ADVICE SERVICE ON BENEFITS AND HOMELESSNESS, September 2020
As lockdown eases the Advice Service is back working Tues & Thurs at the URC. This has had a positive impact on our clients as many are all coming back to service and we are booked up with appointments and new people that are emerging. We are able to continue with our Advice and Advocacy and are getting people coming from different boroughs for help. Our Food Bank is now being supported by Sainsburys West Wickham. This has been a much needed addition to our partnership teams. We have issued many food parcels. Our tea and coffee service is now being offered in take away cups but still needed and much needed social distanced chat over a cuppa. Our GP Service will be back as soon as it is possible for them to be here and safely. Read more in our July 2020 Advice Service Update from Kim.
As lockdown eases the Advice Service is back working Tues & Thurs at the URC. This has had a positive impact on our clients as many are all coming back to service and we are booked up with appointments and new people that are emerging. We are able to continue with our Advice and Advocacy and are getting people coming from different boroughs for help. Our Food Bank is now being supported by Sainsburys West Wickham. This has been a much needed addition to our partnership teams. We have issued many food parcels. Our tea and coffee service is now being offered in take away cups but still needed and much needed social distanced chat over a cuppa. Our GP Service will be back as soon as it is possible for them to be here and safely. Read more in our July 2020 Advice Service Update from Kim.
Following the planned closure of the Bromley Central winter night shelter in March 2020, our Chair of Trustees Angela wrote to convey our heartfelt gratitude to you all for your wide ranging and faithful support throughout another winter and into the year ahead. Read her letter here.
Waitrose have a Community Matters programme by which each month every Waitrose branch donates £1,000 divided between 3 local causes in proportion to customer votes.
On 25 February 2020, Waitrose Bromley South presented the Shelter with a cheque for £500. Thank you Waitrose and the customers who voted for us.
Top of the Pew church quiz contest
Grand Final was held on
Friday 22 November 2019 at
Emmanuel United Reformed Church
in West Wickham
The contest raised almost £1,835 to support the work of the Shelters to help homeless people in Bromley.
We're grateful Top of the Pew chose
Bromley Homeless Shelter
as its charity of the year!
The Central Bromley Homeless Shelter opened on Wednesday 13 November 2019. Bromley Mayor, Councillor Nicholas Bennett and his wife, Ruth, joined our guests for a meal and chat.
Thank you to all who took part in the shelter's Sleep-Out 2019
The many supporters gathered at Bromley Parish Church on 8 November 2019 enjoyed a wonderful meal, kindly provided by Tamasha Indian Restaurant in Bromley.
Some hardy souls then slept outside in the churchyard in solidarity with homeless people, disturbed only slightly by a curious fox in the night. Others slept indoors in the hall.
Many of those sleeping out were sponsored, raising valuable funds for the shelter's work to help homeless people in Bromley, not just during the winter months when the two shelters are open but supporting the all-year round advice service.
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Paul Duncan of Bromley Town Bowling Club presented us on 26 October 2019 with a cheque for £1700. On 11 August, members of the Bowling Club and Nuffield Health took part in fund-raising games of bowls and an auction to raise money for the work of the Bromley Homeless Shelter. Many thanks for choosing us as your charity and to all who took part! |
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Stuff Happens
by David Hare
7:45 pm, Thursday 10 October 2019
Bromley Little Theatre
Almost a full house enjoyed the charity preview of David Hare's satirical look at the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
We raised about £1,470 from the event. The Bromley Homeless Shelter thank BLT once again for their generosity in donating all the proceeds for the evening to the Shelter.
We held our Annual General Meeting as part of our Volunteer Information Morning at Bromley Town Church on Saturday 5 October 2019. The meeting approved the Shelter accounts for the July 2018 to June 2019 financial year.
The 2 shelters - in Central Bromley and
North West Bromley - closed in March
2019.
We held our Annual Meeting - including
our AGM and Afternoon Tea as a Thank
You to our volunteers - on Saturday
afternoon 30 March 2019 at Christ
Church, Beckenham.
The accounts for the financial year ending June 2018 were approved at the meeting.
Sleep-Out 2018
Thank you to all who joined us for the Sleep-Out on 16 November 2018 at Bromley Parish Church, raising awareness of homelessness and funds for our two Shelters this winter.
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"Entertaining Angels" 13/09/18 at Bromley Little Theatre We had a very enjoyable evening watching Bromley Little Theatre's play 'Entertaining Angels' to a near full house. It was full of laughter and comedy. The Bromley Homeless Shelter thank BLT for their generosity in donating all the proceeds for the evening to the Shelter. We raised approximately £1,400 from the event. If you didn't come to our benefit performance, we hope you managed to enjoy a later performance at the BLT. |
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We held our Annual General Meeting together with our Thank You tea for all our volunteers on Saturday 17 March 2018 at Bromley Baptist Church. Click here for the annual report for the year ended 30 June 2017, which was approved at the AGM. |
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Look at what the PRA Group went through in April 2018 to raise £750 for the Shelter!
They said “We here at PRA Group were proud to raise funds and support the Bromley Homeless Shelter by competing in Spartan Sprint race in early April. Much of our staff both live and work in Bromley and we take pride in supporting such a worthy organisation, that has an aim to help support members of our community in need. Our Spartan team members worked hard to complete the race and even harder to raise awareness and donations towards the cause.”
The company is also expected to donate a matching amount.
Thankyou
They said “We here at PRA Group were proud to raise funds and support the Bromley Homeless Shelter by competing in Spartan Sprint race in early April. Much of our staff both live and work in Bromley and we take pride in supporting such a worthy organisation, that has an aim to help support members of our community in need. Our Spartan team members worked hard to complete the race and even harder to raise awareness and donations towards the cause.”
The company is also expected to donate a matching amount.
Thankyou
The sponsored Sleep-Out on 3 November 2017 was a great success thanks to the CGL band, food donated by Tamasha Indian Restaurant and Havet Turkish Restaurant, Rotarians Peter and Keith cooking breakfast, Masons Fred and Andrew who kept awake all night to watch over the event and especially to 50 volunteers who endured the wet weather. Despite the weather, spirits were still good the next morning.
Financially, the results have been excellent. Credit card donations have exceeded our target £10,000 and we already know that there have been more than £1000 in cash donations. We can continue to expand our services as we strengthen our finances.
If you wish to support valiant volunteers, you can donate below.
You can also see an article about the event written by a young lady entering Newsquest's Young Reporter competition.
Financially, the results have been excellent. Credit card donations have exceeded our target £10,000 and we already know that there have been more than £1000 in cash donations. We can continue to expand our services as we strengthen our finances.
If you wish to support valiant volunteers, you can donate below.
You can also see an article about the event written by a young lady entering Newsquest's Young Reporter competition.
The former Chelsea Football Club player, Gianfranco Zola, has made a charitable donation of £4,000 to the Bromley Homeless Shelter through the Chelsea Football Club Foundation. On behalf of all our guests and clients, we thank Zola for his kindness.
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We thank the Lady Mayor and the Deputy Mayoress for organising an Irish Music Night on 2 September 2017 in support of the Shelter and Women's Aid.
Click to hear the music. |
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The Bromley Homeless Shelter is pleased to announce that the new Mayor of Bromley, Kathy Bance, MBE, has nominated Bromley and Croydon Women’s Aid and The Bromley Homeless Shelter as her charities for the year. Mayor Bance is a councillor for Penge and Cator Wards. She received her MBE for many years of work in the local community. For example, nearly 3 decades ago, she established Outreach for the Homeless, which operates from Penge Congregational Church. She has also supported the Bromley Homeless Shelter from behind-the-scenes and was a street pastor for 5 years. The list of her charity work is very long, so we are especially honoured that she would choose to nominate The Bromley Homeless Shelter.
The Bromley Little Theatre donated all the takings from the preview night of a performance on 9 February 2017. The proceeds from this performance raised over £1000 for the charity. Thank you BLT
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More help from Waitrose.
The Waitrose Community Matters Scheme at Green Street Green has raised £829 for the Bromley Homeless Shelter. Thank you Waitrose and all those people who dropped their green tokens into our slot. |
Bridge House Theatre collected over £3000 for the Bromley Homeless Shelter after their December performances. It was an amazing production and an amazing result for the Shelter
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Sleep-Out 11 November 2016
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The Sleep-Out was a great success. We enjoyed a curry donated by Tamasha Indian Restaurant before bedding down outside. The rain held off until we went for breakfast.
By Saturday afternoon, 12 November, our MyDonate site had received £5,680 in donations and surely there are more to come, now that sponsors know that the volunteers had achieved their aim of sleeping in the graveyard. There will be substantial cash donations to add to this. Thanks to all the volunteers who made this happen and to all their supporters. It was an insight into what it must be like to be sleeping rough, but in no way compares as we were safe, well equipped and we knew that it was only for one night and that we would be returning to our homes the next day. 
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Results of 2015/2016 Season
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Waitrose donates to the Homeless Starter Packs
On 2 November 2015, Anne Horner-Tree, right, received a cheque for £522 from Gillian Tarling, left, for our associate charity, Bromley Homeless Starter Packs, at the Waitrose store at Bromley South. Waitrose have a Community Matters programme by which each month every Waitrose branch donates £1,000 to local causes. Each shopper receives a token to place in a box of the good cause they’d most like to support. The more tokens a cause gets, the bigger the donation the cause receives. |
Charity Status
We are pleased to announce that the Bromley Winter Night Shelter was registered as a charity on 1 September 2015 under the name of THE BROMLEY HOMELESS SHELTER with the registration number 1163353.
This places the Shelter in a stronger position as it develops further to help the homeless. It will enable us to apply for Gift Aid, which will add 25% to all donations received. This is good news as we start to plan for our sponsored Sleep-Out on Saturday, 14 November.
The initial trustees are:
- Simon Jones
- Anne Horner-Tree
- Angela Short
- John Warren
- Ed Tree
Anne Horner-Tree, Starter Pack organiser and Robert who cooked the bananas Foster.
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Caribbean Evening 21 June 2015
This was a fun fundraising event for the Shelter's partner charity - The Bromley Starter Pack Scheme which provides homeless people who are being re-housed with basic household items so that they can sleep, wash and cook and also Daley Bred which helps youngsters with counselling. It was organised by the Bromley Rotary Club and held at Bromley Parish Church. We were treated to traditional Caribbean food of beans and rice, jerk chicken and mutton curry, whilst listening to a steel band and a singer/guitarist. This was topped off by ice cream and Bananas Foster (BBQd bananas with sugar and rum). About 120 people attended, among them was Donald Forde from the Crystal Palace Football Club Foundation who showed great interest in the Shelter and Starter Packs. |
Waitrose Give and Gain 15 May 2015:
The Shelter was represented at this event organised by Waitrose in Beckenham. The intent was to provide an opportunity for charities and local businesses to network. Several useful contacts were made. In addition, we learnt more about Waitrose's assistance to charities and we hope to make use of these in future.
The Shelter was represented at this event organised by Waitrose in Beckenham. The intent was to provide an opportunity for charities and local businesses to network. Several useful contacts were made. In addition, we learnt more about Waitrose's assistance to charities and we hope to make use of these in future.
Round-up of the 2014/5 season
The season went well with few problems. We opened longer than usual and our occupancy rate was higher. We filled 982 beds through the season. The guests stayed longer than usual due to the difficulty of finding accommodation. Of the 22 people that came to the shelter, 7 found longer term housing solutions and 5 found employment.
The financial squeeze has hit hard particularly with funding from Bromley Council being cut. There is no longer funding in Bromley for St Giles and St Mungo’s who previously provided support to find affordable housing for our guests. A challenge for The Shelter and Churches Together in Central Bromley is how we respond in a practical way to the need for affordable accommodation, the plight of homeless people and the difficulty of helping homeless mentally ill people.
The season went well with few problems. We opened longer than usual and our occupancy rate was higher. We filled 982 beds through the season. The guests stayed longer than usual due to the difficulty of finding accommodation. Of the 22 people that came to the shelter, 7 found longer term housing solutions and 5 found employment.
The financial squeeze has hit hard particularly with funding from Bromley Council being cut. There is no longer funding in Bromley for St Giles and St Mungo’s who previously provided support to find affordable housing for our guests. A challenge for The Shelter and Churches Together in Central Bromley is how we respond in a practical way to the need for affordable accommodation, the plight of homeless people and the difficulty of helping homeless mentally ill people.
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Waitrose at Burnt Ash donation
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Corporate Social Responsibility Expo
Donations
We would like to thank all those who have donated to the Shelter this year, which includes the following:
St Mary's Primary School, Beckenham, St Joseph's Church, St John the Evangelist, Waitrose at Bromley South, Waitrose at Burnt Ash Lane, Residents of Beverley Road, Locks Bottom, St Mary the Virgin, Margaret, Esquires Coffee, Godfrey, John, Thackray Williams, Manor Way Lodge, Alan, Langley Park School for Boys, Beckenham Cricket Club, Jan & Graham, Progressive Film Co-operative, Lesley, Monica, P J.
(surnames have been removed to provide anonymity, but you know who you are!)
St Mary's Primary School, Beckenham, St Joseph's Church, St John the Evangelist, Waitrose at Bromley South, Waitrose at Burnt Ash Lane, Residents of Beverley Road, Locks Bottom, St Mary the Virgin, Margaret, Esquires Coffee, Godfrey, John, Thackray Williams, Manor Way Lodge, Alan, Langley Park School for Boys, Beckenham Cricket Club, Jan & Graham, Progressive Film Co-operative, Lesley, Monica, P J.
(surnames have been removed to provide anonymity, but you know who you are!)
Crisis at Christmas 2013/2014
Our guests went to Crisis at Christmas for the first time this year from 23 to 30 December. At Crisis they are able to receive greater support than we are able to give them and we hope that this was a good experience. They not only received advice and support but also were entertained by top rate bands.
Five-a-side Football Tournament 16 Sept '14
Round-up of the 2013/14 season
2013/14 season training day
Summer Fete August 2013
Round-up of the 2012/13 season.
The Bromley Homeless Shelter, registered charity number 1163353
