Lady Rollers swop their skates and rink for trainers and mud

A group of Wolverhampton ladies have opted to ditch their skates and don their trainers to face the gruelling challenge of the five-mile JCB Mud Run in aid of The Haven Wolverhampton.

Representatives from The Wolverhampton Honour Rollers will be heading down to the JCB Mud Run on Saturday 5th July at the JCB estate in the heart of the Staffordshire countryside.  The JCB Mud Run is definitely not for the feint hearted – it is a physical, muddy and very challenging course that will see people trudging through a series of obstacles including a mud slide, a hay stack and a giant concrete pipe buried in the undergrowth.

The group facing the challenge is made up of ladies from a range of professions, but all with one common aim in mind – to raise funds for The Haven Wolverhampton.  Some have experienced the Mud Run before, whilst for others this will be their first time.  Though none of them are strangers to a challenge or tough competition.  The Wolverhampton Honour Rollers Derby team is the City’s first and only flat track roller derby league team and over the past few months have taken part in Roller Derby matches across the county to raise funds for The Haven.   

On supporting The Haven, Nik Sephton commented, “The Wolverhampton Honour Rollers Team is a community in itself and we want to contribute something to a local cause within the wider Wolverhampton community.  We chose The Haven Wolverhampton for this very reason – they are a Wolverhampton based charity that help so many people across the city to escape domestic violence and abuse and with the threat of funding cuts to such vital services fundraising efforts are needed more than ever."

The team has a target of £500 to raise and is making good headway in reaching this target.  Anyone wishing to sponsor them can donate on-line at https://www.justgiving.com/WolverhamptonHonourRollersMudRun2014/.

Hayley Edwards, Marketing and PR Officer for The Haven said “The Wolverhampton Honour Rollers never cease to show us their commitment.  Over the past few months they have demonstrated a huge amount of support to The Haven by selling our merchandise at bouts as well as donating funds from cake sales to name a few.  The JCB Mud Run is an incredibly tough course but we are sure that they will do us proud and finish in great style.”

Child Mentors Required in Wolverhampton

Fun-loving and dedicated individuals required to work on city-wide project

Could you be a child mentor volunteer working with children across Wolverhampton?

Wolverhampton city-wide initiative “Wolverhampton Improving Futures” works with children between the ages of 5-11 years old with a primary aim to prevent them from developing anti-social behaviour and instead steer them in the direction of achieving their full potential.

Working with a number of agencies across Wolverhampton, including The Haven, the project offers children the support and life skills they need to increase their self-esteem, self-confidence and improve their behaviour and achieve their full potential. Each child is offered an individually tailored one to one mentoring programme with a carefully screened, trained and supervised adult volunteer mentor.  Volunteer mentors work on a 1-2-1 basis, spending between 2 – 4 hours per week over a 12 month period on a programme of activities. 

Jennifer Edwards, Improving Futures Officer at The Haven said “Mentoring a young person is a fun, rewarding and at times challenging experience, but we ensure that volunteers access training, regular supervision and 1-2-1 support so that they get the best experience possible.  We carefully match all our volunteer mentors to children who need someone who can listen, support and most importantly engage them in a range of fun, creative, varied activities.”

If you think that you could offer a few hours to help a child to improve their future call now more for information or to sign up to the next Training Programme.  This 3 day course covers relationship building, boundary setting, solution focused techniques and safeguarding and offers a comprehensive introduction to the mentoring programme. 

For more information on the Wolverhampton Improving Futures project contact Mandy Smith, Wolverhampton Improving Futures - Programme Manager at asmith@wolverhamptonvsc.org.uk    / 01902 328977 or jennifere@havenrefuge.org.uk   / 07738764669.

Dust the BBQ off and get cooking for charity

Dust the BBQ off and get cooking for charity

With summer virtually here and long warm summer nights on the horizon, now is the time to brush the dust off the BBQ and get grilling all in the good name of charity.

Summer is just one reason to have fun and have a BBQ but we can give you lots more reasons – 185 in fact.  That’s the number of families that The Haven Wolverhampton is currently working with who are or who have experienced Domestic Violence.

To raise awareness of this as well as vital funds we are calling to the people of Wolverhampton to dust off their BBQs, don an apron and cook up treats for friends and family. There are many things that people can do – for instance, asking people to make a donation for their food and refreshments, if there are children why not paint their faces for a small charge or people can simply TEXT BBQS14 to 70070 followed by the amount they wish to donate? All funds raised will help us continue to deliver our vital work supporting women and children affected by domestic abuse and homelessness.

Michaela Hodges Donor Development Assistant said “Getting involved in The Haven’s Summer BBQ Appeal is a great reason for a get-together with family and friends.  There are lots of ways that people can get involved and they can make it as easy or as innovative as they wish.”

It really is easy.  Register now for your free Big BBQ Fundraising Pack and we will send you everything you need to make yours a success.  The pack is filled with information, advice, tips and materials to help make your BBQ a success. To request a fundraising pack just get in touch - email donordevelopment@havenrefuge.org.uk or call 01902 572126 for more information and to request materials.