Charity: Oakwood Farmers’ Market; Leeds Community Foundation; The Weather Café
Oakwood Farmers’ Market, which has been running every third Saturday since 2008 at Oakwood Clock in Roundhay, is part of environmental charity, the Roundhay Environment Action Project (REAP) and attracts hundreds of visitors locally and from across the region.
The market committee is made up a team of seven volunteers, all members of the local community.
In a bid to ensure the long term survival of the market, the committee has launched a campaign to enlist willing volunteers to help put their business skills to good use in running the market.
Committee member Jill Jones, who originally came up with idea for the market, said: “I guess you could say that this is a form of succession planning. Over the past eight years, Oakwood Farmers’ Market has become a very popular shopping destination for the local community as well as visitors from further afield. However, whilst there is plenty of passion left in the market committee we obviously can’t go on forever so we’ve decided to invite local people who might have time on their hands and bags of enthusiasm to get involved and work with us to continue the great work that has been done so far.
“We want future generations to benefit from our original vision for many years to come.”
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LEEDS Chamber’s biggest event of the year has raised more than £3,000 for Leeds Community Foundation (LCF).
Gerald Jennings, president of Leeds Chamber, selected LCF as its charity of the year. During the Chamber’s annual dinner he spoke of the reasons why the Chamber was supporting the cause.
He said: “LCF exists to improve the lives of people facing the greatest disadvantage in Leeds. Experts in local need, they secure and distribute funds to community groups, charities and voluntary organisations that can reach parts of the community that other sectors just can’t, tackling really difficult issues and acting as catalyst for positive change. With over 15,000 people over 60 classed as intensely lonely and 23% of our under 16 year olds living in poverty in Leeds, there is still much that we need to do to help local communities. LCF can help to make this difference.”
The annual dinner held at the Royal Armouries and charity draw where prizes were donated by Stratstone BMW Leeds; Raven Computers; Trinity Leeds; Mercedes-Benz of Leeds; Chaophraya Leeds and Royal Armouries International.
Mr Jennings said: “I would like to thank all of our members for their generous donations, helping us to beat our previous Annual Dinner charity fundraising totals. We are excited to continue our charity of the year partnership with LCF to help the communities and people in Leeds who are most in need.”
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FORMERLY homeless people from Emmaus Leeds organised a special event at The Weather Café, a pop-up art space, bringing together people from the Leeds’ community and creative sectors.
The team, who now live and work at Emmaus Leeds, hosted an invite only event which featured a live band, talks, discussions, networking and a three course meal cooked by Emmaus Leeds from food donations that would otherwise have gone to landfill.
One of the organisers of the event, said: “I would like to give special thanks to artist David Shearing, Jo and David for the meal, the wonderful two piece band ‘Ten String Thing’ for keeping us entertained and Leeds College of Art student, Ailsa Rham, for photographing the night.”
The Weather Café is a pop-up art space that presents the voices of more than 100 people living in Leeds and those connected to the city. Working together with composer James Bulley and creative technologist Daniel Jones, the multimedia artwork brings the weather elements indoors, creating an unusual experience for passers-by.
Creator of The Weather Café and award winning artist David Shearing said: “We wanted to create a space in which community and culture could come together. By sharing a meal and sharing stories we hope we can build a greater sense of compassion and understanding. The Emmaus Leeds night was made possible through support from the University of Leeds.”
Emmaus Leeds supports 26 formerly homeless people by providing them with a stable home and meaningful work for as long as they need it.
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