The Footprints Project Board of Trustees. From left to right: The Very Reverend Stephen Waine, Sarah Peppiatt, Heather Bland, SJ Radford (Chairman), Lady Elizabeth Toulson, Michael Rowe, Brendan Ross.
From the CEO
Welcome to the second edition of The Footprints Project newsletter, The Gate. It’s been a positive and busy first half of the year for the Project. Our annual Trustees meeting and strategy days in Winchester (pictured above) were extremely productive. As ever we are grateful for the ongoing support and insight all of our Trustees offer us. Work at our allotments in Hampshire has begun as we get stuck into our Grow and Cook scheme, and the creative crafts by members of our Second Chances art group in Bournemouth continue to flourish. All this growth and activity means we are bursting out of our current home at Regus in Bournemouth, and the search is on for a new, more suitable HQ as we gather pace. We’re looking for a hub where all our staff, volunteers, and community groups can gather. If you know of a suitable place, please get in touch! We’re open to all ideas and suggestions.
Wishing you all a sunny and restful summer,
Caroline.
Mucking in
Volunteers from the Dyer and Butler Rail and Aviation Safety Team came along to The Grange approved premises in Hampshire recently to help us get the allotments back in shape. The team worked hard all day, clearing the whole site as well as making a new compost bin and seating area. We’re so grateful for all their help and look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour growing over the nest few months.
Welcome, Michelle!
A warm welcome to Michelle Day, who joins us as our new Allotment Manager at The Grange. She’ll be overseeing all the gardening and growing with residents and helping them achieve their NVQ Level 3 certificates in Horticulture. Michelle is also skilled in woodwork and on rainy days will be helping residents to make garden planters, bird houses and other items to sell and help us raise funds
Grant incoming
The Grocers’ Company has awarded The Footprints Project almost £5,000 to help us provide healthy eating courses to residents at The Grange. We’ll be delivering cookery sessions every two weeks for up to 18 people who have been in prison. Participants can also complete a Level 2 Food Hygiene course to help them gain work in the catering industry.
Photo co-lab with Arts University Bournemouth
If you follow any of our social media channels you’ll have noticed some striking new photography appearing in our posts. We’ve been collaborating with photography students at the Arts University Bournemouth who’ve shot various aspects of our work, from local landscapes to images for our online shop and Instagram page. We’ve been blown away by the students and their work, and send a big thank you to the University and staff who have helped us achieve this wonderful suite of imagery. And if you’re not following us on social media, please do give us a like and a follow! Links to all our social media accounts are at the bottom of this newsletter.
And finally
So much of the work we do with women on our Out of Court Diversionary Service is in the little things. The messages we receive from the people we help make all the difference to us. Here's a note from someone we worked with recently:
'I want to say a big thank you to Helen and everyone at Footprints who helped me when I was really in need. Your help came at a time when I needed it the most and I don't take it for granted at all. I am most grateful 🙏🏽’
