The Official Move is nearly upon us!

To all our friends and supporters:

Well, the Moving Home appeal is still ongoing (we're not quite there yet), but as we've already mentioned, we've raised nearly all of what we need, and the time has come for the official move.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers this coming Friday (10th February), when we have our official 'rehearsal' in the new venue. And then official opening on Tuesday the following week (14th February).

In the meantime, why not have a look at this recent article in the Oxford Mail about the move (including a quote from the author!).

Thanks to all.

Something of interest?

Just a quick note to all our followers, and one for your diary: there is a Homelessness Evensong at St Giles church in Oxford on 29^th January at 6:30 pm. Refreshments will be provided. Do go along if you're free. Thanks. 

Join us for a pub quiz in Eynsham

Do you fancy a quiz night in support of the Gatehouse Moving Home appeal? 

WHERE?
The Talbot Inn, Eynsham.The Talbot is situated on Oxford Road, Eynsham, just past the Swinford toll bridge as you enter the village on the road from Oxford.

WHEN?
Thursday, 19th January.
Arrive at 19.45 for a 20.00 start.

HOW?
Put together a team of 4.
There will be a cost of £10 per table - all proceeds to the Moving Home appeal of course.

We look forward to seeing you there.

The Oxford Bach Ensemble

And to get the New Year off with a bang, here's another event you may be interested in:

The Oxford Bach Ensemble will be holding their annual community concert on 7th January.

Many local musicians (both gifted amateurs and top professionals) join together to perform works, mainly by J S Bach, some familiar but some not so well-known.

This year the proceeds from the concert will be shared between the Gatehouse Moving Home appeal and the Alzheimer's Carers at Noddfa.

Do come along for an evening of high quality music.

Saturday 7th January 2012
7.30pm
St Margaret's Church, Oxford

Thanks to the team for their help!

A great Christmas for the Gatehouse

Happy new year to you all. 

Well, we hope you had a good break. For the Gatehouse Moving Home appeal, fundraising carried on as usual. In fact, our supporters were busier than ever. So, here is a short summary of what happened: 

• Lucy and friends at Nuffield College collected £223 
• The Pindrop Concert raised over £1,500 
• Keble College Concert raised £737 
• Creation Theatre raised £323 from a bucket collection 
• The Jewish Society (JSOC) donated £250 
• St Peter's College carol service raised £822
• Ambassador Theatre Group collected £509 from a bucket collection
• North Aston Carol Singers raised £175 
• New College School raised £850 from their carol concert 
• The Salvation Army donated over £500

A very big thank you to everyone who donated and worked so hard to raise this money over the Christmas period. Thank you to all the volunteers who sang carols, held buckets, organised events and helped in any other way.

The Gatehouse had a great Christmas thanks to all our supporters.

 

Homelessness around the World

Here is a rather moving photographic survey of homelessness around the world: we thought you'd like to take a look.

On behalf of eveyone at the Gatehouse and the Moving Home appeal, thank you for your tremendous support htis year, and we look forward to continuing in 2012, right up to the move itself. 

With best wishes from all of us for Christmas.

Report on our Christmas Party

An update on the Pindrop Christmas Party (with Stornoway and the Epstein)

 

On Saturday night we had an absolutely wonderful event with a lovely atmosphere and loads of credit given to the Gatehouse - including a round of applause for our work! We were much helped by some warm words from Andy (one of our ex-homeless guests at the Gatehouse) who was kind enough to say "we are the friendliest people in the world". 

 

Thanks to the team - including Jackie & Peter, Malcolm, Andrew, Bruce and Andy. We had two return trips to Tesco to get extra wine for mulling!

 

The bands are hoping that it may be possible to download a recording of the music (for a small donation to the Gatehouse Moving Home appeal of course!). Let us know if you're interested via the comments.

A short article on progress

A short article from the Oxford Mail about progress on the building.

Last reminder: the PinDrop concert

Just to remind you: the PinDrop concert is tomorrow: click here to book tickets (£8.00) each and support the Gatehouse Moving Home appeal. See you there!

The Gatehouse PinDrop Christmas Party

This Friday, the 9th December, please join us for the Gatehouse PinDrop Christmas Party.

7.30pm
Friday 9th December
St Michael at the Northgate Church, Oxford
Tickets £8 from WeGotTickets.
Includes benefit gig including the Pindrop Choir, The Epstein, Mat Gibson and mystery guests.
All proceeds to the Gatehouse Moving Home Appeal.

Please come and pass this on to your friends.

Check out all the details on Facebook, or download the poster below. 

Click here to download

Please keep going with us ...

As you all know, we've now reached 82% of our appeal. Thank you so much for your support, but we still have some way to go.

Don't forget, the best way to donate is via our Sandwich Steve page: in just a few clicks, you'll be able to donate safely and securely via the just-giving system. Plus, let us know what you think of the move at the same time!

If you'd like to find out more about other ways of donating, such as by cheque or by standing order, take a look at this page: you'll find all the details you need.

Thanks again for your support

The Oxfam One World Fair

One for your diaries: the Gatehouse will be at the Oxfam One World Fair with a stall. Come and say hello if you're in Oxford on that day:

Details:

Saturday 19 November – 10am to 4.30pm
50 stalls, vegetarian cafe and live music
50p entrance, children free.
Oxford Town Hall

See you there!

Update from the Moving Home concert

An update from our Fundraising Manager Catherine House concerning the Moving House Appeal Concert that took place on Saturday:

The Gatehouse Appeal Orchestra stunned us all with their amazing music on Saturday. 

The soloist Craig Greene was brilliant on the piano and brought the Mozart Piano Concerto to life in the beautiful setting of St Peter's College Chapel in Oxford. Thank you to Andrew Gray, conductor and organiser, and all the musicians who took part. We're pleased to say that the concert raised over £1049 for the Gatehouse Moving Home Appeal.  

Thank you also to all the people who supported the event by publicising it, coming on the evening and by helping out.  Henmans LLP and Oxford Print Centre both contributed to the event - thank you for your sponsorship.

Here are some photos of the event:

Catherine witih Andrew Gray, the concert organiser and conductor.

Thanks to the studenst at Queen's college

Queen's College, Oxford have raised over £250 for the Gatehouse Moving Home appeal through a dinner and sale of Charity cocktails in the college bar! Thanks guys!

Diarise the 9th December

Keep this date free: Friday December 9th at St Michael's Church in Oxford. The Gatehouse Benefit Gig in the support of the Moving Home appeal is on, on, on! With mystery guests ... more to follow! Thanks.

Up to 75%... and counting

If you have been following Sandwich Steve (which you can find on the link to the right of the page), you may be wondering if we've made a mistake on the figures.  

 

Well, we haven't! This week we celebrated our 75% Moving Home appeal milestone, thanks to a very substantial donation.  

 

So this is just to say thank you to everyone who has given to the appeal and helped us to get to this point.

 

What next? We have just under £40,000 to go. It is tempting to relax but wouldn't it be great if we could raise all the money and reach our target by Christmas? We have a lot happening over the next few weeks with various events which you are involved in: check out the concert tomorrow, for example. 

 

Thanks for all that you do for the Gatehouse: and let's keep going!

Final reminder: the Gatehouse Concert is this weekend!

Just a final reminder about the Gatehouse concert this weekend. 

In summary, the details are as follows:

WHAT?

The Gatehouse Appeal Orchestra

Mozart Piano Concerto No.23
Schubert Symphony No.5
Soloist: Craig Greene

Conductor: Andrew Gray 

WHERE?

St Peter's College Chapel

New Inn Hall Street

Oxford

 
WHEN?

Saturday 12th November (5th Week)
7:30pm

FREE admission, with a retiring collection towards the Gatehouse Charity

And do check out our Facebook page for the event and RSVP there if you're coming! Thanks.

Thanks to Eynsham baptist church

A big thank you to our friends at Eynsham baptist church. 

They took a special collection in order to sponsor our walk from Eynsham to Oxford. 

Thank you to all those who donated and raised £270 for the Moving Home appeal.

The Gatehouse of the Future ...

A big thank-you to the children, teachers and parents of Madley Book School in Witney for raising £95 for the Moving Home appeal - as well as bags of food and toiletries. It was great to have some of the children come into the Gatehouse to find out more - hopefully, they'll be volunteers and helpers of the future!

 

They've put a couple of great photos on their website: just click here to see them.

 

An update from the building site

Well, it's time for an update from the building site.

Work is progressing well, with the project nearly half complete now. Here are some photos for you to enjoy:

More to follow, but in the meantime please keep promoting the Moving Home appeal: we've a long way to go! Thanks.