Not for Profit
Published: June 12, 2023 | Updated: 11th June 2023
‘Truly inspiring’ new Portsmouth hub for charities and volunteers is buzzing after generous donation
Hampshire charities and volunteers now have a permanent space in Portsmouth city centre to collaborate on community projects, thanks to funding from BAE Systems.
HIVE Portsmouth Hub will help to cut costs by providing shared facilities for all kinds of charitable and social enterprise groups.
One of many organisations set to benefit from the hub is Stand Up Portsmouth, a charity for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities run by local parents and carers.
BAE Systems’ £250,000 contribution has also enabled HIVE Portsmouth to set up two voluntary sector hubs – one at Aggie Weston House on Edinburgh Road, and another at a soon-to-be-decided location in the north of the city.
Revd Canon Bob White, chair of HIVE Portsmouth Trustees, said: “For a long time the sector has been crying out for a space li this.
“It’s a place people can go to share ideas and make connections, somewhere which can be used as needed to help them continue to provide essential services to the people of Portsmouth.
“It has been truly inspiring to see how people have come together from across the city to lend support.
“Our former CEO and Strategic Advisor Louise Wilders and Julie Hawkins were instrumental in setting the wheels in motion.”
The project has been a community effort all round, as a variety of local groups chipped in to help make HIVE Portsmouth a reality.
Revd Canon White added: “We are so grateful to BAE Systems, to SSE who kindly donated so much of the furniture, to the Yardboiz who helped us move in, to Incuhive who have worked alongside us to set up the space, and to many, many more who have offered guidance and practical support to help make our vision a reality.”
The team at BAE Systems has also committed to continue offering support, mentoring and coaching to members of the HIVE charity network beyond the initial launch.
It’s a relationship which began in July 2021 and is still going strong today.
Scott Jamieson, managing director of BAE’s Maritime Services, said: “Portsmouth is really important to BAE Systems and our employees, so we’re exceptionally proud of the active role we play in the local community.
“We hope the launch of this first Hub will make a difference to how local charities and organisations can work together in the future.
“By sharing resources and collaborating closely, they can develop and grow and ultimately help more people within our local community.”
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Ringwood-based care home operator joins hearing aid upcycling scheme
Ringwood-based Colten Care has become the UK’s first care home provider to sign up to a scheme to recover, repurpose and recycle hearing aids.
This will see Colten Care’s 21 homes in Hampshire, Dorset, Wiltshire and West Sussex become collection points for no-longer-needed hearing aids so they won’t go to landfill.
Ruth Wildman, Home Manager at Colten Care’s Avon Reach in Mudeford, Dorset, puts an old hearing aid into the home’s collection box. With residents, from left: Joan Warwick, Doris Wals and Beryl Kendall.
The scheme is being carried out in partnership with Hearing Technology, Hear Today, Hear Tomorrow (HT), a newly established campaign group which upcycles pre-loved hearing aids.
The Oxfordshire-based group donates these to people in need in the UK and developing countries.
HT’s founder, Zoe Fawcett-Eustace, began to lose her hearing at age 14.
“I am so thankful to have had access to hearing aids,” she said.
“I know that my life would have been drastically different without them but at the same time I was disheartened to be told to keep my older aids for spares or to throw them away.
“With hundreds of millions of deaf people around the world without access to hearing technology that just seemed completely unacceptable. I knew I had to try and do something.
“We’re so grateful for Colten Care’s support. We have been working to establish a network of collection centres.
“There’s no doubt that there are many, many UK hearing aids going to waste each year. We need as many collection centres as possible to make it easy for people to donate theirs or their loved ones’ hearing aids.
“Colten Care are our first partnership with care homes. For them to have embraced the initiative and to have included all 21 of their homes is truly fantastic for us. We are so incredibly grateful and humbled by how many lives we hope to improve through access to better hearing care.”
Ruth Wildman, Home Manager at Colten Care’s Avon Reach in Mudeford, Dorset, with her are residents, from left: Lillian Ledger, Joan Warwick, Doris Wals, Beryl Kendall and June Chandler.
Alongside setting up collection centres, HT is fostering links with manufacturers and retailers of products and parts to refurbish and redistribute dropped off devices.
Elaine Farrer, Colten Care’s Chief Operating Officer, said: “We share HT’s sustainable ambitions to recycle and repurpose hearing aids and send them to where they are most needed in the UK and around the world.
“We know from our own experience in the care sector that many old hearing aids are simply junked which is bad for the environment and a waste of resource.
“That’s why we are partnering with HT and offering all 21 of our homes across the south as drop-off points where people can come to and hand in hearing aids.”
To find your nearest Colten Care home, visit www.coltencare.co.uk. For more information from HT, visit www.ht-ht-ht.com.
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Basingstoke hospice prepares to remember loved ones in annual Sunflower Celebration
St Michael’s Hospice in Basingstoke is preparing to host its annual Sunflower Celebration on Sunday, 2 July.
The event, held in the Hospice’s gardens, gives people an opportunity to come together and celebrate their loved ones while raising vital funds.
Starting at 2pm, it will include a number of stalls selling merchandise and items from the Hospice’s shops, as well as a plant sale, raffles, refreshments, face painting and games.
The Hospice’s Living Well Service will also be showcasing some of the services they provide.
Then, at 3pm, a service will be held to remember and celebrate loved ones featuring poems, songs and readings.
In the gardens a ‘meadow’ of sunflowers will be on display, each dedicated to the memory of someone special. Attendees are invited to dedicate a sunflower to a loved one with all the funds raising going to support the hospice’s work caring for people with life-limiting illnesses across north Hampshire.
St Michael’s Hospice 2019 Sunflower celebration.
Photography by Sarah Gaunt.
Hanging sunflower keepsakes will also be on sale.
Lorraine Pink, Director of Income Generation, said: “We’d like to invite everyone to our Sunflower Celebration, it’s a wonderful opportunity for our community to come together to celebrate loved ones, while supporting their local Hospice.
“This year, we need to raise £14,000 a day to continue providing our vital care – so whether you have a personal connection to the Hospice or not, we’d welcome you to come along and join us for this event.”
St. Michael’s Hospice is a registered charity and has an annual operating cost of £6.2 million of which the Hospice receives around 16% funding from the Government – the rest is raised through the generosity of the local community donating, fundraising and taking part in events like the Sunflower Celebration.
To find out more about the event or dedicate a sunflower to a loved one, visit stmichaelshospice.org.uk/sunflower23
