News

1 Dec
Thank you to the Whittuck Charity and the Dewsbury Guild of Help for your kind donation.

Thank you for your generosity

We’d like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the generosity of the Trustees of the Whittuck Charity and the Dewsbury Guild of Help who have donated £100 to the Dewsbury and District League of Friends towards the costs of our Christmas Party.

Everybody at Howlands is grateful for their generosity and looking forward to the party.

Thank you to the Whittuck Charity and the Dewsbury Guild of Help for your kind donation.

Thank you to the Whittuck Charity and the Dewsbury Guild of Help for your kind donation.

22 Nov
Howlands Centre dewsbury

Golden Wedding Anniversary Celebrations

Brenda and Ronnie Jackson celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary with an afternoon tea at the Howlands.
The happy couple invited members, volunteers and staff to celebrate with them and their guest of honour, Brenda’s mother, Rita Newsome.
Brenda has been a long time member at Howlands and has developed many good friendships and connections. She thanked everyone for sharing her and Ronnie’s happiness.
We are all really happy to be part of their lives and we wish the couple well for the future.
22 Nov
Howlands auction update

Successful Christmas Fair at Howlands

dewsbury community hub lowlandsOn Wednesday the 9th of November Howlands had its annual Christmas Fair. It even snowed that day which made it extremely festive.
Due to the dedicated and huge efforts of our volunteers, members and staff we raised a massive £751.00.
“Thank you to all our coffee morning customers who braved the difficult weather conditions to support us.
“An extra special mention goes to Waqaar, Moosa and Abbas who work at Lidl, Dewsbury. Out of their own pockets they supported us by supplying 24 dozen mince pies, the donation was gratefully received and we thank them for their kindness which added the finishing touches to our fair.”
5 Nov
Big Lottery win at the Howlands

Big Lottery Win Celebration

Take a look at further photographs from our Big Lottery win celebration event held at the Howlands for members, volunteers, staff, friends and supporters.

Big Lottery win at the Howlands

Coming together and toasting the future success of the community hub that is the Howlands.

 

Big Lottery win at the HowlandsBig Lottery win at the HowlandsBig Lottery win at the Howlands

1 Nov
Celebration cake at the Howlands

Building on 60 Years of Experience

Howlands members, volunteers, and staff invited friends and supporters to the centre to celebrate securing a Big Lottery win to refurbish the historical building it is based within.

Chairman Tom Ellis welcomed all who attended to the afternoon and introduced the architect’s team of Simon Cornell, Darren Bailey and Steve Voke to the members and volunteers.

Trustee June Salisbury and Cath Longley  of Good Fundraising cut the celebration cakes and a Bucks Fizz toast was raised to cement the future success of the Howlands.

Kirklees Council representative Councillor Eric Firth attended the event and was delighted that the Howlands was building on its 60 years of experience and refurbishing the building that would go on to serve the people of Dewsbury for a further 20 to 30 years.

To conclude his speech, Tom Ellis thanked Deborah Hall, the manager of Howlands for all her hard work during the bidding process.
 
He said that she had taken on more responsibility in co-ordinating the work on the bid and her tireless work led to its success .

We very much enjoyed the whole afternoon; it’s a positive time for the Howlands.

17 Oct
smiley

Thank You Dawn

Dawn’s BIG dance night was another successful event and an incredibly enjoyable evening.

A MASSIVE £391.00 was raised for The Howlands.

Thank you to all who supported and took part in the event – well done Dawn, thank you.

17 Oct
pic4

Table Top Sale.

In preparation for our forthcoming refurbishment we’ve been clearing out all the places we use for storage.

Attics, cupboards, rooms, no stone has been left unturned and you’ll be amazed at the objects we have discovered.

Not to let any of these wonderful items go to waste, or in the skip, we’re holding a tabletop sale on Saturday the 22nd of October at Howlands, School Street Dewsbury from 9.30 am.

There will be tea and coffee for sale. All proceeds in aid of Howlands. Any queries please phone 01924 463693

12 Oct
Dewsbury & District League of Friendship Awarded Lottery Grant

Dewsbury & District League of Friendship Awarded Lottery Grant

The Dewsbury & District League of Friendship have been awarded a grant of £459,818 by the Big Lottery Building Communities Fund to pay for a complete refurbishment of their building, The Howlands on School Street Dewsbury.

The Dewsbury & District League of Friendship chairman, Tom Ellis, says: “It has  taken two years of hard work by a dedicated team to achieve this. We must thank Deborah Hall our manager, Cath Longley of  Good Fundraising and Simon Cornell of Acropolis Design for their efforts in leading that team.”

The grant will be spent on a major overhaul of the School Street Building that is expected to be complete early 2017. The building works are intended to fully modernise the Victorian building to a state that will be able to accommodate community groups and a variety of uses for all the community to benefit from.

The League of Friendship will continue to support those members of the community who benefit from the wide range of activities they currently offer from the building, including arts and crafts sessions.

Tom continues: “We feel that our refurbishment is a very positive statement in the regeneration of Dewsbury and we look forward to being at the hub of the resurgence of local community involvement.”

The Big Lottery is the largest funder of community activity in the UK. It puts people in the lead to improve their lives and communities, often through small projects. It is responsible for giving out 40% of the the money raised by the National Lottery players for good causes. Every year it invests over £650 million and awards about 12,000 grants across the UK for health, education, environment and charitable purposes. Since June 2004 it has awarded over £8 billion to projects that change the lives of millions of people.

 
26 Aug
Howlands Pig Racing raises money.

Say “Oink” for the Pig Racing

Members, volunteers and friends of Howlands had an entertaining night out at Shaw Cross Boys Club for an evening of Pig Racing.
Alan was a great M.C. whipping up enthusiasm for the races running on a big screen and keeping his  audience of 85 well  informed.
Meanwhile Andrew Young was a enjoying his role as a “Bookie” as everyone was eager to bet on their favourite porker.
We must give thanks to Jeanette and Natalie behind the bar and Cheryl assisted by Alan who kept the tasty pork pies on heat.
We are sincerely grateful to Shaw Cross Boys Club for allowing us to use their premises as the evening raised a remarkable £660 for Howlands.
Finally three cheers for Dawn Field our enthusiastic fundraiser for all her efforts.
Dawn has two more events in the pipeline so mark them on you calendar.
Saturday 1st October Dawn’s Dance & More ! @ The Victoria Function Room, Batley.
Friday 2nd December Christmas Quiz Night with Pie & Peas at Shaw Cross Boys Club
Tell all you friends!  And if you would like to help at one of these events please get in touch.
Howlands Pig Racing raises money.
22 Aug
Howlands strawberry Tea

Strawberry Tea Thanks

We’d just like to take the opportunity fHowlands strawberry tea event in Dewsbury.or making this month’s Strawberry Tea at Howlands a huge success.
As usual there was a lively atmosphere and much socialising helping everyone to really enjoy themselves. We were also very fortunate to have had help and support from Leanne Townend and Faye Huckle from Yorkshire Building Society who happily assisted us as part of their “Helping in the Community” Scheme.
One of our members Linda Thwaites, led a vote of thanks to the Staff and Volunteers for making it a wonderful afternoon – one again, thank you everyone.