Walk around Bristol in a month!

Join us throughout March and challenge yourself to walk the circumference of Bristol. This is a virtual walk that can take place anywhere at any point during the month, celebrating our lovely city!

If you would like to take part in this challenge we ask if you can walk 110km (68 miles) from the 1st – 31st March. This length is the circumference around the city. You can take part in this walk anywhere you wish over a number of days / weeks as long as you start and end inside the month.

Walk details – 110km / 68 miles / 195,711 steps

Interested in joining this challenge? Register your interest HERE

How to take part

All you need to do is start walking and measure your distance. You can measure the length by remembering how many miles you’ve made; or if you would like to use an app, we recommend Strava, a Fitbit or pedometer.

You can take part in this challenge independently or get a team together and your miles can be added collectively!

You are also welcome to join our Walk and Talk team, we meet in green spaces in Bristol every Wednesday morning and in South Glos every Friday morning. All you need to do to join is register as a member and we’ll email you out our meeting places.

We’d love to have you on board. This challenge is completely accessible and costs nothing to join. All you need to do is register your interest HERE – we will then get in touch and send you one of our sports tops so you can show everyone what you’re walking for.

If you’re interested in fundraising for us, set up a JustGiving page HERE. Just press Start Fundraising and you can join the other fundraisers who are taking part. As a small community led charity, with very little in staff costs and overheads, your fundraising will directly benefit our mental health support services.

Any donations made will directly fund our mental health support groups and befriending service, helping people to make positive changes to their life and mental wellbeing.

New year, new you?

Refresh your wardrobe and create a new look for yourself. Bring along any unwanted clothes and accessories and find something new to add to your collection!

When: Saturday 19th February
Where: Strange Brew – 10-12 Fairfax St, Bristol BS1 3DB
How much: £5 entry (all proceeds help Changes Bristol fund mental health services)

How does a clothes swap work?

• Come along to Strange Brew with your unwanted garments anytime from 12pm – 3pm
• Pay your £5 entry fee (all goes to Changes Bristol). Exchange your garments for tokens which you will be able to swap for new clothes!
• From 1pm – 4pm you will be able to peruse around and find some lovely new clothes in exchange for your tokens
• We have all afternoon, so relax and grab a drink while you’re choosing your new look

Questions? Email fundraise@changesbristol.org or ring 0141 536 0920.

Host a Curry and Chaat event

Winter is the perfect time for hosting dinner parties, catching up with friends whilst warm inside. Use a get-together with friends as an opportunity to open up conversations about mental health with help from us.

Sign up to Curry and Chaat and you can spend the evening strengthening your relationships with friends and family, improving wellbeing and creating a space to speak openly about mental health. We will send over a pack to get you started on the dinner, with spices and recipes from Hill & Vale, The Spice Sultan and The Spicery, a step by step guide to setting up your curry and chaat and donation link.

Complete a form to order your Curry and Chaat pack HERE and donate £5 to secure your pack HERE

Messages of Gratitude

This year we were proud to be nominated as chosen partner charity with St Mary Redcliffe for Treefest. This 4-day event celebrated both the festive season and the local community, with and exhibition of 50 Christmas trees donated by Bristol based organisations, charities and community groups. The church had over 2,000 people in attendance over the 4-day event with entertainment from a variety of choirs.

Ours was a Gratitude Tree, which offered an opportunity for people to share what they’re grateful for and get involved with dressing our tree by adding messages of thanks as decoration. We were delighted to see so many people of all ages get involved and wanted to use this space to celebrate the messages added. Huge thank you to everyone who came along to Treefest and shared what they’re grateful for.

ONE donation, TWICE the impact.

This Christmas please help support Changes Bristol in running peer support meetings online and across Bristol. Between midday on 30th November and midday on 7th December you can DOUBLE your donations to Changes Bristol, making £20 worth £40. 

We’re hoping to raise £6,000 all together, which will cover the cost of running two peer support groups for an entire year. Our groups are free, open access meetings giving people suffering from mental distress a place to talk and take steps toward improving their lives and mental wellbeing. Ran by people with lived experience, the groups are safe and non-judgmental.

What is the Big Give Christmas Challenge? 

The Big Give runs the UK’s biggest match funding campaign, The Christmas Challenge. For seven days, it offers supporters of participating charities the opportunity to have their donation doubled. Since it launched in 2008, the Christmas Challenge has raised millions of pounds for thousands of charity projects.

How does the Christmas Challenge Work?

The Christmas Challenge is a match funding campaign where donations to participating charities are doubled over the space of a week. The match funds come from two sources – charities secure some of these (Pledges) over the summer, these funds are then boosted by funds from a Big Give Champion who contributes to the match fund. This collective pot is used to double donations from online supporters when the campaign is live

Situation

1 in 4 people will suffer from some form of mental distress at some point in their lives. Many more will be indirectly affected as their friends and loved ones suffer. Bristol has a higher proportion of people with mental ill health than the national average, with higher rates of suicide and self harm, and this is increased in more disadvantaged areas. Poor mental health can lead to poor physical health, lowers life expectancy, affects relationships and can debilitate daily life.

Solution

Changes Bristol provides a support network which anyone can access, with as few barriers as possible. People can self-refer and can access support for as long as they like. The peer support and new befriending scheme enables people to learn from others with lived experience, alleviate mental distress, reduce social isolation, increase self-esteem and empower themselves to make the most of their lives. We provide an empathetic, confidential space to improve mental health.

This year we have raised £1,500 in pledges from Tastetech, Bunzl Healthcare and Elite Financial Consulting, plus The Medlock Charitable Trust has also pledged £1,500 as the campaign champion. This means that up to £3,000 can be matched, raising £6,000 for Changes Bristol – this would pay for two Peer Support Groups for an entire year. 

All donations must be made via the Big Give platform, which will be live from midday 30th November – midday 7th December.

Thank you for your support – team Changes Bristol

Join us and at Treefest

We are proud to announce that Treefest, annual Christmas celebration at St Mary Redcliffe, have asked Changes Bristol to be their partner charity for the 2021 event.

Treefest is a spectacular festive display of Christmas trees held within the splendid gothic church of St Mary Redcliffe. The festival is a celebration of the diversity of creative talent in Bristol and a chance to learn more about the organisations / businesses / groups behind the trees plus an opportunity to support two of the charities via making donations to help support their work.

When: Thursday 2nd – Sunday 5th December
Event day: Saturday 4th December, come along and help us to decorate our tree
Where: St Mary Redcliffe, 12 Colston Parade, Redcliffe, Bristol, BS1 6RA
How much: Free entry

Help us to decorate our tree

Our friends at Ali and Joes Christmas Trees have donated a tree for us and we need your help to decorate it! Ours will be a gratification tree and we would like to find out from you in a few words or short sentence, what you’re grateful for. Please send in notes of gratification to treefest@changesbristol.org and we will add this to a label for the tree!

One Saturday 4th December, the Changes Bristol team will be on hand to add any notes of gratification to the tree on the day, so you can come down and meet us instead if you want, we’d be happy to see you. 

All donations made during this festival will be split with Changes Bristol and ST Mary Redcliffe Community Projects. Questions? Email info@changesbristol.org or ring 0141 536 0920.

Come along to our creative market

Changes Bristol have teamed up with Bristol based artists, designers and makers to create a market just in time for Christmas. Join us for an evening where creatives are showcasing their work to sell with some festive refreshments and music while you shop! All artists are being supported by the charity and have been offered their pitch free of charge, donating a piece of work which will be raffled – all donations made will support Changes Bristol mental health services.

When: Tuesday 23rd November
Time: From 6pm – 9pm
Where: Rough Trade, 3 New Bridewell, Nelson St, Bristol BS1 2QD
How much: Free entry – donations and raffle entry can be made on the night

Confirmed Creatives

• Yoli Ward-Streeter – illustration
• Hairy Jayne – hair care
• Two Birds Art – creative prints
• Wendy Norton Textiles – jewellery
• Jo Whiteland Batiks – printed textiles
• Vivian May Naturals – candles
• Georgie Web Art – small prints and bone china mugs
• Nancy and Belle – illustrations
•  Sisters @mojothreads and @sassysbeans – textiles

All proceeds from entry will go to Changes Bristol, a mental health charity who provide crucial support group services across Bristol, over the phone and online!

Questions? Email fundraise@changesbristol.org or ring 0141 536 0920.

Win! Changes community quilt

Our Volunteer Debbie has been hard at work, asking people from in and around Bristol, to donate blocks to be made into a quilt, that will be raffled off to raise funds to help support our vital mental health services.

Thanks to the generosity of crafters, we have been able to make the quilt with 63 donated patchwork blocks, creating a quilt made by the Changes community! This rainbow quilt will be a generous double bed size (approx 170 x 215cm / 68 x 84 inches when finished).

The winner will be drawn on 11th October – the day after World Mental Health Day. They will be contacted via email, so please ensure you have completed the contact form.