front cover

back cover

ww

w.northamptonhopecentre.org.uk

Be part of our team

...If it w

asn’t for the willing team

of volunteers, we w

ould cease to function.

If you are interested in getting involved,

call Sarah on

01604 602456

Our p

atrons: Th

e Rt H

on E

arl Sp

encer, DL

, Sally K

eeble. Th

e Rig

ht R

everend P

eter Do

yle Bish

op

of N

orth

amp

ton

Northam

pton Hope C

enrePO

Box 472,N

orthampton N

N1 3ZY

contact us on 01604 602456em

ail: office@

north

amp

tonh

op

ecentre.org

.uk

If your company, sports club or organisation w

ould like to know m

oreabout sponsorship opportunities on our w

ebsite or publicity materials

please get in touch.

call Debbie on

01604 602456

What lies behind us and w

hat liesbefore us are tiny m

atters compared

to what lies w

ithin us.R

alph Waldo Em

erson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) w

as an American essayist,

lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist m

ovement of the m

id-19th century.

Sponsorship opportunities

quarterlyquote...

Becom

e a fan of the Hope C

entre on Facebook!

ww

w.facebook.com

/northamptonhopecentre

contact usw

ww.northam

ptonhopecentre.org.uk

by Ralph Waldo Em

erson“

”

Welcom

e to our special Ch

ristmas

edition of Oasis. C

hristmas is a

happy celebration for most of us – a special tim

e with fam

ily and friends,C

hristmas lights tw

inkling, mince pies, the anticipation of advent and finally

The Day arrives. W

e celebrate the arrival in church and in our homes.

Sadly it’s not the same for everyone. For our clients it can be lonely, cold

and depressing. It brings back mem

ories of better times and it can be hard

to deal with those m

emories.

But this C

hristmas O

asis is not about how difficult C

hristmas w

ill befor som

e people this year. It’s about hope and happiness, success and

achievement and looking forw

ard to a better future. A

s usual we w

ill be here on Christm

as Day serving turkey and all the

trimm

ing to around 90people w

ho would otherw

ise be alone. The centrew

ill be full of laughter, friendship, crackers, gifts and too many brussel

sprouts.....just like many hom

es across Northam

pton! This w

ould not be possible without your generous support this

Christm

as and throughout the year. With your help w

e need to raise£24,000 to m

eet the costs of being here over Christm

as and throughoutthe cold w

inter months.

• £10 could pay for a homeless person to have C

hristmas dinner and not be alone this C

hristmas

• £25 could cover the cost of an ex homeless person learning how

to cook for themselves at one of our cookery w

orkshops• £50 w

ill help us to run a weekly chiropody clinic to take care of the feet of street drinker and rough sleepers w

ho are at high risk ofserious foot disease

If you are able to help us please donate whatever you can at

ww

w.justgiving.com

/christmashope2011 or text X

MA

S66 £am

ount to 70070D

onating through JustGiving is sim

ple, fast and totally secure. Once you donate, they send your m

oney directly to us and make sure

Gift Aid is reclaim

ed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the m

ost efficient way to donate, saving tim

e and cutting costs for us.D

onating via text is free and the amount you donate w

ill show on your next m

obile phone bill.

We are pleased to announce that w

e have been selected by No

rtham

pto

n Bo

roug

h C

ouncilto provide this year’s S

WE

P (S

evere Weath

erE

mergency P

rotocol)for the tow

n. In partnership with N

AA

SH

and NB

Cw

e will be opening our doors to ensure that there is a w

arm and safe place

for homeless people to sleep w

hen temperatures drop below

0°c on 3 consecutive nights. A team

of qualified staff and volunteers will run the facility, w

hich will be based here at the H

ope Centre. The

NB

CO

utreach Worker w

ill refer clientsand by w

orking together with current users of the H

ope Centre plus posters around the tow

n we w

ill ensure that all rough sleepers are made aw

are of thefacility and no-one needs to spend the night outside.

If you are interested in volunteering at the SWEP then please em

ail richard@northam

ptonhopecentre.org.ukor theresa@

naash.co.ukfor full details.

Help

others this christmas

It’s about hope and happiness and looking forw

ard to a better future

winter w

armer

sleepout 2012O

ur biggest and most popular fundraiser is the annual S

leepout that is always during

Poverty and

Hom

elessness Action W

eekin late January/early February. W

e wanted to m

akesure that you had plenty of notice to get ready for the 2012 Sleepout so please put it in your diarynow

....it will give you som

ething to look forward to after C

hristmas!

There has been a Sleep

out at the H

ope Centre for m

any years, it is a popular way for

homeless charities to raise aw

areness and funds. In 2009 Kate B

ellamy

revived the Sleepout

and you helped us to raise an amazing £5,000. In 2010 this grew

to over £8,000and in 2011

more than £12,000!

So we have big hopes for 2012....can you help us to m

ake it to £18,000? That would pay for a

full time m

ember of staff for a w

hole year to work w

ith our clients, helping them to break the cycle of

homelessness, addiction, unem

ployment and poverty. Im

agine the difference that would m

ake to som

any lives!A

ll you have to do is email d

ebbie@northam

ptonhopecentre.org.ukto confirm

that you would

like to take part. We w

ill send you a ‘Sleeper’s P

ack’which includes all the info you need on getting

sponsorship, what to w

ear etc.

Please, please join us and bring a friend too.

50sleepers raised £12,300

so just think what 80

could raise! Can you help us get to £18,000?

If you can’t come along then please sponsor us at:w

ww

.justgiving.com/sleepout2012

Help spread the w

ord......email us for a poster that you can print and put up at your church, school,

work, corner shop, com

munity centre – you get the idea!

Friday 3rd February 2012.6pm

– 6am. - St G

iles Church Yard, St G

iles Terrace, Northam

pton

Xm

as New

Oasis 2010:Layout 1 02/12/2011 12:03 P

age 1

look back

donate

at the hope centre

on2011

How

and when did you first becom

e homeless?

I became officially hom

eless in Decem

ber 2009. I had been in a 6 yearrelationship that cam

e to a sudden and quite violent end. I ended up in thepolice cells for C

hristmas and had to w

ait for a friend to provide a remand

address. It was a really tough tim

e and Christm

as is my w

orst time of year

now. I w

as lucky to have a couple of good friends who let m

e stay on theirsofa for a w

hile, but it’s hard because you don’t want to intrude on their

family life so I just tried to stay out all day and only go back there to sleep. W

hat was your life like before?

I had a good life before all this, when I look back now

I realise howm

uch I took for granted. I always had everything I needed, a nice place to

stay, a car, a regular job – the same as w

e all want really. I w

orked fornearly 20 years in care hom

es caring for elderly people with dem

entia, Ireally loved m

y work and m

y life.W

hat was your low

est point?After a w

hile I couldn’t put my friends out anym

ore and I started living inm

y car. My low

est point was the night I realised that I w

as going to have tosleep in m

y car. Soon after that I lost my job as a carer because I couldn’t

even look after myself properly, trying to get a show

er was hard and it w

asobvious I w

as sleeping in my clothes. B

eing NFA

(no fixed abode) I gotturned dow

n for loads of jobs so in the end I gave up looking. That was

when I felt like I’d lost everything and that w

as when I started drinking m

oreand hanging around on the streets because I didn’t have anything else todo. N

ot being able to buy Christm

as or Birthday presents for m

y family

was a really low

point too.H

ow did com

ing to the Hope C

entre help?I heard about the H

ope Centre from

some friends I m

et on the streets. Ihad been trying to get help from

different places but I just felt like I was

being passed around and no-one was really helping. I started using the

Hope C

entre just to get a cup of tea and something to eat to start w

ith. But

then they started to try and persuade me to get involved in different things

like art and cookery. I wasn’t that interested to begin w

ith but I tried some

of the activities and it did take my m

ind off my problem

s. I’ve beenencouraged to go to som

e self help and confidence building courses with

others from the C

entre. This has helped me no end in m

y thinking, I thinkm

ore positive and I set goals now.

When did you start to turn things around?

In September 2010 I got a bed at the night shelter and a couple of

months later I w

as asked to be a Client R

epresentative at the H

op

eC

entre. I felt as if I was responsible for other people again and that helped

me to cut dow

n on the drinking a bit. In January 2011 the night shelterfound m

e a flat and so I felt things were starting to look up.

What has 2011 been like for you?

Well it w

as better than 2010 but it’s still been really hard. Moving into

my new

place was good but I felt lonely because I w

as so used to being

around people 24 hours aday. O

n the streets andin the night shelteryou’re

never on

your ow

n so

Istruggled goingback

to an

empty

flat at

first.

One

night I

was

sitting outsidew

ith a group ofpeople

and I

just realised

Icould

choose to

sit there and stay inthat life or I could fightto get a real life back. Idecided to fight and I sorted m

yflat out and started looking for w

orkagain. C

oming here through the year really helped because I w

as treatedlike a norm

al person with responsibilities so I felt m

ore able to deal with

things.W

hat was the high point of this year?

I really wanted to get out of the trap of m

y life and get back to my old

normal life. So w

hen I got a job in October, as a cleaner in a school, I just

felt ecstatic, like I was finally back on the ladder and getting som

ewhere. I

will never take things for granted again, I used to think people w

ho were not

working w

ere lazy and should just get a job but now I have a new

way of

thinking. One of the goals I set m

yself was to find w

ork and be able to buyC

hristmas presents for m

y kids and it feels brilliant to have finally got there.H

ow do you feel this C

hristmas com

pared to last Christm

as?I can’t really com

pare how I feel now

to how I felt then, it’s hard to put it

into words. A year ago I w

as about to get my ow

n place but I had no realhope and no direction, m

y life was like a m

aze with lots of dead ends. I’ve

got a purpose now, things to get up for in the m

orning. I’ve got myself

back, there’s housework to do and shopping, bills to pay, I’ve got m

y work

and I feel like I’m helping other people again.

What does the future hold for you?

I sometim

es wonder if G

od had a purpose of me being so low

so Icould help others in this position. I consider m

yself a fallen, wayw

ardC

hristian, I haven’t been to church for years but I have never lost my faith. I

sit at Streetchurch sometim

es and wonder if H

e meant this to happen.

So m

aybe I’m just w

here I’m m

eant to be.

ww

w.northamptonhopecentre.org.uk

Yo

u c

an

no

w d

on

ate

on

line o

r by te

xt at

ww

w.justgiving.com

/christmashope2011 or text XM

AS66 £amount to 70070

inside spread

As Julie’s’s story show

s, homelessness can happen to anyone. It does not discrim

inate. To ensure we are here this C

hristmas and throughout

the year to help people like Julie put their lives back together, please consider making a donation or setting up a regular donation...

IN

TE

RV

IE

W

WI

TH

J

UL

IE

R

OS

SE

R

January – In January volunteers braved the coldfor The Hope Centre’s annual sleepout.

February – We had a Hollyw

ood themed day w

ith a red carpet, feather boas and plenty of fun and gam

es.

March – W

e attended weekly outdoor activity

sessions at the Frontier Centre.

April – Leah our Occupational Therapy studentshared her skills w

ith us.

May – Cookery group visited the butcher to learn

how to m

ake sausages.

June – Bananas paraded in the carnival to collectm

oney for the Hope Centre.

July – Clients enjoyed a trip to the seaside.

August – Baking club decorated batches of cakesto sell at the um

brella fair.

September – Theatre thespians perform

ed their play.

October – Pumpkin carving, a quiz and plenty of

scary face painting for Halloween.

November – Online day, DW

P volunteers were on

hand to encourage people to improve their online

internet skills.

December – W

e have plenty of Christmas

festivities planned for this year. We intend on

making decorations, crafts and gifts, a w

ii day,Christm

as karaoke and more.

‘Christm

as is my

worst tim

e of year’

Xm

as New

Oasis 2010:Layout 1 02/12/2011 12:03 P

age 3