On 23rd March 2015, exactly 25 years after New Hope was launched, over 300 people gathered together at St Mary’s Church in Watford to mark the occasion with a birthday celebration service. Following our theme of 2015, ‘Together, we are New Hope’, the service focused on celebrating and thanking the different groups which make up the New Hope team. The service featured: a video including footage from the official launch in 1990 (which can now be viewed at newhope.org.uk/media);
a drama (pictured above) which told the stories of three service users; times for worship and remembrance and an address by the Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith, who spoke poignantly on hope. Our chief executive, Matthew Heasman, said: ‘It was so wonderful to see so many people come together to celebrate 25 years of New Hope. ‘St Mary’s was such an apt venue, as it was here, over 25 years ago, that Janet Hosier and Sheila Meaning met and were called to help the men and women they
Creativity
Austin’s story
Unsung heroes
Research shows that art can benefit health. We take a look at how we put this into practice in our garden.
We hear from a service user who overcame homelessness with the help of New Hope.
We speak to three of our amazing volunteers who serve in different ways within New Hope.