Supporters’ Guide

Supporters’ Guide

We’re so delighted to present our Supporters’ Guide for 2026/2027!

Our simple pack gives an overview of the importance of the work we do in the district and how you – whether you’re an individual, club, school or local business – can get involved.

There’s ideas on Little Acts of Support – simply putting up our poster, or hosting a collection box to the more ambitious Big Acts of Support.

Every £1 raised for Home-Start Chichester & District goes towards supporting a local child and family.

Because Childhood Can’t Wait

 

Spring Newsletter

Spring Newsletter

Winter Wonderland!

Well we really ended the year with a bang, so much activity and so much support from our partners!

The team at John Lewis & Partners kindly donated funds enabling us to provide Weaning Packs for families of young children; complete with hand blenders, freezer trays, recipes and guidance leaflets, the packs have helped our families on their weaning and healthy eating journey. We were also welcomed by the Chichester District Law Society to their annual Christmas dinner to host their raffle, raising nearly £1000 to help support families over the coming year.

Our families were once again invited by Seal Bay Resort Selsey for a swimming experience and the team at Chichester Cinema New Park invited our families for a free viewing of The Jungle Book! 

The festive season was our most successful yet, with thanks to The Media People who donated £4500 to provide support and opportunities to our families over the Christmas period.  Their generosity enabled us to host a Wreath Making Workshop for parents, take all our families to visit Santa at the Chichester Festival Theatre and host two family parties with a visit from our very own Santa!  In addition the incredible generosity of both V2 Radio and Chichester Harbour Rotary Club meant all the children we support received a Christmas gift.

……

What’s new?

We’ve begun the year with a focus on our parents, introducing an 8 week ‘All About You’ course.  The course is run by our volunteer Lynne Healey who is a complementary therapist and life coach and aims to increase self-esteem, confidence, motivation, resilience and aspiration amongst our parents.

We were delighted to receive funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund to enable us to continue and expand our services to families who are stationed at Baker Barracks on Thorney Island.  We understand that military families often have unique experiences and needs; we hope our engagement and support will continue to make a difference in their lives.

Looking forward we have a packed 3 months ahead:

  • Our next Volunteer Training course begins on 24th February, and it’s not too late to sign up
  • We’ll be visiting Seal Bay again to enjoy a fun morning of swimming.
  • Our parents will be taking part in a Spring inspired craft morning and,
  • Families will be visiting Harbour Tots thanks to Chichester Harbour Conservancy.
  • We are planning a series of fun events and activities to take part in the National Year of Reading, encouraging young and their families to enjoy books and reading together.

We’re excited for the year ahead but need the continued support of our community and partners to fund the work we do to ensure local families are able to thrive. Keep an eye out for our new Supporter’s Guide to see how you can get involved!

A young woman holds a smiling baby
Generous support for military families from the AFCF

Generous support for military families from the AFCF

Home-Start Chichester & District were delighted to have been awarded £28,000 from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund to support Armed Forces families who have been newly relocated into the area.

Home-Start Chichester & District will be running a family group near to the Thorney Island Army Base, and when required, providing families with a home-visiting volunteer to provide practical and emotional support. Several members of staff at Home-Start Chichester & District have partners who have served or currently serve in the military. They know first-hand how difficult it can be when a partner is deployed, they’ve moved away from extended family and their friends, and they have young children.

Home-Start Chichester & District manager, Lois Rowlands, said, ‘We know that for many families life with young children is challenging. Things can be made more difficult when families are relocated as part of their military service. Often this means moving away from friends and family, who can provide those essential support structures. With this generous donation from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund we are hoping to make a real positive difference to the lives of serving forces families and their children. We are so grateful for this support from the AFCF.’

If you would like to find out more support from Home-Start for your family, you can contact us on 01243 773477 or email admin@home-startchichester.org.uk. If you’re ready for support you can use our Families’ Referral form.

Fabulous Christmas at Home-Start!

Fabulous Christmas at Home-Start!

We’ve had a fabulous lead up to Christmas this year!

The support from The Media People has been invaluable to us, enabling us to put on two wonderful Christmas parties, with soft play and equipment for small world play and a visit from Father Christmas. We were also able to offer all families a trip to Santa’s Grotto.

Staff at BT Openreach have been incredibly generous, donating an incredibly number of beautiful toys for all our families.  We’ve also had amazing donations of toys from the listened of V2 Radio. We’ve been able to offer families free tickets for a Christmas canal boat ride from Chichester Ship Canal, and tickets to see A Jungle Book at the New Park Cinema. Families living in the north of district were enabled to attend the cinema with the help of Community Transport Sussex.

Families with Home-Start have also received much needed support from Chichester Harbour Rotary Club

Thank you to all our wonderful volunteers who have supported us at these events – it’s been great to share the fun with you!

Some photos from our Christmas celebrations

A young woman holds a smiling baby
A smile woman does face painting
Four smiling women
people on wheeled riders
lady and a baby in an outfit
volunteers and presents
mum and smiling baby
Santa with family
Seven new volunteers at Home-Start Chichester and District

Seven new volunteers at Home-Start Chichester and District

We were pleased to welcome seven new wonderful volunteers to our amazing volunteer team.

The volunteers have taken part in a seven week preparation course, which covers all aspects of volunteering with Home-Start; we discussed how to support and understand the needs of families and children, listening skills, early childhood development and the importance of play and positive parent-child relationships, safeguarding and boundaries and also how Home-Start operates as an organisation. The course is enjoyable and interactive, with plenty of opportunity to share and reflect upon the life experiences that make our volunteers so uniquely able to support families.

Home-Start volunteers do incredible work supporting families in their own homes, in a way that is often unseen by the wider community. Families who receive the support of a Home-Start volunteer often describe the experience as life changing or even lifesaving. It’s an amazingly rewarding volunteer experience and offers the chance for volunteers to make a real and life-long difference to people’s lives.

Volunteers can also:

  • Support families at our five family groups around the Chichester District
  • Support with local fundraising and community events
  • Provide one off support to families

Our next volunteer training course starts in January 2026. Places are limited to 8 people. The course lasts 7 weeks and takes place once a week on Tuesday mornings at the Chichester Family Hub.

If you would like to join our volunteer team, please email Lois to find out more. lois@home-startchichester.org.uk

High Sheriff of West Sussex visits Home-Start

High Sheriff of West Sussex visits Home-Start

High Sheriff of West Sussex, Dr Tim Fooks, visited Home-Start Chichester & District families at local group

Home-Start Chichester & District were delighted to welcome Dr Tim Fooks to their Chichester family group session where he took the time to chat with parents and children.

Families took the opportunity to describe how important they found the practical and emotional support they received from the group, some travelling over an hour by public transport to access the support.  Dr Fooks enjoyed the outside play, engaging with the children and hearing about the challenges some families face.

Dr Fooks remarked, “the relationships pre-school children form within their own families and with others create the building blocks for almost all their future relationships.  With the wise and expert support of Home-Start Chichester & District, the children who attend this Family Group, are already playing and interacting with others in a wonderfully positive way while their parents are able to ‘re-charge their batteries’.  For these parents, Home-Start provides them with a community within which they know that they matter, where they feel connected and where they will be missed if they are not there.  As such, I can totally understand why these families are so grateful to be able to attend the group at Home-Start Chichester & District – it is a treasure trove of care”.

A young woman holds a smiling baby
A smile woman does face painting
Four smiling women
people on wheeled riders
Home-Start Chichester and District
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