Employees popped along in their lunch break to collect their growing kits and it was a great opportunity to provide them with growing tips (no favourites!) and also update them on our ongoing work down at the garden. We were certainly impressed with how competitive everyone was…. competition will be fierce to grow the tallest!  

As part of the @RHS #BIGSEEDSHOW initiative, the aim is to bring the community together whilst sharing resources, this certainly was the case yesterday with additional kits being taken for family members to take part too…. A lovely intergenerational contest with some green-fingered grandparents rising to the challenge! Zoom will be busy over the summer!

Big thanks to Julija, Laurencia and the whole team for inviting us along; we can’t wait to see the results… Time2Grow!

Booking link here

Our Agenda includes:

• New Green/Environmental initiatives including Greening Fleet and Wilder Hook

• Hart Volunteer Centre updates - Volunteers Week, The Big Help Out and much more

• National Lottery Community Fund - grant programmes presented by one of their local grants officers for Hampshire

• Hampshire and IOW Community Foundation - grants updates

All welcome. More detail and booking link here.

• Help spread the word by downloading templates and graphics from the resource pack

• Plan and upload your events to the Small Charity Week website 

• Share your story with NCVO, organisers of Small Charity Week

• Follow @smallcharityweek on Instagram for inspiring stories from our community 

More details about how your community organisation can get involved at this link

Accessibility for You - a newly formed community interest company, which is aiming to offer local public access spaces (shops, restaurants, pubs etc) the opportunity for an informal "access visit". Nikki, the founder lives in Hart, and is looking to make our local public access spaces more disability friendly and aware. In return for an access visit, she is offering disability access awareness training and ideas of how to make spaces more accessible for a range of disabilities. More information on their website and social media pages. Do contact Nikki if you would like to be involved in some way.

Cody Astronomical Society - The Cody Astronomical Society are a group of enthusiastic people interested in the science of the night sky, the stars and planets, and all aspects of modern and historical astronomy. Their base is the observatory in Cody Technology Park. The Society holds regular meetings on a variety of interesting and educational topics open to all members. They also offer an educational outreach function to popularise astronomy to external groups such as scouts and schools. They present and display images and equipment at local events. More detail at this link.

(Many thanks to members of the Cody Astronomical Society for working with our community garden team on a Stargazing event in March. We look forward to welcoming Society members back to the community garden later in the year).

Ichthyosis Support Group - ISG is a national charity based in Yateley. Ichthyosis, pronounced Ick-thee-o-sis (which comes from the Greek word meaning ‘fish’) describes a group of conditions in which the skin is dry and scaly, and usually affects the whole body. Most types are congenital and inherited. ISG is a membership organisation, providing information packs, regular updates and events for its membership. They also raise awareness of the various types of ichthyosis by taking part in dermatology-related events across the UK and Ireland. Web-link here.

On 1st May, Sarah Church, chief executive of Phyllis Tuckwell, and Alison Huggett, Chair of Trustees, joined E.W. Beard Construction on the site of the new Hospice for a ground-breaking event! Together they put the first spade in the ground, signalling the start of the building work to construct this amazing new Hospice. 

Hospice President, Chris Tuckwell, son of Phyllis Tuckwell, placed a letter to a future President, explaining the history of the organisation and what it means to the local community, into a time capsule. The time capsule, containing the letter and all the farewell messages left by local people when the site was vacated in summer 2023, will be buried in the new Courtyard Garden, a safe space for patients and loved ones to enjoy.  

If you would like to find out more about the new Hospice, please visit www.pth.org.uk/new-hospice 

Based in Belvedere House in Basingstoke and working closely with Inclusion College, the service will provide the next steps towards employment for young people, with supportive work experience programmes, on site work skills training and employability sessions.

Please contact Marie Greenhalgh Innovation and Development Director (Social Impact) if you are a local company/business which would like to work with them and offer their students work experience to give them a real sense of the roles available in the world of work.

Contact Inclusion EB8 for more information about Inclusion EB8's programme of employability support and how to make a referral for a young person.

To be eligible for an Award, you must be:

• Aged 16 to 30 and living in the UK

• Studying less than 14 hours a week or not in compulsory education

• Unemployed or working less than 16 hours a week

What Development Awards can support

• Accredited course fees up to Level 3 (A-level equivalent)

• Tools, equipment or uniforms for a job or qualification

• Job licence fees

• Transport to a new job until your first pay slip

More information at this link

On sale now at: www.hartvoices.org.uk/box-office

Due to the increased costs of each test a non-returnable fee of £10.00 is requested to secure your appointment.

OR you can apply for a home screening test kit. Fleet Lions, working with the Graham Fulford Trust are offering Fleet men (GU51 or GU52 postcodes) aged 40 to 70 a simple finger prick test that can be done at home. It'll take 5 mins to follow the simple instructions. Cost £27.00 More details about all of the above at this link.

Come along and gain a better understanding of what it is like to live with dementia. This can help you to support someone with the condition to live well. The relaxed, friendly and informal events are free of charge and are held in a supportive environment. Refreshments will be available on a donation basis with the proceeds going to The Community Garden. Please book your place using this link.

 If you have not visited The Community Garden before, it is located in Edenbrook Country Park, with the nearest access point located on Pale Lane (nearest postcode RG27 8DH) on Winchfield/Fleet borders.  Do get in touch if you need further directions.  There is parking available.

For more information about our Walk & Talk Counselling Service and how to refer or self-refer, please go to this link. We would like to thank Frimley ICB and Hampshire County Council for seed-funding this new initiative through the North East Hampshire Innovation Fund. Donations through the Big Give Kind²Mind will help our funding go further. Thank you!

Youth Focus South East have got in touch to let us know that they have fully funded Youth Work in Practice (Level 2), which can then be followed by a Level 3 Top-up. Courses are available in person in Reading (June and October) with Berkshire Youth or online with other youth organisations. Places are going fast, so please register your interest for further detail.

The Level 2 Course is open to anyone interested in developing skills in youth work practice and following the 2 introductory sessions, should be completed within 6 months. For the Level 3 top-up you will need to be able to lead a youth provision session as part of the training.

You can keep up to date with news from Youth Focus South East by registering on their website.

Funding will also be awarded to support the expansion of natural play facilities which encourage children to spend more time outdoors, in addition to projects which focus on improving access to green spaces such as new paths and seating. To make the spaces more accessible to disabled people, funding will also be available for the creation of disabled parking spaces.

Applications are expected to open in the summer.

• healthy eating

• physical activity

• smoking

Application windows vary for different parts of the country. England South is open from 12 June to 10 July. More detail at this link.

More detail at this link.

There are only 250,000 heat pumps in the UK and most people won't have seen a heat pump in action. This new initiative aims to spread the word by helping people to see heat pumps and question their owners, in the hope that they will become more confident in the technology and more likely to take the next steps towards getting one. 

If you would like to get involved, then please do take a look at the website for more information, or see where the nearest location is to book a visit (a quick glance shows a location in Basingstoke as being one of the nearest currently).

Don't forget that you can network with a whole range of village halls and community building managers/trustees in Hampshire via the Action Hampshire Community Buildings Service. Action Hampshire is the ACRE representative for the county.

Application deadlines

Independent Energy Assessment: Thursday 20 June 2024
Capital Grant: Friday 14 August 2024

Action Hampshire are organising 2 further online briefing events to help you understand more about this funding scheme.

Thurs 23 May, 2.00-3.00pm

Tues 28 May, 10.00-11.00am

• Contraception Advice

• Housing Support/Advice

• Access to Education/Training

• Drug & Alchohol Support

• Mental Health

And much more.

Currently this is by appointment only as Fleet Phoenix start to develop new provision for young people in the Hook area of Hart District.

Further detail at this link.