The Cut Theatre Company have chosen to support Hamelin Trust with donations raised from the upcoming Christmas shows through December.

A Slice of Fawlty Towers is on at The Old King’s Head, Stock Road, Stock on Thursday 1st, 8th, 15th & 22nd December and at Chilli Chilli, Stock Road on Saturday 17th December.

‘The fun begins in the bar over pre-dinner drinks, where you will be greated by the characters.  Then, when the time comes, Basil wil invite you through to the restaurant…And it’s chaos all the way!’

Why not book to join in the fun, check out The Cut Theatre Co. website

We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone involved in the Charity Sale organised by all at N Shelley in Billericay High Street.  The event was a great success as shoppers bagged designer women’s clothes at a fraction of the original prices.  Funds raised were split between Hamelin House and the Mayglower Community Hospital.  We met with Sarah Millet, owner of N Shelly at our Central Office in Radford Crescent, earlier this week and were very thankful to receive a cheque for £3,033.

Thank you to everyone who made the Charity Sale such a success.

The Reading Rooms were jam packed on the Saturday the 24th of September. The room was overflowing with Jumpers, trousers, hats, shirts, dresses, bags clothes and more clothes. And of course cakes. There was barely any room to move between the clothes rails! All clothes were being sold at fantastically low prices thanks to Billericay’s N.Shelley, in order to raise money for Hamelin House and Mayflower Hospital. The cake sale looked particularly inviting thanks to the charitable bakers of Billericay who donated a huge variety of cakes from Walnut cakes to cup cakes to Carrot cake muffins.

What caught my eye were the beautiful handbags. One in particular was a dazzling pink clutch bag with glistening diamonds. Unfortunately I already purchase more than enough bags at home so I had to find the strength to resist it’s magnificence and leave it in its place, for another fortunate customer. The Jewellery was also very alluring, and such a variety! It was obvious that the charity was bound to make some money today, in fact we managed to raise £161.25 for the Trust. So a good day had by all, and many thanks to all those who came to have a look, and a big thanks to N. Shelley and our generous cake makers.

Saturday 20th August was a very busy day within the charity shop division at the Trust.  Our new till system went live, the Hamelin Trust Gift Aid Scheme giving the ability to claim gift aid on donations in kind as explained in a previous news item was started and the doors opened to our new retail outlet based within our Central Office building in Radford Crescent Billericay.

We have set out a range of furniture items that have been donated to the Trust for resale.  Dining tables and chairs were laide out with dining sets, sideboards, desks, chest of drawers are all available for sale.  Staff and volunteers helped serve customers and deal with enquiries about the items for sale and it was a very successful day.

The Furniture Reuse Centre is now open 6 days a week:  Mon-Fri 9.30am-4.30pm and Saturdays 10am-1pm.  Whether you are looking for something specific or just want to see what items we have for sale we would love to see you at the centre.

Many thanks to the staff and volunteers who have helped in setting up and running the centre.

There has been a lot of changes within the Reuse & Recycling Division over the past couple of months with moving the depot, closure of the Westcliff charity shop and the upcoming opening of the Depot Retail Outlet on August 20th.

Another change is the installation of a new till system which brings the Trust’s charity shops up to date with till functions and faciliites.  The new tills go live on 18th August and from that date we will be starting our new Gift Aid Scheme.  This enables us to claim an additional 25% in Gift Aid on donations items bought in through the charity shops and depot.

We believe this is a key way of helping raise much needed funds for the organisation at no extra cost to our supporters.  The Gift Aid Scheme means that donated items become monatary donations when they are sold and it is this amount that we can then claim an additional 25% on from the Government.

A dining table and chairs donated through the charity shops by someone who has declared they are a tax payer is sold for £200, we can claim an additional £50 in Gift Aid!

The weather wasn’t really co-operating on the day of the Billericay SummerFest but even so, it was a good day.

Classic cars, hog roast, music from live bands and a variety of stalls were all set up for a great day on Sunday 17th July.  Even though the heavens opened throughout the day we still had a fairly steady stream of people passing our stall and taking leaflets about the work of the Trust.  The tombola seemed to go down well with a real mix of items to be won from tinned goods to mugs and DVD’s.

Many thanks to the volunteers who manned the Hamelin Trust stall throughout the day, some of whom went home very damp!  And also to those who generously donated items for the tombola.  This all helped make the day a success for the Trust and raise £130 on the day.

The 6th Billericay Cub Scout Group have been working towards their community challenge badge.  Part of this badge was to do some charity fundraising and they chose for all funds raised to go to Hamelin House.

Each Cub Scout hosted a collecting box in their home and asked visitors to donate any loose change.  Between the Cub Scout group they raised £180.27   Jon Dixon from Hamelin Trust visited the group on their count-up evening and talked with the boys about the work of Hamelin House and the Trust and how their fundraising helps.

A big thank you to all the 6th Billericay Cub Scout Boys, you did a great job!

We have been in the new building now for 6 weeks and are settling in to the new surroundings.  Donations of good quality items are flooding in through collections and people dropping items off at the new office.  The depot is filling up very quickly and staff and beneficiaries at the projects are working hard recycling unwanted items either through our charity shops.

If you have good quality items to donate please call the depot on 01277 314231 to discuss drop off or collection arrangements.  If you have some spare time and would like to support us we are looking for volunteers to help in the depot and projects at the new office.  Please check out the volunteering opportunities available.

Barleylands Barn was a hive of activity and excitement on 22^nd May as walkers representing over 90 charities prepared to take part in the annual Barleylands Fun Walk.  Music, food, flowers, cup cakes and more were available from the various charity and event stalls located in the barn and apart from a couple of drops of rain the weather was good!

The barn was a hive of activity before the walkers left and as they started to return a little wearily.  We were selling a range of plants and hanging baskets that had been put together by the team at Roots & Shoots and managed to raise over £260 on the day in sales.

With sponsorship money still coming in we are expecting to raise over £500 for the Trust.

Thank you to our walkers, especially 15 month old Jessica who struggled with the wind on the shorter walk and all those who purchased plants.  We are already looking forward to next years event!

WE HAVE MOVED!

After a lot of building and refurbishment works we have now moved into our new Central Office location.

As part of the new base we have also moved some of the social enterprises too.  Now, Furniture Restoration, IT Recycling and the depot are all under one well insulated roof together with the central office function of the Trust.

19 Radford Crescent has been refurbished incorporating some energy saving techniques:

• The heating system is run on bio-deisel that we produce at Sutton Bridge Farm
• Solar panels on the roof helping us reduce our electricity costs
• Additional insulation fitted throughout the building & roofing where possible

As an organisation we believe that this move is of great significance for the future of Hamelin Trust, making the organisation more sustainable in the future with improved facilities and better working environments.

Our great thanks go to:

The Social Enterprise Investment Fund (SEIF), without whose funding we would not have the modern resources we have been able ton incorporate within the refurbishment

Natwest for their support in this venture

Argos Distribution Centre in Basildon, staff shop for the loan of their cages, without these moving the projects and depot would not have been feasible!