Choirs boost - thanks Dauntsey!

[Online PR for African slum charity Child of Hope]

The CoH school choirs are about to get a big boost in the form of new musical instruments – thanks to kind staff and pupils at Dauntsey Academy Primary School. They held a Night at the Musicals event… which raised £327 for the choirs.

Staff and children at the Wiltshire school – in the form of their own choirs – produced an amazing event featuring 16 great songs from popular musicals… ranging from Oliver and Mama Mia to Whistle Down the Wind and Les Miserables! There were even guest performances from former pupils.

Huge thanks to Miss Scott and everyone else involved! More pics

Tradesmen: 24/7 drive-up self-storage for your business

[Photography and online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

If you’re a tradesman that’s fed up with storing tools and stock in the garage, the bedroom and even the spare toilet, here’s your answer. In fact, if you’re that bad at storing your work stuff, this might even save your marriage!

We’ve got 120 external self-storage rooms – much loved by tradesmen for storing their stock, machinery and tools because they give ground-level, drive-up access any time, night or day… all year round.

It goes without saying that the area is totally secure and well covered with CCTV.

Look what else we lay on, free of charge:

• Access to forklift truck
• Goods-in service – deliveries can be taken on your behalf, saving you the need to be on site.
• Tea and coffee (during work hours).

Terms are easy-in, easy-out. You could even hire a post office box to give your business a more commercial feel. The rooms can be shelved out and all have easy vehicle access at ground level.

So, lots of reasons to get your work stuff out of the house and into self-storage. Don’t hang about… call us today and see if we’ve got a space available that’s just right for you. Better still, come and have a look… no appointment needed.

Ideal for tradesman, builders, market traders, site workers… even vehicle storage.

No monsters; and more business storage news

[eNewsletter for Store & Secure self-storage]

Here's the latest news and tips from your favourite Bournemouth self-storage facility! 

Click to read a web version of our newsletter. 

Mary is safe after arson attack

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Huge thanks to everyone who sent support for the families whose slum homes were burned down in an arson attack recently. One of the huts was home to a Child of Hope pupil and we ended up moving the family into a different home as they had no money.

Mum Mary had been on our IGA (business start-up) programme but was one of the rare cases where it didn’t work for her. She and her family had remained very poor, with no savings for a disaster like this, and with considerable social problems. They have no other family to help them. There are six people staying together… Mum, grandma and four children. 

So, Child of Hope stepped in and arranged for them to move to a house which couldn’t be burnt (it has an iron sheet roof). It is still very meagre (local bricks held together with mud, with a mud floor inside), but at least they are safe there and it’s just one minute walk from the school. 

In addition to paying the first three months rent for this small rented property, we also bought some housekeeping essentials – jerry cans for carrying water, basins for bathing/washing, sigiri charcoal stove, saucepans, bed sheets for the one mattress they all share and some food to get them going.  

This family is very vulnerable and with no official welfare or social service system to support them, they would be lost without external help from COH. It is likely that in order to keep them safe, we may have to continue paying their rent (£8 per month). This is a rare exception – normally we would ensure the family can start to get onto their feet so that they can look after themselves. 

Nice to help

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

We love helping charities and are proud to announce our three main charities for 2016… Lewis Manning Hospice, The John Egging Trust and the Biggin Hill Romania Group.

For these awesome charities, we happily provide discounted self-storage and help where we can with fundraisers and events.

We’re also very happy to provide discounted storage to a handful of other charities… including Ashley’s Birthday Bank and AOK Ruksack appeal.

For all these great organisations, we provide our business support package that includes:

FLEXIBLE STORAGE: As much or little space as needed… read more

STORE ANYTHING: Stock, office equipment, surplus, tools, returns, archives…

FREE GOODS IN: We receive deliveries, without anyone having to be there from the organisation.

SECURITY: The safety of our customers’ stuff is our top priority and we take it very seriously. Read more…

Elim leaders

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

In May we will be exhibiting at the Elim Church Leaders’ Summit at Harrogate, and hope to build on some great relationships among the 500+ UK and Irish churches represented there.

Child of Hope is an Elim-approved organisation… which means that Elim churches around the UK and Ireland can freely support us.

If you attend an Elim church, would you like to introduce us to your pastor? Ask him to visit us at our stand at the summit and have a chat!

We can offer your church overseas mission opportunities, visiting speakers from Uganda and a long-term partnership with a charity that’s helping families break out of slum poverty. Leaders and church members could gain first-hand experience of the developing world… on a mission trip, they could engage with our school, outreaches in the slum and local churches.

In the meantime, if any of your church leaders would like to talk about it, ask them to phone Alan and Diane Aylett on 01202 873353… and they'll be at the conference.

Financial gain from decluttering your office

[Photography and online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

It’s true… there are financial benefits from decluttering your workspace!

Who doesn’t like a clean, tidy workspace? It not only looks professional, but it can increase your profits… because a messy work area contributes to higher levels of stress and lower levels of productivity. Clearing it up can boost your energy levels and let you think more clearly. 

A stress-free work area helps you stay motivated, you to do your job more efficiently and it boosts creativity. And a more productive work environment allows you to concentrate on your work and thus increase your profits.

• You’ll be more efficient – because there will be less time spent searching for misplaced files, papers and other items, so more time devoted to making money.

• You could even lower your tax bill by keeping on top of receipts and paperwork and not missing money-saving deductions on your taxes.

• You can avoid duplicate purchases by knowing what supplies you already have on hand.

• You can get paid more promptly, because a streamlined system will help ensure you are invoicing all your clients and getting paid in a timely fashion. And keeping your documents and paperwork organised will save you time when preparing that tax return.

Big thanks to Freelance Factfile for much of this information… to read the full article, click here

Where does self-storage come in? It helps you clear space by letting you store things somewhere else, but still always available. Things like documents, tools, furniture and stock - stuff you don’t want to lose, but that doesn’t need accessing immediately. It’s very low-cost… e-mail us or telephone us today on (01202) 520 220 for details.

A much better chance of finding work

[Online PR for slum charity Child of Hope]

Finding a good job when they finish education will help break the cycle of poverty for many of our Ugandan slum schoolchildren… it’s one of our major aims, of course.

We recognise that not all our kids will make it to secondary school, so we’ve ramped up our vocational training sessions for some our our older, less academic pupils. For them the priority is less about education and more about gaining some skills that will help them find work, or even an apprenticeship when they leave primary school.

Our new course combines daily practical training with basic maths, English, computer, money and life skills. The vocational training includes carpentry, tailoring with our tailor Sarah and traditional crafts with staff member Vicky. The boys in the picture have been making money boxes with one of the dads, Peter Mayeku.

For more pictures, click here

Mariko excels to get to secondary school

[Online PR for Africa slum charity Child of Hope]

Mariko has just started secondary school and he’s feeling pretty chuffed with himself. He’s a young man who’s had a tough start in life and has struggled with being orphaned, being let down, negative peer pressure and a lot of struggles. But life is heading in the right direction and he’s determined to keep going.

Mariko is 14 years old. He can’t remember anything about his father. His mother moved to Namatala with him and his three siblings when he was just a few years old, so all he can remember is living in a slum. His mum struggled to send him to primary school but after the first year, she ran out of money and he had to stay at home whilst watching his mates go off to school every day.  Another local charity then offered to help pay for his primary school fees.  

During this time, his mother died. Child of Hope stepped in to help with accommodation and food, etc (as they were already sponsoring his sister) but requested the other charity to continue with his education fees. However they also ran out of money and so, although he’d managed to reach P7, he only completed the first term. Again he was stuck at home … and getting into bad company. He would spend every day hanging out with dubious friends and getting into trouble. 

Meanwhile, his sister (Daidai) was doing well under the care of Child of Hope. Of course, our welfare team couldn’t bear to see her brother struggling… so we decided to make an exception. We checked Mariko’s academic ability and realised that he needed to go back and repeat P6 before trying the final and important year of primary education. 

This time, Mariko worked hard... read more

Slum life: Now Joyce Mary can pay her bills

[Online PR for charity Child of Hope Uganda]

After two of her children died, Joyce Mary was left raising four grandchildren… and was struggling to make ends meet.

But since the start of her IGA business around 20 months ago, she can afford to pay for two children to attend local schools, while another attends Child of Hope school for free and the fourth child is still at home with her. She is extremely happy that she can look after them all, providing clothes for them, paying the rent, buying water and getting charcoal for fuel to cook.

Joyce Mary joined our Income Generating Activity (IGA) scheme when she needed to find a way to support them. Now she buys rice from the local factory and carries it home on her head to sell at her stall. It sounds hard, but it’s easier work than her previous job picking potatoes. She says her life today is free from stress and worry especially about the future.

You can read more about Joyce Mary’s story in a previous news post, because she is the lady who helped us rescue baby Peter after his mum’s death. That was just before we helped her start her business and found her a new home.

To read facts and figures of the social impact of our IGA work... click here. And if you’d like to help change a mum's life by giving a business start-up grant of £25, click here!

Mud hut arson hits the poorest

[Online PR for Africa slum charity Child of Hope]

Last night more than 20 huts were deliberately burnt in Namatala – families woke up with burning embers falling on their heads and were just able to escape with their lives. 

This despicable act hits some of the poorest families, who weren't able to save any of the few belongings they call their own. At this stage it’s not known who is to blame.

We think only one of our families was directly affected and today we organised to move them to a safer house and replace some of the bare essentials. Frustratingly, this this is one of the homes that a team from the Lighthouse Family Church worked on when they were here last year repairing the roof.  

We are also giving out donated clothes to the various families that have been affected. 

Stuart to run London marathon

[Photography and online PR for Groveley Precision Engineering]

Groveley’s operations manager Stuart Leaper is to run the London Marathon in April to raise funds for Poole Hospital Charity.

It’s his first-ever marathon and he’s training hard, running every other day and gradually increasing his distance. He’s on a tough 16-week regime to get him up to speed.

Stuart aims to raise in excess of £1,500 for for the hospital, where 15 years ago he had life-changing surgery for his hearing. Both his children were born there, too.

He has always wanted to run the London Marathon, especially since his wife ran it in 2015.

He has set up a JustGiving page for people who want to sponsor him… could you cheer him on by visiting the page and making a donation? Here it is… www.justgiving.com/stuartleaper

Online business success

Photography and online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

We’re really pleased to have helped online business The Basket Company in its early days – it was so successful that it moved out! 

The company grew fast and soon needed its own warehouse and offices, which it moved into last year in nearby Ringwood. It’s now one of the UK’s largest online wicker basket retailers, selling to the public and trade (hotels, restaurants, pubs, etc).

The Basket Company has nearly doubled in turnover since moving into its 3,500 sq ft premises. It has expanded into homeware as well as the ever-popular basket ware and is about to launch a new website. Some of its basket sales are seasonal…over the winter log baskets have been big sellers, soon that will swing to Easter baskets and then to picnic baskets.

For three years the company hired two large storage rooms with us, while working from an office and packing department just five minutes away from Store & Secure.The flexibility we provided – of expanding its storage for seasonal demands – was very useful and at one point the company was hiring three large rooms.

We received deliveries and moved them to its storage area, where its staff would each day unpack goods, check them in, pick the orders for delivery that day and take them to their own packing department for sending direct to customers.

Director Ian Newey said: “The storage rooms at Store & Secure were just right for us at the time – the flexibility allowed us to grow well while keeping our property overheads to a minimum. The free goods-in service saved us a lot of time, and we used it for returning faulty goods too.”

Check out The Basket Company online – its range of basket ware and homeware is wonderful!

Jo’s marathon

[Online PR for Africa slum charity Child of Hope]

Kind Jo Smith is raising funds for Child of Hope by running in the Surrey Half Marathon on March 13.

Jo came across Child of Hope after her dad visited the school in 2015 and, as a teacher, she was really interested in how the children are educated in Uganda, as well as how they overcome daily challenges.

She said: “Bex came to visit the school where I teach last year and held an assembly for all our children, telling them what Child of Hope is, and this inspired many of our girls. Since then, my Year 6 girls have written letters to some of the pupils who attend Child of Hope school and there has been a little correspondence between the two sets of pupils, which is fantastic! A little overwhelming for both parties I think! Bex and I also set up a Skype session where both classes had the opportunity to chat to one another, again, very moving. 

“Rydes Hill Preparatory school has chosen to help Child of Hope school on a number of occasions and I feel every little helps – so I'm rallying all my friends and family to find a little to put a little bit more into the outstanding school in Uganda.”

If you’d like to support Jo and cheer her on, you can easily donate to her Child of Hope appeal on JustGiving… click here: www.justgiving.com/Jo-Smith32/

Any monsters around?

[Online PR for Store & Secure self-storage]

Nope, there are no monsters lurking in the corridors of our self-storage facility… you know how we like to keep it clean and bright…

But this facility in America might have a few – because the building is the former design studio of legendary animatronics and special make-up effects artist Rick Baker in California, who retired last year. He’s the guy who designed and built iconic monsters for movies such as Gremlins and Men in Black.

He also made puppets, models, moulds and suits for dozens of other films such as Harry and the Hendersons, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Planet of the Apes, Batman Forever, Coming to America, and The Nutty Professor!