Having moved some of our regular workshops on-line at the beginning of May we are pleased at the involvement these have had and all are now planned to run for the foreseeable future.
To join any of these workshops email community@bridgendfarmhouse.org.uk for log in details. Arts and Crafts workshop runs each Wednesday from 2.00 – 3.30 pm Grab a cuppa and sit down for some informal chat, show and tell your latest craft creations or get ideas from others. Gill our tutor, has a selection of crafty ideas to share and can show you how to make your own face mask amongst other handy tips. Suitable for all ages and levels of experience. The Craft Collective workshop runs each Thursday from 6.30 – 8.00 p.m. Have some paper and pencils at the ready and Gill will lead you through a series of engaging arts and crafts activities, drawing and much more. Art experience not necessary. All welcome. Singing workshops are now running every Tuesday 5.00 – 6.00 p.m. Get involved in some uplifting singing with Darla, our regular singing tutor, who leads these popular sessions now being done on-line. After a sucessful trial these are now continuing. Suitable for all, previous experience not necessary.
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We are very pleased that STV chose us to showcase in a piece about the enormous rise in bike usage across Scotland at this time. The programme was only viewable on the STV site for 24 hours but you can still see it on their Facebook page. We’re on at 20:45 - sandwiched between the SPL and the weather! Interesting facts from their article "Stats from Transport Scotland show journeys made on two wheels have more than doubled since lockdown. In some parts of Edinburgh, bike traffic is up by 454% Key workers on the frontline in the fight against Coronavirus are now able to get free bicycle loans, repairs and accessories from 86 hubs across the country, thanks to a grant from Cycling UK" It features the 7th & 8th participants of our bike loan scheme, both working for the NHS as student nurses, when they come to the farmhouse to receive their free bikes. The Bridgend Farmhouse Big Bike Revival Scheme for Key Workers, makes Bridgend Farmhouse bikes available for NHS staff and other key workers to assist in their travel during these difficult times.
Find out more about our scheme here A community-led emergency response to food precarity A long thoughtful piece written by Will Golding, a Bridgend Farmhouse Trustee The first two paragraphs are copied here and you can read and download the full document below that text. It's nearly the middle of May and right now at Bridgend Farmhouse we'd usually be meeting for our weekly community meal, working our kitchen garden, building our bothy, developing new summer courses and events, and starting to run cycle rides in the local woodlands that would end back at the Farmhouse community cafe. Instead, like everywhere else, we've had to suspend our regular activities. But that doesn’t mean all our work has stopped. However, with the help of a team of very dedicated volunteers, we have converted the Farmhouse into a local emergency food cooking and distribution centre, a bike hire and mechanics hub for key workers, and started to run online courses and provide phone support and activity packs. We are entering the eighth week of the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, and our seventh week of delivering emergency food parcels (currently around 1,000 meals per day to local self-isolating residents and others who are unable to access healthy, nutritious food). There has been an incredible response on the ground from individuals and groups within our communities to ensuring there is immediate and critical support available at this time. From food and deliveries, to a friendly call, to activity packs, to new online groups. The impact of COVID-19 restrictions and self-isolation have exposed cracks in the system and have reinforced the stresses and pressure that certain people were already under, whilst also exposing people to new economic, financial and wellbeing impacts and precarity. However, we have also seen incredible examples of the solidarity, care and compassion that people are showing towards each other in these times of crisis. We are urgently trying to source more adults bikes as we now have a growing waiting list for those.Are you a key worker or do you know someone who is? Do you want to find a free, easy and healthy way to travel to work whilst keeping to government social distancing guidelines?
You can get a free bike loan, for a month, with an option to renew each month until August. Delivery of the bike, plus a helmet and lock are included. Have a bike but it needs repaired? We can do that for you. Have a bike which you’d like to donate to the scheme? Get in touch. Full details here We have been staggered by the generosity of individuals and organisations in supporting our COVID-19 response. Here, our Interim Manager, Lynn Houmdi, talks to Bella Caledonia about the importance of partnerships after the crisis as well as during it.
We are now offering meal delivery to people in EH16 & EH17 who are in need.
The bags contain a breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner, in recyclable packaging, that recipients can reheat with just a kettle and either a microwave or a hob. We are accepting recipients by referral only from local community, religious, educational and health-sector (etc) organisations and we are seeking partners who can deliver to their own service users and local communities in EH16 and EH17. If you know of anyone who needs to access this service, please ask them to call 07873 976801. If we cannot accommodate them, we will refer them elsewhere. See a short video about how we set up the service here |
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