Job successes

Pete joined our team two months ago. He was made redundant over 12 months ago, after 25 years in the same job.

Volunteering showed that Pete preferred being active and working hard rather than staying at home, and proved he could adapt to a new workplace. Pete got a job after just a few weeks with us. He said that volunteering with us boosted his confidence and helped him over the final hurdle of getting a job.

Katie had been looking for work for 3 years before she joined us as a volunteer at the reception in our Priory Meadow store earlier this year. Getting back into work after taking time out to look after young children can be really hard, especially if you need work that will fit in around school hours and holidays.

Katie built up her confidence and worked with Angie to update her CV and fill in applications. Katie was ecstatic to get a job interview … then became extremely nervous. Practicing suitable answers that explained her relevant experience helped, and she was offered the job at her first interview.

Katie says “If it wasn’t for you guys I would not have got this perfect job, thank you so much”

Max started volunteering with us 3 months ago. He has been looking for a job in IT since he left college a year ago. Not having anything to do, Max had shut himself away at home and he was very quiet. He had become isolated and felt he had no confidence.

Max worked well with the team and started to gain confidence. He is a very intelligent, articulate young man. He has been offered a job with a local Council’s IT department. He says that if he hadn’t come to us to volunteer that he would still be stuck in his bedroom.

Read more about volunteering at hfs

Volunteering pop-up

HVA (Hastings Voluntary Action) will be running a regular volunteering pop-up within our pop-up store in Priory Meadow from the start of September.

We’re delighted to host HVA and encourage people to volunteer. Getting involved with local community groups can help you feel more connected to others, boost your skills and confidence, and help if you are looking for work. Good local charities like HFS need a team of dedicated volunteers; when we work together we can make a huge difference.

At the pop-up sessions, experts from HVA will be on hand to talk to you and help you find volunteering opportunities that suit your skills, interests and goals.

Tuesdays:            2 – 4

Wednesdays:    10 – 12

Fridays:                12 – 2

Plus – First Saturday of the month: 10 – 12

And you can read about volunteering with HFS here.

making space

HFS has been asked to make use of an empty building in Western Road, Bexhill, while the owner looks for a long-term tenant.

The ground floor shop will offer music and films on a pay-what-you-feel basis, run by volunteers. We’re recruiting volunteers for this project at the moment; get in touch if you’d like to help out.

Upstairs will be pop-up workspace for local creatives. There are rooms for studios, offices and other spaces. There could also be exhibitions, open studios and other events.

This is a temporary project which we hope to use to prove there is a local need for permanent, affordable workspace for creative enterprises.

Read more about the project. 

 

Pop Up

We’re excited to announce that HFS Hastings will be relocating to the Priory Meadow shopping centre temporarily.

The pop-up store will give us a chance to reach more people and reuse even more furniture.

It will also enable us to redecorate our full-time premises in Dorset Place. We haven’t seen most of the walls or floor since we moved in after our re-build in 2007, so we can’t wait to give it a lick of paint!

The pop-up is on a rent-free “meanwhile” basis, while the landlord looks for a new paying tenant. We are moving on Tues and Weds (21-22 May). Hastings store will be closed on Weds 22nd.

The new store will open at lunchtime on Thurs 23rd May

Open   Tues-Sat 9.30-4.30

Phone   01424 44 11 12

Address   SU2 (former Top Shop) Priory Meadow  Hastings  TN34 1PH

 

Meeting the friendlies

We loved meeting The Friendlies last month.

Debbie visited the group at St Matthews Church in St Leonards and gave a talk about our charity.

Debbie says “It was a real pleasure to talk to The Friendlies, they were such an interesting and interested group of people.”

Would your group like a talk? Get in touch!

Work with HFS

Help our team deliver excellent, friendly, capable, professional services for our donors and customers.

You need a full, clean driving license, van-driving and lifting experience, and the ability to work alongside a diverse range of volunteers and trainees.

Job Title Collection & Delivery Driver

Hours Full-time, 37.5 hours a week from Tues-Sat

Salary £17,062 (£8.75 ph)

Contract Initially a 6-month fixed-term contract with possibility of extension.

Apply by 12 noon Tues 9th April 2019

More information and application form

Disappointing

Government Minister James Brokenshire

Government Minister James Brokenshire

Our application for funding to redevelop our Bexhill site, to create a hub of supportive workspaces for start-ups and small enterprises and extend our furniture store, was selected for the final stage of the Coastal Communities Fund (CCF).  This is a highly competitive national grant scheme; only very strong project proposals reach the final round.

CCF received 61 final stage applications requesting a total of £84 million, against a budget of £34 million available, so only 40% could be successful.  The final decisions were made by the Government’s Secretary of State of Housing, Communities and Local Government.

Disappointingly, our bid was one of the 60% not selected for funding this time.  And, without the CCF grant, we will not able to draw down the matched funding to go ahead with the redevelopment this year.

However, the hard work we have done to get the project to this stage, and all the support we have received from local organisations, means we are ready to go when new funding opportunities arise.

In the meantime, our Bexhill store is still busy providing affordable reused furniture for local residents and businesses. We’re not going away!

Punching

We have been working hard on funding bids for the redevelopment of our Bexhill site to make a much larger HFS store and a hub of affordable workspaces for local start-up enterprises. 

As a small social enterprise, HFS has done really well to get to the final stages of 3 funds that could together cover the costs of this ambitious project. Most of the other bidders are large organisations or local authorities with teams dedicated to the task (plus Legal, HR, Finance departments)!

We are particularly proud to reach the final round of the national Coastal Communities Fund. We’re told we are the only project in the County to get this far. We are also through to the final stages of the SELEP growth fund and CHART.

There is no guarantee of funding at this stage and the project can only go ahead if the bids are successful. We are waiting to hear from the funders, and hope to have news in the next few weeks. 

WoW van

Our Workshop on Wheels (WoW van) will be back out on the road in the Spring, ready to offer free skills sessions to local community groups, thanks to a generous donation from the Mason Charitable Foundation.

The van is equipped with workbenches and tools so we can provide short workshops anywhere in Hastings and Rother.

We have helped community groups undertake their own projects such as restoring benches in a community garden, making raised beds or decorating.

We can also provide a short course for members of your community group. The Oasis Community Project based at Ore Community Centre, for example, used their time with the WoW van to learn furniture restoration.

Visit the WoW van page.

Interested in booking a WoW van visit for your group? Get in touch with Angie Lowe at angie@hfs.org.uk to find out more about what’s on offer.

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