Julian Trust Newsletter
Autumn 2014
Welcome to our Autumn Newsletter 2014
What a brilliant summer as we pack our flip flops and sunglasses away for
another year, there’s been plenty of activity happening at the Shelter too!
As usual we closed for two weeks over August to do our usual spring clean as
well as some repairs and maintenance, so the building is looking sparkling!
This is also the first newsletter since we bought Julian House, so lots of exciting
things to come! This means we can be secure of our future and the building
is maintained to high standards for our guests for many years to come!
Photo ofthanks
the Party for your ongoing support.
As always,
The Trustees, x
(Jenny, John, Richard D, Richard M, Dush,
Joe, Geoff, Carrie, Stuart, Gloria, Rosie and Jo)
Big thanks to Victoria Park School
For the schools community
day, year 3 and 4 at Victoria
Park Primary wanted to do
something nice for homeless
people. After talking to a
volunteer at the Julian Trust
they decided they wanted to
give out presents. They
decided to give toiletries to
make a practical and useful
gift.
The pupils wrote off to all the
big supermarket chains and
received lots of donations.
They even decorated a trolley
and spent the afternoon
collecting donations at one
supermarket. They ended up
with 3 trolleys full.
toiletries, with special messages to
inspire and make people smile.
" Be the best you can be ", "Keep
Smiling"
They had a visitor from the Julian
Trust who explained how the
Julian Trust operated and
answered lots of questions, the
children were especially happy to
hear that we give out dog food,
they were very worried about the
guests pets!
The packs were given out over a
number of nights, the guests really
appreciated the gifts, especially
the individual messages from the
children.
The children made packs of
Autumn 2014 ●Julian Trust Night Shelter Newsletter ●www.juliantrust.org.uk
Bitesize News Snippets
MAGs Annual Visit
Here are some snaps of the trusty Motorcycle Action Group (MAG)
visiting us to drop off donations and do some fundraising! Looks like
they are having fun!
MAG are made up of a wide variety of bikers, riding many different
types of motorcycle, the group promotes MAG campaigns and raises
awareness of biking issues in our area. They are due to visit again
soon so check out their website at www.bristol.mag-uk.org/ for details
Brownie Points!
We were pleased to welcome a happy group of Westerleigh
Yate Brownies to the shelter who have been fundraising to help
our guests at the Julian Trust. They have all been working hard
to accumulate enough cash to fund a shopping trip and as a result managed to fill two large supermarket trollies with supplies
which they kindly donated. We reciprocated with squash and
biscuits which seemed to go down well with the girls! We then
had a whistle stop tour of the shelter to explain the way we work
and what we do. The leaders and mums who came seemed
pretty impressed that the whole exercise is run by volunteers
with no paid staff.The girls deserve a lot of praise for their
efforts and we would like to thank everyone concerned.
Party Time!
The latest JT Party in February was a huge success!! Jenny
and Rosie cooked up a delicious feast of tagines and the place
was transformed into an exotic Moroccan party den! The wine
flowed and it was a great opportunity to celebrate the fabulous
volunteers and supporters. After all, we’re all in it together. The
party will be an annual event so put February 2015 in your
diaries!
A Trip to Police HQ
John, Jenny, Tom and Jo took a trip to the Police Headquarters to have a tour
and understand how our 999 and 101 calls are dealt with. It was pretty impressive
(when we actually found the venue!) Tucked away in some gorgeous grounds in
Portishead are a very busy bunch of people dealing with all sorts of 999
emergencies, from serious incidents to pesky cats!
They told us they receive around 3,000 calls in a day for the area, and around half
of those result in a police visit. Sometimes it can feel frustrating to go through all
the questions they have to ask but once we were shown the systems and
understood the processes we came away feeling very confident that any
emergencies we report would be responded to thoroughly! A big thanks to Mike
Dagger who arranged it for us!
Page 2
Autumn 2014 ●Julian Trust Night Shelter Newsletter ●www.juliantrust.org.uk
ARE YOU A NIGHT OWL?
We are currently in urgent need of more overnight volunteers to help keep
the night shelter open and running 5 nights a week.
Could you volunteer overnight – once a week, fortnightly or even once a
month?
Would any of your family or friends like to get involved with the great
work here at the night shelter and become an overnight volunteer?
Please contact Jenny Oates on 01275 852806 or email
volunteers@juliantrust.org.ukfor further details and to join the overnight
team.
“Overnight is a really nice shift
to get to know our guests in a
more calm environment. They
really appreciate the breakfast
and a good night sleep. It’s a
chance for me to get into a
good book too!”
Idris, Monday overnighter
Rachel gives up sweets for sugar!
Here is Rachel who every September undertakes a challenge to raise
contributions for the Night Shelter. She has given up sweets and
chocolate for the whole of September. Rachel asks for pledges of a bag of
sugar as sponsorship! She's doing well so far - she's survived Brownie
Camp, parties and a sleepover without faltering! We think this is fab –
thanks Rachel!
New Courtyard Rules
We introduced some rules to the courtyard, to help calm things down before we open. It’s really
very simple, such as no drinking, violence or shouting. The police have been supportive and came
down for the first week the rules were introduced. So far we have experienced reduced noise
levels and fewer anti-social activities. We will monitor the behaviour and hope the guidance has
the desired effect.
Autumn 2014 ●Julian Trust Night Shelter Newsletter ●www.juliantrust.org.uk
Spotlight on Volunteers!
Get to know a Trustee - introducing Carrie!
Hi, I'm Carrie Stone, Julian Trusts newest trustee. I started volunteering at the Julian Trust six years
ago, after volunteering with Caring At Christmas. I wanted to see how all the guests I had met got
on through the year so I started volunteering every other week on a Tuesday evening. I found it so
interesting that I was soon there every week!
I really enjoyed getting to know the volunteers as well as the guests, I've learnt a lot from everyone. I
like to show new volunteers around the shelter to ensure that they get the most from their
volunteering, and don't let their worries put them off.
When I'm not volunteering at the shelter you will probably find me
outside somewhere. I love gardening especially anything edible, I own
three khaki Campbell ducks. I also enjoy cycling, five years ago I
cycled from John O'Groats to Lands End!
I became a trustee to get more involved in the shelter, to understand how the shelter works behind
the scenes and hopefully to use more of my skills to benefit the Julian Trust.
P.S. Congratulations Carrie on your wedding to Gavin! They tried to keep it quiet but we managed
to find a sneaky piccie from their surprise wedding – see below! x
Art Raffle for Julian Trust
Its All Too Much gallery on Stokes Croft held a fabulous Art
Raffle in order
Proprietors of It's All 2 Much art gallery in Stokes Croft presented
cheques to two local Bristol charities. The money was raised by raffling art donated by local artists and was held as part of a recent
show at the gallery that celebrated the second anniversary of one of
the bright spots in the Bristol art scene.
The two local charities were The Julian Trust and Temwa an organisation based in Stokes Croft raising money to support the education of remote villages in Malawi.
£300 was raised and very gratefully received. Chris of It's All 2
Much said “It was a pleasure to be involved with raising money for
two very worthy causes and I would like to thank all of those
who supported the raffle by buying tickets as
well as the three artists who donated the prizes –
Keith, Jim Starr and Julian Quaye.
This raffle was a fitting celebration of two
interesting, challenging and, above all, fun years.
It is great that we can share part our success
with local charitable groups.”
Mair’s Special Party!
The lovely Mair (above)
from Monday nights had
a very special birthday
this year and held a great
party, which doubled as
a fundraiser for the Julian
Trust. The night was a hit
and raised over £200!
Thanks Mair x
Autumn 2014 ●Julian Trust Night Shelter Newsletter ●www.juliantrust.org.uk
Sleep Out Tales
The 2014 Sleepout earlier this year was another huge success. In excess of 150 people
brought their sleeping bags, cardboard and lots of layers down to the PipNJay Church to
camp out for the night in aid of various charities and to raise awareness of homelessness in
Bristol. Even George Ferguson was there in his iconic red trousers to join in and raise
awareness for the cause. Here are a few of their tales. If you feel inspired to sponsor, or join in
next year, the details are on the website as always!
My friend Adrianna and I are students at the University of Bristol
and volunteer at the Julian Trust. Doing the sleep out I felt was a
great way of raising money for these charities so they can continue to support vulnerable adults. Although we had much more
gear than someone sleeping out on the streets would usually
have, it was a valuable insight into what it must be like for them
and how vulnerable you really are. It certainly made me put things
into perspective in that I do not have to worry about being cold, in
danger and lonely every night with no place to my name.
I will definitely be doing it next year! Anna Floy
George (Ferguson) sent me this pic yesterday,
that's me next to him! The Bristol post had just
interviewed me & the 2 other ladies (Bev &
Sam), his camera was playing up & asked
George to be in pic with us for paper & George
lent him his camera! In pic left to right is
councillor Chris Jackson, Bev, Sam, me (Katie
Mundy) & George (Ferguson the mayor). I
regularly drop off clothes & food to the shelter &
did the sleepout for you last year too, this year
I think my total (just giving page & sponsor
sheet at work) is £400. I'm a 41 year old
single mum, working as a teaching assistant
- Katie
Autumn 2014 ●Julian Trust Night Shelter Newsletter ●www.juliantrust.org.uk
Kevin’s Story
When setting out to do the sleep out I wanted to do it as authentically as
possible, in my eyes that's replicating what resources I thought a homeless
person would have at their disposal. For this reason I chose to purchase a
cheap sleeping bag and bring a few cardboard boxes to sleep on! In hindsight
this was a bad idea, I struggled to sleep as I was drenched with dew and I
didn't put enough boxes down so the wet ground seeped through and kept me
shivering. It was my first time doing something like this for this type of charity
and it's a real eye opener about the difficulties the homeless face. I will
definitely be doing it again next year to help raise more money – Kevin Brown
The Sleepout according to Dave Peacey
There’s a piece in the novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ where the lawyer Atticus Finch is explaining the
importance of seeing a situation from the other person’s point of view ‘climbing into the other
person’s skin’ as he refers to it. To a point, substitute with ‘climbing into the other person’s sleeping
arrangements’ and you have a précis, in part, of what ‘Sleep Out 2014’ was about.
In part because this was a matter of choice, not of necessity, come Saturday morning and the
weekend was ours (for many, I’m sure, a chance to catch up on some sleep!) and not a question of
how were we going to survive the oncoming daylight before locating another pitch for the night.
In excess of 20 JT supporters took part in the sleep out with a total of approximately 150 overall
which made for a good atmosphere, particularly if, like me, this was the first time and you weren’t
quite sure what you’d let yourself in for! I’d decided to bus it to the Pip’n’Jay where the sleep out was
taking place. A bus stopping at virtually every stop andseveral problems had caused a lengthy
journey, a detour and a slightly more round-about route but once I’d seen the steady trickle of
cardboard carrying people heading that way. The reality check that no one was forcing me to do this
and what was the problem with being stuck on a warm bus in the grand scheme of things restored
what little sanity I have left.
And so, along with fellow Monday Team mates Hannah, Jo and Mair (all veterans of these occasions)
we survived Sleep Out 2014 despite low temperatures but, on the plus side, dry weather. Nothing
can fully recreate the situations that some of our homeless guests find themselves in but sleep out
did highlight some aspects for me. In particular, it’s that feeling of mild panic when you do wake up
trying to recollect where you are and checking that what belongings you’ve brought with you are still
where you left them. (I should add, very quickly, that this is in no way a slur and the other 149
volunteers, just human nature when you’re semi-conscious in the early hours of the morning in the
grounds of a church!)
Finally, another aspect of Sleep Out was that it enabled me to alert family, work colleagues and
friends to the work that the JT does. A simple e-mail asking for support either financial or by way of
a prayer or two for dry weather worked wonderfully well on both counts! Adding a link to the JT
website has brought a steady stream of people to my work desk asking for more info which has to be
good. Many thanks to all involved.
Autumn 2014 ●Julian Trust Night Shelter Newsletter ●www.juliantrust.org.uk
Dates for your
diary
Annual General Meeting
(All welcome)
At the Shelter
6th November: 7.30pm
Christmas Carols
At the Shelter
10th December: 7pm
Closed for Christmas
We are closed on Tuesday 23rd
December & to reopen on
Friday 2nd Jan 2015!
Top things we need
At the moment we really need
 Hot Chocolate
 Cleaning Sprays/Bleach
 Tinned Meat
 UHT Milk
 Washing-up Liquid
 Sugar
 Margarine
 Red Sauce (Ketchup)
 Extra Long Kitchen Matches
Please check our website for
updated lists. Thanks!
Get in touch if you want to add anything to our next Newsletter.
Talk to a Trustee or email Jo at Mojoguppy@hotmail.co.uk or 07779660410
www.juliantrust.org.uk
Twitter: @JulianTrust
Julian Trust
Little Bishop Street
St Pauls
BS2 9JF
www.facebook.com/juliantrust
Autumn 2014 ●Julian Trust Night Shelter Newsletter ●www.juliantrust.org.uk