Going sky-high for charity

Going sky-high for charity

Kiran is set to take to the skies for a 10,000 feet sky-dive all in the name of charity – The Haven Wolverhampton.

Twenty year old Kiran Chander Bhardwaj, a Claims Handler at Wolverhampton based Equity in Finance Ltd, faces her first sky-dive in Nottingham on Saturday 9th August.  She will be doing a tandem sky-dive from 10,000 feet with a qualified instructor from Somerset based Click and Jump who have over 30 years’ experience in sky-diving.

No formal training is required for the sky-dive but all safety instructions will be given to Kiran on the day when she will in her own words be having an “exhilarating experience everyone should have the opportunity to enjoy.”

Commenting on her decision to donate all funds raised to The Haven, Kiran said “The Haven is an organisation that I believe in and that it should receive all the support it can for their very worthy goal.”

Hayley Edwards Marketing and Publicity Officer at The Haven added “Given the current climate of The Haven’s funding potentially being drastically reduced, donations are gratefully appreciated and the lengths that supporters go to to raise funds for The Haven is amazing.  Any monies that we receive are spent very wisely to ensure that we can deliver services to our service-users.

Kiran has a target of £500 to reach and is currently making good headway. Anyone wishing to donate to Kiran’s skydive can do so by visiting http://www.bmycharity.com/thehaven.

The Haven Summer Appeal

The Sun has got its hat on - let the children play and be free from Domestic Violence

The Haven Wolverhampton asks the people and business of Wolverhampton to donate towards their Summer Appeal that will help children make new memories and friends along the way.

Over the Summer months, The Haven will support up to 100 children across its refuge service. In order to keep the children and young people in our care active, engaged and occupied The Haven produces a programme of summer play for all the children to enjoy.  

Play, fun and laughter are always high on the Summer Play Programme agenda with a view to helping to re-build the children’s confidence and making the experience of refuge as enjoyable as possible and make it a Summer to remember for all the right reasons.  Our Children’s and Young People’s Team organise a range of activities such as art and craft workshops, book clubs, cooking competitions, sports days and outings to leisure centres, themes parks and museums.

To be able to implement this programme The Haven needs your help! We appeal for donations of new games and toys, tickets to local attractions and even financial donations which will enable the children to visit and engage in events taking place across the UK.  For example, £10.00 would provide a swim session for 8 children or a game of bowling for 4 children. People may have contacts within various services that could provide concessionary or discounted tickets to attractions.

Hayley Edwards Marketing & PR Office at The Haven says “Every donation that we receive is greatly appreciated.  It is important to us that we give those children who are living in temporary accommodation the chance to relax, laugh, joke and have fun. The support we receive helps to provide a stable and safe environment and works towards helping these children re-build their lives after domestic violence.”

To make a donation and arrange delivery call 01902 572173 or email hayleye@havenrefuge.org.uk for more information.

The Grand Lands Midlands Premiere Of The Bodyguard

SMASH HIT WEST END MUSICAL
THE BODYGUARD
AT WOLVERHAMPTON GRAND THEATRE

PUBLIC ONSALE DATE: FRIDAY 18 JULY AT 10AM

Michael Harrison and David Ian are delighted to announce that Thea Sharrock’s hit production of THE BODYGUARD will embark on a national tour which will include Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from Tuesday 21 April – Saturday 2 May 2015.

Based on Lawrence Kasdan’s 1992 Oscar nominated Warner Bros. film, THE BODYGUARD has a book by Alex Dinelaris and opened at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End in December 2012, where it continues to play to packed houses and standing ovations. It was nominated for four Laurence Olivier Awards including Best New Musical and Best Set Design.

Former Secret Service agent turned bodyguard, Frank Farmer, is hired to protect superstar Rachel Marron from an unknown stalker. Each expects to be in charge; what they don’t expect is to fall in love. A romantic thriller, THE BODYGUARD features a host of irresistible classics including Queen of the Night, So Emotional, One Moment in Time, Saving All My Love, I’m Your Baby Tonight, Run to You, I Have Nothing, I Wanna Dance with Somebody and one of the greatest hit songs of all time – I Will Always Love You.

THE BODYGUARD is produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian.

Casting will be announced at a later date.

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.

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story - Wolverhampton Grand

Rating *****

Buddy Holly is seen as one of the most important players in the history of music, his contribution to rock and rock changed the face of pop music forever. For someone with such an important roll to play Buddy was only working professionally for less than two years and died at age 22 in a tragic plane crash between concerts that also took the lives of Richie Valens and The Big Bopper.

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, which is on it's 25th anniversary tour follows Buddy's rise to fame and his career until his death, in the original and most successful jukebox musical.

Buddy is performed by an incredibly talented cast led by Glen Joseph as Buddy with Jason Blackwater as the Big Bopper and Will Pearce as Valens. It includes all the Buddy favourites such as Peggy Sue, Oh Boy, Why Do Fools Fall In Love and Chantilly Lace.

Buddy once said that he did not wish to be rich, he just wanted people to remember his name. As this play shows the Buddy legacy means that his name will never be forgotten.