Wednesday 29th January 2020 - Promoting at events

Posted 5:10pm

HMHB has been very busy the last couple of days. On two fronts.

First - we need to try and get as many people as possible to attend our course starting Saturday at the Living Centre. With that in mind, Luke and Lazza spent the morning yesterday at Kentish Town Job Centre. Nisar, the overall manager, very kindly invited us in, gave us a desk, and allowed us to chat to people as they came in to sign. It wasn't too bad. We took eight emails and contacted them all last night. No replies as yet, although several said they would come.
We had hoped the job centre itself would have been promoting it, as we came in last week and chatted to the group. Sadly, this did not appear to have happened. Not sure why.
We may have to go in again on Friday morning and push again. They have a programme called "stepping stones" which has similar outcome targets to us - building confidence, getting people job ready, improving esteem etc. We are hoping they will guide people towards us who are on this project. It can only enhance their own work. There just does not ever appear to be any urgency, or proactivity. We are in their hands, and can only do so much.

HMHB at Volunteer Fair - Jan 2020

Secondly, Luke and Lazza attended the Camden and Islington Volunteering Fair this lunchtime, for two hours at the Islington Assembly Hall, next to the Islington Town Hall. It was packed with organisations that offer opportunities for volunteers to help out.
We had a lot of visitors to our stall and both Lazza and Luke chatted to people, handed out leaflets, showed them photographs, and talked about our work and volunteer opportunities with us. The feedback we got was tremendous. Even if we get no actual volunteers, more people know about us and what we are doing.
It was also a great opportunity to network with other organisations that were there. They included London Zoo (I really wanted to do some of my own volunteering there), Manor Gardens, Museums, Sports Clubs, and other hobby activities. Everyone had a smile on their face and it was lovely chatting with everyone. We will be in contact with quite a few - and we may have got a few new faces for our fitness programmes.

Overall a busy couple of days. I have to say I am very nervous about numbers for our Camden course starting on Saturday. My fear is 0-4 people. We are doing everything in our power to get better numbers. It just feels as if we are being hampered by lethargy and inaction around us.

Finally - congratulations to our Lazza. Four weeks into the new year he was looking at a target of losing 2kg a month of weight. As at the morning of Wed 29th Jan - he had lost 6kg, and still three days to go. Yay!!!! Onwards into February.