Now even greener

We have partnered with a local community benefit co-op to get solar panels on the roof of our Dorset Place building in Hastings.

Energise Sussex Coast is a community co-operative, working to tackle the climate crisis and energy injustice. They raised over £400k through a community share offer to install solar panels on community buildings in the area.

The panels roof will generate renewable energy to power HFS, giving us greener, cheaper electricity. Energise will pass any surplus electricity on to the grid to power other local homes and businesses.

This brilliant scheme means that local charities and schools are able to benefit from solar energy without investing huge sums to install the panels.

Our Hastings store has relocated to temporary premises in Priory Meadow for a few months while the Dorset Place building is being refurbished, so this is the perfect time to fit in the works necessary to fit the panels.

Everyone deserves

If your home already has enough furniture, could you sponsor a sofa for a home that needs one? 

The Government has stopped funding essential furniture for people who have been homeless, suffered domestic violence or a crisis such as a fire. Some families that are destitute can get small charity grants towards starting a home, others simply have to go without.

We’re asking people to help fund essential furniture for local households in need. If you can help, please click and donate.

 

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

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

 

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. 

Thrift Fest is this Saturday!

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.

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