2025 Wrapped Newsletter

We have so much to tell you about what we've been up to since our last newsletter in Summer, as well as some interesting projects and events happening at the start of 2026!

What's been happening?

Continued from last newsletter

With this being our last Newsletter of the year, we thought we would include links to our 2025 Newsletters so you can have a browse at other projects that happened earlier on in the year <3

October 2024 - March 2025

March 2025 - August 2025

August-December

• Donations

• September - December Junior's Youth Club

• September - December Senior's Youth Club

• September - December Chatty Cafe

• August - December Women for Women

• August - December Pop-up Shops

• August - December Revive Raffles

August

• Juniors Summer Playscheme Forest School & Trips

• Seniors Summer Playscheme, Forest School & Trips

• Annual Survey Responses

September

• Skydive for OB Project (In memory of Owen Brooks)

• Back to School Sale - The School Uniform Project

October

• PGL Residential for Senior's Youth Club (In memory of Rocco Cholerton)

• Seniors October Playscheme, Forest School & Trips

• Juniors October Playscheme Forest School & Trips

• Foodbank Fortnight due to Empty Shelves

November

• Christmas Post Box

• Christmas Closure Dates

What's Coming Up?

December

• Revive Christmas Sale

• Parent Pop-up Shop

• Revive Christmas Raffles

January

• Emergency Food Parcels Re-Opening

• January & February Junior's Youth Cub Timetable

• January & February Senior's Youth Cub Timetable

Ongoing Services

• The Chatty Cafe

• The Social Supermarket

• Youth Community Fridge

• Under 12's Youth Club & Playscheme

• Forest School

• Over 12's Youth Club & C-CARD

• DIY Party Packages

• Room Hire

• Volunteering & Work Experience

• Too Good To Waste Pop-Up Shop

• School Uniform Project

• Women for Women

Donations

Firstly, we would like to say a huge thank you to family and friends of Owen Brooks and Rocco Cholerton as well as The Sherwood Pub for supporting young people in our community who are dealing with grief and/or suffering with mental health problems by fundraising and donating to our charity and young people's projects & services. We have written separate sections about these amazing stories so please check the contents page for more information. A huge thank you to all involved!

Susan, Kathryn W, Louise, Steph Jo, The Country Food Trust, Newark & Sherwood District Council, Royal British Legion, St Simon’s & St Jude’s Church Volunteers Kellie and Jayne, Kate Richmond, Spectrum WASP, Sue Walker, Alka Bhatt, Nicola Byrne, Heather Hipkiss, Keith Richards, Debbie O'Connell, Rachel Voller, Holly Kime, Ross Smith, Python Hill Academy, Lake View School, Cornwater Evergreens, Mansfield Rotary, Steven Spencer & friends, Ravenshead & Blidworth Rotary, Cheryl Wildford, Claire Radford, Julie Wragg, Lucy Kirk, Alex Waters & Declan Waters, Tracey G, Joanne Randall, Joseph Whitaker, Revive Raffle Donors & Anonymous Donors!

Thank you for all your kind donations to support our numerous projects & services <3

If you'd like to make a donation, please email info@socialactionhub.com or call 01623 490498

Or visit our website donation page here

Juniors' Youth Club

We have had a super fun few months at Juniors' Youth Club with up to 25 children in each session. Our session themes included: Emergency Services, Roald Dhal, Astrology, September Equinox, anti-bullying, Sesame Street, Explorers, International Family Day, Community Christmas & Christmas Party!

For more information on Juniors Youth Club, please click here to see the poster

To see our sessions and project updates, please click here

Seniors' Youth Club

We have had a brilliant few months at Seniors' Youth Club, with up to 35 young people attending each session. Our session themes included: Suicide Prevention, Mexican Night, Sexual Health, Astronomy, September Equinox, Languages day, anti-bullying, White Ribbon Day, American Day, Forest School, Origami, Community Christmas & Christmas Party.

In December, we had a special visit from Counsellor Richard Ward, who came and conducted a survey with our young people to see what better support is needed for young people in our community. Jade (Rocco's mum) came with him to further support the survey and the young friends of Rocco to articulate their views.

On the last session of the year, we were visited by a representative from IMI (Institute of the Motor Industry) who came to teach our teens some life skills such as how to check if a bulb and a tire are safe to use. He also shared some great information about apprenticeships for young people in the motor industry.

For more information on Seniors Youth Club, please click here to see the poster

To see our sessions and project updates, please click here

The Chatty Cafe

We've had a good few months of The Chatty Cafe every week! We have had lots of new visitors coming to enjoy our tasty pastries and chat with our friendly volunteers. We recently moved our Chatty Cafe into the old Social Supermarket extension building which is our new Cafe/Learning suite, please stay tuned for the new renovations to this area in the new year!

To find out more about The Chatty Cafe please click here

Women for Women

What is Women for Women? We’re a support group for women, run by women. Whether you’re looking for support, friendship or something to get involved in, we can be that safe space. Somewhere that you can share or discuss without judgement. Or simply listen. Absolutely no pressure at all. Please share the group far and wide. Let’s reach out to as many women as possible that need a safe space. 🥰

Our women meet at The Social Action Hub once a month and once a month at The Mission Hall in Blidworth, please see poster with meeting dates

To join the group please click here

Too Good To Waste - Pop-up Shops

On Tuesdays we hold a pop-up shop which reduces our food waste and allows members of the public to come and access as much food as they like for just £1!

🕛 12 PM – 2 PM We’ve got loads of bread, fresh vegetables, and fridge food available!

Grab AS MUCH AS YOU LIKE 💥

Don’t miss out – come early for the best selection!

Revive Raffles

Throughout the past few months, we have launched our Revive Raffles to fundraise for our projects and give out goodies to our community via our Team FoodShare Facebook Group as well asselling tickets in store at The Social Supermarket!

We'd like to share a few of our favourites, which value between £65-£150 per raffle, all for just £1 per ticket - Congratulations to our lucky winners!!

Click on the images to read the descriptions for more information on each raffle.

Junior's Summer Playscheme, Forest School & Trips

We had an excellent 4 weeks for Summer Playscheme, which was funded by HAF and provided free places and meals for hundreds of children throughout the holidays. Our themed and educational sessions allow the kids to learn whilst playing games, taking part in activities and completing crafts:

Promise to Care, Balloons to Heaven, Chinese Moon Festival, S.T.E.M, International Youth Day, Rest & Relaxation, Never Give Up, Gamer's Day, Baking & Water Balloon Bonanza!

We enjoyed a fun-tastic trip to Willow Tree Farm, where we saw lots of farm animals and got to feed them too! We had a special handling session where we held a corn snake, skink, bearded dragon, leopard gecko and a rabbit. At the end of the day we fed the meerkats and enjoyed some ice cream!

Our other trip was to Rufford Park - We followed the Time Travelers Trail and the young people say they LOVED IT!! We also played on the park and watched an amazing Punch and Judy Puppet show🎪 We had a lovely day !

On 2 days throughout Playscheme, we enjoyed some brilliant days out at Forest School! On the first session we made bug hotels, took a walk up into the woods & played on rope swings and ate our lunch 🥪 in the woods! 🌳 We made dens as well as a sensory trial where we had to make our way around with a blindfold & a partner guiding us! We also did some bark rubbings with wax. Then, we came back to the centre and toasted marshmallows over the fire!

On the Second session we made clay faces on the trees & decorated them with items from the forest 🌳 We also played some games in the woods like “sardines” and went on the tire swing! We made forest school crowns 👑 with items from the woods 🌳 We came back and played on the bouncy castle for the final day here! We ate some melon, tomatoes & apples from the youth community fridge when we got back.

To see a session-by-session breakdown please click here 

Senior's Summer Playscheme, Forest School & Trips

We had a brilliant 4 weeks for Senior's Summer Playscheme, which was funded by HAF and provided free places and meals for hundreds of young people throughout the holidays. We covered lots of different themes:

Balloons to Heaven, Chinese Moon Festival, International Youth Day, Rest & Relaxation, Gamer's Day and Baking & Water Balloon Bonanza!

For our first trip of the summer, we went to Spring Lakes Aqua Park in Long Eaton! We put on wetsuits and went on 2 inflatable water park obstacle courses and had a great time. We finished the day with a picnic!

For our second trip we took a trip to planet bounce in Notts - we had a great time!! We climbed, jumped & parkoured our way around the inflatables. We finished the day with an ice cream & a trip to a local park in Nottingham to eat our picnic.

We held 2 forest school sessions throughout summer. On the first session we made mallets using tools like a bow saw, handsaw, axe & a knife. We then went to the woods and played a big game of manhunt, made some clay tree faces & cooked smores over the fire 🔥🍫 We came back and made forest school collages with materials from the woods.

On the second session we made mini terrariums, cooked campfire jam donuts over the fire, went into the woods to make dens, and came back to use tools to chop up firewood and gain experience in safe tool use. We also made some brownies when we came back as a little treat!

To see a session-by-session breakdown please click here

Annual Survey Responses

In August we put out a Youth Club & Playscheme Survey and a Team Foodshare Survey, which asked a variety of questions to our service users to identify our strengths and areas for improvement - as well as receiving some lovely comments about our provision.

Youth Club & Playscheme

From our feedback, we can proudly say our ratings are high in many areas, such as child enjoyment, staff support and session delivery & quality! Please have a look at our data below.

Team Foodshare

Our Team Foodshare services & The Social Supermarket have also been highly rated in a variety of areas such as quality, staff & volunteers, value for money and overall experience! Please see data below

Thank you to everyone who completed a survey, we take everything you say on board and we appreciate your honesty and the time it takes to give us feedback.

Skydive for OB Project

(In memory of Owen Brooks)

Sadly in May this year, our community lost a wonderful young man named Owen Brooks, aged 16. He had many friends and played for a local football team and supported Mansfield Stags. Our young people that attend Seniors' Youth Club helped us create a logo for a project called the OB Project, which aims to support local young boys with their mental health and other needs, through talking but also taking part in a variety of activities.

In July, we held a fundraiser with The Sherwood pub as well as at The Social Action Hub run by young people.

In September, Owen's Dad Keith Brooks and other family members Caroline Elliot and Sophie Thompson took a brave step out of a plane to raise funds for The OB Project and to support our activities with young people! Truly admirable and greatly appreciated by us and our community!

Together they have raised over £2000 to support our provision! A huge thank you to Keith & family for taking such a brave step to support our community.

The School Uniform Project

Back to School Sale

Our School Uniform Exchange is back ONLINE!! Collaborating with various local schools and donors (e.g. Blidworth Oaks, Python Hill, Lake View Kirklington Primary etc.) we have universal and school-specific uniform all at up to 95% off the RRP now available to buy on our online Revive Store!

If you can't find a size or item in-store, look online to see everything available! We are operating a Click and Collect Only System - so place your order, buy your item and we will let you know when your order is ready to collect in-store at our Social Supermarket (2 Sherwood Parade, Rainworth, NG21 0JP)!

Prices are the same as ever:

New items: £1.50

Excellent condition: £1

Good Condition: 50p

Blazers: £2

PGL Residential for Seniors' Youth Club

(In Memory of Rocco Cholerton)

In July, we sadly lost a wonderful young man who was a beloved member of our youth club, Rocco Cholerton (aged 17). He was a long-time member and a cherished member of our community, loved my many.

Unfortunately for some young people in our community they have lost not one, but two friends — leaving them to carry a weight no teenager should bear.

With the support of Jade Bramhall & family, The Sherwood Pub and Owen's family & Friends, we were able to book PGL which is a residential for our teenagers to connect more with each other & have a break doing team-building activities for the weekend!

Our first night at PGL went down a treat as we completed our first activity - Laser Tag 🔫 We all got comfy and chose our rooms for the weekend, settled in nicely and played games in the evening 😊

The second day of PGL we started off the day with Axe Throwing where many of us did different throws to try and hit the target with small and large axes 🪓 Then some of us went and built a raft to float over the lake (a few of us did fall in the freezing lake 🥶) whilst the others went on the trampolines which was so much fun 🤩 Then after lunch we all tried to climb as high as we could on Jacob’s ladder, which was such a challenge! Nevertheless many of us managed to get halfway or more 😁 We all went on the zip wires afterwards and finished our evening with a few games ☺️

On our last day at PGL, we bravely went on the giant swing, which was sooo high up! 😟 We had a few screams, definitely a memorable moment! After, we tried fencing 🤺 and got all of our protective gear on which made us feel prepared to try new moves like “attack” and “lunge” with the foil 🗡️ The final activity we did was the sensory trail, which was certainly one of the funniest 🤣 we had to make our way around a trail and obstacles blind!! Thanks for an amazing time! We will post a video collage as a final post for this residential 😊

Junior's October Playscheme, Forest School & Trip

We enjoyed 2 weeks for Junior's October Playscheme, which was funded by HAF and provided free places and meals for hundreds of young people throughout the holidays. We covered lots of different themes:

Jungle Day, Ocean Day, Remembrance Day, Monster Mash Monday, Wicked Witched Wednesday & Halloween Party

At Forest school we learned how to use the bow saw to cut wood in pairs which we made a tic tac toe game from 🐞 We went into the woods and we played games like sardines, camouflage side & seek and nature detective 🕵️ Some of us had a competition for who could build the best stick tower and dens ⛺️ We had a good time on the tire swings 😃 We retuned and did some nature painting 🖼️ with sticks and leaves 🍂

On the second day of Playscheme, we went on a trip to Maxey's Farm shop and had the best time picking pumpkins 🎃 We also went on the tractor maze ride 🚜 and the spooky bouncy castle 👻

Senior's October Playscheme, Forest School & Trip

We had a great 2 weeks for Senior's October Playscheme, which was funded by HAF and provided free places and meals for hundreds of young people throughout the holidays. We covered lots of different themes:

International day of food, remembrance day, pumpkin party and Halloween party!

At Forest school we cooked hot dogs over the fire 🔥 and collected some forest materials to make fairy houses from milk bottles 🍼 We used the Kellie kettle to boil our water and made hot chocolates 🍫 We also made a noughts and crosses style game from wood & painted some bug rocks 🐞 and played the game 😊 Finally we used the saws & axe to craft some fairy furniture 🪑 where we made seats, a table and dinner plates to put in the garden. Really creative day, thank you for coming!

For our trip we visited twin lakes Xtreme Scream event on a trip & we went through 7 different scare ‘mazes’ & ‘houses’ with demented bakers, insane prisoners, wicked witches, crazy clowns and loads more spooky characters 😱🎃👻💀 We were not allowed to take videos in the scare mazes/houses unfortunately! Certainly heard lots of squeals and screams haha, well done to our brave bunch for facing the Xtreme scream 👺😧

To see a session-by-session breakdown please click here

Rainworth & Blidworth Jan & Feb 2026 Junior's Youth Club Timetable

Please note we don’t return until the second week of Jan and we have a break for February half term as we will not be doing Feb Playscheme for 2026 ❤️

We have lots of fun activities, games & crafts available - all for FREE!

Sessions are for ages 5-11 (Yr 1 - Yr 6) every Monday & Wednesday during term time!

Mondays 4:45pm-6:45pm ⏰ Wednesdays 4:30pm-6:40pm ⏰

Monday sessions are held at Blidworth Oaks Primary School, and Wednesday sessions are held at The Social Action Hub 🏘️

If your child has an ECHP or any additional learning needs/support, please book in a meeting with us in advance so we can discuss ways we can support your child’s needs ❤️

Book Youth Club Sessions here!

Rainworth & Blidworth Jan & Feb 2026 Senior's Youth Club Timetable

Youth club will be back on in January on the 2nd week! We will be having a break throughout February half term ❤️

We have lots of fun activities, games & crafts available - all for FREE!

Sessions are for ages 12+ (Yr 7) every Tuesday & 1st Friday of the month during term time! Tuesdays: 5pm-7pm ⏰ Fridays: 6pm-8pm ⏰

Friday sessions are held at St Andrew’s Mission Hall, and Tuesday sessions are held at The Social Action Hub 🏘️

C-CARD registering & pick up available ❤️

Book here or come and meet us in person!

Foodbank Fortnight

Due to empty shelves

In October, we had to announce the following statement...

"OUR FOODBANK/EMERGENCY FOOD PARCELS SERVCE IS TEMPORARILY CLOSED!! Our stocks are so low we can no longer provide emergency food parcels for those in most need in Rainworth & Blidworth. Emergency Food Parcels are provided through referrals from Doctors, Social Services or Schools & are households in most need.

We deliver around 9 Emergency Food Parcels a month (families are limited to only 3 parcels, per year, per household). These families are in Rainworth & Blidworth and are in desperate need. We support over 500 local households per year to fight food poverty, through Chatty Cafe, Youth Community Fridge & The Social Supermarket. If you can - please donate!"

If you want to donate funds you can do this by clicking on our Local Giving OR Paypal Links below:

Christmas Post Box

One of our wonderful members Kathy Keeton makes post box toppers for our community, and recently knitted and crafted us one for our Christmas Post Box! Kathy posted...

"so many people have told me they missed our postbox Toppers on Kirklington Road, well a bit of good news.... The social hub has allowed us to use their postbox at the social supermarket to display toppers .. yay! The postbox will be outside during opening hours. It is ready to receive Letters to Santa 🎅🎄 and friends and family of Owen can still of course send letters to him. 💝 hope you enjoy seeing Snoopy back - A big Thank you to the social hub and social supermarket for making this happen"

See more information about The Social Supermarket here

Christmas Closure Dates

Christmas is approaching! So we’re sharing our Christmas closure dates for December 😊

Please take note that some services close/open sooner or later than others.

The Social Supermarket will close early on Thursday 18th at 12pm along with our offices and other services 🛒

We will share some information regarding food support over Christmas closer to the time for anyone struggling during this time

Thank you! 🎄

Revive Christmas Sale

🎄 REVIVE CHRISTMAS SALE 🎄

We have some exciting plans for this Christmas, starting with our revive sale in The Social Supermarket starting on 8th December 😍🎄

Products include Christmas gifts, cleaning products & pet prezzies 🐶🎁🧽

Items are from Revive - our Zero Waste initiative which prevents new products from going to landfill and allows our community to access low cost products with good quality!

Please follow our Team Foodshare Facebook group for more Revive projects and services!

Parent's Pop-Up Shop

On Wednesday 17th December we are holding a parent’s pop up shop, where we will be selling a variety of products such as:

🧸Toys

🎄Games

🎄Uniform

🎁Christmas presents

We are opening the pop-up shop down at The Social Action Hub between 3pm-6pm

Come down on Wednesday 17th and browse our variety of items!

Revive Christmas Raffles

Leading up to Thursday 18th December we have 4 raffles to sell tickets for!

Including: 2 couple’s hampers & boys toys and girls toys hampers 🧸

ALL HAMPERS NOW MORE THAN 50% SOLD OUT

Buy a ticket via Paypal – please add your name/chosen numbers and raffle in the reference!

Until you’ve paid your numbers not secure!

Alternatively you can pay in-store at The Social Supermarket (2 Sherwood Parade NG21 0JP) Next door to Hillview Surgery or message us for more information

Emergency Food Parcels Re-opening

This is just a short notice to make you aware that we are looking to re-open our emergency food parcel provision in the new year. Due to the amazing donations we have received recently plus a large donation at the end of the week, we are in a position where we have enough stock to continue this provision.