look if you can and please share with anyone who might like to get involved with us! Partnership-leaflet-2024.pdf (talkabouttrust.org)

Every Tuesday afternoon, there is an informal chess group at PiP,  just come along, no need to book or bring a board – suitable for all levels.

Art in Poundbury do so much locally – hosting a wonderful Christmas exhibition and workshops in December and a painting competition each year – this year it is ‘Art in the Square’ on the 22^nd June and we will host an exhibition of the paintings afterwards. The art is all priced at under £150 with a percentage helping our work with young people.

Our hugely popular after school art club where a parent or carer joins their child for creative fun is continuing thanks to support from Art in Poundbury and Parkers Estate Agents. The new dates are as follows:

• 24th April
• 8th May
• 22nd May
• 12th June
• 26th June
• 10th July

Please book early to avoid disappointment via kerry@pipspoundbury.com !

From the 4th to the 30th June, we will be hosting an exhibition of art and weaving by members of The University of the Third Age - why not pop in and have a look! The art won’t be for sale, but Tony Prior is hosting a sale of his beautiful paintings in Charminster in aid of Weldmar

On Saturday 11th May, there is the chance to take part in a walking tour of Poundbury, starting at PiP as part of Dorchester Walking Festival. During the tour, you'll learn lots about this unique area and its architecture, hosted by Simon Conibear who was Estates Director of Poundbury since its early beginnings! You can find out more and book your place via Tour of Poundbury Tickets, Sat 11 May 2024 at 11:00 | Eventbrite

Our Senior Socials are hugely popular and offer the chance for free tea and coffee as well as our delicious home made cakes good chat with our lovely volunteer Fiona and other attendees. The next date is this Thursday 11^th April, then the 9^th May – come and join us!

Please do come along to the café and enjoy the beautiful surroundings of the Great Field. We do appreciate you booking a table at lunchtime if you are a group of more than 4 via 01305 259142 – and remember you can book our private room which sits up to 18 comfortably for a lunch or meeting, do contact kerry@pipspoundbury.com for more information!