Increased turnover

Since returning from our Opera adventure,things have continued to bounce on. The doors have been open this week and students have been pouring in. We have done an amazing amount of work.
There has been a big focus on our recycling initiatives,with Aluminium cans joining the stable of retrievable s. Waitrose have started collecting cans on our behalf and the students have greatly enjoyed the sorting and crushing. Aluminium is currently quite valuable so we are hoping that a momentum will establish with our collectors.

Of all the initiatives though, the one that has been most popular with students has been the dismantling of videos. With the video having been usurped by the DVD and charity shops no longer taking tapes in, discarded videos are all destined for land fill. As a curiosity, we starting dismantling tapes and found every element recyclable. We have trays of plastics and steel, aluminium clips, springs,cellophane, cardboard as well as bits of nylon. The students love it and there is great competition for the work.
As a spin off we are packing the seperated spools of tape and selling them on as a garden tie.
So, if you are having a clear out,or want to become a collection point do get in touch.

Something to make a song and dance about...ok, there was no dancing.

We have had another amazing spring,with just so much going on. Joan started her 'Soup Club' and Alistair became king of video recycling. A terrific number of people declared support for the project and committed to fund raising on our behalf and new enquiries have come in on almost a daily basis. We are very close to building our new classroom, are exploring the idea of setting up our first social enterprise, can now see a shape emerging where the outdoor performance space will be and as if that weren't enough we have just come back from our first residential.
Fourteen of us spent the week,helping with preparations for an outdoor opera festival in Hampshire. The venue was West Green House near Hook, a wonderful house and garden and home to an annual festival. We travelled into a surreal world and were embraced. Everyone rose to it, there were fourteen of us and we were everywhere. At the end of the week, there were tears and a big invite to come back.

As we drove away, there was a buzz and miles of shared laughter later a awareness of shared pride in our achievement.

CHEQUE MATE.............YES,PLEASE

Last week was greatly brightened by a visit from an old friend. Charlotte Padfield, who I have known for years and who formerly worked at Hartpury College, dropped in to see us with a cheque. The donation to the garden will make a big difference and we extend a huge thank you to her and to her family for their kindness.

Everybody dance................oooooo ?

Last night the faithful gathered for a disco. The event, was organised at the Aviator public house at Staverton and was a huge success. It wasn't ever meant to be a big fund raiser, more a celebration though we did run a raffle, which netted £245.00. We also made some very good connections with our community.The pub didn't charge us, the D.J offered his services for free and the dancing carried on late into the night. Without doubt the best bit was the students attendance. Once they started dancing,there was no stopping them and the at the end they were clamouring for details of the next bash.
I extend sincere thanks to our hosts Pat and Richard at The Aviator, who were fantastic, they run a great pub too and also to Mike Wickers our brilliant mobile D.J. He is a real professional,had an incredible range of music and without waivering once fed the insatiable demands from his audience. I can't thank Mike enough,but I can tell you,that if you need a good disco for any occasion,you'll work hard to find better. His contact is 01684-292651 or 07765572428 (Disco Masters).

With the spade work done,we can continue with the..........spadework.

 After much paper shuffling, the Land Registry have confirmed The Butterfly Gardens ownership of the new land. This was something of a relief as we had already planted a couple of hundred trees. This week we will really make our mark though. On tuesday we will be joining with a group of volunteers from Sainsburys at Barnwood to set about planting 250 more. We are intending too establish a small wood in one corner of the plot and expect to wrap the exercise up by the close of day. We are all greatly enjoying the new space and are delighted to see so many from the community sharing the land with us.
Spring is just around the corner and I can hardly wait.

One potato,two potato,three potato

Last weekend saw our volunteers in action at the local Potato festival, where we were given space to promote and sell in support of the project. A huge thanks must go out to Ron, Sally and Judy for their wonderful devotion. They manned the stall for two full days, encouraged new support, they pushed out leaflets,spoke with interested enquirers and somehow took a staggering £1,300. They were also responsible for lining up some work for our woodwork team. This week, we have received a firm order from Tetbury in Bloom for 20 of our bird boxes. Committee representatives from Tetbury called in at the site to confirm the requirement. The boxes will be passed out to Tetbury schools. We thank them for their support. They were a very enthusiastic team and I think that Tetbury is set to look stunning in 2011.
Check out http://www.tetburyinbloom.org.uk/

You took the words right out of my head ?

           Whatever happened to that year ? It is really nearly twelve months since we were nominated for The Pride of Gloucestershire Awards ? It is and last week saw the launch of the 2011 scheme. I was invited to talk to those gathered for the launch about what the award had meant to us (and apparently kept nodding across the beam of an overhead projector).
So,what did our award mean ? Well,broadly it brought recognition to the project, it put us on the map and delivered more students, attracted new volunteers, together with some very generous donations and it created a buzz around the place that lasted for weeks.
This year the scheme has been renamed and is now called 'The Heart of Gloucestershire Awards'. There are 7 award categories and the nomination forms are out.
Do join in with the process, we have much to be proud of in Gloucestershire.

My special thanks to The Gloucestershire Media Group for allowing me to use this picture.