Welcome to our 6th fortnightly newsletter!
It was wonderful to meet many of you at St Ethelburga's on May 2nd.
We had a great evening with a good mix of experienced befrienders alongside unmatched newbies and an excellent exchange of ideas on how to deal with some of the challenges raised by befriending which we shall be sharing with all our matched befrienders.
Join HostNation to break fast at the Open Iftar in the heart of London
Ramadan has begun, and many of us have friends who are fasting. So we thought we'd make a plan where we can all break fast together.
Open Iftar was launched by SOAS's Islamic society in 2013 and hosts a huge tent in Tavistock Square where London's community - both Muslim and non Muslim - can come together to share a meal and conversation.
We thought we'd go along next Friday 17th May and would love those of you with a Muslim friend to join the team. Please let us know if you would like to come and we'll register our group with eventbrite and choose a meeting place.
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More info here and there's a nice short film on their Facebook page. Even if you can't make the 17th, Open Iftar will be running free events in London across all 30 nights - keep an eye on @OpenIftar.
And for those with non-fasting friends who can eat before sundown... Mike's Table's next event sounds like one not to miss.
5 Loaves, 2 Fishes - is a gourmet dinner in the Chef’s Kitchen of legendary cookery school, Leiths (16-20 Wendell Road, London, W12 9RT) . Their amazing chefs will be cooking up a tasting menu showcasing just what can be done with surplus ingredients donated by City Harvest London.
As always Mike's Table generously offer HostNation free tickets for befrienders to take their friends. Let us know if you'd like a pair of tickets for this event on Friday 31st May, at 7.30pm
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And exciting new news...
HostNation is now a member of Kew Gardens Community Scheme. Which means you, your friend (and their family) can now visit The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew for FREE! (standard entry £18 per person).
It's an UNESCO World Heritage site with over 50,000 living plants, different biospheres, exhibitions, talks and tours. And it's a special placel to visit in the Spring / Summer and Autumn. Dale Chihuly, a wonderful glass artist, is showing his work there until the end of October.
We have up to 60 free entries across the year. To visit for free simply email info@hostnation.org.uk and we will provide you with an electronic copy of our membership to show at the Gate. No need to book.
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Meanwhile our friends at City of Sanctuary have just brought out a book called A Hundred Thousand Welcomes, a tapestry of personal stories of refugee welcome from across their UK network. You can order a copy here
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And more things to do for free in London:
1. The Chelsea Flower Show is rather exclusive but there are lots of fun, free fringe events including Great Trees of London on Sat 18th May including the Haggerston Hop self guided tree walk, Woodland magic, Urban Tree festival etc
2. Both Chelsea and Belgravia have their own Chelsea in Bloom and Belgravia in Bloom free flower festivals - self-guided walks around their floral displays and installations between 20th-25th May
3. If you're in South London the Dulwich Festival is on all week (10th -19th) with Open Studios, music, history and children's events
4. Feria de Londres is a free Andalucian festival of food and flamenco song and dance on the Southbank 24th-26th May
5. And now Kew Gardens should be on your list of free things to do with your friend and if you (or they) have children, The Children's Garden, a new adventure playground with tall trees, waterlily stepping stones and wormhole slides opens on the 18th May.
6. And with major football finals coming up, find a public screen to watch the action live or, if your friend prefers, watch the Eurovision song contest final instead on Saturday May 18th!
Let us know if you're coming to the Iftar on the 17th, would like tickets for Mike's Table at Leith's Cookery School on the 31st or would like to take your friend free to Kew.... email us at info@hostnation.org.uk
All best wishes, HostNation team
PS. If any of you haven't already and would like to join our closed befrienders facebook group then request to join at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1958716137744602/
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