November 2019

Reuse : Repair : Recycle : Food : Bikes : Waste

Diane retires from volunteering

So our lovely Diane has retired from volunteering duties. Around three years in all, famous for her salmon quiche, reading stories to the toddlers of SS17 on a Monday and finance administrator extraordinaire every other day :0) THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! We will miss you DD xx

If you are interested in volunteering and have a flair for finance admin please get in touch. By offering your time and helping out it doesn't mean you have signed up forevermore. Our volunteers work their hours around their own commitments and lives. We'd love to have you on board.

HO-HO-HO hampers

We will be raffling a Christmas Hamper on the 30th November - if you have any Christmas fayre you are able to donate it would be gratefully received. The cafe is open 9am to 4pm to deliver. Thank you to those supporters that have already donated!

They certainly got their freak on!

The wind and prospect of rain, no biggie. Mini monsters and ghostly ghouls descended on our blustery park for some Halloween fun and a visit to the grotty grotto. A great family day with stallholders and Little Legs Bus providing entertainment. The fabulous DJ Owen Hill  volunteered his time, hosted the Ugly Bug Ball disco and played all the right tunes for some spooky atmosphere at the event.

Well done to all who made the effort and dressed up! Outfits were amazing. The winners of the fancy dress competition were:

Ruby 1st prize: 1 hour Party with AJ Entertainer worth £150
Frankie 2nd Prize: Family Breakfast at Hardie Park courtesy of Galloping Gourmates
Joshua 3rd Prize: 2 tickets to Santa at Hardie
Georgie 4th Prize: Disney Sand Art Kit courtesy of Kids Bee Happy Sand Art with Shell

Following a fantastic week of half term activities the finale was pumpkin carving. Thank you to the families who came along and made it such a creative and productive day!

Community Fridge project will be supported by Co-op fundraiser

You can help us reuse wasted food, share with people who need it and teach the community cooking skills!  All you need to do is SIGN UP AS A CO-OP MEMBER https://membership.coop.co.uk/new-registration and choose Friends of Hardie Park as your cause.

Your support will benefit the community by establishing a COMMUNITY FRIDGE project locally to reduce waste, better distribute food to those who need it with the aim of making our community more connected and cohesive. The project plans to develop cooking classes for both children and adults to help people improve both health and household budgets.

The funds will enable us to invest in and maintain a van to aid distribution and pay a co-ordinator to connect with families and individuals in need.

Ultimately less food will end up in landfill and more food will reach people who need it. We welcome your support!

Every time a co-op member buys selected own-brand products and services, 1% of the money spent goes to local causes in the community. 

It's up and running...

Our cycle hub welcomed some special visitors last month to mark the launch of the new bike project. Staff from ForwardMotion South Essex funders of the initiative came to see the hub in action with children from St Joseph's Primary School learning how to repair a puncture courtesy of apprentice Ross and his mentor Richard. The project has had a great response from the community with many  bikes having been donated and re-furbished by our new apprentice Ross already. If you have any bikes you no longer use and wish to donate them to the cycle hub the opening times for the project are above. Your donations will be gratefully received. 

The project offers a range of services, re-furbished and new bikes, accessories and servicing. Pop in next time you are passing. Ross would love to talk to you about all things cycle related! Here's the brochure with full information of services available.

Grayers Graphics supports park project

Wowzer!  Look at this artwork! Thank you to Paul at Grayers Graphics for complimentary van wrapping and a really good deal on purchase of an ex-Grayers company van. It's going to be a valuable asset collecting our food donations from local stores and developing the community fridge, collection of bikes, moving equipment and collecting event paraphernalia over the course of the year. Give us a wave if you're passing!

Christmas Community Meal

Our Christmas community meal is back on the Hardie Park calendar this year. We are once again planning a Christmas day dinner for residents in and around SS17 who would otherwise be alone over the festive period. We held our first community Christmas in 2017 providing free transport, gifts and entertainment. Guests ate, drank and socialised together with our merry band of local volunteers. There are many people locally who will spend Christmas Day alone and there are some families for whom Christmas is a struggle. 

If you are able to help in any way please express interest here or on the volunteer tab on our website and Rob Groves will be in touch. 

Recycle - Terracycle - Meeting

Want to find out more about recycling in Thurrock?
What can go in your blue bin and what can't?
There's a meeting at the park on Monday 2nd Dec between 5pm and 6pm

Terracycle offers us a way of recycling some items that are not accepted in the blue bin. This meeting will make it all clear. We are very pleased to have Lynn Aben Recycling project Officer from Thurrock Council present , along with Sara Santiano from Terracycle Thurrock.

We are currently collecting CRISP PACKETS, PET FOOD PLASTIC POUCHES (washed) and CHOCOLATE WRAPPERS in the cafe. Please bring them down and pop them in our postbox.

Sunshine Hidden Disability Lanyards

If you have a disability that may not be immediately obvious but would appreciate support from staff in UK airports, certain railways, supermarkets or visitor attractions, then you may be interested to know there is a lanyard you can wear to signal this. 

The Sunflower lanyard, which is entirely voluntary for people with hidden disabilities and their families, acts as a discreet sign for staff that additional support or help may be required.

Some of our Hardie Park visitors/volunteers have already signed up to receive a lanyard, we think it's a great way to recognise a need for a little extra help or consideration when out and about.  Here's the link to purchase one and find out more. 

Woof Woof!

So our four legged friends will be experiencing another jam packed day of pooch fun next year. Sunday 7th June - 11am to 4pm needs to be in your diary. Dogtopia Pet Services and Alicias Obedience Dog Training will be working hard with us to put things in place to deliver the best dog themed local show around. It's free to attend, we just ask that you are generous in your donations on the day to support their chosen charities.

Save that date, follow The Dogtopia Show 2020 page on social media and try to keep the excitement under wraps. It's sure to be a paw-some day out!

The Essex Lottery supporting Hardie Park

We're delighted to announce that we are now selling tickets on behalf of The Essex Lottery with a weekly top prize of £25,000!

50% from all tickets sold will help to support our work in the local community of Stanford-le-Hope.

We have some exciting new projects in the pipeline that need funds, so if you sign up today you will be helping us make great things happen.

www.essexlottery.co.uk search Hardie Park (Friends of Hardie Park)

THANK YOU TO THOSE OF YOU ALREADY SIGNED UP.

10  AT THE LAST COUNT!

Meditation

An introduction to meditation. Experience your own mental stillness, releasing tension achieving peace and contentment. All ages welcome, adults, children and senior citizens. FREE between 10am and 1pm on Wednesdays. Drop in, experience a taster, stay for a while with Christine. 

Performing Parks Project Workshop

We held a progress meeting at Hardie recently with two of our Performing Park groups present, Aveley and Kenningtons Parks and 633 Daisy Squad from Daisy Field Tilbury. It's always a pleasure to be in the room with such passionate people looking to make a difference in their community.

Chris from Nesta also joined the workshop which looked at how far we've come and what's left to do over the next 10 months. Taking ownership of a space, caring about its upkeep, planting flowers for the community, litter picking and mustering up volunteers to help with the cause is a HUGE task and it takes time.  Let's keep the momentum, share the joy and inspire those around us to enjoy and care for the future of parks. Rob Groves is an inspiration and has a wealth of knowledge to impart on volunteer groups wishing to take the plunge.

The Performing Parks project is being delivered in partnership with Thurrock Council and funded by Nesta, The Big Lottery Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Save our Spaces Award nomination

Friends of Hardie Park were recently nominated for a Locality Save our Spaces Award. Rob Groves and Mandie Groves went to Leeds this month for the Awards Evening. We didn't come away with the award but we are really chuffed to have been shortlisted against such great projects nationally.

Save our Spaces is Locality’s campaign to save our much-loved publicly owned buildings and spaces from being sold off for private use.

Community ownership can put these buildings and spaces back at the heart of the community to protect them for generations to come.

Event Planning Volunteers

If you would like to help get our events up and running we would really appreciate your input. Get in contact via events@friendsofhardiepark.co.uk - Our event team always needs more hands on deck.

If you like planning, sorting on the day, maybe run a stall at an event to fundraise, shake a bucket on the gate, marshall the car park maybe - we would love to have you on board! We have a variety of events over the course of the year and new ideas and talents are always welcome!

Year 10's/11's - if you want to enhance your CV and get one step ahead it's a great way to gain experience.