Latest News

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!

What a year we have had here at EFT. As a team, we have so many wonderful memories and hundreds of photos that we can look back at. So as 2025 draws to an end, we thought we would share a few of them with you. Thank you to everyone we have worked with who has helped make 2025 fabulous, you have all made us smile on a regular basis

Advanced warning of our Christmas closure dates whilst the team take a well deserved break to enjoy the festive season 💚🔔🎄🎁💚

We want to share our thanks and appreciation to our friends at Play Sport   and Gallop Print & Design for all the new signage that has recently gone up around the site. We especially love the new site maps that help our visitors find their way around The Firs. Partnerships like these really do help to save our small charity vital funds that we can then use to continue our support in the community.

Jakob, one of our Little Gate Farm  Future Ready Interns takes his morning site walk with Isaac very seriously. They not only check and clear the litter from across The Firs, they also walk the perimeter and clear the litter from both Elphinstone Road and Ochiltree Road, doing their bit for out local community. Well done Jakob and Isaac

Isaac recently joined groups and individuals from across the town to do some digging and create a new climate-adaptation garden on the seafront at Denmark Place. This garden will be the first of a series of test-planting beds where we'll be able to observe and learn more about what kind of plants, care and conditions might help with climate-adaptation, improved biodiversity and flood-resilience in our area. Thanks the team at Transition Town Hastings  and Fergus from Great Di

This Christmas we are pleased to be able to offer 2 mornings of Christmas holiday fun here at The Firs. Each session will have limited spaces and will only cost £20 per child, with a 10% discount for siblings. The sessions will include all the usual EFT outdoor fun and games for young people aged 5-14yrs and a warm, nutritious lunch will be provided. Click the link for further details and to book your child's place: https://eequ.org/book/eft-christmas-holiday-club-with-educat

We want to share a big thank you to two of our local supporters for their recent kind donation to EFT. Each year they take cuttings from their garden and sell plants outside their home. This year they have collected £300 from these sales, with half being donated to us and the other half to the wonderful Dragonflies charity. They have been doing this for a few years and have supported a number of different local and national charities. What a wonderful way to use a personal ho

Trustees’ Week is a time for us to come together to celebrate the achievements of nearly one million Trustees across the UK. It is a time to thank them for the time, commitment and effort they bring to our charities to help us thrive. As we celebrate Trustees’ Week here at EFT, our CEO Zoe wanted to share a few words of thanks to our Trustees. " I want to express our sincere gratitude for the time, expertise, and passion you dedicate to our charity. Your leadership and commi