Newsletter
Furniture and electrical goods at Shirley shop.
The Birmingham Settlement shop in Shirley (209 Stratford Road) now sells small pieces of furniture and in the near future will begin selling electrical appliances. Come along for a great bargain, and if you have any spare goods that you don’t need anymore (such as chairs or lamps) then bring them into the shop for us to sell. Money raised from Birmingham Settlement’s charity shops supports the delivery of our services in Birmingham, so being a customer or donor of our shops will allow you to invest directly back into your own community.
Winter Crisis Appeal – Help us to relieve the hardship of local people.
At this time of the year many people find themselves in a desperate financial situation having had to spend money on Christmas celebrations and this year is worse than ever. With soaring fuel and food bills and ongoing unemployment many have to choose between heating their homes and feeding their families.
Birmingham Settlement helps local people by offering a range of money advice services to enable people to stabilise their finances and pay off their debts. This winter we have seen a 13% increase in clients coming to our drop-in service. January has proved to be busier than ever and we urgently need to find extra funds.
We are asking whether you would be able to make a donation to enable us to help local people at this difficult time of year, or if you might be able to arrange a collection for us. Alternatively, could you make a donation of clothes, books or toys to help our charity shops raise funds to support our work, while also providing affordable goods to local people?
How you can donate
- Send a cheque payable to ‘Birmingham Settlement’ to Rob Netherway at Units 4-7 Alma House, Newtown Shopping Centre, Birmingham, B19 2AB.
- Donate online through JustGiving or Everyday Hero:
- Set up a standing order or make a bank transfer – You can set up a regular donation through JustGiving (http://www.justgiving.com/birminghamsettlement/Donate) or please contact us for details.
- Bring donated goods into your nearest Birmingham Settlement shop.
To find out other ways you can support Birmingham Settlement please see click here.
Gastro event at Opus Restaurant.
Opus Restaurant, together with Gastro Card and Kitchen School are holding an event to help raise funds for Birmingham Settlement. The event will take place from 12:30pm on 12th March 2013 at Opus Restaurant. Tickets cost £30 and will include a meal, glass of wine, guest speakers and raffle. So come along and enjoy some great food while also helping to raise funds for Birmingham Settlement.
Click here to download the event flyer, which include event details and menu.
Partnership with barter bay.
barter Bay is a brand new online trading platform that works on the age-old principle of swapping goods in order to acquire something that is needed. The site is easy to use and is an ideal way to give use to an unwanted Christmas gift and replace it with something new. Each trade costs just £1 and there are no hidden costs. Once registered items are listed for trade a search is then made for a suitable swap. Items can be exchanged locally or delivered as appropriate.
Birmingham Settlement’s partnership with barter bay will be launched at a barter bay LIVE evening that will be held at the Centre for the Aston Family on Witton Road on 6th February, starting at 6.00pm. The barter bay LIVE event will bring together barter bay traders and the local community, offering them the opportunity to trade their goods and services during the evening.
Simon Allen, founder of barter bay said, “This is the first collaboration of its kind and I am delighted that we have been able to launch it first in Birmingham with such a well-respected charity. Our barter bay LIVE event is well timed to allow people to exchange all those unwanted Christmas presents and trade them for items that they want.”
Birmingham Settlement’s Chief Executive Martin Holcombe said, “We have embraced this opportunity to work with barter bay and utilise Internet technology to help us develop new and exciting ways of supporting our work. barter bay is different in that it trades services as well as goods and this will allow us to ask people to trade their services to us, for example we currently have a need for legal support and are looking to trade some of our services for this. We also see tremendous opportunity to develop time banking and build a database of services that people are willing to trade.”
The barter bay LIVE event is free to attend but you must register in advance at https://barterbay.uk.com/barter-bay-live.php
For more information about the event please download the flyer below:
Carol singing at St. George’s Church.
St. George’s Church in Edgbaston (at the junction of Calthorpe, Highfield and Westbourne Roads) are holding two carol services over the coming weeks as follows:
- Light Up The World – Tuesday 4th December 2012 at 6pm.
- Office Carols Service – Thursday 13th December 2012 at 1:15pm-1:45pm.
All are welcome to attend and refreshments and mince pies will be available afterwards! Our Chief Executive Martin Holcombe will be attending to speak about Birmingham Settlement and collections will be made to support our work. This is a great opportunity to attend a fun event while also supporting Birmingham Settlement.
Join us for an evening of live music and comedy!
Join us for an evening of live entertainment in support of Birmingham Settlement. With Foghorn Improv, The Dirty Old Folkers and Naomi Paul we are holding an evening of life comedy and music to help raise funds for the work of Birmingham Settlement. The event will take place from 7:30pm on Saturday 8th December 2012 at Tyseley Community Centre. Tickets cost £7.50 and will include live entertainment and refreshments.
Event link: http://www.facebook.com/events/487640827943403/
The journey from Birmingham to Brussels!
Martin and Mark have crossed the channel and made their way through the Netherlands to finally reach Brussels yesterday. So far they have raised just short of a fantastic £2,000 for Birmingham Settlement. Martin has been faithfully blogging on their progress, so check out what he has to say about the journey:
Day 1 – The journey to Oxford
http://bsettlement.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/bham-to-brussels-were-in-oxford/
Day 2 – A scenic stop in Henley-on-Thames and Windsor Castle
http://bsettlement.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/bham-to-brussels-were-in-henley/
http://bsettlement.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/hrh-says-hello/
Day 3 – Breaks, bets and ferries
http://bsettlement.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/bham-to-brussels-day-3/
http://bsettlement.wordpress.com/2012/05/23/bham-to-brussels-half-way/
Day 4 – The Dutch coast
http://bsettlement.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/bham-to-brussels-day-4/
Day 5 – The roads of the Netherlands
http://bsettlement.wordpress.com/2012/05/25/bham-to-brussels-day-5/
Day 6 – Joining the professionals
http://bsettlement.wordpress.com/2012/05/26/bham-to-brussels-day-6/
Day 7 – Brussels and the Hilton!
http://bsettlement.wordpress.com/2012/05/28/bham-to-brussels-done-it/
Congratulations to both Mark and Martin who have cycled almost 500 miles to reach Brussels! If you would like to donate to the cause please visit our sponsorship page or contact the office for a sponsorship form.
To see more photos of their journey please follow our Flickr page.
Birmingham to Brussels launch – farewell!
This morning Martin Holcombe, Mark Sargent and Ed Coley left on their gruelling six day bike ride from Birmingham to Brussels in order to raise funds for Birmingham Settlement. A reception at the Centre for the Aston Family involved a treat of Belgian buns and a send off from the children at the Little Settler’s Day Nursery. Leaving today they will be heading from Birmingham through Oxford, London and Amsterstam to finally reach Brussels on Saturday 26th May 2012. We wish them all the best of luck!
If you would like to donate to the cause please visit our sponsorship page or contact the office for a sponsorship form. To see more photos please follow our Flickr page.
Birmingham Settlement attends the Freemasons Lodge of Happiness Ladies Evening.
Worshipful Master Steve Tector with Chris Doolan and Laura Kemp
The local Birmingham Freemasons Lodge of Happiness invited our Chair of the Board, Chris Doolan, and Fundraising Officer, Laura Kemp, to join them at their Ladies Dinner Event.
The event was held at the Freemasons Lodge in Edgbaston and saw members of the Lodge invite their partners and wives along to join them for an evening of dining.
We were privileged to be a part of the event, and to represent Birmingham Settlement. Worshipful Master of the Lodge, Steve Tector, previously owned a printing business through which he came to know of the Settlement. We were delighted to be able to take the floor for a few minutes to tell everyone a little about our work and our history in the city, and everyone responded by donating a very generous £352.00 towards our work.
The Warwickshire Masonic Charitable Association has been supporting the work of Birmingham Settlement since 2007 and to date have donated almost £2,000. We’re delighted to have such a great relationship with the group and hope it continues for many years to come.
Settlement Stories – Annual Review 2011
In 2011 we had the pleasure of working with lots of people in lots of situations. Looking back on the year, we decided that our annual review should concentrate on telling some of the stories from people we’ve met who’ve inspired us, helped us or simply made us smile. Download our Annual Review 2011to read more about the all the fantastic things that happened to us last year!