A monthly artisan market will raise funds for a food waste and food poverty charity covering Harrogate and Knaresborough.
Held at Gracious Street Methodist Church, Knaresborough Artisan Market will have stalls across three rooms featuring independent traders.
It will raise funds for Resurrected Bites, which runs community groceries and pay-as-you-feel cafes in the same venue and in Harrogate.
The market runs from 10am to 3pm tomorrow, Saturday, with more dates booked in for Saturday, November 5 and Saturday December 3.
As well as refreshments and cakes, traders will be selling jewellery, art, crystals, gifts, candles, beauty products, vegan and eco products, and more.
The market is being organised by Resurrected Bites volunteer Jade Lapsley.
The charity’s chief executive Michelle Hayes said:
“We have challenging times ahead to meet the demand for our services. In order to run our community groceries and give-as-you-can community cafes and shops, we still need to run various fundraising activities to help cover our costs.
“One of those activities is the Starbeck Artisan Market. This is a great opportunity to support the local economy and start Christmas shopping in addition to helping Resurrected Bites raise much needed funds.”
Earlier this month, Resurrected Bites appealed for more corporate supporters in order to ensure it could continue to support vulnerable people through the cost of living crisis.
While it said it has funding in place for the next six months, the amount of food waste being donated had dropped and the charity was having to buy in more in order to meet demand.
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- Food waste organisation Resurrected Bites warns it could close
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Knaresborough to be backdrop of this Sunday’s Songs of Praise
The town of Knaresborough and one of its charities are set to feature in this weekend’s Songs of Praise programme.
A few weeks ago Katherine Jenkins caused excitement around the town when she was spotted filming at Knaresborough Castle and down by St Robert’s Cave.
As it is the weekend before Valentine’s Day, the theme for the show is love and kindness and showcases the work of Resurrected Bites which is based in Gracious Street Methodist Church.
The charity runs a community grocery store out of the church where people who are struggling to make ends meet pay a small sum to become members and can then shop at the grocery.
Ms Jenkins visited the church to speak to charity volunteers and director, Michelle Hayes, who said:
“It was great for them to recognise the work we do and we’re always grateful for the chance to show people the help we offer. There are still people struggling locally who don’t know what we do, so this programme might help us reach them.”
Filming also took place down by the River Nidd. The Welsh mezzo soprano visited St Robert’s Cave to hear the story of the 12th century hermit who is celebrated locally for his work to support the poor in his community.
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- Harrogate Philharmonic Orchestra to showcase female composers
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It will be broadcast Sunday morning at 11.25am on BBC One.
During Sunday’s programme, John Sentamu, the former archbishop of York, remembers his friend archbishop Desmond Tutu.
Community grocery opens in Knaresborough to help people in needA community grocery has opened in Knaresborough today to help people in need put food on the table.
Resurrected Bites, an organisation which battles food waste, is behind the new shop at Gracious Street Methodist Church.
It will be open on Tuesdays and Fridays between 9.30am and 3.30pm. The last people will be let in at 3pm.
It is the second community grocery set up by Resurrected Bites, which opened its first at New Park Community Hub in October.
Both operate in the same way. People who are struggling to make ends meet pay a small sum to become members an can then shop at the grocery.
It costs £5 a year to sign up as a member. You then pay £3, £6 or £9, depending on the size of your family, to shop for goods that would usually cost about £30 in supermarkets.
The majority of the food available would have gone to landfill but is too good to be wasted.
The stores have a wide range of tinned, fresh food and frozen food. They also stock toiletries, sanitary products and nappies in various sizes.
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Carolyn Aitken, the grocery manager, said
“So many people are struggling with rising food and fuel prices on top of all of the cuts to people’s income.
“We want to ensure that everyone can afford to eat a healthy diet so please let people know about our service if you know they are struggling.”
Michelle Hayes, the founder of Resurrected Bites, said:
“We are really grateful to Gracious St Methodist Church for giving us this dedicated room in the church for us to run the grocery from.
“We partnered with the church initially in January 2020 when we started a pay as you feel community café there.
“This means that people who become members of the grocery, can also come in for a drink and something to eat when they come to do their shopping.”
Resurrected Bites will continue to run its café in the Bridge cafe at the centre on Gracious Street from 10 am until 2pm every Tuesday and Friday.
Knaresborough Methodist church raises £1,000 for African familiesA church in Knaresborough has raised more than a £1,000 for African families after taking a different approach to Christmas this year.
Members of the Gracious Street Methodist Church usually send 20 to 30 cards to each other at Christmas.
But this year, instead of sending cards they made donations to the Methodist relief and development charity All We Can, which supports vulnerable communities.
The congregation raised £1,190, which will allow the charity to buy three wheelchairs for children in Ethiopia, four bikes for children in Uganda for their school journeys and five goats for families in Zimbabwe.
One member of the congregation, Brian Hoare, designed this card, which was was signed by and sent to everyone who donated.
So instead of receiving numerous cards from each other, each congregation member just received the one. The initiative reduced waste and raised money for a good cause.
Sharon Wright, the local All We Can representative and member of the congregation, said:
“We wanted to keep the congregation in touch with each other and help others too.
“This year we’ve really focussed on encouraging our congregation to reach out to others and this card is another way of doing that.”
Read more:
- Boris Johnson has backed a Christmas Eve jungle campaign that started in Harrogate.
- Harrogate’s ‘giraffle’ raised £1,000 for the local food bank.
The church has adapted this year in response to covid. It also introduced a ‘coffee at 11’ scheme to encourage everyone to sit down and ring somebody for a chat.
Sharon said:
“The pandemic has highlighted the desire for community. People don’t want to be alone.”