Blog | HFS - Part 6

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.”

Fantastic Fiver Sale

04/09/2017H F Saffordable, armchairs, bargain, Bexhill, discount, East Sussex, fiver, sale, secondhand furniture, tables, £5

We’re having a sale to clear space in our store for more fab reusable furniture.

The Fantastic Fiver Sale is now on at HFS Bexhill. Armchairs, coffee tables and TV units (and lots more) only £5.

Grab a bargain now!

Click for store location and opening times.

Help our team deliver

15/08/2017H F SBexhill, charity job, collecting, delivering, driving, Hastings, jobs, join our team

Our donors and customers expect friendly, capable, safe, professional service from our charity.

Can you help our team deliver?

Collection & Delivery Driver

£8.75 PH 37 hours/week Mon-Fri

Full, clean driving license, van-driving and lifting experience, over 25? Download the full info & application form here and apply by 5pm Mon 21st August

New course dates

24/07/2017H F Sadult ed, adult education, Battle, Bexhill, carpentry, community learning, crafty courses, creative, East Sussex, fixing, free course, funky furniture, furniture restoration, Hastings, making, mixed crafts, paint effects, Rother, shabby chic, skills, tools, upholstery course, workshops

Book your place today for our free / low-cost workshops in Hastings & Bexhill. We are offering:

Furniture Restoration

Beginners Carpentry

Advanced Carpentry

Paint Effects on furniture

Mixed Crafts with upcycled materials

Upholstery for Beginners

Our workshops are a great place to learn new, practical skills in a small friendly group. All courses are 20 hours, over either 4 or 6 days, and usually run on the same day each week.

Course dates, fees and more info here.

Thanks ZoomArts

20/07/2017H F SBexhill, community group, hard work rewarded, Hastings, opportunities, photography, summer, team, teamwork, thank-you to volunteers, volunteer, volunteering, zoomarts

We’re very grateful to the volunteers from ZoomArts who have taken our new team photo.

The whole HFS team got together for our Summer meal; a thank-you for our volunteers and staff who work so hard all year round. The photographers from ZoomArts took the opportunity to get a photo of everyone together on the beach.

ZoomArts is a local community group that helps photographers share skills, develop expertise and exhibit work.

Would you like to join the HFS team? Read more about volunteering with us.

Classic Car Boot Stall

07/07/2017H F SClassic Car Boot, Fire Engine, Firefighter, furniture, Hastings Pier, Hemingway, pottery, Stall, Vintage, vinyl, VW classic

Our stall at the Classic Car Boot Sale was a great success.

On 8-9th July designers Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway organised the event to transform Hastings Pier with extra special vehicles and vintage treasures.

One of our supporters brought his lovely vintage VW fire engine to accompany our stall. Kids (of all ages) loved the vehicle and took “firefighter selfies”

Our stall featured many of the small vintage finds in our stores. Many visitors were surprised to see the range of goods available from HFS stores, and very pleased with our prices – we hope they’ll become regular customers!

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!

Your vote counts!

02/06/2017H F Sconstituency, democracy, domestic violence survivors, election, Hastings and Rye, help vulnerable people, homeless, how to vote, make a difference, MP, parliamentary candidates, save welfare, vote, voting

We asked parliamentary candidates in East Sussex whether they would pledge to campaign to save Local Welfare Assistance (LWA) funding and ring-fence it to protect the services it funds.

LWA is a safety net that enables some of our most vulnerable and disadvantaged households to get through a crisis, obtain and set up a basic home including beds and bedding, emergency food and rent deposits.

At HFS we see the direct results of this support because we source and deliver brand new beds, bedding, cookers and fridges for people in Hastings and Rother who apply to the County Council for this help (click to read more about the scheme).

Separate, ring-fenced LWA funding was abolished in April 2015. The Government said that Councils would allocate funds for the services from their core grant; they suggested amounts but refused to ring-fence funds. Council core grants are reducing each year (local Councils say their budgets have been reduced 40% since 2010) so the lack of separate, ring-fenced funding puts LWA services at risk.

If you haven’t yet decided how to vote on 8th June, please bear in mind that the candidates’ intentions on issues like this can make a real difference to local households in need.

These candidates have pledged support:

Peter Chowney – Labour – Hastings & Rye

Colin Stocks – Green Party – Wealden

Nicholas Wilson – Independent (Vote Ethical) – Hastings & Rye

Angie Smith – Labour – Wealden

Caroline Lucas – Green Party – Brighton Pavilion

We’ve not yet heard from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats or UKIP.

Thank you Winklers!

23/05/2017H F S

We are really grateful to Hastings Winkle Club for supporting our Starter Packs fund.

The Club donated £400 towards the packs, which help local people starting a home with nothing after homelessness, escaping domestic violence or crises such as home fires.

The packs contain basic essential items to help people cook, clean and wash for themselves and their families. HFS sources the brand new goods wholesale to make up the packs at a low cost and help as many households as possible. People in need of a starter pack are referred by organisations such as Refuge, Seaview, HARC, Social Services, Housing Departments and the County Council.

The Winkle Club is a famous Hastings institution, originally set up by fishermen in the Old Town. Each Member (or ‘Winkler’) carries a winkle shell which they must produce when challenged to ‘Winkle Up’. Failure to do so results in a fine which goes towards local charities.

Winkle Club members have included a few very illustrious personalities such as Lord Montgomery, Sir Winston Churchill, the Duke of Windsor and many others. You can find out more about the Club here.

Bedhead Benches

28/04/2017H F Sbedhead, Bexhill, bright, carpentry, colours, furniture, garden, recycled, reuse, spring, upcycled, volunteers, wood, workshop

Our workshop team has been working on an exciting new project to reuse and upcycle unwanted bed-heads into fabulous benches for the home and garden.

Sometimes we collect bed frames that can’t be reused because parts are missing but we don’t want the wood to go to waste. These benches use up the heads, ends and slats of the bed-frames to make an attractive new piece of furniture.

It’s been a fun challenge for our workshop team. Our expert Ron has helped the volunteers to figure out how to reuse the wood and make strong sturdy bench seats. Our volunteers are local people who have enjoyed HFS courses and want to do more carpentry, restoration and painting as part of the team. Pauline, Heidi, Percival, Phil and Victor have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and we are really proud of the stunning results.

Each bench is unique. There are children’s benches as well as full-size and we have painted several in fun bright colours.

Child-size benches are £70 full price (£45 benefit discount price) and adult-size ones are up to £195 (£145 discount price).

The benches will be on sale at our Bexhill store from Friday 28th April.