Spring Newsletter 2012

On the evening of Friday 23rd March, 150 people joined together at St Luke’s Church in Watford to mark WNHT’s 22nd birthday. The event revolved around the theme ‘Love Never Fails’ – a reminder that true love never gives up on people, particularly those in need. The evening included films, news, updates and prayers as well as worship led by WNHT musicians. Dr Tim Robson, who has been involved Photo credit - Simon Jacobs with WNHT since the beginning, gave the main address and emphasised how showing love is not always easy. Dave Smale, manager of the Haven Day Centre, movingly shared how love is vitally important at this service.

We were grateful to be joined by Richard Harrington MP and Dorothy Thornhill, Elected Mayor of Watford who both expressed their gratitude and support for the work of WNHT. The Rev Mike Jones, Chair of Trustees, led a time of reflection as we thought about service users who passed away during the last year and Pete Lilly, a project worker at the Night Shelter and talented poet, shared a poem he wrote especially for the event entitled ‘Love Never Fails’.

Films Go to www.wnht.org/media to watch our new ‘Love Never Fails’ and ‘Get Involved’ films.

POEMS

Read Pete Lilly’s poems here: www.peterlillypoetry.blogspot.com

audio recording An audio recording of the evening is available. To request a copy, please call 01923 227 132.

PHOTOS Pictured above: Ben Joyce and Dave Smale performing a symbolic act, carrying the names of Day Centre service users on a stretcher to the foot of the Cross of Jesus.

More photos from the event here: www.wnht.org/loveneverfails

a day in the life...

BIll’s story

Fundraiser profile

An insight into a day in the life at the Sanctuary Night Shelter.

Bill, a former WNHT resident, shares his story with us.

Sally Best is very passionate about her tins - we hear how it all started!

a day in the life...

at the sanctuary night shelter

IDENTS 9am - NIGHT SHELTER RES DAY THE FOR MS ROO LEAVE thEIR

WEEN BREAKFAST IS SERVED BET 7.30 - 9AM!

cooking the dinner!

sanctuary staff in the reception area

the sanctuary night shelter!

07:30 – 09:00 Breakfast. s for the day.

Night Shelter residents leave their room 09:00 . begin ns 09:00 – 15:30 One-to-one ‘key-work’ sessio istration carried out.

Reception is staffed and general admin

the night ahead.

Outreach referrals are processed for

lete paperwork. comp New Night Shelter residents arrive to

15:00 the evening. for n retur ents Current Night Shelter resid

15:30 d. serve and red Evening meal prepa

17:30 ed.

Key-working sessions and reception mann

19:30 ime!

Bed-t

23:00 for to manage the reception desk and be alert One night worker stays awake all night . staff sleeps on site and is woken if needed of r membe second A ems. probl tial poten

Life was going well. Then my dad, who was also my best friend, suffered a stroke and then died. The day I was burying my father, I received a phone call telling me I was being made redundant. Later that week, my wife told me we were expecting a baby.

These three things triggered a mental breakdown in my life. Whilst I was grieving for my father, I felt so alone as all the focus was on my wife and her pregnancy. After the baby was born, my marriage broke down and I left our marital home.

I started going to the Haven Day Centre for food and company. I was then told about New Hope House and went for an interview. I was accepted in the house and the staff have been with me every step of the way since then.

After being made redundant, I did find a new job and I continued to work and try to see my son regularly. But, with never being on my own before, I didn’t know how to cope and I ended up sleeping in my car for a year.

Throughout that year, my mental health deteriorated and I became frightened of almost everything.

Today I live in Alpha Court, which has presented me with new challenges, but I now have more confidence and know that I’m doing well. It’s the first time that I’ve been truly independent in life, but Alpha Court is a good place to prepare for the next step of life without the Trust’s support.

Friends are committed supporters who give regular gifts to WNHT – typically by standing order. Even just a couple of pounds a month can make a real difference!

Please have a look at www.wnht.org/friends to download a form and to find out how your regular gifts can transform lives.

Receive a free gift of either Entertaining Angels (the story of WNHT) or a WNHT t-shirt when you become a friend!

Chorleywood staff, Lucy and Sarah

CHORLEYWOOD OPEN FOR BUSINESS! Our Chorleywood Charity Shop opened on Saturday 26th November with Mike Jones, Chair of Trustees, officially opening the new shop by cutting a ribbon of parcel tape surrounded by cardboard boxes – symbolic of the shelters many of our service users have used when sleeping rough.

The opening day was a great success with £2,300 taken in sales. Shoppers were entertained by a string quartet made up of talented pupils from Watford Grammar School for Girls, and Costco donated a number of good quality sample items which sold very quickly – the local wholesale retailer has since provided both our charity shops with multiple van-loads of goodies for us to sell.

Sales at the shop have remained strong, and we have been overwhelmed with donations from the local community. We still need volunteers to help in the shop though! Please do get in touch with us on 01923 210 680 if you are interested in volunteering.

fundraiser profile SIMPLY THE BEST! On 18th June 2002 WNHT received a £10 donation from a Mrs Sally Best. This was no ordinary donation; behind it is an interesTINg story…!

In the late 90s, Sally attended a summer fayre in Oxhey, where she met someone selling bric-abrac. Sally was instantly enamoured by five little ornamental tins, which she bought. These tins sat on Sally’s shelf at home, but she felt that they deserved a more prominent position in her life. Sally began to collect more and, as the collection grew, she wanted to share these beautiful little works of art.

An opportunity soon arose for Sally to speak at her college reunion and here began Sally’s now-legendary ‘tin talks’.

Perhaps more importantly, Sally had a strong desire to help those who were homeless in her community and she soon recognised that her talks were a good way to raise awareness and money for this cause. Through word of mouth, Sally’s talks have generated countless requests by local community groups. One member of an audience recently commented “Sally’s talks are so funny and unusual – I mean, have you ever heard of anyone so passionate about tins?!”

Donations given through Sally’s talks have always been generously given to WNHT and these regular but small sums have added up over the past ten years to almost £1,500!

Today, Sally’s tin collection has grown to an impressive 150, although Sally only manages to take about 60 to each talk, because, she says, her car is not big enough for all of them!

If you would be interested in inviting Sally to speak to your group, please call us on 01923 227 132 and we’ll put you in touch.

Sadly, this spring we say goodbye to Pete Belfield, WNHT Services Director and, later this year, we will be saying goodbye to his lovely wife Sarah, who runs our Day Centre workshop programme. Pete and Sarah have spent a combined total of 15 years serving Watford New Hope Trust. They will be moving to Ethiopia towards the end of the year.

Pete started as a volunteer in 2005 and, over the years, he has worked all over the Trust – at the Day Centre, in fundraising, at the furniture project and with the outreach team. For the past two and a half years Pete’s position as Services Director has seen him take overall responsibility for our many development and support services, as well as our six houses and hostels – a huge task!

Pete said: “WNHT is definitely a people-focused organisation and I’ve loved working with so many different characters. It’s been hard seeing people trapped within homelessness and lacking the confidence to move on, yet it’s been a privilege to support people – both service users and staff – at different points in their lives.”

Pete is widely respected by our statutory partners, staff and service users alike, and has worked tirelessly to ensure that WNHT offers the best possible service to our clients. In fact, Pete has had so much work to do that the WNHT Trustees have decided to divide the Services Director role into two when he leaves!

We’re really going to miss Pete and Sarah, but wish them all the best as they start the next chapter in their lives.

GRANTS We are delighted to announce two significant grants which will enable us to improve our service to homeless and vulnerable people. The ASDA Foundation have generously awarded us £22,000 to develop our market garden activities and the Homelessness Transition Fund will be awarding us almost £250,000 over the next three years to improve our night shelter and outreach services. More details on both of these can be found in the news section of our website.

On 20th January, 68 brave fundraisers braced the cold and spent a night sleeping outside for the Watford Sleepout. In attendance were church groups, youth groups, Scouts and even two radio DJs from Watford's Vibe FM. The sleepout was a joint fundraising venture, organised by Watford YMCA and Watford New Hope Trust and, by all accounts, it was a really worthwhile and eye-opening night.

More than £3,500 was raised by the sleepout participants – more than we imagined. But, the aim of the sleepout was not just to raise money, but also to raise awareness of homelessness in Watford.

Juliette, who took part in the event said: “To have a bed to go home to is something I have always taken for granted, however, the Sleepout has changed that forever.”

The night included an interview with a former resident of WNHT's night shelter, games to keep people warm and copious amounts of hot soup!

Rebecca Palmer, WNHT’s Community Fundraising Manager and event organiser, said: “This was the first sleepout that WNHT and the YMCA had organised together for many years, and it was a great success. We’re looking to run the event again next year.”

finances Like many charities across the UK, funding is one of our largest on-going struggles. Our two current and substantial Supporting People contracts with Hertfordshire County Council are due to end in March 2013. We are hopeful that these contracts will be renewed, at least in part, but this area of funding remains uncertain. We will update our supporters with any new information as and when it arrives. In the meantime, we appreciate your continued financial and prayer support during this challenging time.

19

Garden open day

16

hope 2 hope walk

MAY WNHT Market Garden 2012 Saturday 19 May, 11am-4pm JUNE watford to chorleywood 2012 Saturday 16 June, 9am

6

summer sleepout

7

winter sleepout

JULY watford grammar school for boys 2012 Friday 6 July, 9pm-7am DEC 2012

st albans abbey Friday 7 December

thought for the season If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. (NIV)

A gift in your Will to Watford New Hope Trust will help us to sustain and develop our many services with homeless and vulnerable people in Watford. Please telephone William Berdinner on 01923 227 132 for more information or visit www.wnht.org/waystogive

For more info, visit the website at

wnht.org

ADDRESS

Watford New Hope Trust 67 Queens Road Watford WD17 2QN

phone

t

01923 210 680

Search for @wnht

email

f

01923 210 680

facebook.com/watfordnewhopetrust

Watford New Hope Trust is a registered charity (1080784) and a company limited by guarantee (03969063) Registered office: Cansdales, Bourbon Court, Nightingales Corner, Little Chalfont, Bucks, HP7 9QS.