Contacting us: For more information on Friends First or anything featured in this Newsletter, please contact Serena Crisp (Communications and Marketing) on Serena.Crisp@friendsfirst.org.uk or 01273 840888

Transform Lives; Cultivate Talent; Release Potential Our aim is to transform lives by supporting individuals to recognise and cultivate their talents and abilities; releasing them to achieve their full potential, gain employment and ultimately sustain independent living.

Brighton Marathon Our fantastic Brighton Marathon and Mini Mile runners raised over £3,000 for Friends First. The next marathon is on the 6th April 2014 and four of our amazing trainees have already signed up: watch this space for details of how you can support them! The Mini-Milers were particularly outstanding in raising funds and awareness for us and we would love to encourage more children to be involved next year. Mini Mile entries will open in October.

Ways to get involved: If you are either a Brighton based teacher/governor/connected with a local school, we’d love to meet up to discuss how more children can be involved in making a difference within their community through the Brighton Mini Mile. Or, if you already have a place, why not consider running for Friends First?! For more information

please email serena.crisp@friendsfirst.org.uk

Building Friendships at Snowdonia Adrenaline, excitement and overcoming fears!!! Some of our trainees visited Snowdonia in June this year; organised and led by Danny McBride, Nigel Waller and Jim Hibbert. On the first day, they climbed 2861Ft, with the final muscle-toning and endurance-building challenge being the ascent up 3560Ft Mount Snowdon. One of our trainees, normally petrified of heights, found himself able to conquer his fear and said “The main highlight of the whole trip for me, was being able to get to know everyone”.

The Mayor visits Friends First It was a delight to welcome Mayor Bill Randall to the Friends First offices and our soon-to-be-launched Urban Enterprise Centre, which was busily being painted by our team including those we are supporting! Mr Mayor (who likes to be addressed as Bill) was so enthusiastic about our projects and future developments. Bill has a heart-felt desire to support people who are homeless, socially-isolated, and unemployed. He spent many years building connections with similar organisations to ourselves and was able to offer us some encouraging insights; which was so helpful. Bill has now completed his term as Mayor. However he is still Chair of the Housing Committee and Lead Member for Communities & Equalities within the council. We expect we will continue to interact with him in his current roles.

British Airways Staff Visit Growing Together A group of ladies from British Airways took a day out from the office and out into the open air with the Growing Together team. The girls rolled up their sleeves, painted the cabin and tool shed and fed the chickens, whilst talking about the project and its benefits. The BA crew were astounded that our priority was not growing vegetables and making money but rather providing rehabilitation for those struggling in life. Their enthusiasm about their experience was so contagious that another team from BA are also interested in spending a day at Growing Together. These ladies submitted photos from the day to BA Avios’ internal magazine with information on what Friends First does. This is great publicity for the work we are doing!

TRANSFORMING LIVES TOGETHER.

Summer 2013

Blog www.friendsfirstcharity.wordpress.com please visit for further insight into FF with regular stories and updates. Twitter www.twitter.com/Friends First Follow Friends First on twitter.

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Cake Time Friends of Friends First kindly donned their aprons and whisks and baked up a storm for the Kemp Town Carnival! We made over £300 selling the cakes. The best cake award went to the lovely Grace, a Friends First life coach, for her delicious homemade Guinness and Chocolate Cake = divine!! Ways to get involved: If you like baking/cooking, do consider having a stall at one of the many carnivals/events in Brighton whilst raising funds and awareness for Friends First.

RAG “Take me Out” This event was a roaring success with RAG and Enactus, student associations, working together. They raised a total of £1056. Many thanks to fundraising champions Alex Pole & James Wood.

Football fundraiser The football match raised £350 for Friends First! One of the players, Darren, who is also one of our trainees said, “The weather and the atmosphere were superb”. The end result was a 2-2 draw, with everyone leaving in high spirits, after enjoying a great time being part of a team to raise money for charity!

Move-on Story Aiden resided at one of our supported houses and has now successfully achieved independent living. Her life coach, Grace, worked alongside Aiden to develop a personalised plan to enable her to reach her future goals and aspirations. Grace ascertained that Aiden’s ultimate desire was to work with children and therefore connected Aiden with the YMCA’s volunteer programme. Here Aiden was able to achieve her childcare qualification. A couple of months later, Aiden became eligible for a nearby council flat. Assisted by Grace, she moved from the supported house last year and is enjoying working and living independently. Grace still continues to support Aiden through our resettlement programme.

Farewell to our Farmhouse Manager On behalf of all at Friends First we would like to say a huge thank you and farewell to our Farmhouse Manager; Nick Heasman. His energy, passion and dedication have made a huge impact in the lives of those he has supported and he has left a lasting legacy! Some of the guys he supported were at his official farewell BBQ and were able to say a few words. Amongst the words of gratitude were that Nick had gone beyond his call of duty and had supported the guys through crucial and pivotal times in their lives. We will miss Nick and wish him and his family every blessing in th

Women’s Day On Monday June 17th we launched a new venture at Growing Together: a women’s only day! Participating are vulnerable women from Friends First as well as women linked with other charities in Brighton and Hove, providing us a wonderful opportunity to share our resources with other organisations. The day provides an opportunity to bring a feminine touch to the site. We have been painting pebbles as row markers and soon will be collecting recycled materials to make wind chimes. Each week we have made healthy soups for lunch, using produce from the site, we have even made jam with freshly-picked blackcurrants! As a team, our prize moment was the completion of the weeding and trimming of a row of Sweet William flowers - it looked so pretty! The feedback has been very encouraging; one woman commented that the project has given her incentive to stop drinking. It is a real privilege to spend time each Monday with women who have a positive approach to work and a willingness to learn. We look forward to bringing you an update in the next newsletter. Lizzy Dalby (Women’s day co-ordinator)

Robin Hood Pub The Robin Hood Pub is not only an excellent pub but it is also a social enterprise. Any profits made are distributed to local charities. Friends First happily received a £500 donation from them. A huge thank you to them!

Pub Quiz Thank you to the Barley Mow, Kemp Town for hosting a pub quiz on behalf of Friends First. It was a great opportunity to raise the profile of Friends First within the community as well as raising funds. The May pub quiz raised £60. Ways to get involved: If you frequent a local pub in Brighton why not ask if they would consider running a charity pub quiz in aid of Friends First.

Facebook challenge We were challenged by an anonymous donor to raise 1000 likes on Facebook. We accepted the challenge; within three weeks, we had reached the target and were awarded £1000. Thank you to our anonymous donor!!

Make a donation Any donation, however large or small, is really appreciated. It's great to know we've got such wonderful individuals supporting FF to transform many more lives. Please visit www.friendsfirst.org.uk and select ’DONATE’. Alternatively you can contact Serena Crisp on 01273 840888.