The Sutton Winson Mountain Team smash their target!

A huge thank you to the team at Sutton Winson who have raised a momentous £1,717 (so far!) following their “Man v Mountain Challenge” that occurred on the 2nd September.

The Sutton Winson Mountain Team, consisting of Rob Lewis-Mayston, Nick Brayne, Michelle Donnachie, Arthur Goddard and including ex employee Henry Grace, took part in the mammoth challenge which included a 22mile run up and over Mount Snowdon, abseiling, kayaking and a plunge into an ice-cold lake.

Seed Marketing Volleyball Tournament

Last Friday, we took part in the Seed Marketing Volleyball tournament, where our team (Roy, Sarah, Daniel, Michael Cheetham, Ali Poole and Elliya Cook) played in an seven team tournament to raise funds for Off The Fence at the Yellow Wave Beach Volleyball centre on Madeira Drive.

The two finalists, MacMillan Wealth and Seed Marketing played in a hard fought final with Macmillan winning through (with the questionable assistance of a Volleyball champion from Brazil) who towered over the other players.

This was followed by a BBQ and drinks – and a superb raffle. The end result was an amazing £3,875 raised in just one evening. Well done Seed Marketing and all the participants.

Sewing workshop at Gateway Women’s Centre!

The women at Gateway recently enjoyed a sewing workshop – everyone went home with a tote bag made on the sewing machines.  For some, it was the first time ever using a machine.  

It was great to use our new studio to host this workshop and have the space to spread out comfortably.  A very productive afternoon!

Off The Fence recruits social visionary Reverend Julio Abraham as CEO

Highly respected national charity, social entrepreneur and faith leader is appointed new CEO of Off The Fence Trust

The Board of Trustees at Off The Fence are delighted to introduce our new CEO, Reverend Julio Abraham, most recently the CEO of Derby City Mission. 

Julio is a leader and entrepreneur with an extensive experience in charity leadership, social enterprise and business. He has global leadership experience, a Masters in Theology and a strong commercial background

Most importantly for the City’s disadvantaged, he has a flair for business planning in the Third Sector, working with wealthy individuals, venture capitalists, grant making trusts, government, banks and business. For the past 6 years he has worked as CEO of the homeless charity Derby City Mission, taking it from a turnover of £250k to £1.3M, extending the staff roll from 3 to over 30.  Julio is eager to move to Brighton & Hove, “The City has a national reputation for care, compassion and creating futures for some of the most vulnerable people in the community. This work has inspired me over the years and I am eager to collaborate with other groups in the City to contribute my experience and passion to this task.”

Julio will join Off The Fence on 7th August and work alongside founders Paul and Wendy during a transition period which will ensure a managed handover for the benefit of clients, partners and funders.

Starting with an annual budget in 1997 of just £3k, Reverend Paul Young and his wife Wendy have directed Off The Fence through community leadership, visionary development and structured growth. Paul Young commented, “For 26 years Off The Fence has tackled both the root causes and the effects of emotional and physical poverty; walked alongside those most impacted; providing practical support, directing our efforts to where they are most needed. Its mission hasn’t changed in that time. If anything, it has become more urgent than ever. At its core is ‘Resisting poverty. Empowering people. Restoring hope.’ Julio shares this sense of mission. The charity is in good hands.”

During Paul’s tenure, there have been significant achievements. At the height of the pandemic, the Charity raised over £500,000 to purchase and extend the Gateway Women’s Centre in Portslade.  Since 1997 It has raised and spent £9 million to support local projects. Over 700 rough sleepers, 120 vulnerable women and 13,000 schoolchildren via in-school support come into contact with the charity each year.

Paul and Wendy leave a lasting legacy in the City for which we are all grateful.

OTF Schools Team take on national role in running prayer spaces at Wildfire 2023

Having run Prayer Spaces in Schools for the last 10 years our Schools team were excited to be invited to run the PSIS tent at Wildfires.

Lizzi & Suzanne teamed up with PSIS national director Tim Abbott to create a prayer experience at the centre of the Wildfires festival.

Arriving on Sunday evening with boxes full of kit, we worked into the night, with only fairy lights to see by!

The next 3 days saw 1000s of people from across the country, of all ages pitch their tents on the Wiston estate.

Our prayer tent was just one of many initiatives to help people to explore the Christian faith. We set up 8 different prayer activities and we delighted to see individuals, couples and whole families come in to explore prayer together.

Each day we spent 30 minutes telling people all about PSIS and how they could take ideas back to their local schools.

It was a privilege to work with the national PS team and to spend 3 days in a tent in the Sussex countryside helping people to pray!

OTF Schools celebrate a decade of taking Prayer Spaces into schools

This year our Schools Team celebrated 10 years of running Prayer Spaces in Brighton & Hove schools.

Here is a visual report of the activities they took to Aldrington CE Primary School in May. The team set up the activities in the school library and everyone enjoyed the Space for the 3 days they were there.

Please do get in touch if you would like to know more about Prayer Spaces or you could watch this short video, made by the team at Prayer Spaces in Schools, to see what students think.