Our Make May Mobile Phone Month aims to encourage people to have a sort out for any unwanted mobile phones then donate them during May.  Phones can be dropped off at any Poole Library (see the list here:http://www.poole.gov.uk/leisure-and-culture/libraries/your-libraries/)  and popped in one of their self-service machine boxes.  At the beginning of June all the phones will be counted up and distributed amongst the following:  AOK Rucksack Appeal, Age UK Bournemouth, Branksome Children’s Centre, Diverse Abilities, Dorset Blind Association, Forest Holme Hospice, Pound Puppy Animal Rescue and Ted Webster Children’s Centre.

The next donation day for Canford Heath and Creekmoor Win on Waste groups will be Saturday 14 May.  Canford Heath will meet at the Coffee House Café between 10 and 11am and Creekmoor at Creekmoor Library between 11.30 and 12.30.  These are the items currently being saved:

• Bubble wrap (Dorset Blind Association)
• Padded envelopes (Dorset Blind Association)
• Milk bottle tops (Gift of Sight or Priest House Museum)
• Biscuit wrappers (Ideas2Action)
• Newspapers/magazines/junk mail (Dorset Community Foundation)
• Stamps (Lewis-Manning Hospice)
• Cleaning product items (Ideas2Action)

Plus Dorset Blind Association has asked for netting suitable for making ballet tutus, so if you have any to donate, please bring it along.

Eight residents popped into Creekmoor Library for the Win on Waste donation session on Saturday 16 April and altogether 14 carrier bags of items were donated including CD’s, milk bottle tops, biscuit wrappers, newspapers/junk mail/magazines, stamps and cleaning product items.

Twenty six people donated over 30 carrier bags and two cardboard boxes of items at the Canford Heath Win on Waste donation day at the Coffee House Cafe on Saturday 16 April.  There were carrier bags of CD’s, milk bottle tops, biscuit wrappers, newspapers/junk mail/magazines, stamps, cleaning product items, cardboard tubes and jam jars.  All the items will be put to good use or will be used to help raise money for the voluntary organisations who requested them.

We are thrilled to announce that we are a finalist in the MRW National Recycling Awards 2016 for our recycling projects in the Waste Prevention Award – Public and Third category.  In order for the judges to choose the winners of all the categories, finalists are being invited up to London to give a presentation to them in May.  The winners will be announced on 6 July at their Awards Evening in the Hilton Hotel, Park Lane.  Wish us luck!

We’re delighted to say that we’ve been successful in our bid to the Dorset Police & Crime Commissioner’s Safer Dorset Fund to run a pilot project on Canford Heath. The project, Hunt the House: are your house numbers emergency friendly? will run between April and July 2016 on Canford Heath.  It aims to raise awareness amongst residents about how difficult it is for police and other emergency services to spot house numbers, especially in the dark and how locating a property promptly could save a life or prevent a crime.  The experience we gain from the pilot will then be shared Dorset-wide so as many people as possible will be made aware of the importance of having visible numbers.

A great selection of craft items were donated by generous Canford Heath and Creekmoor residents for the Dorset Scrapstore at their Win on Waste sessions on 20 February.

We welcome Forest Holme Hospice, Dorset Wildlife Trust, Routes to Roots, the Branksome and Rossmore Children’s Centres and Pound Puppy Animal Rescue to We Need That.

Their needs include wood, mobile phones, keys, artificial flowers, flower baskets, plastic flower pots, bricks, cardboard tubes, carpet oddments, corks, postcards, stamps, buttons, ribbon, wallpaper, card and envelopes, old towels/blankets and jam jars.  If you can help with any of these, please go to We Need That February 2016.

We ran our first fundraising event on Wednesday 10 February; a Literary Quiz at the Bricklayer’s Arms in Parkstone.  Competition was fierce between the eight teams, so close that we had joint winners which resulted in a tie-break.  The eventual winners were The Supremes, with the Black Pug Book team coming a very close second.  We were delighted that the evening raised £171.40 and would like to thank the pub for hosting the event, along with Brittany Ferries and the Co-op who donated raffle prizes.   

Do you have any unwanted keys lying around your home or workplace?  If so, you could be helping charity Routes to Roots who work with homeless people in Poole.  Take any unwanted keys to the office of Carter Shaw, 446 Ashley Road, Parkstone, Poole BH14 0AD. They will sell the keys and donate the money to Routes to Roots.

If you live in Canford Heath or Creekmoor then you can take your keys to the next donation session of the Win on Waste groups on Saturday 20 February.  Canford Heath 10-11am at the Coffee House Café, Adastral Square or Creekmoor 11.30am-12.30pm at Creekmoor Library.  If you live in Hamworthy you can take your keys to Hamworthy Library on Saturday 27 February between 10.30 and 11.30am.