Festive Pop-Up Market

Over 1200 people attended our first Festive Pop Up Market in Chester.  The one day event was held at the Wesley Church Centre on St John Street in Chester on Saturday 30th November.  Massive crowds took the quick detour from the high street to support our charity, guided by a team of volunteer elves.

Gladly nobody left empty handed, with over 20 artisan stall holders selling their festive wares.  Everything from beautiful handmade jewellery, to luxury hampers and Christmas candles were on offer and all to the backdrop of amazing live music.

The wonderful Waite Collective kicked off the proceedings followed by the Fascinating Saxes and the beautiful Songsmiths, whom at one point got the whole crowd involved.

And of course what sort of Festive Event would it be without a visit from Santa in his very own Grotto, sponsored by local Chartered Surveyors Legat Owen. The man himself attended the event in his full regalia giving out pressies and taking requests from local children. It was a fantastic start to the festive season.

Organised from start to finish by a small team of ‘Friends of Save the Family’ (volunteers dedicated to fundraising). Over £3000 was raised which will help to provide practical support for homeless families over the Christmas period.

We would like to thank the @wesleychurchcentrechester for the loan of their venue, all of the stall holders for their amazing products, the live acts who put on a show for the guests and all of the volunteers who gave their time to ensure the 1200 visitors had a fab time.

So much more than Community Lunch

A huge thank you to Aldi for providing us with their surplus food for our community lunches. We receive goods daily through their community partner, The Neighbourly Scheme. Community lunches provide opportunities for our families and staff to enjoy good food in a relaxed atmosphere. As you can see today we had an amazing buffet lunch!

Dream Night at Chester Zoo

A huge thank you to Chester Zoo for supplying enough tickets to allow all of our families have an amazing evening at the zoo. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity for our families to be shown around the zoo with their very own Safari Guide. Our families were treated to a picnic tea and refreshments throughout the evening. Brave families were also given the opportunity to fly high above the Lion Enclosure in a cherry picker!

Tarvin Village Fete

Despite the threat of the rain, we had an amazing day at the Tarvin Vilage Fete.

A huge thank you to the commitee for inviting us to have a tombola stall at this years Summer Fete. Despite the threat of the rain, we had an amazing day. It was brilliant to be out in the local community and to see all the support for our amazing charity.

Come and check the stall out at The Dodleston Summer Festival on 6th July between 12-8.. The Pink Flamingo will be stocked with lollies and some will even have secret prizes attached!!

The start of the StF CodeClub

At Save the Family we are constantly striving for ways to enrich the lives of the children that live onsite. Several months ago I met an amazing lady from Code Club North West, part of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a UK-based charity that works to put the power of computing and digital making into the hands of people all over the world. They do this so that more people are able to harness the power of computing and digital technologies for work, to solve problems that matter to them, and to express themselves creatively.

It was soon identified that the lack of computers would definitly hamper our Coding adventures going forward so Liz put us in touch with a lady who works for BoschUK. On Saturday we had a shipment of used laptops delivered courtesy of BoschUK. All had the Raspberry Pi operating system installed on them and are ready to go! We now have the capacity to cater for 10 children at a time and I am looking forward to learning some coding as we go on!

Thank you Liz @CodeClubNW and Lisa from BoschUK for all you have done for the children at Save the Family.

https://www.raspberrypi.org/

May was a sad month here at Save the Family

May was a sad month for us here at Save the Family. We had to say goodbye to a friend and valued Trustee, Pauline Jackson.

Pauline worked tirelessly for Save the Family for over 4 years. We have planted a tree within the Sensory Garden in her memory. We hope its roots are as steadfast as her loyalty. She will be greatly missed.

 

Save the Family’s Superheroes!

The ESSAR Chester Half Marathon 2019

After hours of pounding the streets in preparation, the big day arrived!

Lining up on Sunday with over 6000 other runners, were Save the Family’s very own Superheroes!

Save the Family could not exist without the tireless work of our volunteer fundraisers. In total over £3000 was raised! Every penny will go to support homeless families in our community.

Chester has definitely got talent!!

A huge ‘Thank You’ to the young ladies at The Queens School Chester for putting on an amazing concert on behalf of Save the Family on Saturday evening. It was a packed house. With something for everyone from Musical Theatre tunes to The Jacksons, the guests were not left disappointed!

 

Dodleston C of E Primary School Donations

We’ve had a lovely visit from the Head Teacher of Dodleston C of E Primary School. It was wonderful to see just how generous families in our community can be towards our families during Lent. Nothing was more heart-warming than when we opened a small envelope, only to find a very special little girl had sent her pocket money in to help a family in need. Thank you Dodleston Primary School for your continued support.

 

 

Getting By With A Little Help From Our Friends!

The generous donation from the Greif Packaging Charitable Trust has enabled Save the Family to introduce the new role of ‘Family Friend’, providing much needed practical and emotional support to residents.

Gary Hankinson, Family Mentoring Manager said ‘This valuable and much appreciated funding will enable us to provide additional role modelling practical support for our residents, helping them build confidence and self-esteem as they work towards moving back into the community.

The Family Friends will work informally alongside families to help and guide them with key life skills.

They will encourage and help family members in key tasks such as making nutritious meals together; recognising the importance of morning and bedtime routines and promoting active play and laughter together with other key skills.

The overall aim is to support parents to become positive and confident role models for children to help break the cycle of inter-generational problems they face.

David Tillotson on behalf of the Greif Packaging Charitable Trust said ‘It is the Trust’s aim to help disadvantaged children and young people whose development is impeded by unfortunate life events and circumstances. We are very pleased to have been able to make this grant to Save the Family to enable the invaluable new Family Friend resource to be put in place’.