Author Archives: Time Bank Plus

March 2024: We are currently recruiting for 1 post.

The Lunch Club Co-ordinator will work alongside, co-ordinate and support a small group of volunteers in providing a 2-course cooked meal and a varied programme of activities to older residents in the Twerton area. Volunteers play an important part in this project and direction will also be provided by a small steering group comprising volunteers, Lunch Club members & staff.

Tasks will include:

  • Recruiting, supporting and working alongside volunteers to facilitate and oversee the operational management of the lunch club
  • Co-ordinating lunch provision, including meal planning, budgeting, shopping, cooking, kitchen tasks & customer service
  • Co-ordinating the provision of activities such as quizzes, games, raffles, speakers, singalongs, gentle exercise, annual outings, etc
  • Publicising the project, recruiting and liaising with locally based older residents attending the lunch club
  • Co-ordinating the provision of transport to those people in need of it
  • Project administration, including keeping digital records of attendance, finance, etc

We are looking for someone with previous experience of working or volunteering with a community-based project and with older people, and an understanding of the needs of vulnerable people and the value of volunteers. We are looking for someone with both good people skills and good organisational skills.

This is a part-time (1 day per week) fixed term post initially to 30/9/24 but with a good chance of extension. The salary is £26,000 pa (pro rata).

 

GARDENING & OUTDOOR:

  • Sustainable Gardening - a weekly gardening group on Tuesday mornings, offering basic garden maintenance to local Time Bank members.  Jennifer, the team leader, co-ordinates the work and provides training and supervision to volunteers
  • Allotment - a community allotment where participants have a share of the produce
  • FeelGood walks - short 'health walks' in SW Bath on Tuesdays at 2-3pm (1-2 miles)

CLASSES:

  • Guitar - a guitar group suitable for beginners, which takes place in Twerton on Thursday mornings
  • Creative Writing - an online group for both beginners and more experienced writers which meets on Thursday mornings

SOCIAL / CREATIVE:

  • Twerton Lunch Club - weekly lunch club and activities every Wednesday lunchtime  in Twerton

FOOD CO-OP:

  • a fortnightly food co-op on Wednesdays, supplying fresh, locally grown vegetables

BORROW IT:

  • Our Library of Things such as gardening equipment, DIY tools, catering items, home maintenance equipment, camping gear and equipment for events, which can be borrowed free of charge

OTHER:

  • From time to time we offer cycle maintenance, cookery classes, IT advice & support, sewing workshops, photography, litter picking, language exchange and other groups, depending on the skills and interests of our members. If you are interested in either attending or leading a group, please contact us.

For information on our weekly schedule and other updates, please look here.

Since it first opened its doors last Spring, Borrow It has now made over one hundred loans to almost fifty individuals. From carpet cleaners to hedge trimmers, sleeping bags to ice-cream makers, Borrow It has lent numerous items to local residents and community groups.

Borrow It: A Library of Things is open to all residents local to Bath. It is run by Time Bank Plus and funded by a grant from Bath & West Community Energy. There is no charge for borrowing items, though small donations are welcome.

Viv Talbot, Manager at Time Bank Plus explains that, “In order to borrow items, people simply need to pop along to the office with some ID and register their details. They are then free to borrow anything they need for up to a week, or longer by arrangement.”

The concept & model for Borrow It came from the inspiring SHARE project, a similar initiative which is based in Frome. SHARE also kindly donated the first few items to the Borrow It collection. Since then, local people have donated over 120 items to the scheme. The project has a growing number of registered members as more people find out about it.

“We have had really positive feedback from the local community, and members really appreciate having access to items that they might only use once or twice a year. The carpet cleaners have been really popular this winter, and we are expecting to receive more requests for lawn mowers and hedge trimmers as the weather warms up”, anticipates Project Coordinator, Rowan Wynne-Jones.

Borrow It member, Richard benefitted from the scheme when his lawn mower stopped working, and he was also able to help his neighbour. “The mower has been really useful. My neighbour’s mower broke the same week, so I was able to cut their grass at the same time,” he explained.

100th Borrow It loan: Debbie borrowing gardening tools.

If you are interested in becoming a member of Borrow It, contact the Time Bank Office, on 01225 442813, by emailing: timebankplus@googlemail.com, or drop into the office at, 86 High Street, Twerton, Bath, BA2 1DE. The opening hours are: Monday, Tuesday 10am – 4pm, and Wednesday 10am-7pm.

Visit : Borrow It Catalogue to view the latest catalogue of items available to borrow, as well as the project’s ‘wish-list’ of items.

If you live would like to join others in growing veg and sharing the produce, the Time Bank Plus Community Allotment group may be for you!
We meet on Friday mornings, at the Bath City Farm allotments.
The Community Allotment is a social space for people who want to grow fruit and vegetables and share the harvest.
Everyone is welcome - no experience is neccessary, and there is nothing to pay.
Seeds, tools and tea will be provided.
An experienced gardener will be on hand to guide and advise.
If you are interested in joining us, contact Time Bank Plus on: 01225 442813, email : timebankplus@googlemail.com, or just pop along for an informal chat.

We hosted a weekly creative crafts session.

Whether you'd like to have a go at willow weaving, mosaic making, crochet & knitting, fermented foods & chutneys, card making, sewing, soap making, flower arranging, cake decorating, felting or making your own cosmetics,  we'll try and make it happen.

Email us for more info at timebankplus@googlemail.com or call us on 01225 442183.

Growing Together is a community project that will provide free training and support to families and individuals who would like to grow their own food at home or in a shared allotment. An experienced tutor will help train people in the necessary skills to successfully grow and harvest their own fresh and delicious produce.  The project will also run a Buddy Scheme to connect local people together, thus enabling them to give and receive mutual ongoing support with growing, harvesting and sharing produce.

food growing (from internet)

We are holding a launch event on Saturday 27th Feb at 2:30pm on our allotment at Bath City Farm.  We are inviting anyone who would like to find out more about the project to join us for "Food, Fun and Campfire Cooking".

From early March, we will meet every Tuesday at the Bath City Farm allotments from 1:30-3:30pm.    It is open to anyone at any skill level, and will be a welcoming environment.  A gardening mentor will also be available to meet people at their own gardens at other times by appointment, to offer help, guidance and encouragement.

Last week, on a cold winter Sunday, 14 amazing volunteers spent the day transforming a small area of neglected wasteground in Twerton into a fruitful community garden. We cleared brambles and nettles, cut the grass, dug out flower beds, collected about 8 bin bags of rubbish and planted soft fruit bushes and other plants, all of which had been donated to us.

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At lunchtime, we warmed up at the Time Bank office with hot soup and tasty vegetable stew prepared by some of the volunteers.

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We made and painted a wooden sign - and Hanna Close Community Garden came into existence. This is a space for the local community, where anyone passing by or living in the local area can get involved or help themselves to the odd raspberry, apple or globe artichoke.

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Bath Guerrilla Gardeners were actively involved with this project and have created several other beautiful community growing spaces throughout the city.

Our 10th Anniversary Celebration this August was attended by well over sixty Time Bank volunteers and supporters. The weather was warm and dry so many people opted to sit outside in the lovely Rose Cottage garden and perhaps have a go at scarf juggling, diabolo or other fun circus skills activities led by Claire.

TimeBankPlus 10th anniv

TimeBankPlus 10th anniv 2

Inside, we were entertained by two members of the U3A Swing Band; some people couldn't resist singing along to the well known jazz standards and popular music from the sixties.

Time Bank Plus 10 year anniversary party

Everyone enjoyed the delicious home-baked cream teas, prepared and served by our volunteers.

Time Bank Plus 10 year anniversary party

We were delighted that Sarah Bird, who set up the Time Bank 10 years ago and has now become CEO of Timebanking UK, was able to attend.

All photos courtesy of Time Bank member and amazing photographer, Tony McNichol

This was a development from last year’s micro exhibition in Foxhill Point. A portion of a small grant from B&NES Arts Development Team was used to finance this year’s large scale exhibition (along with a contribution from the CURO grant for the festival).
It was held in the Exhibition Room of Bath Central Library. This was a partnership initiative with Arty Buddies and B&NES Library Service and was an opportunity to showcase art works produced in Foxhill in the centre of the city.
Arty Buddies is an organisation that runs art groups established in Bath &NES communities and is supported by Time Bank Plus. The Foxhill group meets on Tuesday mornings at the small community building ‘Foxhill Point’ which is the former laundry for Dunster House (a block of flats in the centre of the Foxhill estate).
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• The art exhibition itself was held for seven days from Monday 1st June to Sunday 7th June
• The art exhibition opening event was held between 5pm and 6.15pm on Monday 1st June. The exhibition was opened by Cherry Beath, the Mayor of Bath.
The most senior contributor to the exhibition was Margery Crocker who is in her hundredth year and had never drawn before joining the art group at Foxhill.
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The exhibition opening went with a buzz and was enjoyed by all. During the week the exhibition had a steady flow of visitors with some lovely comments in the visitor’s book. The most frequently appearing word was ‘inspiring’.
A small selection of comments are shown below:
‘Very inspiring exhibition’
‘Inspiring and wonderful. Hopefully community art will flourish again’
‘Amazing and inspiring’
‘Wonderful and such a friendly group. Well done!’
‘Excellent exhibition. Really effective and affecting. Thanks for sharing your art.’
‘Beautiful work – colourful and inspiring.’
‘Excellent, some of the paintings were very moving.’
‘Most vibrant, adventurous, colourful and inspiring’
‘Brilliant exhibition. Well done everyone.’
‘Love the colours – what a high standard!’
‘Fantastic work! Beautifully presented too.’
‘Wow, so much work and detail makes this a very special set of pictures to view. Thank you.’
We also amassed quite a collection of visitor’s contributions both sketches and ‘word images’.
Tis exhibition will be going 'on tour' so watch out for it if you missed it during the Foxhill Festival.