9 Jul

An amazing £905.00 raised for Howlands

Last month Christine Sykes, who is one of our class room assistants, organised a social evening at Old Bank Working Men’s Club in aid of Howlands.

Well over 100 people attended to be entertained by singers Tony Styles and Linda Senior.

Linda, who is Christine’s sister-in-law and a former professional singer, is in the UK on holiday from Australia, and as soon as she heard about the evening she volunteered to take part.

Everyone had a great time and an amazing £905.00 was raised for Howlands.

Many thanks to Old Bank WMC and their staff for their help and to Tony Styles and Linda for their very professional entertainment.

But specials thanks to Christine for making the evening such a great success.

In: News

1 May

Dewsbury Soup – Dewsbury’s Version of Dragon’s Den

Dewsbury Soup – Dewsbury’s Version of Dragon’s Den comes the the Howlands on May the 16th from 7pm.

It’s simple, come along, make a small donation, we suggest a minimum of £5 which includes a bowl of soup, a vote and the opportunity to listen to four local people pitch their ideas.

The winning pitch receives 100% of the donated door money, its then up to them to use their micro-grant to help make their idea a reality. The only stipulation is they live in North Kirklees or benefit North Kirklees with their idea, do not use technology during their pitch (props are allowed), and that they come back to a future Soup to let the audience know how they are getting on.

To submit an application to pitch, download and complete the application form here. To attend the event receive your place here.

The audience can live anywhere – they just sign up to say they are coming along, and pay a minimum of £5. The first Dewsbury Soup will be at Howlands on 16th May from 7pm. Pitchers can be from a charity, a community group, a business, anywhere so long as they live in North Kirklees or have an idea/project which would benefit and be delivered in North Kirklees. They are asked to complete an application form, which is reviewed by a panel of judges, and on the night 4 ideas are pitched, for 4 minutes each, with 4 questions from the audience. The only criteria are that they need to be people who need our help to get an idea, project or business off the ground, or support an existing project or business to fund something they need.
The judges also need to live in North Kirklees, and can nominate themselves. They will be sent all the application forms and select the top 4 for them, based on their own criteria. The combined judges scores determine who gets to pitch on the night.

Really looking forward to seeing you there.

In: News

3 Oct

Tom Ellis Steps Down as the Chair of Trustees

At the recent Annual General Meeting of the the League of Friendship, Tom Ellis stepped down as the Chair of Trustees.

He said that he had been involved with Howlands for 17 years in various roles and felt that it was time for someone else to take a lead. He went on to say that he had really enjoyed his time working with the staff, volunteers and members.

Tom thanked his fellow trustees, and the manager Deborah Hall, for their hard work in obtaining their recent grant from the Big Lottery.

Cath Longley who did much of the work on the grant has now taken on the role of Chair of the Trustees.

Cath said: “I am looking forward to building upon the fantastic work that Tom has done. With such a brilliant team of staff and volunteers and a brand new building, the future is looking bright“.

In: News

16 Aug

The mystery of the pancake dog solved, or is it ?

One of of our volunteers recently visited the town of Morzine in the French alps.

He visited the local church of Saint Guerin.

The interior was dominated by large statues of the 4 evangelists and their symbols.

The statue of St. Mark and his winged lion was of interest.

The beast had a strong resemblance to Howland’s Pancake Dog.

And the wings would explain the strange detail on the back of our dog.

But perhaps you might know better ?

In: News

17 May

Taking a close look at the Pancake Dog with Andy Matley the site manager for HB Projects.

Taking a closer look at the Pancake Dog

Look at Thomas Ellis taking a close look at the Pancake Dog with Andy Matley, site manager for HB Projects.

Taking a close look at the Pancake Dog with Andy Matley, manager for HB Projects.

“Sorry my hand is in the way but I am not too good with heights!” Says Tom.

The visit to the roof was part of taking in the progress and getting a closer look at the success of the refurbishment.

The Pancake Dog pictured is a bit of a local legend known for jumping down from his perch

for his pancake when the bell is rung on Shrove Tuesday.

In: News

4 May

Howlands refurbishment update photos

Take a look at the latest photographs from our refurbishment project.Work in progress but as you can see it’s moving along nicely – can’t wait to be back.

In: News

24 Feb

Unique Crocheted Animals For Sale

Unique Crocheted Animals For Sale. Chirpy Chicken, Gorgeous Giraffe or a Handsome Hippo – which one would you have?

Splash out and buy all three.

Our very own Howlands member Becki is a crochet whizz and now spends all of her waking, and some sleeping moments, crocheting colourful and cute animals, for sale in aid of Howlands.

Crochet creations by Becki.

Anybody interested in buying these incredible unique creations should speak to Becki at Howlands for details and pricing.

Colours will be vary from the attached photographs.

In: News

1 Nov

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.

In: News

26 Aug

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.

In: News

4 Apr

Big Lottery Bid for the Community Buildings grant

Grant Win Secures Plan to Refurbish Building

Big Lottery Bid for the Community Buildings grant

We’re celebrating at the Howlands today. We’ve just received news we have secured a very generous grant of £50,000 from the Big Lottery Community Buildings fund to help us build our case and application for a grant to refurbish our wonderful building in the heart of Dewsbury.

The initial grant has three roles, it will help to employ an architect, develop a business plan, and hire a management consultant to help us look at improving how the Howlands is run and developed.

We are fortunate enough to be able to employ three local firms to help us. Horbury based architects, Acropolis Design, Cath Longley of Good Fundraising from Ossett is writing our business plan, and Lynda Swinden of Oyster Consultancy based in Flockton is providing the management consultancy, Chew PR of Wakefield is providing voluntary PR services and mentoring to help us with our PR and marketing communication.

We are very pleased with this team who are keen to work together to help us achieve our aims and help us to continue to build on a much needed service.

Every year the Big Lottery Fund distributes millions of pounds of the National Lottery’s good cause money to community groups and charitable projects around the UK. They are responsible for distributing 40 per cent of all the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery. In our 2014-15 financial year, we awarded more than £1 billion to projects with a social mission.

Based in Dewsbury, Howlands endeavours to promote the varied abilities of our local community.

In: News