Develop your narrative skills and write rich, engaging games.
A strong story is key to engaging and retaining players in video games. Held over 7 weeks, this online course teaches the story-structure essentials that will help you craft richer and more compelling games.
This is a professional development course for anyone who works – or aspires to work – in the gaming industry as well as writers and designers seeking to develop their interactive storytelling skills.
The course has been created by the UK’s foremost expert on narrative structure John Yorke and Caroline Marchal, founder of British studio INTERIOR/NIGHT and Lead Designer for Heavy Rain.
In this training course, you’ll investigate the relationship between player and protagonist, discover how to merge story and gameplay, and find ways to use those skills in a real-world development team. Working in a small group, you’ll receive weekly one-to-one feedback from the tutor team.
By the end of the course you’ll have written an industry-standard story treatment for an original game.
On successful completion of the course, you will receive a certificate of completion evidencing your learning and study hours. You will need to set aside 4-5 hours per week to complete the assignments.
Read a review of the course on Polygon.
Exclusive 25% discount on the £1,200 published course price. Just £900 to Bristol Creative Industries members for 35 hours of intensive learning.
MORE INFORMATION HERE or email [email protected]
The leading homeopathy group in the UK, 4Homeopathy, is celebrating a successful campaign to raise awareness of the benefits of homeopathic practice. The engaging video campaign was created by independent brand consultancy Mr B & Friends and has seen over 13,500 people view the films within the first month of launch.
Founded in 2011, 4Homeopathy brings together ten of the UK’s largest homeopathic organisations to promote the positive impact of homeopathy. Through the website findahomeopath.org people can find a wealth of information about how homeopathy works, registered practitioners and training courses.
For Homeopathy Awareness Week (10-16th April), 4Homeopathy appointed Mr B & Friends to create a campaign to increase their profile and to encourage people to visit their website to find out more.
The agency designed a video-based campaign comprising a main film with testimonials from several people who have successfully used homeopathy, plus three shorts that focus on individual experiences. The video was designed to be a teaser – recounting personal experiences but only revealing the subject matter right at the end, in a bid to provoke interest and encourage further exploration of homeopathy. Built around the proposition that you can ‘Turn your life around in a moment’, the campaign shares the stories of people with a range of conditions who have had life-changing results from homeopathic treatment.
Kate Gorringe, Creative Director at Mr B & Friends, says, “We wanted to share the stories of some of the individuals who have quite literally had their lives turned around because of a homeopathic approach. As homeopathy is based on working with the body’s natural healing abilities, we created a hand drawn animated illustration that reflected the thoughts and feelings of the contributors.”
Due to ongoing Covid restrictions the interviews were all recorded remotely, with equipment sent out to the homes of those featured. Combined with the bespoke graphics, the end result is an emotive and authentic campaign that takes the viewer on a journey from problem to resolution.
In addition to featuring on the website, the campaign has been distributed by the various member organisation and is being supported by advertising on Facebook and Instagram plus Google ads.
Mani Norland, Principal of The School of Homeopathy, says, “Homeopathy provides so many benefits to both people and animals through its patient-centred approach of individualised medicine. The remedies come from nature and work in line with nature. We’re on a mission to raise awareness of the profound difference homeopathy can make to a person’s health and wellbeing, we want to help people see the choices they have in healthcare, and this video campaign will help us take another huge step forward in achieving that.”
Bower Films today re-launches as Octopus Films: https://octopus-films.co.uk. Founded eight years ago as a full-service video production company by Giles Edwards and Ellie Edwards, the re-brand reflects the company’s ethos and problem-solving abilities.
With clients such as BBC’s Countryfile Live, the British Council and Dyson, Octopus Films helps businesses connect emotionally with their audience through explainer videos, event documentation, TV adverts, testimonial videos and corporate films. Experienced in working across a range of industries, its clients span financial, IT, medical, charity and education sectors, both locally and nationally.
Octopus Films also prides itself on delivering real value to much smaller organisations whose goals are to communicate their offering effectively. These include the BCRM in Bristol, Nelson Hall and Medical Detection Dogs. Leading every project, creative producer Ellie Edwards has 14 years’ of broadcast and corporate experience, while [technical director] Giles has worked across both the corporate and TV industries for more than 30 years.
“We set out to refresh our name and logo to accurately reflect our company’s values – creativity, adaptability, agility and also, great problem-solving skills. The octopus was the perfect emblem – they are nimble, flexible creatures and famed for their smart approach,” comments Ellie Edwards.
“We love producing vibrant, engaging and unique video content for businesses that are keen to show their best side. We can always promise a personal service and our senior team leads the entire production process.”
Giles Edwards adds: “We believe in real stories well told. We draw on our years of documentary experience to get beneath the surface every time. By combining crafted, truthful films with refined editorial values, we tell stories that accurately reflect our clients’ lives and businesses.”
As its new name suggests, Octopus Films is highly adaptable and flexes the size of its team depending on the scale and budget of the task in hand. For larger projects it assembles a team of trusted, former BBC production staff and crew.
Pictured: Octopus Films on location in Bath filming with presenter Jamie Lowe.
It goes without saying, 2020 was just a small departure from the norm for most of us. But there were a few silver linings peppered throughout the year.
Here at Proctors, for example, our video department experienced the highest growth we’ve ever seen. We’ve been moving into new markets, offering entirely new products and generally adding more polish.
So better late than never – yes, we know it’s a quarter of the way into 2021 – here’s a look at some of 2020’s more notable projects.
Cast your mind’s eye back to the heady days of January 2020. After months of planning and strategic plotting, we’d just begun to organise a full contact rugby-inspired shoot for Panasonic TOUGHBOOK. What could possibly go wrong?…
We’ll let you fill in that particular blank.
Not to be defeated, we turned to industry union BECTU’s superb COVID webinars and guides to get ourselves up to speed on how to plan and run a COVID-safe shoot.
Shooting under COVID restrictions comes with its challenge, but that doesn’t have to mean bloating up a lean budget. So, we set a small, tight-knit group to work. Clear communication is key, and after a quick socially-distanced scrum we formed a new plan: turn the shoot into a training day, and put ex-British and Irish Lions Captain and all-round rugby legend, Sam Warbuton, through his paces, alongside our leading Panasonic TOUGHBOOK tablet.
One risk assessment, a few tracing forms and a quick change into PPE later, we were ready to go. Shot across two days, we produced a huge amount of video content –enough for a full, multi-channel campaign showing how TOUGHBOOK and Sam ‘Lead from the Front’.
Fourth-best performing Panasonic landing page ever
Outperformed main TOUGHBOOK website
After getting to grips with COVID shooting, we met our next challenge: to produce a TV ad which would promote Daikin’s range of eco-friendly heat pumps.
This time, we had a number of parameters upfront: A list of features we needed to advertise, a total run length to the frame, the need to push content through Adstream and Clearcast to ensure it was TV-ready, a Mosaic profile of consumers to target, plus the need to make the ad look like it was shot in the winter months, whilst filming it on one of the hottest days of the year.
Oh, and did we mention we had just four weeks to turn it all around?
A solid team effort pieced the ad together in record speed: it was written, prepped, casted, shot, edited, titled and graded, ready for delivery in just under four weeks. The result is testament to our team’s perseverance and the great relationships which allow them to accomplish huge amounts, together.
Second most-viewed Daikin YouTube video ever
630,000 page views from 216,000 visitors
How do you make a film about software that’s akin to a Mary Poppins’ magic bag of employee training – without losing your viewers’ attention by explaining every last detail?
Bud’s training management platform is built to solve the pain points that training providers are up against. But with online attention spans sitting between the 2 to 3-minute mark, our challenge was to wrap up the platform’s benefits into a succinct, engaging video and encourage people to book a demo for more info.
Luckily, we had the Bud team’s great branding to work with as a jumping-off point. Their bold, clean appearance meant we could use some technicolour flair to design an equally bright and brilliant visual style. We extended Bud’s multi-coloured logo form into a visual suite of colourful geometric shapes and key lines which would simply and elegantly represent the simplicity of the platform. We then brought these shapes to life with various motion techniques and sound editing, interspersed with shots of the platform in action.
The resulting video echoes the vibrancy, enthusiasm and enjoyment Bud’s users rediscover in their work with the help of this all-in-one platform. It’s not just any old, animated infographic. It’s a masterclass in engaging video.
Bud have only just launched their film, so right now we can only wax lyrical about how chuffed they were with our work. But watch this space for soon-to-come results…
2020 was the year of video calls and streaming. The working day became a flurry of Zoom calls, Teams meetings, Skype sessions, webinars and virtual conferences – not to mention the evenings spent helping your nan figure out FaceTime.
But there was something missing: a way to professionally and consistently brand your self-generated videos, ready for recording, live-streaming and sharing. So we put together a video toolkit for our clients.
These toolkits pull some of the most commonly required and useful assets into one package; from lower thirds, to intro and outro sequences, title screens and transitions, along with a few extra, bespoke assets depending on what our clients need. We provide them in an editable format, so they work with pretty much any software you use, meaning you’re always on-brand.
They’ve proven truly cost-effective – both to produce, and for our clients to deploy. Meaning less room for errors (like accidentally becoming the world’s first Lawyer Cat).
A comprehensive Video Toolkit for Panasonic, Sanlam and P+S
Fully-branded virtual conferences for Panasonic and UKHO
2020 was a struggle for any business. But some services were hit harder than others.
Rather than produce our typical Christmas video of jolly japes, we donated our time and resources to local charity, Caring in Bristol. Their amazing work includes providing hot meals, shelter, medical care and support to people experiencing homelessness within Bristol. But donations often suffer during times of national hardship, so we needed to rally the local troops and call them to donate to this well-deserving cause.
So we created a film. But don’t expect your typical ‘pulling on the heartstrings’ donation message. We wanted to celebrate Bristol culture: the edgy, vivacious spirit of our city, calling our Bristolian family to action, and secured their much-needed donations in the run up to Christmas. But with COVID restrictions meaning we weren’t able to film the city and its people in action, we had to get creative.
We went full force with a script and art direction that entertained, with plenty of nods to local celebrities, inventions and fabulous quirks, while delivering the cold hard stats about people experiencing homelessness. Using graphics and animation to make the message as uplifting and entertaining as possible, we were able to create a powerful film which called for an end to homelessness in our city – for good.
Over £20,000 funds raised in under two weeks
60% of all social engagement in December
At Proctors, our team of videographers, animators, motion designers and script-writers have been making award-winning, show-stopping video for decades. And we believe each of our clients has something to say.
From the tech behemoths and the multi-international market leaders, right down to local, grassroots charities changing the world one view at a time. Whatever story you have to tell, we’ll help you share it with the world. Talk to Proctors, today.
JonesMillbank, Bristol-based video production company, marked their 10 year anniversary last week. Having collaborated together since 2008, Co-Founders Russell Jones and Adam Millbank founded JonesMillbank in February 2011 and have become a mainstay of Bristol’s creative community.
“It goes without saying that the last year has certainly been the most interesting and challenging of the last 10. It’s somewhat odd that we found ourselves forced into the freelance world following the financial crisis of 2008, and now 10 years after founding the company we’re adapting to the next one” said Russell.
“It’s been an amazing 10 years, and like most anniversaries it’s gone both fast and slow; some elements of our work have changed dramatically whilst others have remained remarkably similar.”
“That’s particularly true of equipment vs content; we used to film on magnetic MiniDV tapes where you’d have to capture footage in real-time by playing the tape back like a VHS, and now we’re shooting in 8K raw on 1TB solid state drives. And yet what’s in front of the lens is still predominantly people and their stories”.
“The last year has certainly been interesting, but way more successful than we ever thought it would be when the proverbial was hitting the fan and projects were getting postponed and cancelled left, right and centre back in March 2020.”
“In fact September 2020 turned out to be our busiest month on record. We managed to adapt rapidly; we directed two music videos for IDLES, a new sector for us, our animation capabilities flourished, and we helped our clients continue communicating through virtual tours and live streams alongside ‘traditional’ video content.”
JonesMillbank boast a broad range of cross-sector clients, with recent projects for The Royal Mint, University of Bristol, Universal Music, Toshiba, NHS, Bristol City Council and Battersea.
Adam added: “Graduating into a recession and then marking ten years in lockdown has bookended the last decade of working interestingly. Despite all the changes, the challenges, the highs and lows, what’s been constant is the absolute love for what we do. Telling stories will always be the most interesting and engaging thing I can imagine doing and to have been able to do it with the friend I graduated with has been nothing short of a privilege.”
“I think what’s ensured that JonesMillbank has had such a solid foundation throughout the last decade is the fact that although both myself and Russell are quite different people we understand each other so well and can make joint decisions on what we do. Just like any good long term relationship!”
“We’ve always pushed ourselves to get the most value out of budgets and when I think back to the very first pieces we created the attitude was just the same. It wasn’t easy back then to get a company to take a chance on two individuals with no real portfolio or experience so we can appreciate all the risks people took with us in the early days”.
“We’ve traveled the world and met the most interesting people along the way and who knows what the next decade has in store. Seeing the team grow, the projects get more ambitious and the pure enjoyment that we all get from being creative every day is something I’m hugely grateful for.”
On the 10-year anniversary, Russell said “we usually try to make the most of things like this, with previous Christmas parties seeing us spend a few days in Athens, Bucharest, Warsaw and Bruges. So we’ve decided to delay our party until the summer when we can celebrate and commemorate properly with the whole team and their families. Everyone was bored of Zoom a long time ago!”
***
JonesMillbank are a passionate full-service video production company
They work exclusively in-house with a talented team of multi-disciplined creatives, all the while telling authentic stories long before it was cool for a range of clients such as University of Bristol, Battersea, The Royal Mint and IDLES.
jonesmillbank.com
01173706372
[email protected]
Sought after indian themed jewellery from Emma Chapman from Frome and Jaipur was again the highlight of London Fashion Week. This short film explored her story and sources of inspiration.
In 2019, I happened upon an opportunity to make a short film for national television. Funnily enough, I remember consciously avoiding film studies in sixth form because I struggled with dialogue and thought “I could never make a film”. I probably do still suck at dialogue, but I guess that doesn’t really matter because my film has zero words in it; work to your strengths I suppose.
Funnier still, was the fact that I had never directed a film in any capacity before. This was very much my first, and very much a deep dive into an unknown world, full of quirky executive producers and stressed out assistant directors.
I eventually emerged from that world (barely in one piece) and back to reality, only to discover that the short film in question – A Fashion Show – can be found on BBC iPlayer, Apple TV, and on the British Urban Film Festival website.
Okay, so, how did this all come about? The answer is…almost by accident.
I was 21 at the time, fresh out of university with a marketing degree and a dream to be in advertising. After all, adverts are just short films, right?
So, I find myself at a premier for a short film in Bristol. It featured my mum actually. She’s not an actress though; she designs luxury handbags. There are all kinds of people there, most notably, a man called Michael Jenkins. See, Michael’s a cool guy; I think he actually directed the film being previewed, and I had overheard that he had previously worked with the BBC. So, being curious, I approached him, introduced myself, and asked if he’d like to get a coffee or something. He said “Sure”.
Fast forward, and we’re at the Bristolian treasure that is the Watershed, having a hot chocolate (I don’t actually drink coffee, I just say it because it sounds professional, you know?) and talking about ourselves. It was a good time. Before we left I showed him some of my freelance marketing/advertising work, to which he mouthed something about keeping in touch. I took this to mean the usual “This was nice, but now we’ll never see each other again”, which was fair enough. I was just happy I got to have a great chat!
Low and behold, some months later, Mr Jenkins did get in touch, with an opportunity he thought I’d be interested in. Turns out it was the BBC New Creatives competition. I didn’t think I stood a chance, but what’s the harm in trying?
Now, a day or so before the deadline, I was watching the Gucci 2018 A/W fashion show with my brother and the idea struck me for an abstract social commentary about race, told through the vehicle of a fashion show.
Feeling inspired, I quickly messaged my most talented friends and convinced them to get involved. It felt like an opening scene in Oceans 11. You know, when they do the “I need you for one last mission!” and the other person responds, “Nah, I’m out of the game.” And then the person says, “But, we could be big time!” and then the other person’s like, “Okay. I’m in!” And the team assembles.
Let me tell you, it was exactly not like that. But let’s just imagine how cool that would be.
Anyways; we submit it. Then we wait. Weeks go by. I should mention that in between meeting Mike and getting his email I had found a job in the elite practice of selling car insurance. As esteemed as it gets, with the working hours to match, there was really no way I could find the time to make a film on the side, but that was okay because it was never going to happen anyway.
News flash, I did get it! We got through! I got a call whilst at the coffee machine at work (again, being professional), where I was told that I’d be given £5,000 to make whatever wacky ideas I had a reality. I didn’t get a coffee but I felt like I had just backed an espresso. Safe to say that I was very excited.
Fast forward once more and we’ve met the executive producers, been assigned our non-exec producers (so, just producers), and been given a wad of money to go make a film. How much do I know about making a film? Zilch. But this was what I had my team for. Thanks to Fran, Luke, Mike, Tallulah, and my friend Shanice who was volunteering as PR, I was able to reduce my running around like a headless chicken by 23% – I really am indebted to them. They saved that film from being an absolute flop. I had no chance on my own. I think that was the first lesson I truly understood about teamwork– letting other people lead where they’re strongest.
Things didn’t go smoothly: we had mishaps and malfunctions, even a reshoot which almost made me give up on the whole thing. But we made it through pre-production. The most stressful part? Casting. Did I even pay attention to acting experience? I was pretty much going off gut feeling and had these questions about race prepared to gauge how interested actors were in the concept. I just wanted people who cared. I think that’s important in anything you do as a team; picking people who want to be there. When you’re acting the leader, you want people who are even more passionate than you.
I was lucky enough to find a cast full of brilliant, talented, and motivated actors and actresses – many of whom are my friends now and hopefully always will be.
So, we film the first shoot, it’s good but not great. The execs make us do a reshoot. After moping to my girlfriend at the time, telling her that I don’t want to do it and that I might just fob off the whole thing, I’m eventually convinced to stop being so silly. Once again, saved from a blunder by someone else.
We do the reshoot, and its brilliant! It’s weird…you can feel when you’re doing something cool, although I was still very nervous about how it would all turn out. A key actor couldn’t make it, and we had to call the exec producer to be the stand in. Ironically, he played the man behind the scenes, orchestrating a creepy fashion show. How meta is that?
Fast forward a couple of months and we’re premiering the film at Encounters Film Festival, the UK’s leading short film festival. Then a month later ‘A Fashion Show’ is being aired on BBC Four in front of thousands. Next, it’s on BBC iPlayer! It was all very surreal. In2020, it was picked-up by the British Urban Film Awards and Apple TV, which again, is crazy to think about.
The common thread through all of this, is that it’s important to have good people around you and that it’s okay to be a little out of your depth, because you can learn to swim as you go.
That’s the story of how far just taking an improbable leap can get you. Sometimes, if it’s something you really want to do, and you’ve got a chance, just give it a shot. You can always get support down the line. Making a film was something I swore I could never do. Turns out I was wrong.
So, what have you been telling yourself is impossible? And is it really?
ATA Carnets were not previously needed for UK businesses travelling into EU countries, but since 1st January 2021, trading rules have changed.
Now, firms can choose to use an ATA Carnet when transporting certain goods temporarily into EU countries or transiting through the EU to non-EU countries who are part of the ATA Carnet agreement. This will help to simplify the customs process and means you avoid duties and taxes upon import.
We are aware the changes may have been unexpected to some companies and are now an extra cost to factor into the day-to-day running costs of your business.
That’s why we are offering a heavily discounted price just for the television and film industry.
ATA Carnets for EU countries will cost £235 + VAT to issue*. All of the ATA Carnets that we issue can be used for multiple trips and are valid for a period of up to one year.
This is a special offer for the first six months of 2021 to help businesses in the TV and film industry. Companies will need to apply before 31st July 2021 and you can find out more here.
How does the ATA Carnet process work?
An ATA Carnet is a customs document that can be used when importing professional equipment, commercial samples or goods for exhibitions or trade fairs, temporarily into countries that are part of the ATA Carnet system. It means that your filming equipment can pass through each country’s customs border duty free and provides the respective countries with a guarantee that duties will be paid if the conditions under which the goods are allowed into the country are breached.
A carnet must be presented each time the equipment is imported, exported, or travels through a country. The list of countries that accept ATA Carnets can be found here.
What is an ATA Carnet document?
A carnet document acts like a passport for the goods, which requires the name of the carnet holder, dates of issue and expiry, the carnet number, and the countries where the carnet can be used. A description of the goods is printed on the reverse.
The ATA Carnet is filled with colour coded vouchers. Yellow vouchers are used for the country of departure and return, white for overseas customs and blue for transit.
Each sheet has a counterfoil which will be obtained by customs officers each time it is required when passing through, entering, or leaving a country.
How long is the Carnet valid for?
A carnet is valid for 12 months from the date of issue. During this time, it can be used an unlimited number of times for exits and entries into member countries. However, goods need to be returned to the UK within 12 months.
Do I have to be a Chamber member to obtain a Carnet?
No, you do not have to be a Chamber member.
At Business West, our International Trade team provide a bespoke service including simplification of customs procedures and completion of all Carnet vouchers. Find out more here.
Bristol based Plimsoll Productions review the Carnet process
Plimsoll Productions based in Bristol have used Business West’s ATA Carnet services several times when exporting filming equipment out of the country on shoots.
Commenting on the support they have received in completing Carnets, Lynn Sinclair, Head of Production said:
“Business West has been very helpful, and the team are often able to turn around Carnets in less than 24 hours which is crucial for us with last-minute changes to kit and equipment. It makes our lives a lot easier knowing we can send over the information at the last minute.”
When asked about the advice she would give to companies looking to use Carnets she added:
“It’s important to make sure the Carnet information is accurate as everyone has heard of a horror story where a Carnet has been incorrectly executed and the production company has had to pay a huge fee. Business West ensured all the information was accurate, which meant we avoided paying duties and our kit arrived on time.”
Ecosurety has announced the first round recipients of the Exploration Fund. The Ecosurety Exploration Fund invests £1 million in projects that aim to reduce environmental impact of packaging, batteries or WEEE through innovation or research.
Reuse Network, Impact Recyling, Impact Solutions and London Waste and Recycling Board share a £500k boost to its UK projects in the first round of the fund.
Skylark is proud to have partnered with the fund to create four films promoting its winners. We travelled to Scotland, London and Newcastle to meet the innovators behind the projects. This is just one step closer to moving our society to a more greener, sustainable future.
The Fit for reuse project will help tackle the growing mountain of old or unused electricals being recycled or landfilled. And this provides more high quality, repaired electrical goods to the people that really need them.
Led by the Reuse Network, this project is set to move significantly more EEE up the waste hierarchy.
Led by Impact Recycling, the BOSS 2D project is building on proven innovation used to sort rigid plastics. In doing so, it vastly improves the recycling of flexible plastic film.
If plastic film can be accurately and efficiently sorted into uncontaminated, material-specific waste streams, they can be recycled instead of incinerated.
BOSS 2D will enable that to happen for the first time.
The Maximising recycling from purpose-built flats project is working to address an age-old problem. How to increase capture and quality of recyclable materials from households that don’t have standard kerbside collections?
Led by the London Waste and Recycling Board, this project will trial new interventions and infrastructure.
Lithium-ion battery technology is likely to be the keystone in moving our society to a greener, more sustainable future. But without effective recycling technology in place, we are fast approaching a significant problem. This is due to the scarcity of raw materials and destructive mining techniques.
Led by Impact Solutions, CellMine could prove to be the Holy Grail solution.
Congrats to the first round of Exploration Fund Winners! Find out more about the Ecosurety Exploration Fund.
This year, we decided to break tradition here at Proctor + Stevenson, and instead of creating our annual staff Christmas video, we donated our services to a worthy cause, producing a film for a local charity instead. After researching many of the wonderful charitable institutions that operate in our home city, we selected Caring In Bristol, a charity dedicated to eradicating homelessness in Bristol for good. They work in imaginative and creative ways with people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness, as well as public and community partners, to bring about lasting change in Bristol and beyond.
We were blown away by the extensive work they do, and so created and donated a film for Caring in Bristol, engaging people in this urgent cause and encouraging people to donate via their website. You can watch the video here.
Shockingly, nearly 3,000 people in our great city will be experiencing homelessness this Christmas. This Over the winter, a donation of just £21 could provide food, mental health and wellbeing support, care and compassion for those experiencing homelessness at an acutely difficult time of year. You can donate here.
Currently there are around 895 homeless ‘households’ in Bristol; that’s families who are trapped in temporary and emergency accommodation over the winter months. And in March, the number of rough sleepers in Bristol had reached its highest level in a decade, despite there being a national drop.
Unfortunately, the homelessness crisis is set to worsen, as Generation Rent estimates that 17% of renters have fallen into arrears since the beginning of the pandemic, and the number of families at risk of eviction due to late or missed rent payments is triple that of last year. Centrepoint, a homeless charity supporting under-25s in England, has seen a 36% increase in people seeking support since lockdown began.
Caring in Bristol runs Bristol’s flagship winter homelessness project, Caring at Christmas, and 2020 will see the 31st year of the Christmas project. Last year, over the days that Caring at Christmas 2019 ran, it provided day support to 429 homeless and vulnerable people in Bristol and served over 2,500 hot meals.
This year, the charity is warning of a potential increase in clients who are homeless needing access to emergency support and has adapted the project to become COVID-safe. Caring in Bristol will be delivering over 900 meals each day to those in temporary accommodation and 100 meals daily to those currently sleeping rough throughout December. Alongside this, the project provides medical care, mental health support, entertainment, wellbeing, specialist housing and money advice, resources like clothing, compassion and friendship at an acutely difficult time of year.
So please donate what you can this Christmas, and do your part to empower Bristol into becoming the first city to end homelessness, for good.