Spring 2008 Newsletter
Spring 2006 Newsletter
Regional conference success
In February around 70 people from across the South West, with an interest in crisis pregnancy, attended our first regional conference for the Bristol Area. Speakers included Joanna Thompson Head of the Care Centres Network, and Sarah Williams, author of ‘Shaming of the Strong’, who spoke about her book which is a moving account of the problems she experienced in her third pregnancy. Sarah is the daughter of Jennifer Rees Larcombe and we were pleased that they were both able to join us for the day.
Joy Fussell said “It was a challenging and encouraging day. A great opportunity to meet up with people who support us and counsellors from other centres in the South West”.
Support from the Willow Tree
Over the last six months, increasing numbers of people have contacted our team of counsellors for support following miscarriage or during a crisis pregnancy.
We are open on Mondays 10.30—12.30, Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1.30—3.30pm. At other times calls to the Willow Tree go directly one of our team of counsellors.
Sue Edwards, who has been helped following a miscarriage, said “The Willow Tree helped and supported me through the emotional ups and downs and turmoil after my devastating loss. They were always at the end of a phone and helped me get my life back on track. I cannot thank them enough for their past help and ongoing support”.
Funding our future
In 2005, The Willow Tree received donations from grant funding charities, local councils and businesses. This, together with a small number of individual regular contributors, meant that we were able to fulfil our financial commitments and obligations for the year. This year we have again been financially supported by and continued our partnership with Yate and District YMCA who have generously contributed to our work. Local councils, namely South Gloucestershire, Yate Town Council and Dodington Parish Council have also supported us.
We continue to look for ways to raise funds and following the success of last year's Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride, we are again looking for volunteers and sponsors to take part in the bike ride on 25 th June. There are a variety of distances to cycle, so even the less energetic can take part! For more details contact Anna Blaber. Tel: 01454 329883
Willow tree comes home
We recently signed a six-year lease on our premises at the St Nicholas Family Centre. We are grateful to everyone who have helped to make this happen by supporting us both practically and financially. We are also very grateful to all the counsellors and receptionists who so generously give up their time.
Advertising success
You may have noticed adverts for the Willow Tree appearing recently in the local ‘Observer’ newspaper. Advertising is a major way of raising our profile in the local community, and has proved to be a very positive way of communicating the services we offer. Some of our fundraising efforts over the next year will be directed at raising money for advertising on buses and elsewhere.
“Our main aim is to make a difference by using widespread publicity, as we want to reach people in crisis pregnancy situations and offer a service that will not only listen but also offer support in whatever decision they choose.” said Anna BlaberPreventing a crisis
A major part of the Willow Tree’s work focuses on prevention—of both teenage pregnancies and the high level of sexually transmitted infections. We are now involved in two programmes to help fulfil that aim.
evaluate…. informing choice
The five-strong evaluate team have bookings for ten presentations in South Gloucestershire schools before the end of May, reaching around 1,022 students between the ages of 11—18. Val MacFarlane is working on widening the number of schools in South Gloucestershire who are taking part.
The next evaluate training course for new team members takes place on 26th—29th June at High Leigh, Hoddesdon, Herts and we are holding a ‘top-up’ training course at St Nicholas’ Family Centre on 14th June 2006, for people already involved in the programme.
Speak-easy 4 Parents
Education about sex and relationships is often left to the schools, but a new seven session course developed by the Family Planning Association aims to give parents the tools to talk with their children about these matters. It can lead to a qualification with the National Open College Network.
Joy Fussell and Gill Brown are running the first course with a group of parents. Topics covered during the interactive sessions include learning about the needs of children at different stages in their life, up-to-date medical information about contraception and sexually transmitted infections, and skills to deal with the pressures young people face today. The sessions are a relaxed and informal way of enabling parents to talk through their concerns and return to their families with the confidence to support their children or teenagers.
If you would like to find out more, contact Joy Fussell. Tel: 01454 314074Summer 2005 Newsletter
SPORTING EVENTS RAISE MONEY FOR THE WILLOW TREE Stephen Clayson from Yate and Mair Vaughan from Thornbury embarked on two very different sporting events in June to raise money for Willow Tree. Mair entered the Bristol’s Biggest Bike Ride and cycled 13 miles along the Avon Gorge Loop. Stephen competed in the Gatorade Big Half Triathlon in Stoke. It included a 2km swim, 90km bike ride and a half marathon run. Together Mair and Stephen raised a total of £650 in sponsorship. We appreciated their hard work and commitment in training and competing in their events and we were thrilled with the money that they raised for the ongoing work of the Centre. Congratulations, well done and thank you both.
SCHOOLS WORK – evaluate…informing choice This summer has been a busy time for the evaluate schools team. Barbara, Penni and Debbie have each week given up many of their evenings rehearsing the presentations. Val Macfarlane has been busy contacting all the local secondary schools and this resulted in the team being invited to Monkton Coombe School in Bath do two presentations, “This is Your Life” and Sex/How Safe? We have had an encouraging response from the schools and are looking to the new term in September to develop this work in the South Gloucestershire area.
In July, five volunteers went to King’s Park Conference Centre in Northampton on a four day intensive residential course to train as educators to compliment our existing team. We were really excited that these ladies wanted to join the team and were able to commit themselves to doing the training. We feel that we now have a strong team and can offer local schools an excellent sex and relationship programme that fits into their PSHE programme of the national curriculum.MISCARRIAGE SUPPORT A number of clients have contacted us in recent months for support following a pregnancy loss. This is a very traumatic time for women and their families and we have been able to offer one to one counselling and group support for them. We have had guest speakers from the Bristol Miscarriage Support Group and one of the Early Pregnancy Nurses from St Michael’s Hospital, Bristol. Their expertise and experience has been greatly appreciated.
Dr Jenny Schaefer from Nailsea ran a training evening for us on the topic of grief and loss. Counsellors from Devizes and Chippenham joined us for the evening and it was encouraging to meet and develop links with them.J.J. and Zebedee to join in with a new advertising campaign Over the coming months two Yate and Chipping Sodbury community transport buses with very unusual names are to join forces with The Willow Tree to help us with raise the profile of the centre by carrying our advertising material on their sides.
These buses travel miles each week across Yate and into Bristol transporting local people. They will promote our services and raise our profile in the local community.
We are continually looking for new ways and ideas to advertise, as we are aware that people cannot access our service if they don’t know where we are and how to contact us.
FUTURE EVENTS
ELVIS PRESLEY DISCO NIGHT We are planning to hold another disco night in November to raise funds for The Willow Tree. This promises to be a really fun evening where you can invite all your friends. Once all the details have been finalised we will let you know. ONE DAY
CONFERENCE – FEBRUARY 2006 We are arranging a one day conference for 25 th February 2006. This will be held locally and we are pleased to say that David Lawrence has agreed to be our main speaker. We will also be inviting other speakers from CARE and leaders from other centres to come and share their vision with us.
Would You Like To Be Involved With The Willow Tree?
Have you a listening ear and compassionate heart?
Would you like to be a part of this growing team?
The Willow Tree is looking for men, women and young people to train as volunteer counsellors to offer impartial help and support to those in crisis pregnancy or following a miscarriage, stillbirth or an abortion.
For more information and an informal chat please phone Joy 01454 314074 or 01454 324080.
We are very grateful to everyone who supports the Willow Tree in practical ways and by offering their time to help with the smooth running of the centre. Your support enables us to offer effective care to the people in this community in crisis pregnancy situations.
Together we can make a difference
FUNDING ~ We are very thankful for the support and generosity of individuals, businesses, Trusts and local councils. We still need financial help for the daily running of the Centre and are looking for individuals and businesses to share our vision for the ongoing work. If you feel that you would like to contribute on a regular basis or would like more information, please contact Anna 01454 324080 or 01454 329883.
Spring 2005 Newsletter
Spring is an encouraging season as we see the bulbs coming up in the garden, bringing colour and cheer after the dark winter months. It is three months since we officially opened the Centre and we are encouraged by the number of people who have contacted us, either in person or by phone for counselling and support. We anticipate that the number of clients will increase in the months ahead as the Centre becomes recognised in the area.
ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN We have considered various ways to publicise and promote the work of The Willow Tree within our local community and further afield. We decided that advertising on buses would give us a cost effective and flexible promotional campaign to achieve mass coverage. We have bought advertising space on the back of ten buses. Every day the South Gloucestershire buses travel approximately 100 miles in and around Bristol/South Gloucestershire. This we believe will raise the profile and public’s awareness of the service we are offering and the campaign is due to start on 21 st March. Please look out for our ads, as we would appreciate your comments and feedback.
We also want to advertise inside the buses so that we can capture another audience. It is estimated that 60% of bus travellers are women and 75% of all journeys are made by young people under 21 years. We have approached some local businesses to see if they will consider sponsoring us and, if successful, we hope that our posters will be in place within the next few months.
SCHOOLS WORK We have now launched our schools programme called ‘evaluate…informing choice’. In October last year three volunteer ladies attended the CARE for Education residential training course to deliver a Sex and Relationship Programme, which has been produced specifically for secondary schools. Good and effective Personal Social & Health Education (PSHE) underpins the national curriculum and is of vital importance in helping young people reach their full potential.
In February, Val Macfarlane joined the team as Administrator/Co-ordinator. Val is contacting schools to tell them about ‘evaluate’ and booking dates for presentations. This is an exciting time as we look not only to empower young people to make healthy informed choices, impart information about pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and contraception, but also to support them in delaying sexual experience until a committed relationship, ideally marriage.
If you are interested in joining the ‘evaluate’team there will be another training course running from 11 th – 14th July, which is being held at Kings Park Conference Centre, Northampton. Please contact either Val (01454 322921) or Anna (01454 329883) for further details
BRISTOL HALF MARATHON This year the Bristol Half Marathon will take place on 2nd October. We are planning to enter a team of runners and walkers. Last year we were delighted that the team raised £819.20 for the Willow Tree. We hope that this year the team will do equally as well. If you would like to join the team contact Anna Blaber (01454 329883).
FUNDING We are very thankful for the funding we have received from the YMCA, Trusts, local councils and businesses. We are also very grateful to those who are committed to supporting us financially on a regular basis. This helps us to budget for the regular monthly outgoings that are essential in the running of the centre. If you feel able to help in this way please contact us for our bank details and information about gift aid.
We have made an encouraging beginning to 2005 and with your continued support we can reach out to those in crisis pregnancy.
Let us look forward expectantly to the months ahead, working together so that we can make a difference in this community.