Latest News

Unfortunately, due to repeated damage to our MUGA surface from Escooters and bikes, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily keep our MUGA closed during the evenings and weekends when our staff team are not on site. It will only be unlocked for those groups that have pre-booked. It is such as shame to have to do this, however as a small charity we cannot afford the repeated repairs required due to damage from Escooters, bikes and general misuse of the MUGA. If you w

Our Secret Garden is looking wonderful and we want to share our thanks to several supporters for their recent donations. Thank you to the Fairlight Gardening Club for their recent donation of Brassica, Tomatoes, Sugar Snaps and other vegetables for us to plant in our Secret Garden. The Club have been so supportive over the years and our Secret Garden most certainly wouldn't look like it does without them, they have donated so many of the plants we get to enjoy year round. Tha

Bookings are now open for our Summer HAF (Holiday Club) provision here at The Firs. Our HAF provision is funded through East Sussex County Council and they set the dates and criteria for accepting young people. We can confirm that this summer we have the following dates available: • Monday 27th - Wednesday 29th July • Monday 10th - Wednesday 12th August Bookings for these will open at 8am, as set out below: • Monday 8 June – for FSM (free school meals) families – all non-FSM

We are very lucky to have a dedicated team of volunteers here at EFT, all of whom work hard to support the work we do. This Volunteers Week we want to share our thanks and appreciation for each and every one of them and you can 'meet' a few of them below:

The team have captured some great shots over the last few week. We are very fortunate to be based at such a beautiful site and to be able to escape the office and enjoy some time outside in nature.

We are so grateful to be a part of the Co-op Local Community Fund this year. Co-op members can choose to support EFT so that we can receive a share of £5m and continue our much needed Talking in the Tipi sessions in local primary schools next academic year. You can become a member and support us by clicking the link: https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/96336 Thank you to everyone that has chosen us already.

We are so grateful for all the support we receive from our community throughout the year. We would like to thank the team over at Hastings Direct who not only donated Easter Eggs for all our HAF participants over Easter but also held a raffle and set up a JustGiving page, raising a wonderful £590 for us. Thank you all so much for your very kind and generous support, we really do appreciate it.

Thank you, The Firs community! A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to complete our consultation survey on the proposed development at The Firs. Your feedback has been invaluable and is helping shape the future of the site. We’re pleased to share that, building on what we heard, we’ve now commissioned a specialist consultant to help us design a strong project brief. This will enable us to work in partnership with Hastings United to develop a clear, deliverable visio

We want to do a share our thanks and appreciation to Michael who very kindly donated some much needed compost/soil improver for the Secret Garden following our call out for donations of compost. This will be used for mulching and improving/loosening up the heavy soil on the terraced bed. Thank you so much Michael for your generosity and support.

We want say thank you to Alf and Lucy our Little Gate Farm Future Ready student placements for terms 3 and 4. You have both been amazing. Alf has been a great help to Isaac across the site, ensuring it is safe for everyone that uses it. During his time here Alf has helped to plant trees, undertaken litter picks across the site and the surrounding areas, completed equipment safety checks, marked our football pitches and even made a bug hotel! Lucy has been supporting the team

Our office will be closed this Easter weekend and the team will be enjoying some spring time off before we return for our Family Forest School and HAF sessions next week.

Congratulations to our volunteer Oliver who has recently received his Silver Volunteer Award. Oliver has been with us for nearly 2 years and has supported the team with our adult learning delivery and worked hard around the site with Isaac. He has even dipped his toes into supporting some of the young people we work with. Well done Oliver and thank you for all that you do.

We would like to thank our friends over at Parker Building Supplies for recently delivering another bundle of pallets for us to recycle and reuse here at The Firs.

We are excited to share that we have been successful in receiving funding to deliver HAF again this year during the Easter, Summer and Christmas holidays! These free sessions will be available to families who receive benefits-related free school meals. Bookings go live here at 8am on Monday 2nd March.

We want to do a big shout out to staff and students over at Christ Church school for choosing to support EFT at last terms mufti day! Rae, one of our Learning Coach and Mentors popped by to say thank you and Fiona, the schools Keyworker shared with us “we’re delighted to share that we raised £115.50 for this invaluable charity, who continue to deliver wonderful projects in our school and provide exceptional support for our children. Thank you to everyone who contributed!” 👏�

Earlier this month we had our first Team Connect session here at The Firs. We introduced these bi-monthly team building sessions following our annual team well-being survey. Each Team Connect session is planned and delivered by two members of the team and the activities can be anything of their choice and it is a chance for them to share their skills and passions with the wider team. First up was Abi and Isaac who got us all planting trees and making natural coasters for our

Thank you to Sue and the team at our local B&Q for this wonderful donation of plants for us to plant here at The Firs. We cannot wait to see them bloom and flourish!

We want to do a big Friday morning shout out to Beaner, who has been working hard across our site to keep it looking fresh and tidy. Beaner is with us for the year to support Isaac and she works outside every day, no matter the weather! And we all know what the weather has been like of late! 🌧 Beaner you are a superstar! Thank you for all you have done so far this academic year, we really appreciate all your hard work. 💚

Shar, our Senior Learning Coach & Mentor shares with us that taking our ‘Without Walls’ inside for the winter at the Oasis Community Project - East Hastings has been such a pleasure. So far we’ve taken part in a bird quiz, made feeders and natural festive decorations, and even started some Viking knitting. This week we worked with elder to create keyrings and charms. A massive thanks to everyone who has taken part; your warm welcome and willingness to have a go has meant a l

We want to do a big shout out to our site volunteers and work experience students who have worked hard over the last couple of months to dig out and fill the edging of our seating area with some of wood chip we had donated. Doesn't it look wonderful!