The Night Before Christmas - Bristol Style

Plenty of Westbury-on-Trym content in this seasonal greeting. Enjoy.











If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Foodbank Launched at Oasis

Image via Wikipedia

As an indication of the growing need, and the willingness of local churches and others to get involved, North west Bristol now has its own foodbank. 

The new service was launched in February as a collaborative project between churches in Avonmouth and Kingsweston and the Oasis Brightstowe Community Hub - the academy on the site of the former Portway School in Shirehampton.  

Foodbanks exist to meet the practical needs of people who are going through a period of crisis and are struggling to feed themselves and their families. The local foodbank is focusing its efforts on households in  Shirehampton, Sea Mills, Lawrence Weston and Avonmouth.

The north-west Bristol foodbank is open year round at the following times and locations:

Monday 9:30-11:30 St Andrews Church Avonmouth Bristol BS11 9FE (buses 41, 41A, 517)	Thursday 10-12 Lawrence Weston Baptist Church 117-119 Long Cross Lawrence Weston Bristol BS11 0HL (buses 40, 517, 518)

The Foodbank is run by a team of volunteers from churches in the North West Bristol area and offers its service free of charge to anyone in need in the community, regardless of their faith.

Food is currently sourced from schools, churches and individuals. Offers of good quality food to be donated can be made via email here. 

The Bristol NW Foodbank is part of a national network of 80+ foodbanks, affiliated to the Trussell Trust.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Single Parents' Fair

The Community Church - formerly Henleaze and Westbury Community Church - held its first Single Parents' Fair on May 16th at the Greenway Centre in Southmead.

Over 125 single parents plus about 240 children came to the event and were treated to a range of free events and services.

While mums enjoyed free hairstyling, manicures, and family photos and left with a free goody bag, the kids enjoyed pony rides, face painting, bouncy castle, basketball coaching, break dancing and video games.

Advice agencies were also present giving help on housing, money management, jobs and health.

Church leader Tim Dobson says that several single parent support groups are likely to start as a result of the fair and that the church anticipates running a follow up event in November. "Everything was free, people felt valued and it was lots of fun!"

The Community Church has a long history of practical community action. A large number of its members took part in the recent Bristol 10K run under the Love Running team banner. Love Running raised a remarkable £62,000 as part of the 10K run, the amount being divided equally between its three nominated charities: St Peter's Hospice, One25 and World Vision (Zimbabwe Partnership).

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Westbury Church Moves

Eastfield residents will find they have more parking space outside their houses on Sundays from this week as numerical growth has resulted in one of Westbury's popular local churches moving to a larger meeting venue in Southmead.

Henleaze and Westbury Community Church has met for over ten years at the former school building on the corner of Albert Place and Waters Lane, opposite the Westbury Village Hall. The search for a new building to accommodate the 300-strong congregation has been going on for some time and has finally resulted in the move to the Greenway Community Centre on Doncaster Road in Southmead.

The Greenway Centre (pictured) is a former secondary school owned by Bristol City Council and managed by the Southmead Development Trust. The Centre is undergoing major development work to provide upgraded meeting rooms, a sports hall, small business units, a cafe and youth facilities. A new GP facility and Health Centre is also planned for the site. The Centre benefited financially from the sale of part of its grounds in 1999 for the construction of the Next Generation Sports Club.

In a creative partnership between the church and the Development Trust, the congregation is contributing financially to the Centre's renovation costs in return for use of the facilities on Sundays.

The church, meanwhile, has changed its name and is now simply The Community Church. Started in 1993, the church is part of the Woodlands group of churches, with congregations in Clifton and Sea Mills. Church leader Tim Dobson, a former secondary school teacher, is excited about the move and says that "We believe that the church should be actively involved in its community, showing God’s love and concern."

The church will maintain its existing building and will continue to run a large range of mid week activities from it, including its popular IMPS group for parents and carers of pre-school children.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.

Thirty Years of St Peter's Hospice

St Peter's Hospice, the Bristol-based charity caring for terminally ill people, celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2008.

Here are a few key facts about the organisation:

• its work is centered around its two hospices in Brentry (Charlton Road) and Knowle
• St Peter's provided direct help to 1,700 patients in 2007
• the Knowle hospice opened in 1980 with the Brentry unit starting up in 1995
• additional services include counselling, respite care and the increasingly popular Hospice at Home service
• St Peter's has 48 charity shops across Bristol and is the city's largest charity retailer, raising £1.2 million last year
• The charity also runs a dedicated eBay shop here
  
• As well as salaried managers and assistant managers, St Peter's shops are run by 700 volunteer staff
• All hospice services to patients and their families are delivered free of charge

Congratulations to St Peter's Hospice for 30 successful years. Information on how to donate to the charity can be found here.

If you enjoyed this post, get free updates by email or RSS.