News

Bread making

We're so thankful to David Francis for once again hosting a bread making course for our Lifeline residents and staff. His weaves the Gospel into his artisan bread preparation which is informative, clearly explained and the results are of course, delicious! Excellent results from everyone, well done 😋🥖🍞

 

Lifeline resident's lovely new property

So amazing to get this wonderful message and see such a great outcome with Suzanne moved on from Lifeline into such a beautiful independent property.

"Just wanted to say a huge thank you from the bottom of my heart for literally saving me.
You do some amazing work and you truly are a Lifeline to many.
My life has turned full circle since Lifeline housed me and I would most definitely not be in the place I am now.
You eternally have my gratitude and I am always willing in the future to help and support Lifeline in any way I possibly can.  Suzanne"

 

Creative drawing class

We love our resident Richard's drawing that was finished in today's creative drawing class, beautifully done.

New member of staff

We're all delighted that one of our former residents Stuart Edwards has begun working for Lifeline. Stuart's journey from homelessness and addiction has been a tough one, but with the help and support he's received along the way and the hard work he's put in, means he's now ready, and very willing, to help others who are on that same journey 🙏. It's been an honour to be a part of his recovery, alongside The Carpenter's Arms and his family & friends.

 

Celebration evening

We've had a wonderful, fun & relaxed time at our first Lifeline Celebration evening, giving out awards and certificates to our residents for their educational & meaningful activities achievements. We're so proud of them all! 

Thanks to all our staff, volunteers and trustees who were able to attend, and helped to make the evening so special.

Lifeline Residents get creative

We're very thankful to Ruth, our admin officer and self-confessed Lego fanatic, who hosted this morning's Lego workshop as part of this week's peer support group.

The main challenge was to create and then race Lego vehicles, with some great results! Everyone really enjoyed the session.
 

 

Lifeline on BBC Look North

Did you see us on BBC Look North Yorkshire this evening and at lunchtime? Thanks to the amazing charity Dentaid, 8 of our residents received essential dental health care this morning, including several teeth being removed. Dentaid come to Harrogate every 6 months and we know for sure this vital work can be life saving! One of our former residents nearly died when he was with us a number of years ago, due to a severe abscess that required emergency treatment at York hospital. Thankfully he made a full recovery 🙏
Thanks to our funders who make these visits possible.
 

New house for Scott

Such great news this week that we have been able to work with North Yorkshire Council to find Scott a brand new home (Scott pictured outside)! Scott is absolutely delighted and he will now be able to have his cherished dream of his son staying over with him. It's also great that Scott wants to keep in touch with Lifeline and we will keep supporting him to make sure he makes this transition a successful one.

 

Lifeline resident's Gold volunteering

We love it when Lifeline residents make a real difference. Neil volunteered with a friend at Harrogate Flower Show and told me that the work he was involved in received the Premier gold, the best in the show and best planting on the air ambulance stand and a high gold for the hospital garden! Well done Neil great work! 😊👍

Football for fitness

In a short space of time Football on the Stray has become such a big thing at Lifeline. This is every Wednesday and is the inspiration of Andy Lynch, our Senior Housing & Support Officer. It is really bringing everyone together and we have some volunteers coming along too.

 

Lunch Club

We had a full house at our fortnightly lunch club today, with the fab team from Restore York joining us, with some of our residents & volunteers! It was great to be able to invite them over in response to our visit to them earlier this year. Lots of good conversations, delicious food and encouraging news stories about what's going on in our respective projects 🙏💕😊

Corn Close Care Farm

A few of our residents had a wonderful trip to Corn Close Care Farm which specialises in trips for adults and children in vulnerable groups. The hands on connections, feeding and tending to the animals, was a huge boost for all! They do such an amazing job there and we're thankful to all the staff who were so supportive

 

Property improvements

We are really pleased with two major pieces of work on our properties. On one we have had an extension incorporating a downstairs toilet and utility area and on the another one we have had the garden area completely redone with a patio area, new lawn, a repositioning of the shed, two raised beds and a new gate.

January wellbeing day bowling in York

We had our first Lifeline resident, volunteer and staff 'wellbeing' day out event for 2024 which was ten pin bowling in York.

It was a great success, featuring a great turnout, some great chat, competitive bowling and a lovely meal afterwards!

 

Christmas Hampers

We are once again SO thankful to Harrogate RoundTable for their wonderful organisation & donation of Christmas hampers to each of our 18 residents.

Lunch club 'On Tour'

We had our twice monthly lunch club courtesy of Resurrected Bites cafe at Killinghall Methodist Church today, due to works being done at St George's community centre.
The food was superb! What an amazing venture at these 'pay as you feel' cafes in our area, and thanks to all those who cooked, served us and made us feel welcome, and to Ron the minister 🙏

 

Well done Mason!

We wanted to mark an amazing achievement for one of our residents this week. On Wednesday, one of the hottest days of the year Mason set off at 6am to walk the Lower Nidderdale Walk. This is 41 miles of tough terrain and it was 16 hours later when he completed the walk.
It is great to see residents recognising the benefits of exercise and being outdoors in the amazing countryside we have all around us, but this was something else. Well done Mason we are really proud of you!
We are also so pleased that Mason is really grasping the opportunities that supported housing brings and is engaged in a number of volunteering opportunities like Resurrected Bites and Mind in Harrogate District working with them on their allotment.
A life that was heading in the wrong direction is now one where there is real hope for the future.

Homelessness talk

Carl did a really thoughtful presentation of homelessness in the children's talk at our church on Sunday, stamping on and then dipping a new £10 note in soil, ketchup and water to 'give it a hard time', but then asked the children how much is it worth now?
All to demonstrate how we are always valuable in God's eyes, no matter what we've been through. Also by revealing his 'outfit' later, and showing that he's still the same Carl, despite the tatty clothes and if he was on the streets 💕🙏😊

 

Garden tidy up

The front garden of one of our houses looking great this morning!

Day at the seaside

We've had an amazing monthly wellbeing day trip to Saltburn today! The weather was far better than expected, real warmth in the sunshine, especially good for those who went sea swimming.

 

Volunteer Evening

We've had a great volunteers evening at Jinnah, for new and existing volunteers.

We're so thankful for these special people who are so willing to give their time to help our residents! 🤗🙏

Charity Collection Day in Harrogate

We've been the chosen charity of the day in Harrogate today.

There have been great conversations, fund raising connections made, some generous donations and lovely people stopping to chat, encourage us, ask questions and offer to volunteer with us.

We're thankful to Mick, Jade, Tommy, Ruth & Vic for helping; friends who came to see us, and to all those who supported us! 🥰

 

Green Pastures Conference

We've had a wonderful two days at The Hayes Christian Conference centre with Green Pastures annual partner conference! The weather was incredible once again in this stunning place.

We met wonderful people and had encouraging, inspiring, challenging & uplifting talks with praise and worship throughout our time there

10th Anniversary Celebrations

Friday 9th June was our Lifeline celebration event for 10 years of providing supported housing. 

It was a wonderful evening with over 90 guests attending representing residents, past and present, staff, also past and present, volunteers, trustees, Green Pastures (who buy the Lifeline houses), donors, supporters and contractors, and our very special guest, the High Sheriff of North Yorkshire, Clare Granger.

In short everyone who has contributed to Lifeline’s first 10 years! Thank you for everyone's support!

 

Could you be our next volunteer?

We are always so grateful to our volunteers and the difference they make. Pictured here is Georgie, who is also co founder (with her OSCAR for her Lifeline volunteering!). Would you be interested in joining us? Full support and training is given and we would always link in ways you are involved to fit in with your own interests and passions.

If you would like to find out more please ring Deborah Britz on 07778 032625 or email her on deborah.britz@lifelineharrogate.co.uk.

Fountains Abbey wellbeing outing

Our wellbeing day out this month was to stunning Fountains Abbey, and the sun came out for us as we walked around! These days out are so beneficial to all, getting fresh air & exercise of course, but also reducing stress, building up relationships between residents, staff and volunteers, and often allowing time & space for good conversations in a relaxed environment

 

March Wellbeing outing to RHS Harlow CArr

It was our Lifeline monthly meaningful activity outing today and so it was a real blessing to residents, staff and volunteers to be given free Charity tickets to enter the stunning RHS Garden Harlow Carr.Thanks so much to them.
We took our time and had an enjoyable stroll round, with the 'youngsters' amongst us even enjoying some of the children's play ground! A wonderful day was capped off at the amazing Paul's Cafe where we had a lovely round of sandwiches, savouries, crisps, cake and coffee - what's there not to like!

Fruit, Veg & Food boxes

We are so grateful to the wonderful Local Fund Harrogate District for a £2,400 grant to provide fortnightly fruit, veg and food items to our 6 houses.

We have partnered with Roots & Fruits, an independent, family-run greengrocer and farm shop offering Yorkshires finest produce and fine food on King Edwards Drive in Harrogate, who will prepare and deliver the boxes to our residents.

Thank you to everyone who contributes to the Local Fund to make things like this possible!

 

Green Pastures Visit

We had the pleasure of hosting Jonny and Sue yesterday from Green Pastures. Green Pastures have bought all six of our Lifeline houses and so we would not be here if it wasn't for them so we really appreciate all the amazing support they give us.

10th Anniversary

Georgie and I had a quiet lunch out at the wonderful Queens Head - Kettlesing to reflect on our 10th anniversary on Sunday of housing people at Lifeline. It has been quite a ride and the ride does not get any smoother but we are still here and lives are still being changed.

Thanks for your support

 

February Outing

We really couldn't have asked for a more perfect day for this month's outing, a walk around beautiful Swinsty reservoir! It was lovely to have residents, past and present, with staff and volunteers, enjoying the sunshine, scenery and the ducks!

Our wonderful Lunch Club

We started the lunch club in our first year of operations and we have to say that every single one has been brilliant, a real blessing. We are so thankful we have St Georges Youth and Community Centre who continue to wonderfully host us.

We have loads of room, a fully equipped kitchen at our disposal, a large screen TV, a pool table and it is a relaxed place in the centre of town but still nicely tucked away. 

 

Benefact Trust 'Brighter Lives'

We are really pleased that The Benefact Trust 'Brighter Lives' grant is making a positive difference to our charity as we are now able to fund counselling sessions for our residents to help them address physical and mental health problems and work through trauma resulting from earlier life experiences.

Dentaid

Knowing how important good oral health is for our overall health it has been very frustrating for us and for our residents that they haven't been able to find a dentist in this area, or indeed in the wider area. We were therefore very interested to hear of Dentaid who provide a mobile dentistry service and were excited to be able to book their services for the day. With the very kind assistance of Life Destiny Church and Living Room Starbeck we were able to have the van located there for the day and nine residents received much needed treatment! John is pictured outside the van just after his treatment had successfully concluded!

 

Climbing wall

We had such fun today at Parthian Climbing Harrogate for our November resident activity. We enjoyed 'bouldering' and then we went onto the main climbing walls with harnesses. Everyone found it much more physical than they expected and it was great to see people really pushing their boundaries of what they can do and also conquering a few fears along the way. By the end everyone was buzzing and it was great to share everyone's experiences over a coffee.

A kind gesture from 12th Harrogate (St Marks) Brownies

Wow! What a wonderful and kind gesture from 12th Harrogate (St Marks) Brownies to get together and put this amazing box of biscuits together for all our residents plus a pack of sweets for each house! We are sure they will be appreciated and enjoyed. Thank you! 😃

 

Annual staff and resident away day to Saltburn

We had a wonderful day out to Saltburn today! Chilly at first, but the sun came out and it was glorious. There had to be rounders, frisbee and catch on the beach...and of course fish & chips! The braver ones went swimming in the sea with wet suits. Good to get the sea air and relax in beautiful surroundings. We will all sleep well tonight!

6th house opening

New house update is that we are almost there! Thanks to some amazing work from Brian Anderson and the rest of the team, we will be ready to open to new residents next week. The house looks amazing and we pray that the start will be good and we will see more lives changed. Thanks as always to Green Pastures for their fantastic support!

 

Summer Picnic

This is how you have a picnic on the Stray! It was great to have our residents involved in making some of the food too...and we obviously had to run it all off with a rounders tournament!
We even had paper bags to take the left overs home. Thanks to our lovely staff/volunteers/helpers too, for all the effort to make this outdoor lunch club happen

‘Dave Bullock trophy’ go-karting event

Lifeline had its inaugural ‘Dave Bullock trophy’ go-karting event on Wednesday. Dave was a resident with Lifeline between 2015 and 2017, sadly dying in 2020 after a heart infection. Dave was a great favourite of ours, really doing well with Lifeline, gaining a college qualification in bricklaying and turning his life completely around. The trophy will be presented each year. Five residents battled it out on the track together with Andy Lynch, our support worker and Tommy, a volunteer of Lifeline. The final result being Tommy coming out first, Andy second and Justin third. Everyone was buzzing afterwards and wanting to do it again!

 

Carl's 500 mile charity bike ride

I am delighted to report that I completed my revised Lifeline fund-raising challenge last night and hence achieved 500 cycling miles for the month of June, at an average speed of 15.5 mph. I am pictured at the end! Our target is to raise £1,000 for the furniture and other requirements for our sixth Lifeline house which should complete any day soon. We would be massively appreciative of any donations which can be made at https://www.stewardship.org.uk/partners/20303580. I will give a final report next week. Thank you!

Lifeline - a day out on the farm

We have had a fantastic day out taking our residents to Corn Close Care Farm in Pateley Bridge. The concept is to enjoy the therapeutic benefits of spending time with the animals and helping in the day-to-day running of the smallholding. All six residents reported back that this was exactly what they experienced and that they really enjoyed the day. This is something we will be definitely doing again!

 

Christmas Hampers

We are so thankful to Harrogate Round Table for providing all of our 15 Christmas hampers this year! A big thank you to Faith & Ti who also contacted us and added extras to our boxes. 
We'd like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and thank you once again for all your support this year! 🥰 xx

Thank you to our Funders

We are so grateful for the Funders who have financially supported us in 2021!