The garden floor of The Branch will offer high quality, scalable and flexible, light-filled co-working space for businesses to rent. If you would be interested in renting a permanent dedicated desk space (or multiple desks for a team) with lockable secure storage and 24/7 access please get in touch at office@thebranchtrust.org.

It was such a joy to be able to deliver hampers, containing an Aldi voucher and generously donated Christmas goodies, to 139 households before Christmas - those identified as being the most needy by our wide local network of referrers. Thanks to your generosity, the message of ‘hope’ that Christmas symbolises became real and meaningful for each these households. The appreciation was very evident, from the hugs of gratitude and tears of relief to the whoops of delight as volunteers delivered hampers. One message of thanks read: I've just got home and found the massive bags of presents! You are all so good to me … it's brought so much cheer and joy to my heart! We are so thankful to be part of such a supportive community, drawing alongside one another to bring hope, transforming lives.

THANK YOU to everyone who generously supported us through the Big Give Christmas Challenge and spread the word so others might support it. It was an extraordinary campaign, achieving far more than we thought would be possible, raising over £30,000! These funds will help us equip The Branch to offer: a local base for partner agencies, including computer terminals for community access a garden space and nurture pod for horticultural therapy and mental health support the expansion of our ‘Branch Out & Cook’ course and apprenticeship ready scheme signposting and social action for those in need We really appreciate the huge number of individuals who have supported us for the first time through this campaign. Thank you for joining us on the journey of building hope and seeing lives transformed in our community.

The removal of the hoardings outside The Branch will be welcomed by many, opening up the Market Place and providing relief for the extremely patient local market holders and businesses who have been affected. It is also a clear sign that completion of this phenominal project is in sight! With only a few months to go there is a lot of work going on both inside and outside the building. The fit-out phase is in full swing, with partition walls, plaster-boarding, ceiling works, internal staircases, sanitaryware installation, mechanical/electrical/plumbing ‘first-fix’ and decoration all happening at once… Gary, the Site Manager, certainly has his work cut out coordinating it all! Completion of the building works and the handover back to The Branch Trust has, unfortunately, slipped to late March – those extra groundworks and roof-works, those still-troublesome supply chains (who would have guessed that steel, roof-tiles and glass could be so problematic?), plus that atrocious weather leading up to Christmas, have all eventually taken their toll! But, with the end in sight, there is a growing excitement that we will soon be getting our remodelled building back, providing a fantastic base to operate from and a beautiful, versatile space to share with the community… we can’t wait!

Please come and join us for refreshments in the heated tent at Cocklebarrow Races where Knight Frank have generously invited us to join their stand/area. It will be a pleasure to see you. For general event information and tickets click here.

Connie Pharoah (above), Hannah Gillingham and Milo Harper Based in the Netherlands and the UK, Connie Pharoah, Hannah Gillingham and Milo Harper are three amazing young musicians playing the viola, flute and harp. 1st March 2024, 19:00. Church Enstone, Church Enstone, Chipping Norton OX7 4NN, UK These concerts have a growing reputation and are now part of the Dean & Chadlington Summer Music Festival. On 1st March this concert is generously being held in aid of The Branch Trust – we would be thrilled to see you there for a magical evening. Click here to find out more and to purchase tickets.

So much has changed since we last wrote to you! Now three-quarters of the way to completing the redevelopment work on the building, we are thrilled to see the roof almost completed on the new community hall that has been erected at the rear of the building, replacing an old Victorian extension. This new building will hold the first Community Kitchen in West Oxfordshire, enabling 10 students per session to undertake food preparation, learning new skills as part of our Apprenticeship Ready programme. We have been very grateful for the dry, sunny weather as much work has taken place on roof work in general, carrying out extensive vital repairs. The facade has also had a good clean, and we continue on schedule to complete the renovations in February 2024. If you would like to be more involved in supporting this work please click here or email campaign@thebranchtrust.org . For regular weekly updates on progress with the build plus other Branch news follow us on Instagram at 'thebranchtrust'

We are so grateful for the help of the extraordinary volunteers who have in previous years transformed The Branch into Santa’s Grotto: gathering, sorting, wrapping and delivering 1000s of gifts to over 280 families in need in and around Chipping Norton. We love working with you to do this and it has been massively appreciated, both by the recipients and by the agencies that refer to us.They see those who are most in need at Christmas getting vital extra support. This year, however, as we reach the final stages of our build project, the eyes of the team must stay closely focussed on our move into the building – where ultimately, we will be able to help even more families. This does mean that we are going to do Christmas a little differently this year. This may be disappointing to many of you, who have enjoyed being able to participate in previous years. Please bear with us, this is for one year only whilst we make this massive move. We still want to reach those families who need support most, but we will be doing it in a more streamlined way this year considering current constraints of time, space and people power. What will we offer this year? Aldi Voucher for £40 to cover the cost of Christmas Lunch for a family (along with a budget pack to help them best manage the Cost-Of-Living Crisis) Food Goodies Hamper Toiletries bag for mums – mums are often the ones who do not get a present, and we know these are much appreciated. Amazingly, a partner charity, Thrive, has already said that they will provide these. How can you help? Sponsor a Family’s Christmas Lunch make a donation of £40 to buy a family Christmas Lunch. We will make sure it gets to a family who struggles https://thebranchtrust.enthuse.com/Christmas Donate dry goods throughout December there will be a donation 'Christmas Tree' in St Mary’s Church with tags asking for specific food donations – mince pies, tins of biscuits etc, which we will make into hampers for families. Please note we will not be gathering and distributing gifts so PLEASE NO DONATIONS OF TOYS ETC. Thank you!

This term we have launched a new course aimed at helping those who have suffered from domestic abuse. 'Own My Life' helps those affected by abuse regain ownership of their lives and move forward with hope and positivity, and we are proud to be running one of the first courses in the County funded by your generosity. Tragically, since we first shared the shockingly high local statistics in 2019 of reported cases of violent and sexual offences, (the majority of which is made up of domestic abuse reporting), the figure has increased by over 50%. In the 12 months to the end of July 2023 Thames Valley Police figures show that there were 428 violent and sexual crimes reported in Chipping Norton. Given that the majority of domestic abuse incidents go unreported, this figure is of real concern and highlights the increasing need for The Branch to develop this area of support. It is maybe not surprising that this new Domestic Abuse recovery course was instantly over-subscribed with a waiting list long enough to fill a second course. Once we move into The Branch we will have sufficient space to be able to run additional courses to meet demand.