Out & About July 2017

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The Community Furniture Project
Based in Bone Lane, Newbury and Joule
Road, Basingstoke, the furniture shops
collect unwanted items which are then
restored, reused or recycled and resold
to help support all the other charitable
initiatives undertaken by NCRC.
This doesn’t just mean support financially
either. The work undertaken to restore
and recycle items plays an integral role in the
Training and Community Support Centre’s
schemes.
The Newbury Community Resource Centre runs five different projects.
To find out more about the work they do visit
Training and Community Support Centre
The Training and Community Support Centre
(TCS) is an accredited training centre, with
10 qualified trainers and assessors, who
work closely with LASER Learning Awards,
focussing on its wide-ranging LEAP (Learning,
Employability and Progression) courses.
The centre hosts a number of workshops
where items donated to the CFP are
repaired and tested
before being resold.
It also specialises
in training in
warehousing and
logistics, offering
AITT (Association
of Industrial Truck
Trainers) accredited
courses in forklift
truck operating.
The TCS takes
referrals from West
Berkshire Council,
as well as families
and carers of those
in need of support.
It is not just focused on training however,
believing that a person’s social life is just as
important. It has set up a mixed ability football
team, that trains twice a week and plays in the
Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire
Inclusion League; has a small gym at its Bone
Lane centre; and also organises regular darts
and social evenings.
Its training has been recognised with awards
from West Berkshire Education Business
Partnership and West Berkshire Learner
Achievement Awards.
Growing 2gether is a project designed to give
people the chance to learn about and help to
grow a range of fruit and vegetables.
It offers volunteering and training opportunities
from its site at Cottismore, near Kingsclere.
The 1.5 hectare site also offers a place for
school visits or birthday parties, as well as
Forest First Nursery – an outdoor parent and
toddler group held on the first Tuesday of every
month from 9.30am until 11.30am.
The fresh fruit, vegetables and flowers grown
at Cottismore are also sold to help boost the
charity’s coffers.
Pulling Together
Pulling Together helps build the self-confidence
and self-esteem of people suffering from
depression and other mental health problems.
By offering a friendly and supportive social
network from its Newbury premises it hopes
to tackle feelings of loneliness and social
isolation. It offers people the opportunity to
engage in a range of activities that will help
them learn new skills and enter employment.
All of this is achieved thanks to an innovative
5-Step programme that has been developed
by NCRC.
The Renewal Project
This initiative focuses on the restoration of the
River Lambourn in Newbury and continues
the work started in 2009 by the Environment
Agency.
It aims to help restore the chalk characteristics
of the river, which has been designated a Site
of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and a
Special Area of
Conservation (SAC).
The nationally important
habitat offers the opportu-
nity for people to carry out
voluntary work, as well as
educational projects, such
as ‘Trout in the Classroom’.
The project works closely
with local schools to
promote awareness of
the river ecosystem
and wildlife and RAT
(river action team)
Pack events are run
during the holidays
from the Riverside
Community
Centre, in Newbury.
A Forest School is
now run from the
river in Shaw twice
a month.