Author: The Net Community Hub

We are a small community hub in Weedswood offering a range of sessions and access to local agencies.
Activities, fundraising

The next KM Charity event is … the Big Bike Ride!

The Net Community Hub

KM Bike Ride

On Sunday 28th April, the KM Charity Team will host its annual KM Big Bike Ride sponsored by Vattenfall.

We would love you to take up the challenge for The Net, and help raise money for us to continue our valuable work, alongside our resident partners, Walderslade Together.

Choose from a gentle 50km route or a more challenging 100km course, both heading out from Betteshanger Country Park, A258, Deal, Kent CT14 0BF.

* Hot/Cold Food and drink at finish available, mid-ride refreshments for all riders

* Free sportive photograph of you during the bike ride

* Timing Chips

* Goody Bag and medal

You can take part just for the fun of it, but we’d love you to do it for us. We’d receive 70% of your sponsor money, with the remaining 30% going to the KM Charity Team to be used on its children’s road safety work in Kent.

Participants are required to set up a linked Virgin Money Giving page and details on how to do this are sent out post-booking. As an incentive, the highest individual fundraiser will win 2 x EUROSTAR tickets! Individual cost is £30 and you can sign up here. Use code KMVIP to get £5 off.

Online booking deadline is Saturday, 27th April at 9pm. However, you can sign up on the day anytime between 8-10am.

If booking for someone else but not taking part yourself, you still need to fill in your details on the booking form in order for your payment to go through. You will then be sent an email asking for the participants details. Any issues, call 0844 264 0291.

There is a large car park on site. Check-in will take place between 8am and 10am. Start time is 9am (no riders will be able to leave prior to this to allow for final route signage and marshalling checks).

Please note: Due to insurance purposes this ride is not open to anyone under the age of 12. Riders aged 12-17 must have a parental consent form signed by a parent or legal guardian and must be accompanied by a responsible adult.

Thank you!

Funding

The Net Hub to benefit from Kent Community Foundation’s Core Support Fund

The Net Community Hub

The Net Hub celebrates its support from KCF

The Net Community Hub has been chosen as the Medway recipient for the Kent Community Foundation’s new Core Support Fund.

The Core Support Fund will have a significant impact on the delivery of our services in Weedswood, one of the most deprived areas of Medway. It’s a three year programme to cover core costs, with the Net receiving £12,000 for the first year.

The Net manager, Jaye Nolan, says: “This is fantastic news from Kent Community Foundation, who’ve already been so supportive of us in the past two years. As a tiny charity that punches above its weight for our local community, the core funding is a real boost and will enable us to do so much more to combat social isolation in our vulnerable, elderly and isolated residents.”

The Net Hub Vice Chairman, Geoff Waters, comments: “It’s absolutely outstanding and a perfect testimony to Jaye’s hard work, initiative and commitment since joining as the NET Community Hub as our manager. Although only part time, she provides leadership well beyond expectations.”

Front-line organisations invest a great deal of resource into applying for funding, and sometimes find it challenging to secure funding for their core work and overheads like utilities, rent and service delivery staff. This grant comes at the perfect time for The Net, and will allow us to consolidate their services and make much needed improvements to the hub.

Natalie Smith, Director or Grants and Impact at Kent Community Foundation comments: “We received a huge number of applications for our Core Support Fund, with Medway being the most over-subscribed district. We are well placed to understand the importance of unrestricted and multi-year support to grassroots organisations and we look forward to seeing the impact of this funding on their communities over the three years.”

Volunteers

Volunteer Anna takes a big step forward

The Net Community Hub

Anna Volunteer

The Net and WALT volunteer Anna Kelly has completed the first session in the Connect 5 ‘Train the Trainer’ programme.

The scheme is designed to help volunteers connect with people and endow them with more knowledge of the issues some may face. It also helps empower them as a route to employment.

Connect 5 is a mental health promotion training programme developed from a unique collaboration between Public Health England (PHE) & Health Education England (HEE). It is designed to increase the confidence and core skills of front line staff so that they can be more effective in having conversations about mental health and wellbeing, help people to manage mental health problems and increase their resilience and mental wellbeing through positive changes.

Congratulations Anna! (And good luck with the second session!)

fundraising

Success for the Hub at the KM Big Quiz

The Net Community Hub

KMQuizJN

Ok, slightly misleading headline there, as we basically sucked at the quiz itself, coming 22nd and 26th out of 27 teams!

But as a result of the Walderslade Wizards and Walderslade Whizkids taking part (and it’s the taking part that’s important, right?) the KM Group has donated a whopping £750 to The Net – more than a month’s income!

This is a fantastic amount for us. We operate on such a tiny budget that this money will make a huge difference in helping us continue to serve our community.

Overall, the evening itself raised £6,000 for Kent charities and the KM Charity Team’s literacy and road-safety and walk-to-school initiatives. Read all about the evening here. 

Next up in the schedule of KM Charity events is the Abseil on March 17th. You can find out more about it here, where there’s a link to sign up if you’d like to represent us. Don’t forget the discount code!

If you’d like a less scary way of raising money for us, please visit our donate page for ideas on how to do this – Co-op membership, Give As You Live or simply donate a cash amount – as little as a fiver will buy the refreshments for our weekly open cafe.

Thank you!

Volunteers, walt

The Net and WALT volunteer Jean Judge nominated for a Pride in Medway Award

The Net Community Hub

Jean Pride in Medway

It’s that time of the year again, when the people who make Medway better are recognised with nominations in the Pride in Medway awards.

We’re delighted that one of The Net and WALT’s joint volunteers, Jean Judge, has been recognised in the Volunteer of the Year category following her nomination by WALT.

An invaluable resource, Jean – seen above with many of the members – helps with shopping, home visits, taking people to medical appointments and social events, as well as bringing them to the hub to meet friends for a natter over a cuppa.

Jean says: “I feel extremely proud to get this recognition and I thoroughly enjoy doing what I do – it keeps me out of mischeif! I’m happy I can make a contribution to helping people stay socially active and not be left sitting indoors alone”.

WALT’s volunteer co-ordinator, Sharon O’Flynn, says: “Jean was our second ever volunteer and has been with us for two and a half years – now our longest serving. We love her to bits. She’s reliable and friendly and nothing is ever too much trouble. Nominating her for an award was a no-brainer, she absolutely deserves it.”

The awards are now in their 17th year and is made up of eight categories: Charity Fundraiser; Community Service; Good Carer; Green Champion; Health and Hospital; Young Heroes, Sports Coach of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.

Judges including Medway Council, Medway Messenger, Uniper, mhs Homes and Mid Kent College will meet to decide the winners, with the results due in the next couple of months.

Activities, fundraising

Take the plunge to support The Net Community Hub

The Net Community Hub

KM Challenge_ABSEIL LOGO

Adrenaline seekers are invited to take part in a thrilling abseil challenge in Kent being staged to support us here at the Net Community Hub. This will be the only multi-charity abseil in Kent next year so do not miss out!

The abseil is being organised by the KM Charity Team and will be held on Sunday, March 17th, at Thomas Place in Maidstone.

Simon Dolby from the KM Charity Team urged people to take the challenge to support their local charity (that would be us !) and says: “This is a great opportunity for people to test their sense of adventure while raising money for this excellent cause.”

Specialists will erect two abseil ropes from the roof of the building to the ground, enabling brave participants to abseil down under the watchful instruction of the professionals whilst being cheered on by well-wishers and friends.

Participants should aim to raise a minimum of £75 in sponsorship. 70%t of sponsorship raised goes to The Net and 30% will go to the children’s road safety department at the KM Charity Team.

Click here to book your place. Use Discount Code MAID19 to get £5 off and choose The Net Community Hub on the supported charity box to ensure your support for us, and contact us at community@waldersladehub.org so we can send you a sponsorship form. Thank you!

Activities, Funding, fundraising

The KM Medway Big Charity Quiz 2019

The Net Community Hub

kmbigq

The first KM Charity Team event in the 2019 calendar is the Big Quiz, which takes place on Friday, February 15. It starts at 7.00pm and is scheduled to end at 10.30pm. Doors open at 6.20pm.

It will be staged at The George Hotel in Chatham, so come and join in the fun and encourage your friends and work colleagues to join you.

We will be entering at least one team, so if you’d like to be in it, please contact Jaye via email at community@waldersladehub.org, or call 01634 319633. If we are oversubscribed we will enter another team – the more we enter, the bigger our size of the pot! However, we will need you to secure your spot with cash or cheque as soon as possible!

Along with taking part in a fantastic quiz you will receive substantial nibbles with a bottle of wine and a bottle of fizzy water on the table. There will also be a great raffle and the chance to win a fantastic on-the-spot star prize of 2 x Eurostar tickets. Remember you can bring along as much additional food as you like but please do not bring drink as this is where the money is raised for the event, with Barclays Bank doubling all spend at the bar. Also, there will be a goldfish bowl at the bar – drop your business card in for a chance to win a prize!

Teams of eight are invited to take part at a cost of £55 (use discount code KMVIP), which will raise funds for various charities including the children’s road safety service at the KM Charity Team.

If you would like to book your own team, here’s the link to the booking form. Please nominate us when you enter and we may win an additional prize! Thanks for your support!

Activities

Christmas and New Year Openings at the Hub

The Net Community Hub

Merry Xmas!

We are open on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve (24th and 31st respectively) however, activities will be a little bit different.

Monday 24th December: Free Open Cafe 10am-12noon

Tuesday 25th December: Closed

Wednesday 26th December: WALT’s Boxing Day Buffet 10am-2pm

Thursday 27th December: Free Open Cafe 10am-1pm

Friday 28th/ Saturday 29th/ Sunday 30th: Closed

Monday 31st December: Free Open Cafe 10am-12noon

Tuesday 1st January: Free Open Cafe 10am-2pm

Wednesday 2nd January: Free Open Cafe 10am-2pm

Thursday 3rd January: Pip’n’Jim’s Free Open Cafe and Foodbank as usual.

Funding, fundraising

KM Charity of the Year 2019!

The Net Community Hub

They say things come in threes, and thankfully, it’s three lots of good news!

Following on from Tracey Crouch agreeing to be our Patron and the Co-op supporting us as one of their charities of 2019, came the news that the Medway Messenger has chosen us to be their KM Charity of the Year.

cropped-coty-2019-logo-net-community-hub1.jpg

A trip to the charity team’s headquarters in Whitstable later, and I’m in full possession of a wonderful array of fundraising options and support courtesy of the group.

There will be numerous events coming up and we hope you’ll join us in taking part to raise much needed funds. We’ll update them here on the blog, but they will also appear under our Fundraising Events page, so do make sure to check back regularly.

Partnering with the Messenger means we’ll be able to reach a whole lot more people who will benefit from the activities we offer here at the hub, and we look forward to joining forces with you throughout 2019 to make this happen.

Funding, fundraising

We’re a recipient of the Co-op Local Community Fund for 2019!

The Net Community Hub

web-banner coop

We received the most fantastic piece of news recently – the Cooperative has chosen us as one of the causes it will support in Medway in 2019!

The Co-op Local Community Fund helps to support local projects that its members care about. Since its launch in 2017, Co-op members have raised £39 million pounds for over 12,000 local causes. We’re delighted that we will now be able to access this funding opportunity, which will help keep our weekly cafe open for local residents to continue to meet their friends.

As a member, every time you shop at the Co-op, 1% of what you spend on Co-op branded products and services helps fund community projects. You can shop at any Co-op Group stores across the UK to raise money for our cause.

Please choose us by signing into your membership account or by calling the membership helpline on 0800 023 4708. We’ll be available for you to select until November 2019. If you don’t yet have a membership card, simply ask for one the next time you’re in your local store, and register to support us.

You can view our profile page here – considering we haven’t told anyone yet, it’s pleasing to see funds are already coming through!

I suspect we’ll be down at the Walderslade store in due course, helping you pack – make sure you come and say hello!