Oh Happy Day!

A song to listen to while you read this blog and look at our photos.

It has only been a few days since opening but we have been overwhelmed by the love and encouragement of everyone who has come to Hope & Soul so far. Thank you so much for your support – we hope to continue seeing you at this fantastic community venture that is for everyone.

For those of you who haven’t managed to come to Hope & Soul yet and might still not know exactly what it is, we can now give you the full details.

Hope & Soul is a community venture, second-hand store with key pieces of barely worn, stylish clothing, vintage jewellery, as well as some locally made necklaces, along with some upcycled furniture and fittings. Upstairs is a coffee bar called the Olive Branch and a soft play area known as Carol’s Corner, both dedicated to two special and sorely missed ladies – we hope they look down in favour on what we have done in their honour, God rest their souls.

The Olive Branch serves top-notch cappuccinos, lattes and espressos (or tea if you prefer), which you can enjoy with a homemade scone or cupcake. Hope & Soul and the Olive Branch is that it is staffed entirely by volunteers. All profits are ploughed back into the mother charity, Via Wings, to continue our work of showing God’s love in a caring, practical and non-judgmental way.

Here are a few photos (finally in colour) from our first day of business.

Look forward to seeing you soon

@

Hope & Soul

33 Dromore Square, Dromore, Co Down

Mon-Sat 9am to 5pm

Thu  9am to 9pm

Tempus Fugit*

The days whizz by when you’ve got a lot to do, and boy have we been up against it. Every single minute counts when you’ve only ONE WEEK LEFT. Yes, in exactly one week’s time, Via Wings will be opening the doors of its new community venture, Hope & Soul. But we will make it, because we have plenty of hope and plenty of soul. In fact, as Will.i.am would say, we have “soul on a pole.” In reality, this means we have a large, supportive team of people willing to work day and night to get Hope & Soul open on time.

So what have we been doing? The little room at the top of the building has been stripped of layer upon layer of paper and paint, thanks to stalwarts Anita, Cheryl and Debbie. Jackie, Linda, Nathalie and Rosie have sanded and painted over a dozen chairs, and a dedicated team of people, including Michelle, Ray, Mary and Helen have painted the walls up the stairwell and the first-floor room, while Patrick and Karl have even been painting through the night! Courtney and Julia have been cleaning up, and Brendan has been pushed from pillar to post fixing and mending things, hanging doors, and generally turning his hand to anything required. Meantime, Gail and Sue have been organising people and sourcing materials. If we’ve forgotten to mention anyone, we’re very sorry but a BIG THANK YOU to EVERYONE who has contributed so far.

Next will be wallpaper and floors, pictures and furnishings…on Monday we will be revealing one of our BIGGEST TIPS so far.

Meantime, WE NEED YOU!

You might not have the time to help with decorating, but you can still make a difference. Do you have any old-fashioned china tea sets – mismatching, old flowery china cups, saucers, plates and milk jugs? Are they collecting dust in the back of the cupboard? We would be over the moon if you have anything you’d like to donate.  ALSO, do you have any ‘occasional tables‘ that you no longer need? We would happily take them off your hands. Priceless antiques accepted but anything appreciated. You can drop them into the House of Hope (3 Iveagh Terrace, opposite Dromore Police Station), 3 The Square, Dromore (our new premises – there, we’ve given it away) or email sue@viawings.co.uk.

By the time this goes live, everything will have changed, but we’ll be updating again early next week. And please keep a date for next Friday, when Hope & Soul will be officially opening. More details to follow…

*For those who are interested to know the meaning of tempus fugit… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempus_fugit