Author Archives: Time Bank Plus

Our Social Cafe for the Over 50's age group is up and running every Tuesday between 12 & 4pm at Rose Cottage (just across the road from our office in Twerton). With use of all 4 rooms at ground level, there is space to suit everyone’s needs.  We have a wonderful team of volunteers who prepare lunch, serve, clear up and help run a range of activities.

The cafe is proving a great place to make new friends, learn new skills or share existing skills such as crochet, knitting, and rag rug making, or to play board games or use the centre's computers. Some participants just want to come out for lunch, a chat or coffee & cake, without necessarily joining in the after lunch activities. It is possible to arrange transport, if needed, by arrangement.

The project aims only to cover its costs, so prices are very reasonable - £1.50 for home-made soup, bread & butter, £1 for a sandwich or just 30p for a cup of tea or coffee.

Several times a year, the Rose Cottage staff prepare a full 2-course lunch, open to all and bookable in advance at the cost of £5. The Easter meal, held in late March, was a great success and a good social mix where people had a chance to re-connect or meet others.

Please feel free to come along any Tuesday between 12 & 4pm and sample one of our delicious home-made soups, or just drop by for a cup of tea or a game of Scrabble. We are also looking for more volunteers who are confident cooks, to help prepare the soup once a month.

We had a great couple of herbal afternoon sessions this month. Both times we met at the Time bank office and did some herb identification and had a lovely cup of herb tea.  Then went for a refreshing walk into Pennyquick park to do some more identification at the edges of the park. Its fantastic to see how many herbs and berries are still out this time of year if you take the time to have a good look.

Hopefully we may run some more of these sessions in the future if there is continued interest. Please let us know if you would like to come along.

herbal day

We had a really great day on Saturday 13th in Pennyquick park and a fantastic turnout from the community and from all the organisations that attended.

Bath City Farm came down with chickens to show the children, and Adrian Secker brought along a couple of the police horses which were a huge hit.

We also had a few Vikings doing sword fighting and they helped to draw the raffle that Time bank had put on. The bouncy castle was very full with young people most of the day and Rachael's Community Shop made some fantastic multicultural food to give out to everyone who came down, as well as running a jumble sale.

There was Art & Craft with Sophie who made some great masks with the young people, Michelle ran some window sill gardening. Unique Voices did some great drama based activities with all the children interested, while Be creative had a stand giving out information on their carnival project for next year.

And of course Claire ran the circus skills which were very popular as always and Time bank had free tea and coffee on the go.

All in all it was a great day, many many thanks to everyone who helped to make it happen - especially all of our volunteers.

This is the last Redland event in this project and it has been the best yet. We hope to access more funding for future projects in and around the Twerton area and will still be running lots of great groups and 1-1 exchanges from Time bank, come in to the office at 86 Twerton High street and have a chat to find out more.

tb1  horses3 lion mask masks4  unique2  raffle

 

Our first Family fun afternoon in Pennyquick park today and the rain stayed away! We started the afternoon with some hazel coppicing and then made some hazel pencils with the help of Matt from the Avon Wild life Trust. We also made some wooden name badges and afterwards some of the boys helped to set up a ban marie to melt pieces of chocolate for our banana chocolate snacks - yum!  Later in the afternoon Sophie set up a craft area and we made lots of great paper crowns.

One boy commented that it was great participation and when I asked him what that meant he said:

How I see it is its about having fun, helping people have fun and being a part of whats fun and to try not to spoil it for anyone else

Come along to the next free family activity day if you are free, there will be more basic nature activities, art & craft, simple refreshments and next time Clare is doing some circus skills. Wednesday August 27th 1.30-6pm - First session 1.30-3.30 and second session 4-6pm.

pencil making 13 aug fam fun day craft fun 13 Aug family fun day Choc bananas 13 aug fam fun day

 

 

Time Bank Plus runs two weekly knit and natter groups in assisted housing. This is about the Avondown House where people come and knit for Bath Cats and Dogs home.

The Knitting group chose to knit for the animal shelter because they need the blankets for the winter months.

In 2013 the charity re homed 1,560 and help 58 pets to remain with their owners. I spoke to Rosemary Williams she told me “I set the group up because there was a call for more activities.”

She spoke to Jack Fielding who is doing work experience with Time Bank Plus and has used it to gain a place on Project SEARCH.

Project SEARCH is an American-designed supported internship programme to help young people with learning difficulties or disabilities secure and keep paid permanent jobs when it ends. It is a unique, business-led, one-year, school-to-work programme that takes place entirely at the workplace.

Jack said “Working with Time Bank as helped me along with Banes youth services, St Michael's and City of Bath College (who lead the Project SEARCH programme) to gain my place. I am grateful to all especially Suzy May, Claire Coleman and St. Michael's C of E Junior School (in Twerton).” Jack also runs JAT Grand Prix and Formula One Vault.

Iona has been offering English language help to Francesco, who is from Spain. In return, he has helped her with practical jobs in the home and garden.

Iona says "Francesco and I spent three and a half hours during last week and then I asked him if he would like to spend time with my 14-year-old grandson and me and join in our Saturday activities. It was fun. We three went to a jumble sale and then on to two other places where we saw Nathan's puppets and puppet theatre and his rabbits in the garden. I'm glad I can still drive! Nathan got on very well with him.....

Today we are concentrating on interview skills as he has to go to London tomorrow. He is going to report the hour he spent on the shed and perhaps the half hour or so he spent hoovering my lounge. He did a thorough job, moving the furniture, etc while Nathan washed the kitchen floor ... and amused Francesco who had to listen to his protests."

This is a free 6-week course in basic DIY skills and simple home repairs, led by Bob our DIY & Decorating team leader.

Ever wondered how to fix a dripping tap, change a fuse, put up shelves or unblock a sink? This is your chance to find out. Bob will cover topics such as the safe use of tools, fixings and adhesives, decorating, tiling or anything else which members of the course would like to learn. There may be opportunities for practical hands-on practise, including doing simple jobs together at peoples’ homes.

The course will take place on Friday mornings from 10 – 12 at the Time Bank office, starting on Friday 13th June. Please ring us on 442813 to book your place.

Foxhill Festival was a week-long programme of creative events taking place in the Foxhill area in May 2014.

Co-ordinated by Time Bank Plus in conjunction with the local Foxhill community and funded by the Big Lottery, Foxhill Festival was a celebration of all things Foxhill and a week to be remembered.

The programme kicked off with a Party in the Park, attended by over 300 people, and also included art exhibitions, a treasure hunt, local history talks, a family filmshow, music workshops, a pub quiz, local walks, an evening of performance by local musicians and more.

Foxhill Festival Party in the Park 012 - resized  Foxhill Festival Party in the Park 002 resized  Foxhill Festival Party in the Park 006 - resized

The final music event attracted an audience of over 80 people and was a fitting close to a truly magnificent week. Congratulations and thanks to all who worked so hard to make this happen.

It looks as if the Festival is already stimulating a number of ongoing activities in Foxhill. Watch this space for further details.

We had a great day with our volunteers in Pennyquick park, Twerton, running a showcase   of all the outdoor activities we have on offer through Time Bank. We were joined by Julian House bike repair team, Avon20140405_145337 (2) Wildlife Trust, Curo residents team and Rachel's Bath Community Shop who had a huge amount of young people making lots of Easter crafts!  We also had the various Time bank garden teams who displayed simple windowsill gardening techniques to everyone.

There was some outdoor cooking on a fire wok to help launch the 'Out in Nature' project, circus skills for the whole family and a football game that starts our football coaching sessions for 12-18yrs in Pennyquick park, Newton Road.

The weather was great for an early spring day and lots of people came and joined us for   the afternoon. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped to set up and ran the activities!

Joe Scofield came down and took photos at the event and put them on page 6&7 of the     May edition of Twerton and Whiteway News