Last week we held our first big soup event, having trialed them in Bodmin, about a year ago we now felt this was the time to go bigger and better. That we certainly did! With £500 cash and 12 months of business support, training and mentoring provided by UnLtd up for grabs.
A community soup is an event where people come together to build contacts and share what work they are doing in the local community, all over a bowl of soup which was very kindly made and supplied by Keep Cornwall Fed who wanted to support the way we were bringing real community benefit. We find food to be a great starter of conversations so coming together in this way is an amazing way of building your network. This is followed by a number of pitches by community groups which the public then vote on, deciding who wins the prize money, and in our case the business support as well.
We wanted to make sure that the event would be beneficial to everyone who attended and not just the winner of the pitches so the event was not just about pitching ideas but also building connections and growing networks, helping us create a community of people working for the betterment of their communities that supports each other in taking leaps forward.
With  SSE -School for Social Entrepreneurs, Par Bay Big Local, Eden Project Communities, local County Councilors among others in attendance the event also provided for the community groups and workers that attended the chance gain access to new opportunities and build their contacts, helping increase their capabilities as well as strengthening relationships between community groups and funders as well as promoting the support available that can help community projects expand their impact and potential.
The Group, Spy Squad, Gracefully Made CIC and Better Lives were the four groups that pitched at the event, for many of them this was their first pitching experience though, you would have never known. They were professional, clear and when questioned on their ideas everyone remained unflustered, an outstanding achievement in its own right. Weather they won or not, we are pleased that everyone found it a helpful experience.
Coming out on top of the vote and awarded with the £500 and 12 months support was Better Lives, a community support group for those struggling with mental health problems. “We are a new group which means this money will really lift us off the ground. We will be able to pay for training and DBS checks on all our volunteers instead of expecting them to find the money themselves.” said Jack, the founder of Better Lives.
“It’s important that our foundations are solid and our volunteers are looked after.” He added “The event was brilliant for all kinds of reasons but mainly boosted our confidence as a group and gave us a real belief in what we are doing. We gained some valuable contacts and the event helped us network for the future. An all-round pleasurable and motivating experience."
Jack says the support that has come from the soup was invaluable, as he prepares to facilitate the first public support group with the help of local volunteers this funding will allow them to focus on supporting the local community rather than trying to secure money to rent a room for their activities.
We are really happy that this event will help support a group like Better Lives and hope that the £500 will help them to achieve their ambitions. Jack done tremendously well, his ambition and drive to support those in his local community is inspiring and we hope that this result will allow him to take a big leap forward. We wish Better Lives every success with their Community Support Group, it's a brilliant idea and of course, we all have mental health so, good luck to them.
We want to help the people around us wherever possible and with a Community Soup we can not only support Community Projects with funding and business support but, we can also use this event to facilitate the building of connections, supporting others in working together for a greater impact. As a result we are pleased to announce that as this soup was of such huge benefit to those that attended, we now plan to scale it up and make even more of a difference, in Cornwall, with more regular Soup Nights and Community Networking Events planned into 2019."
If you would like more information about the soup nights, how to apply in the future or information about any of the groups who pitched for the money on the night then please contact us for more information.
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 And A couple of weeks ago we were approached by a fantastic org here in Cornwall and asked if we can help out in a time of need.
Little Wrens Wardrobe are a children's clothing bank for those in need and are based in Bodmin ( www.littlewrenswardrobe.co.uk ) and during the run up to Christmas they deal with a lot of referrals from social services and the foodbank among others.
This year they wanted to make it more personal, more uplifting to those receiving the essential items they deliver in their hour of need and this is where we came in and can help.
The need is for us to provide bags that Little Wrens can use when they pass over the essential items. Knowing the work we can do we were only to pleased to help and that we were asked. Our aim is to bring people together through textiles and this fits in perfectly with our aims. We can use this exercise to teach those who would like to learn, we can bring sewers together on a more social side and we can help people come together in ways that can combat loneliness and isolation while helping others in need.
We have put together 6 workshops over the next month to start things off.  We provide the space, the machines and the materials to make the bags. Some of the materials we have been using are Liberty, William Morris Inspired fabrics and a whole host of good usable fabrics we have been stashing away for just this kind of purpose.
The first workshop session was on Thursday 25th October and will continue for the next 3 Thursdays at Cornubia in Par. ( Contact us for more information.) In addition and through another group of ladies who wanted to help out with the bags and aimed at tackling period poverty we have 2 workshops sessions in Bodmin on the 30th October and the 6th November. These Tuesdays sessions will be held in the Community Hub at Kinsman Estate and we will provide all materials, machines and refreshments for those that join in. All abilities will be made most welcome and our skilled teachers will have you making bags before the evening is finished. If yo uare an experienced sewer then you will also be most welcome and we do need as many bags as we can make.
Our first session brought in 11 people aged from 11 to 72 and we made 15 bags on the evening. It was fun, full of purpose and they all want to come back next week.

As part of a course I went on in April, I helped volunteer to run a Swish event in Sheffield. I knew then that this was something I wanted to replicate on my return home to Cornwall. The event was amazing! Run by Common Thread, their Swish was run monthly attracting as many as 100 people each time. The spirit of joy and support that brought the community together around a topic that I am particularly passionate about… sharing. I loved it and I knew you would too.
On my return home I know I had to find a way to make it work in a way that would be supported by the local community and also worthwhile for us. It took until September but, finally, our first Swish, held in Par on the 29th September, and what a success it was.
1 pm had arrived and it was time to open the doors, my first surprise a que of almost 50 already waiting to come in, with clothes to swap by the binbag, any previous concerns around if the support for the event was there was instantly shattered and in all 107 people turned up, not bad for our first swish, even if I do say so myself.
The rails were full, the atmosphere was buzzing and the people were great, helping out where they could. We could not have done it without the helping hand of volunteers and attendees, so thank you. The challenge was getting everything out on the rails fast enough, with so much more clothing than we had ever contemplated the pile was certainly getting out of control at times but, eventually, we caught up with the staggering 452kg of clothes that came through the doors.
Considering everything we learnt from our first Swishing Saturday, we are now ready to use everything we have learnt to make the next events even better. With that in mind it is with absolute delight that we can announce the next Swishing Dates which are Saturday 3rd November in Bodmin and Saturday 1st December in Par.
Our next Swish will be in Bodmin on the 3rd November. Contact us for more details and how you can take part.

One of the last events we took part in September was a Youth Exchange on an Erasmus + trip to the Czech Republic.
We had the great chance to take 4 young people out to to spend 8 days with 26 other youth from around Europe.
The topic was Sustainable Development and again the knowledge these people had on sustainable futures and development was amazing.
We were a mixed group but had one thing in common; the desire to make a better future.
We took an artist, 2 musicians and a chef who mainly cooks for refugees and the homeless and we found each could share experiences, teach new things and work together brilliantly especially when it came to their presentation to the group.
The week was spent learning about other cultures and countries including Poland, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic and us from the UK.
We shared knowledge, gained new insights, made agreements on actions we would take forward, realised the problems faced were not so different from country to country and came away feeling that the youth have the chance to make change.
The exercises we took part in were all run through non formal education and were delivered in a very professional way that often you totally forgot you were learning. The facilitators had years of experience in delivery and this is one of the best projects we have been luck to be in partnership with.
We will be involved with more in the future we hope, both training programs and youth exchanges so if you would like to be involved in the future either in the UK or in Europe then please contact us.

We got something to share and we are a little bit in shock about it to be honest.
We have been recognised as a community group who has seized the opportunity to add value to our work by engaging creatively with business partners.
We are delighted to confirm that we have been shortlisted as a finalist for a Groundwork Community Award in the Best community partnership with business category. We have been invited to join the awards ceremony, to be held at the House of Commons, Westminster, London.
We Are Going To London !!
This has been a UK wide community award and we feel very humble to be recognised for our work. We love what we do and we are still in a little shock about the selection.