7Corners

Jesus is the reason for the season

On 3^rd December we joined in the ‘Churches Together‘ which was very enjoyable.  It was great to see so many denominations together in one building.

Then, of course, there was the Christmas party!  There were tables groaning with food including a huge box of mince pies and lots of sausage rolls kindly contributed by Maureen and John Powell again this year. We thank all those who donated to the party – all contributions were very much appreciated. The party extended over two days yet again.  Not staying overnight, of course, but with young people coming in on both Saturday and Sunday.  With festive films and music going all day – both days!

Still to come – we intend to go out on Saturday 23^rd December, have extra lighting in the HotSpot Bailey Park, Bandstand, play some carols and offer hot mince pies and small gift bags with the usual hot chocolate.

Our Hotspot team is still out every week around Abergavenny, visiting Bailey Park, Abergavenny Castle and the ‘skate park’ on Hereford Road to meet the young people out in the community.

Christmas is almost here! If you are busy buying your last minute gifts or thinking ahead to the January sales, may I remind you next time you buy something online don’t forget to visit the Easyfundraising website first before you make your purchase.  At no extra cost to you, 7Corners will receive a donation through EasyFundraising.

Any volunteer help is most welcome! We’d love to hear from you if you feel you can help out in any way. Pop in and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.

Well that’s all for now apart from

Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas and all the very best for the New Year from all here at 7Corners.

November – the month for Remembrance

The HotSpot ‘Living in The Light Party’ took place on the 28^th October in Bailey Park and was well attended by the Crew and young people. Many hot sausage sandwiches were eaten and a good time was had by all. We intend to go out on Saturday 23^rd December, have extra lighting in the HotSpot gazebo, play some carols and offer hot mince pies and small gift bags with the usual hot chocolate.

The 24/7 Prayer Week came and went very quickly.  Ange did her inspired transformation of the chill room into two rooms! The week was very well supported with most slots being filled and those who took advantage of the quiet time there found it a calming yet uplifting experience.  Jan came down from Aberystwyth to cover the night shift and several hardy souls took up the opportunity of a reflective late night or early morning slot. We had many very positive comments including our outside agency workers who found the prayer room a very inviting and restful space.  Ange has now, reluctantly, dismantled the room(s) and has taken her long-overdue holidays!

Next month will be leading up to Christmas, and of course, there will be the Christmas party which will take place this year on Saturday, 16th December. We look forward to seeing anyone who would like to pop in and say ‘Hello’ and have a mince pie and/or a sausage roll, always gratefully received, kindly donated by Maureen and John Powell again this year.

Our Hotspot caravan is still out every week around Abergavenny, visiting Bailey Park, Abergavenny Castle and the ‘skate park’ on Hereford Road to meet the young people out in the community.

Christmas is coming! Now you are all busy buying your gifts and all those other necessary Christmas purchases, may I remind you next time you buy something online don’t forget to visit the Easyfundraising website first before you make your purchase. At no extra cost to you, 7Corners will receive a donation from EasyFundraising.

Any volunteer help is most welcome! We’d love to hear from you if you feel you can help out in any way. Pop in and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.

Autumn is upon us – we hope that you have kept safe in the recent windy weather thanks to Ophelia and Brian!

On 28th October there will be a  Hotspot party at Bailey Park in the round Bandstand with the title ˜Living in the Light” at which there will be hotdogs, donuts on strings and general fun.  This will be the weekend immediately prior to Halloween and it is hoped it will draw youngsters from more harmful activities and influences.

As mentioned last month the 24/7 Prayer Room, which will be running from 7pm Wednesday October 25^th till 7pm Wednesday 1^st November, is upon us again.  Ange has been busy turning the chill room into an oasis of calm and tranquillity where people can spend an hour or two away from the rush and bustle of everyday life in prayer, meditation or simply peace and quiet!  As ever there is a theme to the week but to find out what it is you will need to book a slot! Please contact Ange on 01873 855 414 or pop in to the 7Corners office to book your prayer slots – there are still some available!  All are welcome.

Our Hotspot team is still out every weekend around Abergavenny, visiting Bailey Park, Abergavenny Castle and the ‘skate park’ on Hereford Road to meet the young people out in the community.

Thinking of Christmas! Next time you buy something online don’t forget to visit the Easyfundraising website first before you make your purchase. At no extra cost to you, 7Corners will receive a donation from EasyFundraising.

Any volunteer help is most welcome! We’d love to hear from you if you feel you can help out in any way, pop in and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.

Autumn is approaching and the nights are drawing in – we hope you enjoyed the last of the Summer sunshine!

We reaped an amazing harvest by linking in with the new director of the Abergavenny Food Festival and her team. After negotiations with the events manager, a chain of food festival stewards handed an astonishing amount of fresh produce and leftover food into the 7Corners Cafe. Ange made contact with Abergavenny Community Centre and Gateway Church in order that they would also benefit from our unusual harvest.

Our yearly Summer Barbeque was a great success. It was held to say thank you to volunteers who give up their time throughout the year to help us and to celebrate the work we do. The weather was fine too and a good number of young people attended so the Barbeque brought everyone together to enjoy some food and music.

A 24/7 Prayer Room will be running from 7pm Wednesday October 25^th till 7pm Wednesday 1^st November. Please contact Ange on 01873 855 414 or pop in to the 7Corners office to book your prayer slots.

Our Hotspot team is still out every week around Abergavenny, visiting Bailey Park, Abergavenny Castle and the ‘skate park’ on Hereford Road to meet the young people out in the community.

Next time you buy something online don’t forget to visit the Easyfundraising website first before you make your purchase. At no extra cost to you, 7Corners will receive a donation from EasyFundraising. We recently received a cheque for over £25 from this source – every little helps, as a certain supermarket used to say.

Any volunteer help is most welcome! We’d love to hear from you if you feel you can help out in any way; pop in and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.

We hope you are enjoying the last of the Summer sunshine – Autumn is just around the corner!

We are busy organising our yearly Summer Barbeque to say a big thank you to volunteers who give up their time throughout the year to help us. We hope this will be an opportunity to bring everyone together to celebrate the work being done and to share experiences and thoughts about the project. We now have over 60 young people accessing 7Corners so we are hoping that the barbecue will attract a good number (as it usually does when food is involved!) and bring everyone together to enjoy some food and music. Fingers crossed the weather is warm and sunny!

When the IYE festival took place back in July, young people filmed the event on the day and have been busy editing the footage to produce a mini documentary film which captures all the fun and entertainment of the successful event. We’ll let you know when the film is available to watch online – watch this space!

This month we have a new addition to the team – Tom has joined us on a work experience placement and is settling in well, providing lots of valued help at the Centre.

Our Hotspot caravan is still regularly reaching out to young people in the community. Every week we are out and about around Abergavenny, visiting Bailey Park, Abergavenny Castle and the ‘skate park’ on Hereford Road to meet the young people that frequent these areas.

We received very encouraging feedback when one young person said he’d missed us popping by when we had to skip our regular Hotspot evening to focus on setting up the IYE Festival. Very encouraging indeed! Please do get in touch with Ange if you are interested in joining us on the Hotspot project.

You can support our work with one simple step! Next time you buy something online visit the Easyfundraising website first before you make your purchase. At no extra cost to you, 7Corners will receive a donation from Easyfundraising.

Any volunteer help is most welcome! We’d love to hear from you if you feel you can help out in any way, pop in and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.Â

Summer is here – we hope you are enjoying the lovely sunshine!

The IYE Festival took place this month on Saturday 8^th July in Bailey Park  – thanks again to everyone for their generous contributions and support. The sun was shining and we had a fantastic turn out of people. We had a great team of adult and young people volunteers helping out on the day – all wearing special IYE Festival blue t-shirts!

Great fun was had by all on the day with a wide range of activities and performances to enjoy.

We had over five and a half hours of entertainment, particularly focussing on performances from young people.

Dan Farrington’s graffiti tent introduced over 50 young people to the art of spray painting! Over 100 people ranging from 5 to 18 years old engaged with N-Gage, making mocktails and playing their board games. The Building Bridges community also had a fantastic day, running 7Corners Giant Games area – giant chess, gargantuan draughts and a huge Connect 4 set. Hook-a-Duck was very popular with the littler people, leading them into the Council of Churches Mums and Toddler tent with crafting activities.

Tesco Food Share handed out at least 200 bottles of water and visited each tent with prepared plates of fruit. Covenant Players were their usual amazing selves, with three mini dramas, leading to workshops for young people at their tent. Beat Technique wowed the crowds with his beat-boxing and held a workshop with young people who come to 7Corners.

Overall it was a wonderful day and we are crazy enough to be already organising next year’s IYE Festival! Yippee!

Our Hotspot caravan is still out and about meeting young people in the community. We currently visit Bailey Park, Abergavenny Castle and the skate park on Hereford Road. If anyone is interested in joining us on the Hotspot project please get in touch with Ange.

Don’t forget that if you are buying anything online you can help 7Corners raise funds by visiting the Easyfundraising website before you make your purchase.

Any volunteer help is most welcome! We’d love to hear from you if you feel you can help out in any way. Pop in and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.Â

We hope you all enjoyed the glorious June sunshine! Summer has officially arrived!

We’re very busy as the final preparations for this year’s IYE festival are now being put in place. Thanks again to everyone for their generous contributions and support.

The IYE festival will be taking place on Saturday 8^th July 2017 in Bailey Park – we hope to see you there! Look out for our team of adult and young people volunteers in their special blue IYE Festival t-shirts!

This year’s fun activities include:

• Graffiti projects – design your own t-shirt!
• Giant games – Connect 4, Jenga, Draughts and Chess
• Mums & toddlers tent – organised by the Council of Churches
• Young musicians’ performances
• Beat-boxing workshops
• Young local dancers
• African drumming workshops
• Refreshments from an ice cream van

Our outreach work continues with the Hotspot caravan out and about in the community. We visit Bailey Park, Abergavenny Castle and the ‘skate park’ on Hereford Road.  If anyone is interested in joining us on the Hotspot project please get in touch with Ange.

Don’t forget that if you are buying anything online you can help 7Corners raise funds by visiting the Easyfundraising website (www.easyfundraising.org.uk) before you make your purchase.

Any volunteer help is most welcome! We’d love to hear from you if you feel you can help out in any way. Pop in and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.Â

I hope you all enjoyed the May sunshine (and showers)! We are now heading into June and summer is fast approaching.

We’re excited to be starting to organise this year’s IYE Festival, building on last year’s success. We would like to say a big thank you again to everyone for their contributions and support.

This year, we are thrilled to have an ice cream van coming to the Festival – a very refreshing addition! Thanks to C.J. Copner.  Activities arranged so far include two graffiti projects and three young performers. More activity details will follow in the next newsletter – watch this space. The Festival will be taking place on Saturday, 8^th July 2017, in Bailey Park.

This month we’ve received £135.36 from EasyFundraising (easyfundraising.org.uk) – don’t forget that if you are buying anything online you can help 7Corners raise funds this way. For more info, click here.

The Council of Churches kindly donated a generous sum towards the administrative costs of running the IYE Festival.

The Hotspot caravan continues to be out and about, reaching out into the community. We visit the Castle and Bailey Park, as well as the ‘skate park’ at the Youth and Community Education Centre on Old Hereford Road. Volunteers for Hotspot are always a great help, so if anyone is interested in joining us on the project please get in touch with Ange.

Our next Sunday Diners group will take place on 11^th June.

Our counselling rooms continue to be very busy, helping outside agencies support their clients.

Leigh Amor has joined the team as Administrator, replacing Carol White who found a job that better suited her available hours. We are grateful that Carol and Judith have both called by to help Leigh settle in.

Encouragingly, we have received some new volunteer applications, but in the meantime we would still really appreciate any offers of help. If you feel you can help out in any way, pop in and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.

I hope you all enjoyed the Easter celebrations. We are now heading into May and the bluebells are appearing. Summer cannot be too far away.

We will again start with some more good news: the Co-op Local Community Fund has now come to an end and I am pleased to announce that the final amount raised is £2,350.13. We would like to say a big thank you to everyone for their contributions; it really is a significant amount. The funds will be used towards setting up the IYE Festival which is now booked for Saturday 8^th July 2017 in Bailey Park.

We also received an amount of £41.70 from the Easyfundraising donations. If you are not aware of Easyfundraising, it is an organisation that raises donations for free when you shop online. There are currently over 3000 shops and sites signed up so next time you shop on line, whether it be for clothing, holidays, groceries or even insurance, support us by visiting the Easyfundraising site first at www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/bridgetocross.

Holy Week was super busy, with the usual church stuff and lots of young people visiting the Centre. We created an Easter banner and organised an ‘Eggergavenny’ Hunt for two teams to reach the same goals but with different clues.

An update on our services: Hotspot continues to visit the ‘skate park’ at the Youth and Community Education Centre on Old Hereford Road and have also started visiting the Castle and Bailey Park.  The use of our counselling rooms is increasing and currently very busy. The next Sunday Diners group will fall on 9^th May.

We must once again stress that we are very short staffed and would be very appreciative of any volunteers to help out. Please, if you feel that you can help in any way, come along and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.

Hello and welcome to the March Newsletter. Firstly I would like to introduce myself. I am Carol White and have recently taken over from Judith. I will try and continue with the standard set.

Well we can start with some good news. On Saturday 18^th March, Ange and trustee Mary Kennedy attended the Gwent High Sheriffs Community Fund event where 7Corners had been shortlisted to bid for some funding towards the IYE Festival which will take place this July. Each organisation had two minutes to pitch their bid. Ange managed to complete on the bell and we are pleased to tell you all that our bid was successful and we have been rewarded with the amount of £2,500.

Unfortunately our student has had to defer her degree until next year but we hope to work with her again in the future. The NEETs students are continuing to visit us weekly to complete their six- month Sgiliau programme.

Hotspot is continuing to visit the Skate Park at the Youth and Community Education Centre on Old Hereford Road, alternating with visits to Llanfoist.

Other regular services such as our Counselling rooms and the Sunday Diners group continue to thrive. The next Sunday Diner group will fall on 9^th April, Palm Sunday, which will lead us towards the Easter festival.

We will be open over the Easter period apart from a few hours on Good Friday. We are currently thinking of activities to take place during this time which I’m sure will include Fairtrade chocolate! The barbecue during half term was a success so food is always a good place to start.

We would be very appreciative of any volunteers to help out, not just during the holidays but in general too and we must stress that we are very short staffed. Please, if you feel that you can help in any way, come along and see Ange in the office or telephone 01873 855414.

Finally a reminder. We had been selected to receive funding from the Co-op Local Community Fund. It means that we will get a contribution towards the running of 7Corners. So far we have raised £690.44 and we would like to thank all of you who have contributed towards this amount. There is a limited time on this and we still have a little over two weeks left so we are asking for your help. The more support we get, the more funding we receive, so if you’re a Co-op member and have not already done so, log into your Co-op membership account and choose us. If you are not a member, please join and support us. Thank you.

Have an enjoyable Easter.