Latest News
Charity Chuckle Stand-up for Friends Centre
Friday 16th July
Latest Bar, Manchester St, BRIGHTON
Doors 7PM, show starts 7.30PM
Tickets: £6 (concessions £5)
For tickets, phone 01273 687171 or go to www.thelatest.co.uk/musicbar
Charity Chuckle is a monthly stand-up comedy night raising money for local charities. All profits from this month's event will go to Friends Centre. The performers do it for free - we should do a fundraiser for them really.
Headliner, 2009 Hackney Empire New Act of the Year finalist, DAVID JAMES
"Great world-weary composure and an irritable pedantry worthy of Jack Dee." CHORTLE
Compere: The very lovely, LEE HUME
"Easy manner likely to endear him to any audience." - CHORTLE
And with some of the South-East's best up-and-coming and stand-ups:
Aiden Goatley, Karel Hutter, Tim Watts and Robin Buckland.
The show starts at 7.30pm, so it is perfect both for those who need to get home and those who want to go on and party! A laugh with extra feelgood factor and all for only £6!
Chris Field Fund: Project Application
26th May 2010
Chris Field was an inspirational woman, renowned equally for her superb teaching and her beaming smile. For thirty years Chris taught art in adult education around Brighton and Hove - at the Connaught Centre, Portslade Community College and the Friends Centre. A fund has been set up by her family, colleagues and friends to honour her life and continue her work. The fund has paid for a display wall of learners' work within Brighton Junction and is now looking to fund a small number of creative arts projects in Brighton & Hove.
The Chris Field Fund supports small-scale creative arts learning activities in Brighton and Hove that aim to:
- Attract new people into creative arts learning
- Involve learners from parts of the city that have not previously had access to creative arts learning
- Encourage existing learners in the creative arts to try new and different forms of creative art;
- Involve creative arts tutors and working artists in the city in sharing ideas and expertise.
Applications are invited from staff at the three centres where Chris Field taught (Friends Centre, Connaught Centre and Portslade Community College) for funding to support projects or activities that meet at least two of the criteria above. Maximum funding for any one activity or project will be £1,000 in the academic year 2010-11. Funding will be provided through one of the organisations listed above. Individuals will only be eligible to apply through one of the named organisations.
Deadlines for applications this year are 30 June 2010 and 31 October 2010. The Committee will review and respond within 6 weeks of the deadline.
If your application is successful, you will be required to submit a report on the project, including invoices and receipts for any items purchased, a record of staff time spent on the project, and information on learners who have participated.
Click here to download the application form as a Word doc
Click here to download the appliacation form as a pdf
New Principal for Friends Centre
21st May 2010
Friends Centre is pleased to announce the appointment of its new Principal, Robyn Kohler. She will take up the position at the end of May and will lead the organisation as it expands into its new home at Brighton Junction.
Robyn brings wide-ranging expertise in adult and community learning, including Skills for Life, family learning and work with vulnerable adults. She is currently Division Head at Sussex Coast College, Hastings, and experienced in working with a range of partners in the public, voluntary and commercial sectors.
Current Principal, Dr. Juliet Merrifield, is retiring after nine years at Friends Centre. Steve Barton, Chair of Trustees, says "Juliet has developed Friends Centre into a dynamic organisation that works closely with a range of community partners to meet a wide range of challenging learning needs. We are sad to see her go, but wish her well with her retirement."
Friends Centre Trustees and staff are very much looking forward to welcoming Robyn and to working with her to develop new initiatives that respond to the City's learning needs.
Friends Centre Wins Funding for Fairtrade Project
5th May 2010
Friends Centre has been awarded a grant from the Department for International Development (DFID) to deliver innovative activities that develop awareness of Fairtrade. The project, which starts this July, will offer classroom-based sessions for adults on Friends Centre's courses, as well as workshops, film showings and other events for the wider community.
Participants will look at how their food, clothing and other goods are produced. They will hear the personal stories of Fairtrade producer groups and find out why it's important to buy Fairtrade. Some participants will also have the chance to visit Fairtrade shops, design jewellery and other accessories that will be produced by Fairtrade suppliers, and run a stall selling Fairtrade goods.
Friends Centre's Development Manager, Maria Antoniou, says: "The project aims to increase adult learners' understanding of how our individual consumer choices have a global impact, and how the things we buy can affect the lives of people in developing countries. We are very excited about the project and look forward to organising some fun and interactive events that will be open to as many local people as possible."
Other partners on the project are the Institute of Development Studies, Brighton Peace and Environment Centre, and Brighton-based Faritrade retailer Lovethatstuff. The partners will also work closely with the City's Fair Trade Steering Group.
Learners hail One Planet Learning launch a big success
More than 70 learners got the chance to experience tasters at the One Planet Learning Taster Day on Saturday 27th March, an event to celebrate the launch of One Planet Learning at Friends Centre.
The day was made possible by the support of BQL Communities, with Crest Nicholson BioRegional Quintain, developers of the One Brighton site. Tasters were offered by Friends Centre tutors on courses that will be running in the summer term, ranging from vegetable growing and recycled knitting to natural cosmetics. Community Chef, Robin Van Creveld supplied food for the event and Ditchling Morris danced in the courtyard. During the lunch break, there was a vibrant market fair with spinning and composting demonstrations, fair trade products for sale, and local environmental groups to join. Local residents and neighbours dropped in to sample the food and browse the stalls.
One student said of the day 'very exciting- I wanted to try everything!' Another student who participated in the Climate Change Condensed workshop said 'very interesting and informative...I feel a lot more positive.'
Helen Osborne, the general adult education coordinator of the Friends Centre said 'It was a great day and everyone really enjoyed themselves. It was a chance for everyone to come and find out more about our new range of courses for One Planet Learning and try something new or learn something they hadn't before. It was a great buzz during the day and definitely gave people an insight into what we do here at Friends Centre and see our new premises.'
Volunteer Amy Cox said: 'At a time when it is increasingly important to conserve the resources that we have, it is inspiring to see the positive response our One Planet Learning courses have generated.'
To coincide with their move to the One Brighton eco development in January 2010, Friends Centre launched One Planet Learning: courses helping students to understand environmental issues, rediscover forgotten skills, and to be part of a community and enhance personal wellbeing. The One Planet Learning Taster Day on 27th March was an opportunity for students to experience these courses and to see how sustainable living can be put into practise.
Click here to download the delicious recipes available from the food stall on the day.
Friends Centre graded outstanding and good by Ofsted
Adult learners in Brighton are assured of high quality teaching, after Friends Centre was awarded high grades in a recent inspection by Ofsted – the Government’s Office for Standards in Education.
Ofsted inspectors spent three days at Friends Centre in late November, observing classes and speaking to students. In their report the Ofsted inspectors gave Leadership and Management an 'outstanding' grade, along with several other aspects of the Centre’s work, including Equality and Diversity, meeting the needs and interests of learners and partnership working. All other areas were pronounced ‘Good’.
Juliet Merrifield, Friends Centre’s Principal, said: “As you can imagine we are absolutely thrilled. The inspectors commented on how welcomed they felt, on the openness of staff, and on our very strong and inclusive culture. They also praised Friends Centre for sticking to its vision for community learning whilst moving forward into a new phase of development."
Click here to see the full Friends Centre Ofsted Report
Click here to see the Summary Report
One Brighton update
19 November 2009
We now have a date for our move to the One Brighton development. The Vine Street office will close for good on Friday 18th December and the Friends Centre office will reopen in our new building on Monday 21st December.
Our new address will be: Friends Centre, Brighton Junction, Isetta Square, Stroudley Road, Brighton BN1 4GQ.
'Brighton Junction' is the name that has been given to the new community space at One Brighton - the name alludes to the nearby Brighton train station and to the fact that the new centre will be a place for the community to come together. 'Isetta Square' refers to the Isetta micro car, which was built on the site in the 1950s.
Learner Awards 2009
Here are some photos from our 2009 Learner Awards, held in the summer:
Sue Evans
We are very sad to announce the passing away of Friends Centre tutor Sue Evans on Monday 23 February.
Sue had been associated with Friends Centre for more years than most of us can remember. She was committed to adult learning, in particular adult literacy where she had many years of working directly with students and with the training of future literacy teachers. She was a friend and support to current and past tutors drawing on her wealth of knowledge and experience. We were fortunate that Sue continued to give us her support even after her retirement as a tutor and was often to be found in the tutor workroom sorting through resources and working on her anthology.
Sue will be missed by both Friends Centre staff and students and those from further afield.
One Brighton Update
Friends Centre is working to finalise new premises that will combine offices and a teaching centre in the One Brighton building, currently under construction on the Brighton station site. When we move the new premises will form a base that supports a network of community learning in other neighbourhoods, including our existing centre at Ivory Place and our outreach sites with partners in Whitehawk, Moulsecoomb and elsewhere.
Building work
Anyone who has had any building work done will not be surprised to hear that the construction is slightly behind schedule! We will now begin the internal fit-out in June 09, and we will start classes in January 2010. This of course gives us longer to plan, so by January we will be ready to launch an exciting new programme of courses, workshops and events (see below). The planning work by our architects Feilden Clegg Bradley is going well and we should have final plans completed soon.
Work with the Ethical Property Company on planning the community centre is moving along well. We hope to be sharing the space with other voluntary sector organisations including the Working Together Project, the Community and Voluntary Sector Forum and the Business Community Partnership. Care Co-ops is planning to run the cafe as a training cafe for its clients with learning disabilities.
In Friends Centre's area there will be four classrooms, all of them larger than the ones at Ivory Place, offices to replace our Vine Street rented office, a tutor workroom, individual tutorial and interview room, and storage. Shared space will include the cafe and exhibition space as well as the courtyard garden for fine days.
Development Manager
I'm pleased to say that we appointed Dr Maria Antoniou as Development Manager in November. Maria's role is to help us develop our business plans for the new building, fundraise and generate income to pay the additional costs, and support programme coordinators to develop and expand their programmes. In particular she is working on plans for our new 'one planet learning' programme of classes, workshops and events.
Planning new learning activities
In the new building we will continue many of the learning programmes already under way, and some classes will move into One Brighton from other sites. But we will also have space for some new activities, and many of these come under the concept of 'one planet learning'. The One Planet principles developed by BioRegional (the charity behind BedZed and other developments) and guiding the construction of One Brighton emphasise community, social equity, personal responsibility, and holistic living. Over the coming months we will be working with staff and community partners to identify ways to use these principles to frame our new work.
The big move
Watch this space. Schedules slide and most things take longer than you think, but we have our fingers crossed for a move by November 2009 and classes to start at One Brighton in January 2010.
For more information on one planet living, visit the Bioregional and WWF joint initiative website on: www.oneplanet.org
Christine Field Memorial Fund
Purpose
The fund is being established by the Friends Centre with the family and many friends and colleagues of the late Christine Field to honour her career in adult education by encouraging and supporting creative arts learning by adults. This is a designated fund, to be reported separately in Friends Centre’s annual accounts. It will support a range of creative arts activities, for example:
- commissioning and display of student work
- creating a permanent exhibition space for student work
- setting up and equipping art classrooms
- holding workshops and courses to engage new learners in creative arts
- supporting learners who have difficulty paying for course fees
Background
Christine Field was an adult education arts tutor in Brighton, Hove and Sussex for over 30 years until her untimely death in 2008. She worked with many of the local adult education providers over the years, most recently at the Friends Centre and at Portslade Community College. Chris was an inspirational teacher, one of the very best. She was a skilled trainer and mentor of other tutors. Most recently this has been through the First Class course, helping many people to gain the confidence and knowledge to start teaching adults. Chris was also a gifted programme manager who made important contributions to the development of Friends Centre as an organisation.
How to donate
NB: Please ensure you fill out and send in a Gift Aid declaration form to us when making a donation, to enable us to claim your Gift Aid. Click here to download the form. If you're paying by card, you can email the form to info@friendscentre.org if you prefer.
You can donate by the following methods:
- By cheque payable to Friends Centre (reference Chris Field Memorial Fund) sent to the address below.
- By credit card over the phone, number below.
