Pitch Night in Exeter
8 projects pitched, 3 were shortlisted by the GFNExeter community. Now we need your vote!
So Zaria (my little 2 year old) and I (Jennifer, Chapter Leader of Good For Nothing Exeter) made it to Boston Tea Party at 6, for our kick off. Our first Exeter pitch night! after two months of planning and invited and getting excited! Everything was busily being set up. I bumped into my friend Carmen from the Prop Factory who was kindly donating props to the event. They gave us 3 amazing large light up letters ‘G F N’ and a huge chair, for nothing = )
The set up flowed so easily between us all as a team, I was quite amazed at how well it did flow! No stress. Just smiling faces. People only too happy to help. We each took a job and we each did the job!
8 pieces of paper were set out on the big table in the fabulous upstairs Boston tea party room. If you have not been to the Exeter branch then let me try to describe… it is a huge room with wood floors and high ceiling, with local art on the bermuda blue walls and an eclectic mix of retro industrial style wooden tables and chairs all around. Some sofas and arm chairs. The long, high windows showed a twilight sky of pink clouds. Coffee, tea and nibbles were available from Boston Tea Party.
Some furniture was moved around, people were encouraged to go to the front to have a seat. Party bags were given out containing sticky notes to write messages on to stick on the big pieces of paper that represented each project. 3 gold stars for the audience to stick on the three pitch ideas they liked the best, and the evening started.
Next to the amazing GFN lights Chapter member Tomasz introduced the evening and said a bit about the history of good for nothing. Then chapter member Helen duff brightly introduced each pitch. Each pitch had 3 minutes each to talk, with a couple of minutes for questions. They were as follows…
1. Room Reader
Hannah Jackson kicked off with a very efficient pitch about her project which stems from when she was 7 years old (she is now in her 40s) and how her bedroom was her sanctuary. She mentioned how she was raised by teenage parents and that life was one of conflict. The bedroom space was her personal space and she would cherish it and respect it. From this simple beginning she started reading the rooms of other people, helping to be a kind of room therapist. But different from that of fengshui or other traditions about object placing. Hannah has written a book “Room Reader” which is about to launch and is setting up a programme to teach others about the room reading concept. She is wanting to set up room reading groups as a social initiative, mainly aimed at women, in particular mothers, but is also looking at venturing into groups of men and teenagers. The groups would be facilitated by a leader and would have members looking at stories from the book as a starting point for looking at their own space. Hannah was wanting help with website design (which I may add she has now found for free from an dedicated designer called Adam Mitchell of SoberWorx… thank you Adam!). She also wanted help with getting groups set up and finding possible partners to work with.
2. ‘No More Taboo’
Chloe Tingle is the founder of No More Taboo. “Let’s talk periods”. She said. “We are, after all, all here because of periods!” No more taboo is campaigning for a period friendly world. We were given a couple of real life examples of women from the world, including Maria in rural Bolivia who was not allowed to wash for the duration of her period. Or a teenager from this country who thought that a period only happened once and that was it. No more taboo is about the education, training and support for women regarding periods. They want “healthier/happier” periods. They want less waste and to end “period poverty”. No more taboo is currently linked with local food banks. They sell ethical environmental projects on line. Here’s Chloe talking to BBC Inside Out about the importance of her work. VOTE FOR No More Taboo
3. Nutriri
Helen James is the Founder of social enterprise Nutriri, she is also one of the GFNExeter Chapter Leaders. Nutriri is the product of Helens 30 years of dieting, yo yo up and down losing 3 to 4 stone here and there and putting it back one again only to lose it again. Helen is anti the diet industry. Over the years she has spent so much money on a industry that denies the love of food. Helen stopped the cycle by developing her own mindfulness practice to eat well and change her relationship with her body and with good, part of the body positive movement of which she has lived experience. She runs a mindful eating programme in Axminster, a group with a few members, and came to Good for Nothing because she recognises how lonely it is as a social enterprise entrepreneur. Helen’s main focus at the moment is to find help with getting screenings of the body positive film ‘Embrace’. This is a social impact documentary which uncovers why poor body image has become a global epidemic. Helen is seeking schools who want to show the film, especially wanting to get the message across to primary or secondary age school children to Love the Skin they are in and anyone who can help with this. She is also interested in other suitable venues coming forward to offer their space (thanks Boston Tea Party who offered their space again to put on a screening!). If you have any suggestions please let Helen know; helen@nutriri.org. Nutriri means to nurture, nourish, feed and fuel.
4. Neighbourhood Friends
Next, Nina at Neighbourhood Friends told us of her social action project to help those in social isolation, such as the elderly. Neighbourhood friends have an amazing network of over 200 volunteers and they are looking for more!
Together Nina and the team have put in 23 thousand hours for free, getting referrals from hospitals and health and social care professionals. Their support comes into 3 categories…
- Rapid Response role (duties like filing fridge with food ready for someone returning from hosptial)
- Welcome Home role (collect from hospital, settle, make a cup of tea, put heating on etc)
- Welcome Home Friend role (a longer a mount of time given by someone who regularly visits the person who has returned from hospital)
What Nina and her team are looking for help with from Good For Nothing is developing networks of volunteers, and anyone can volunteer (we all have the skills of being able to talk and being able to go to the shops). VOTE FOR NEIGHBOURHOOD FRIENDS
5. Wonford Planters
Wonford Planters are a team of voluntary gardeners who go out and garden to enhance approved local estate areas. Using gardening and love of community they are helping to improve the Burnhouse Lane area of Exeter and they wish to expand their work. It is through their love of the local area that they have come to Good for Nothing to ask for help with finding local community builders who could help with fences and walls.
6. Dance For Parkinson’s
Jackie and Katie pitched together about their project running in Exeter that they want to expand. Jackie is a physio and dancer, and Katie said she has been dancing all her life, used to work as a choreographer and is now a community dance practitioner, teaching sessions in Plymouth and East Devon. They together run dances for those with Parkinson’s at Dance Studio in Exeter, just behind Fore Street.
They explained that Parkinson’s disease can affect anyone, a neurological condition it affects the nerve signals to muscles. This in turn affects the speech, swallowing and movement of an individual. It can also cause tremors. Due to these problems there are secondary effects of lose of confidence, and social isolation. Dance can really help with the condition as dance requires different neurological pathways. Dance For Parkinson’s were seeking help with promoting their work, things like posters, leaflets and spreading the news about the great work they do. VOTE FOR DANCE FOR PARKINSON’S
7. Ododow
Next up was Ododow, a “hidden emergency Service”, run by a lady called Jaki Bent. She informed us how there was no single place to find emergency services and they are bringing all of these support services together on their website directory. Jaki said how it was easier to find a hotel than find an emergency service — which includes things like charities, community projects. The want to make Ododow (One Deed, One Day, One World) a doddle. Jaki wants the South West to be the leaders in venture, helping us to be more connected to communities. £11,000 has already been raised and they are now looking for help to put the word out there with marketing info such as pamphlets, which they need help designing and distributing.
8. Encounter
Finally, Encounter did their pitch. Encounter have 14 volunteers already, led by a lady called Anne-Marie. Together they are a local social enterprise using drama therapy to help build connection. They have a base at the Phoenix Art Centre where they also do training and consultancy work. The project need volunteers, better access to theatre, music and dance projects. As a start up social enterprise they are seeking professional help. As well as arty types they also need a builder, to help build storage for their ever growing supply of props which are currently impossible to find as they are all stuffed into a corner of the office! Can anyone help?
So, that was all the pitches. I am just so pleased with how every pitch was strict to sticking with the 3 minute time limit allocated. Like I said at the start, the whole evening went so smoothly and stress free ( though I am sure some of the pitchers were nervous). By 8pm and all pitches were over it was time I had to go as Zaria my 2 year old was getting tired. So we left everyone to it and walked to the car in the light of the full moon. Full moon is a powerful time to make wishes come true, so I hope all those pitchers get what they so bravely asked for. Thank you to all of the team from Good For Nothing and Boston Tea Party. We did so so well!! High five!
Fast Forward to November…
I mentioned at the beginning everyone had three gold stars to vote for the 3 projects they wanted to shortlist for a Good For Nothing Gig. Well the voting platform is live- you’ll have seen the links above. No More Taboo, Westbank Neighbourhood Friends and Dance For Parkinsons were all shortlisted.
PLEASE VOTE FOR ONE PROJECT TO GET A GOOD FOR NOTHING GIG* ON DECEMBER 6TH…..
It’ll only take 60 seconds = )
*A GFN Gig is the bringing together of talented folks who want to gift their skills to help a local social or environmental project in their city have more impact. When the voting platform closes in late November one project will get the opportunity to have a gig with the chapter. They’ll produce a challenge brief on the things they need help with and the GFN community will put their skills to good use, for nothing! It’s fun, dynamic, a great way to meet people, learn new ways of doing things and help make positive social change…. The Exeter gig is on December 6th, at Boston Tea Party on Queen street, it will be three hours long and you can register for that here.
