Adventure Playground, City Farm and Eco Centre
Our annual report for 2013-14 is now available to view online as a low res PDF document – please click the link below.
New Ark Guide and annual report 2013-14
If you wish to receive a printed copy, please contact us on 01733 340605 or info@newarkplay.co.uk
There has been so much exciting fundraising news this week! Below is a handy summary for you – if you only do one thing for New Ark this week please vote for us in the YBS legacy.
YBS £10K Legacy
We need your help to get a £10,000 legacy grant from YBS group! Please go to www.ybs.co.uk/legacy and vote for “New Ark Play Association”, and let your friends know as we need as many votes as possible. If we are successful we will rebuild our outdoor play equipment including our climbing frame – fondly called the ‘banana board’ by the children – which is currently out of action.
Vote for us at Waitrose
New Ark is one of the 3 Community Matters charities this month in Waitrose, Queensgate. When you shop there the cashier will give you a green token – we’d love you to put it in our box on your way out of the store. The charity with the most tokens at the end of October gets the biggest share of £1,000.
Little House boxes
Our Little House fundraiser has brought in over £170 so far and boxes are still going out. Please remember to return your box by 31 October. More details at www.newarkplay.co.uk/little-house
Grow your tenner
Donate £10 to New Ark – we get £20! Local Giving is currently matching one-time donations pound-for-pound up to £10, and monthly donations up to £10 per month for 6 months. Donate now at www.localgiving.com/newarkplay
Indulgence Evening
Do you know anyone with a beauty or therapy business? We have a few spaces left for our Indulgence Evening on 7 November which are prioritised for treatment stalls. More details for stallholders are here. More details on the event itself are here – tickets (which include a light buffet) are available now costing £5 in advance or £7 on the night
Nationwide tokens
We’ve just heard that Nationwide in Long Causeway included New Ark in its September ‘blue token’ charity scheme. It was due to be taken down this week, but if anyone is in town this weekend please do pop in and vote for us if you’re able to. Customers are given a blue token to vote for one of 3 charities to receive £500. Fingers crossed we win something from it
Half marathon sponsorship
Last Sunday David Wilson (husband of Linda Wilson in playgroup) ran the Great Eastern Run to raise money so that we can buy a new carpet for our quiet corner, to help make it a cosy and inviting place to read books and talk. Thank David by making a donation here. Please remember to Gift Aid it.
Dates for your diary
Finally, remember we have our Christmas Bazaar on Saturday 29 November 12-4pm, and our next fundraising meeting is on Tuesday 11 November 1-3pm in Charlotte’s office. More details in next week’s newsletter
Double your donation to New Ark. You give £10 – we get £20!
Local Giving is currently matching one-time donations pound-for-pound up to £10, and monthly donations up to £10 per month for 6 months. So if you donate £5 to New Ark we get £10, and if you donate £10 we get £20! And if you are a UK taxpayer, remember to claim Gift Aid for us. This means that your donation is topped up by a further 25% by HMRC.
Donate now at www.localgiving.com/newarkplay
P.S. You can help us to raise awareness of the Grow your Tenner campaign by signing up to the Local Giving Thunderclap, which will go out on Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr on the 21st October. Remember to include in your message the address of the New Ark donation page, which is www.localgiving.com/newarkplay
**UPDATE** We are gutted to have to tell you that we didn’t get enough votes to make the final 15 of the YBS legacy fund, so we won’t receive a £15K legacy grant. Thank you to everyone who shared our status and tried to get us the votes. Now we are left having to make up all that fundraising ourselves if we are to be able to repair our outdoor playground structures, especially our currently unusable “banana board” which will cost £3k alone to repair. If you have any good ideas to raise money please do come to our next fundraising meeting on Tuesday 9th December from 4pm-5.30pm.
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Your vote can help New Ark get a £10,000 legacy from YBS group!
YBS group is going to provide 15 charities with a donation of £10,000 each to fund a specific project. New Ark has made the shortlist and we now need your help.
Voting will remain open until 31 October 2014 and 15 lucky charities will hear whether they are going to receive a £10,000 donation in November. Our intention is to upgrade and rebuild our outdoor play equipment, including the aerial runway, swings and the children’s favourite climber – fondly called the ‘banana board’ – which is currently out of action.
Our founder Elisabeth Buck MBE, commented: “We are thrilled that our project has been chosen to be part of the Yorkshire Building Society Lasting Legacy Fund public vote. We are now calling on all our supporters and members of the public to help us make a real difference to our community by voting for our project online.”
Now that the weather has turned autumnal, our children, playworkers and the animals are keeping warm thanks to a £6,000 grant from the Big Lottery Fund. The grant gave our own fundraising efforts a vital boost and meant we could complete this work during 2014, before the weather turned cold again.
Nikki Anderson, New Ark Playgroup Manager, said: “Many activities at New Ark take place outdoors in our adventure playground, city farm and eco garden – it is vital that everyone has a warm place to retreat to.”
The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery. It is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 it has awarded close to £6bn. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
**Update** David gained £105 for us in sponsorship donations, which will go towards buying a new carpet for our quiet corner. Hope you’ve recovered now David!
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David Wilson is running the Great Eastern Run on 12 October to raise money for New Ark. That’s 13.1 miles around the streets of Peterborough, plus weeks of getting up in the dark for training runs.
David is fundraising so that we can buy a new carpet for our quiet corner, to help make it a cosy and inviting place to read books and talk. Children at New Ark have access to the most amazing outdoor adventure playground, city farm and woodland garden. Help spruce up their indoor room and give David a virtual cheer by making a donation at this link today. Remember to Gift Aid it!
www.localgiving.com/fundraising/davewilsonnewark
** Update ** We are pleased to announce that a grand total of £679.52 was raised at this event on 7 November. Thank you to all the people who supported us. Pictures taken on the night have been uploaded onto our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/newarkplay
♥ Advance ticket £5 includes entrance and light buffet available (£7 on the night)
♥ All profits for New Ark – bring your friends for a night out!
♥ Please note that this is a cash only event
♥ Get your tickets from New Ark now – call 01733 340605 or email Charlotte on charlottenewark@gmail.com
Come and pamper yourself at New Ark’s Christmas Indulgence Evening, with all profits going towards our fundraising target of £15,000. We’ll have a licensed bar and seating. All stalls will be charging for their goods/activities – some are donating all their profits to us (we’ll give them a New Ark poster to display so you know). We will also be running a raffle, with prizes donated by our stallholders.
A list of confirmed stallholders is below – keep an eye on this page and our Facebook page for updates:
♥ A & K Sweet Surrender (chocolate and sweet creations)
♥ Angel Card Readings (card readings)
♥ Angels Whispering (card readings/auragraph)
♥ Ashwood Artisan Accessories (handmade gemstone jewellery)
♥ Bagalicious (handbags, purses, wallets & scarves)
♥ Body Shop (Body Shop products)
♥ Bombtastic (bath and shower products)
♥ The Craft (handmade jewellery & accessories)
♥ The Craft Nest (make up and jewellery)
♥ Daisy Loves (jewellery and accessories)
♥ Daniele Caked and Baked (cakes)
♥ Dream Nails by Rose (gelish manicures)
♥ Feel Better Reiki (reiki products/ massage
♥ Flutterby bags (handbags, purses, scarfs and accessories)
♥ Forever Living (aloe vera products)
♥ Frances Green (secure nails, waxing and Indian head massage)
♥ Funky Bows ‘N’ Things (hair accessories)
♥ Glitzy Glam (jewellery)
♥ Lily Lush (gelish manicures)
♥ Lucy’s Lollies (handmade lollies)
♥ Massage for the Masses (chair massage)
♥ Miss Cherry Retro (vintage inspired dresses, cushions and accessories)
♥ Nail Envy/ Herbalife (gelish polish/herbal shakes)
♥ Nessa’s Handmade Jewellery (jewellery)
♥ Paintbox (handcrafted unique felt decorations)
♥ Pampered Chef (cookware and kitchen gadgets)
♥ Partylite (candles, holders)
♥ Scrappysonia (jams, preserves and sweets)
♥ Simply Beauty (brows, eyelashes, spray tans, scents)
♥ Thai Foot Massage (foot massage)
♥ Top Tots Boutique (hair and baby)
♥ Treats and Eats (homemade gifts)
For more information about our charitable objectives see: www.newarkplay.co.uk/
If you want to book a stall, see www.newarkplay.co.uk/stallbookingndulgence
Do you run a business that offers beauty, therapy or gifts and treats? We are taking stall bookings for our Christmas Indulgence evening, which is on the evening of Friday 7 November 2014 in the Executive Suite at the POSH ground. This event will be widely publicised on New Ark’s website, posters, social media etc. This is an ideal opportunity to grow your business.
Stalls are £10 plus a raffle prize which should be a product or service from your business (our raffle prize list will be publicised). Or you can choose to donate all your proceeds from the evening to New Ark. To book, please email fundraising.newark@gmail.com and request a booking form (or download it from here). The form needs to be returned with your £10 booking fee by 30 September 2014. Stalls will only be allocated on payment of booking fee.
In case of query please contact: Charlotte Griggs on 01733 340605 or email fundraising.newark@gmail.com if non urgent.
We wanted to say a big thank you to all our staff and volunteers for your support, dedication, good humour and hard work during our recent Repairs and Maintenance week. We were delighted to received help from working parties from local companies Cummins and BGL, as well as our hard working staff and regular volunteers. We hope that all our children are noticing and enjoying the work completed – including painting, gardening, cleaning and the creation of some new play activities!
Our next Repairs and Maintenance week will be from 13-17 April 2015 – if you can help during that week please contact us on 01733 340605. The kind of things we need help with are:
• People to paint, clean, garden, sort and organise – both individuals and group working parties are welcomed.
• Donations of cleaning products including bleach, scourers, cleansers, cloths, etc.
• Unwanted tins of paint – unopened or recently opened
• Money, so that we can repair/replace anything faulty as we find it. You can make an online donation at www.localgiving.com/charity/newarkplay
We had a fantastic summer in the playground. Thanks everyone for making it so much fun.
Here’s a small selection of pictures showing some of the things we got up to…
