APRIL 2021 | VOLUME 1 V UNTEER TIMES Your monthly update on all things volunteering at Outside Lives! IN OUR APRIL ISSUE... News Volunteer Opportunities Time Credits Lottery Business News Site Update Reuse & Recycle A BIG WELCOME TO OUR NEWSLETTER! By Lucy Powell, Founder & Managing Director Welcome to the first addition of our newsletter! We are very excited to launch this as a way of letting you know all about the things we are doing now or in the future that we would love you to be involved with. The past 12 months have been a very different experience for us all. Here at Outside Lives we had to shift from an organisations that liked to do things "face to face' to a company that had to deliver things online. But we have embraced the experience, launching our YouTube Channel, delivering classes, workshops, quizzes and catch ups on Zoom. We have even managed to film interesting interviews using Streamyard. It is our intention to stay mainly digital for the first half of this year and then review whether it is safe to start opening site again. As spring starts to make its presence known, we all start to come out of our winter slump and look forward to things to come. The longer, warmer days start to get you thinking about enjoying the outdoors more and perhaps for the accomplished or aspiring gardener, what you might grow. Look out for lots of information about growing food...our videos with Rachel Farr from Cae Rhug Farm are a particular source of inspiration. VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES! What you can look forward to in the coming months... With site being closed, some of our more "hands on" opportunities are not available yet however we have lots of opportunities for tasks that can be done remotely. We have one-off tasks, bitesized activities and ongoing commitments so whatever your interest and life will allow, we are likely to have something to suit you. Welsh speaking - We have had a number of people already come forward to help us with this (huge thank you to you) but if anyone else has any time to spare to support us in ensuring our resources are available in Welsh and English, we'd love to hear from you Admin - We have a number of administration tasks that we would love some help with (activities like transcribing and researching). Digital Media - We have lots of opportunities here, from editing videos to helping share posts across social media, if you are interested in the digital side of marketing please get in touch. Journalism - to all the budding journalists, we are looking for people to get involved in reporting, either by completing videoed news reports for our Happy News Channel or by writing articles on things that are happining at OL, (which would contribute to our blog and newsletters like this one). We would love to hear from anyone who wants to get involved. If you would like to find out more about these roles please email: kate.outsidelives@gmail.com OR you can sign up to be a volunteer with us be clicking here TIME CREDIT LOTTERY WINNER! Coming soon....watch this space! JOIN US! There's lots of things going on at Outside Lives HQ Here are a few things worth checking out this month: ART CLASSES - If you enjoy art and craft activities, keep an eye on our facebook page for details or use the enquiry form on our website to find out more.. Art classes are happening via Zoom on a Wednesday evening. All abilities welcome. Classes cost £5 per session SETTLE AND SOOTHE - 45 minutes of restful yoga, deep relaxation and meditation for the ultimate restorative experience, Session start on 13th April but can be done live or at your own leisure through our replay option. A course of 6 classes cost £30. Check out Facebook for booking instructions. HAPPY NEWS CHANNEL- our Happy News Channel will launch this month which will celebrate positive stories from the local area. Again keep an eye on Facebook for further updates. BEE HAPPY! You might have read on our social updates about some developments in our BEE HAPPY project funded by the People's Postcode Lottery. We're focused on rewilding part of the site in some ancient woodland, sowing wildflowers and creating natural habitats to encourage bees and butterflies to return to the space and help to support their numbers, along with establishing a haven for other wildlife. We will also very soon be taking delivery of a beautiful locally made hive along with a swarm of bees thanks to Phil Lewis of PHL Joinery. Phil will continue to support us by caring for the bees on site and by providing some education on bee care on site for those interested (when it is safe to do so). Finally, thank you to our wonderful volunteer Emily for our fantastic Bee Happy sign. PEOPLE AND PLANET TOOLKIT At the start of February we launched our PEOPLE AND PLANET toolkit, a collection of resources designed for parents and children (3-11 years) thanks to funding from FLVC and Community Foundation Wales. We have decided to make this available again throughout the Easter holidays so, check it out! This was a real team effort with resources designed and delivered by a number of our volunteers, including a range of activities for families to do, make and listen to across a number of mediums. We were lucky to have this endorsed by the Healthy Schools initiative in Flintshire just before half term. We saw over 2,500 visits to the site and a huge number of shares online providing a great resource over a challenging time. Thank you to everybody who assisted us in making this happen! NEW WEBSITE We have a new website! Thanks to funding from the Community Foundation Wales, we have been able to further invest in our online presence and you can find us at www.outsidelivesltd.org We are adding new features all the time and over the next few weeks you will be able to access and book events, get project updates and if you wish to, make donations to Outside Lives. This is BIG news for us as the site will start to become the main way we engage with our followers and volunteers, so watch this space for updates! INTRODUCING KATE Kate Bowyer has joined our team as our People Coordinator. She supports all the management of our volunteer enrolment and activities and even supports us with the bookings activities that relate to the various classes and courses that we offer. She is a wonder and we are very lucky to have her as part of the team! Thank you Kate for all you do. PROJECT UPDATES! Here's a round up of projects from Outside Lives... As ever there are lots of projects happening out Outside Lives. To find out more about these project and who they are supporting go to the Projects page on our website and have a read about it. Here are a couple of highlights: HISTORY OF HERE - a wonderful OL project being delivered by Anastacia Ackers, celebrating our local history. This project has its own website and it is well worth a visit.https://www.thehistoryofhere.com/ SINGING IN THE RAIN - a project that explores Dementia and its impact. Produced again by Anastasia Ackers in Partnership with Teresa Davies. Take a look at our YouTube Channel to see some of the fantastic videos from the "Hopeful Gardener" series. ON THE TUBE - This project is led by Lucy Powell and explores meaningful ways to connect people with Learning Disabilities to their wider community all through ways that support people's wellbeing. Keep your eyes peeled for the final part of this project which will see Outside lives, (in partnership with Yoga Live) produce a series of "Move it and Music" videos.. WH AT ' S HAPPENIN G ON SITE... OFFICE NEWS We are thrilled to have a new (old) office on site... Built entirely of gifted and second hand materials, we have been able to put to use a grant from FLVC to good use by purchasing and upcycling an old container and making this into a fully functioning office / meeting space over looking the pond. Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers for making this happen! SUNDOWNING Our Gazebo (funded by FLVC/National Lottery) has been built specifically to support people who have dementia and suffer from the effects of Sundowning. Sundowning is the term used when the symptoms of dementia are heightened at certain times of the day (usually when the light fades hence the term sundowning). It has been proven that being outdoors in a calm space can reduce the impact of sundowning so our gazebo is a safe space for people with dementia / alzheimers to come with friends/family/support workers to relax and look out over the wildlife garden. If you would like to to book the Gazebo please use the contact us form on our website.. (A big thank you to Newcis who have supported us on this project) YURT PROGRESS Funded by the National Lottery, Ty Lles (Wellness House) is the latest addition to site. The Yurt will be a home to various wellness activities that we will be running on site (when we are able). We will also use it as a venue to film some of our Wellness videos (check out our YouTube Channel). We will soon be able to offer, Yoga, Meditation, massage along with a host of other classes from our beautiful yurt which is situated in the wildlife garden. If you are a wellbeing practitioner and would like to work with Outside Lives and offer some of your services through us, we would love to hear from you. Email kat.applewhite11@gmail.com THANK YOU / SHOUT OUT. . . Many thanks to the following for the wonderful donations of materials last month OR requests for materials TBC Theatre Clwyd PHL Joinery Outside Lives Ltd. Registered Address: Aberduna Hall, Maeshafn Road, Gwernymynydd, Mold CH5 7LE
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