Oyster Project Newsletter for April 2012

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O Y S T E R P R O J E C T

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Oyster News

NewsWe are just as busy as ever at

the Oyster Project with lots

of good work going on

nearly every day of the

week.

People may think we only

run the Oyster Community

cafe but theres Lewes

Community Internet and

Radio Lewes as well.

Attached to those projects

are IT support and training

for members, DJ skillstraining, broadcast training,

Radio Lewes Roadshow

events such as Club Footand Karaoke Curry Nights

(theres a campaign to call it

Kuraoke!) plus the Radio

Days, Our Histories,

Watercolours, Cooking Club,

Wheels n Walks,

Photography Group,

Knitting and Weaving,Garden Buddy with Lewes

Organic Allotment Project,

OysterFest, Drama Group

and more

You may think thats

enough, its exhausting just

typing the list out!But theres more that people

want to do: there is a

demand to start a singinggroup, not exactly a choir

but a performance group

that could do a turn at one

of our events and also a

contemporary dance

group.... sounds like fun.

If this is the sort of thing youare interested in let us know

We also need people to help

with the play we are doing

at Christmas so if you know

about costumes, make up or

stage things let us know. We

also need actors and there

are lots of roles available.

John

Whats happening at the charity and how you can get involved. Work experience,

skills training and the chance to try new things are what its about....

Fundraising

We always need to

raise funds, learnhow you can help

this month by

volunteering your

time and promoting

the work of Oyster,

dont just be a

passenger, be a doer

too!

Radio Days

We run these days on

the 2nd and 4thSaturday of eachmonth at the PhoenixCentre

Follow us on

Facebook & Twitter

Our Facebook name is

OysterLewes

On Twitter its

OysterProject

Karaoke

Curry Club

Read all

about

our new

event

seePage 2

Family Camp/

OysterFest

Dates forDiary 18th

19th & 20th

May -

bookings

taken soon

A monthly newsletter for our many members and supporters issue 4 April 2012


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O Y S T E R N E W S

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Focus on the Photographygroup

Philip Wise and Gareth Price have

done a great job getting thePhotography Group off the

ground. Gareth and Philip jointly

run sessions at the Radio Day

which happens on the first

Saturday of the month.

They take keen photographers outon field trips and discuss how and

where to take photos and how to

get the best out of equipment. It

doesnt matter if you dont have a

camera we have equipment we can

loan for the day.Philip also runs a session on the

Radio Day that happens on the

fourth Saturday.

All members are welcome to get

involved.

Karaoke Curry Club

Our first ever event was a great

success!

Thanks are due to Ben, Dawn,

Poppy, Paul, Shonagh and all the

Karaoke Crew who made it amemorable event. My head was

ringing for 24 hours afterwards!!

We will be holding other Kuraoke

events and we may tour it under

the Radio Lewes Roadshow

banner just as we will be doingwith Club Nights.

If you want to be involved in these

events let Paul or John know.

It will be hard work but it will be

raising money for Oyster and its

work.


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key initiatives our members areinvolved in

Oyster Community Cafe

Not quite our longest

running activity butalmost. What started

as a monthly coffee

morning is in its

fourth year. Now its

a successful weekly

community cafewhich is run and

delivered by a

significant group of

members with

volunteer and paid

support. Its very

popular and a huge

credit to all members.

Lewes Community Internet

What we now take for

granted was very newtechnology when westarted the network

and the training and

support programme.

That was 6 years ago

at least! Many peoplebenefit from the work

our members and

volunteers do each

week on the network

which is a bit like

painting the Forth

Road Bridge, it alwaysneeds something!

Radio Lewes

Perhaps our most

challenging project,and certainly the

costliest, Radio Lewes

has led us from

making podcasts to

online broadcasting

24/7, Club Nights, DJskills training,

Kuraoke, Radio Lewes

Roadshow events and

who knows what

next.... we have plans

for 2012 so if youwant to be part of it

contact John or Paul.


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New projects...

Coming up soon will be the 2012/13 season of Our Histories. We have got significant

funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to do some exciting work over the next 18

months so watch this space!

Weve obtained funding to run a pilot project using the new iPads and looking at howour members can use them for creative and fun activities. Billy Charlesworth will be

leading this pilot project and there will be more news soon.

Billy has also been asked to if he will become a Trustee Director of the Charity and has

agreed to do so. This will be a great chance for Billy to get experience and help guide how

the Charity works and we will welcome him on board at the next Trustee meeting.

Weve got some funding for an exciting project called MyPOV (My Point of View) which

will involve people filming their lives as they are lived. We will most probably link upwith uScreen and its training wing to deliver this project. More details to follow.

We are also working on an oral history project for young disabled people up to 19 years

old. This is called Hidden Voices and will feature the views and opinions of young

disabled people in ways that are not heard at the moment.

Board of TrusteesHelen McMurray Chair

Valerie Thackeray Vice Chair

John Russell Treasurer

Sophie Gibson, Sarah Gordy, Jim Sinclair, Mik Anthony,

Keith Barnard, Janet Anthony.

Postal Address

Oyster Project

c/o Town Hall

High Street

Lewes

East Sussex

BN7 2QS

ps.....The year has got off to a great start as far as activities in the

charity are concerned. Its also been greatthat not only is the Mayor fundraising in hismayoral year for us but we have also

received support from the Rotary Club ofLewes Castle, Lewes Lottery and also LewesOperatic Society who have donated 50p from

every programme sold at their latest production. Itswonderful when people from the community get behindOyster members and its a great credit to all of us. We stillneed to raise money ourselves so we can be independent

and flexible. Its also important we maintain the Oysterethos of not basing everything on how much people pay todo activities. A member can make a contribution in manyways other than paying a small fee. However everything we

do costs money so if you have or are benefitting from being amember its important that you all do that you can to keepthings going. This may be a coffee morning or helping out at

events or even staging an event. One thing is sure, if you donothing there will be no Oyster!

Documents

Oyster Project Newsletter for April 2012