charity | HFS - Part 3

Happy Holidays!

22/12/2017H F SBexhill, charity, christmas, donate, Furniture store, Hastings, holiday, New Year, reuse furniture, Rother, secondhand furniture, St Leonards, store closure, team break, xmas

Our team will be having a well-earned seasonal break from 23rd December to 1st January.

We’ll be back on Tuesday 2nd January with our usual opening times.

We’re looking forward to seeing you in the New Year.

Vote for us!

10/11/2017H F Sbags of help, Battle, carrier bag tax, charity, christmas, December, free vote, good cause, grant, Hastings, help a charity, local charity, plastic bag, shop, St Leonards, supermarket, Tesco, volunteer, vote

If you shop at any branch of Tesco in Hastings, St Leonards or Battle, please take a token and vote for HFS to win some “bags of help” funding.

The funds will help us support volunteers to gain skills, confidence and experience. A lot of our volunteers need support to take on their role with us and to build up towards moving on into training or work. With your support we can help more people.

Voting runs through November and December 2017.

ZoomArts

12/09/2017H F Sart, charity, creative, events, exhibition, Kings Road, photography, September, St Leonards, studio, Warrior Square, WoW van, Zoom Arts, zoomarts

The photographers at ZoomArts are launching their HFS-themed exhibition this month.

Open from 13th-27th September at the ZoomArts Gallery, Warrior Square Station, Kings Road St Leonards. 10.30-4.00 daily.

Our WoW van will also visit Warrior Square Station on Thurs 21st September 10-12 to promote our training activities.

All welcome!

Burlesque night

07/09/2017H F Sburlesque, charity, domestic violence, fund-raising, Hastings, refuge, surprise, tease, White Rock, women

Hastings Burlesque chose HFS as their charity for their very first event in Hastings on Saturday 23rd September.

The event at White Rock Theatre raised over £500 towards HFS workshops at local women’s refuges.

Hastings Burlesque founder, Izzy Crouch said “Founding an event like this in my home town is a real privilege. I am delighted to be raising money for HFS. I know full well that life doesn’t always run smoothly and have used HFS’ services during a tricky patch in my life. I don’t know what I would have done without them. I am pleased to be able to give back to this wonderful charity that does so much for the local community.”

WoW van visits

15/06/2017H F Scarpentry skills, charity, Hastings, learning, Ore, training, women's sheds, workshop on wheels, workshops for women

Our Workshop On Wheels has been visiting a group of women at the Oasis community project in Ore.

Everyone had a great time learning more about DIY, carpentry and furniture restoration with our tutor Ron and completing their own projects.

The van is moving on to visit a group at Working Wonders this month – helping them sand down and restore the benches in their community allotment.

If you’d like the van to visit your neighbourhood group in Hastings and Rother, do get in touch, we’ll see what we can do!

Have you shopped at HFS before?

23/02/2017H F SBexhill, charity, consultation, customers, have your say, help, questions, Rother, survey

We are planning improvements to our Bexhill ,buy prozac online store. Please help us by taking a short survey.

If you have shopped at our Bexhill store please click here.

If you haven’t ever shopped at HFS before please click here.

Thanks for your help!

Welcome the WoW van!

31/01/2017H F Scarpentry, charity, craft, DIY, free course, furniture, neighbourhood, repair, social, training, WoW

We’re excited to be launching our ‘Workshop on Wheels’ – making DIY and craft activities accessible to people in a wide range of community venues and neighbourhoods around Hastings and Rother.

The large WoW van has been customised with workbenches and tool cupboards so that our skilled tutors can take the workshop to visit groups of people and provide practical activities such as repairing furniture, making items from scrap wood and craft projects.

Having run workshops and courses at our stores in Hastings and Bexhill for many years, we are excited to have found a way to take some of these activities out into the community so that more people can enjoy taking part without the difficulty or expense of travelling to us.

The positive impact of making activities on health and wellbeing is well documented, and we hope that the small neighbourhood groups will be a great way for people to meet up with their neighbours as well as getting to know new people in their area. Our in-store workshops have taught us that, for many people, making or repairing something for their home is a deeply meaningful activity that increases their confidence and gives them a more positive outlook on life.

The WoW project has been supported by the Hastings and Rother CCG (Clinical Commissioning Group), allowing the workshop sessions to be offered totally free of charge to local residents.

The interior of the WoW van has been kitted out with funds raised by HFS patron Mark Thomas at a pre-gig talk at St Mary’s in the Castle in November last year.

First stops on the WoW van’s journey will be:

Four Courts Community Centre on Stonehouse Drive
Robsack Centre in Bodiam Drive

The workshops will run every Friday at 10am and 1.30pm respectively for four weeks starting from February 10th. Future venues and dates will be added to our workshop calendar throughout the year so watch out for WoW popping up somewhere near you!

To take part, just come and say hello to our team with the WoW van at your nearest location.