mental health

Volunteering pop-up

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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.

Rescue unloved furniture

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Make a New Year Resolution to boost your wellbeing and rescue an unloved piece of furniture with our January Furniture Restoration course.

Join a friendly small group and work with our supportive tutor to learn new skills. You’ll find out how to use tools safely, sand down, repair and restore a small piece of furniture from our store to take home.

Wednesdays for 4 weeks from 9th Jan 2019 9.30am – 4pm at HFS Bexhill.

This is a free course – pay just £5 deposit to book a place in-store.

Beach-hut Book-Swaps

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Pathways beach hut themed box

The new book-swap-box at Pathways, a residential setting for people with a history of mental health issues, has proved very popular.

Pathways tell us:

“There has been lots of interest in the book-swap, and we love finding new books in the box and meeting the people using the beach-hut.

“The neighbours seem pretty pleased as well. One knocked on the door to tell us she thought the book-swap was the best thing Pathways had ever done for the community, and it showed how well Pathways is run.

“We learned lots of new skills including how to drill, how to put in screws, how to paint, how to cement a post, how to make invites and more; these skills with the skills we will gain in keeping the stock fresh and keeping the Community Book Swap going will be valuable to our futures.

Thrift Fest is this Saturday!

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The big day is Saturday 22nd September!

We’re celebrating 30 years of furniture reuse with a whole day of community activities at the Hastings Centre on the Ridge (opposite Conquest Hospital).

Please join us and have fun making, doing and trying new activities that don’t cost the earth!

Free advance tickets are available until the end of Friday on Eventbrite, or you can pay just £1 per adult on the door.

The programme and ticket link are on our website here.

Have a Crafty Christmas

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Our Crafty Christmas course starts on 8th November at the Hastings workshop. 6 weeks of handmade fun including making garlands, snowflakes and lots of other seasonal stuff. We reuse and recycle lots of materials in our workshops.

The workshops provide a way to learn new skills and spend time with a small supportive group of people, boosting confidence, self-esteem and wellbeing.

Our workshops are free and include materials, use of our tools and so on. You simply pay £5 deposit when you book your place and this is refunded as long as you attend.

Click for more info about our courses.