We are Aware - Local : North Somerset, UK

12/11/2025

A huge thank you to all the Co-op members for supporting us as a local cause- particularly across the last year.
All our funding, donations and support help us provide more groups and activities for our ever-growing mental health lived experience peer community

01/11/2025

We're so pleased to see the first TalkingPoint Bench installed in Wales, With Simon O'Rourke - Tree Carving crafting and carving. It is amazing to see his vision at work to fashion a semi colon from such an obscurely shaped piece of wood!
We hope the bench promotes and provokes many a conversation to keep people connected- and help someone struggling through one day to the next.
Its great to see so many coming together as part of the Baton of Hope - Wrexham leg and the wider tour.
We're so proud to have an idea born in Clevedon, North Somerset to be spiralling out and involving such great groups, organisations and individuals.
We'll be up to visit it when we can!

20/10/2025

It was a huge honour to be invited to the Lord Lieutenant's Reception at Clevedon Court last Thursday
It was great to see so many familiar faces and meet so many other people behind some great causes and doing some amazing work in Clevedon.
A huge thank you to Becky Walsh , Julia Elton, Denis Burn MBE and all the organisers and staff that made it such a great evening.

14/10/2025

A massive thank you to Kenn Lunch Break for their generous fundraising to support We are Aware - Local : North Somerset, UK forthcoming gardening project

10/10/2025

Amazing and moving. Great to see all the hard work of all involved coming together. And a magical interpretation of the TalkingPoint semicolon by Simon O'Rourke - Tree Carving We're so pleased to see the Bench of Hope as the first TalkingPoint in Wales

06/10/2025

Great to see the Wrexham TalkingPoint bench unveiled as part of the Baton of Hope - Wrexham
A carved wood interpretation of the semi colon bench by wood carver Simon O'Rourke - Tree Carving
Such an important event coordinated by Advance Brighter Futures and in particular Zoe who brought it all together.
And such a great collection of photos capturing Wrexham and all the other destinations on the Baton of Hope tour 2025 to date:
https://warpbin.com/drive/bohtour2025

04/10/2025

Hope everyone involved has an amazing day of hope and connection. This is such a great initiative. Looking forward to seeing the Wrexham TalkingPoint bench in action.

19/09/2025

It all looks amazing! And so pleased to see the bench and Simon's work to make it such a unique TalkingPoint

✨ 𝗛𝗼𝗽𝗲 𝗛𝘂𝗯 𝗦𝗽𝗼𝘁𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 - 𝗚𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿 ✨

We’re shining a light on one of our incredible guest speakers for the Baton of Hope Wrexham – Simon O'Rourke - Tree Carving.

Simon is internationally acclaimed as one of the UK’s leading names in chainsaw sculpture and is not only a Guest Speaker on the day, but will be unveiling a very special handcrafted gift to the community - a TalkingPoint Bench, an initiative led by We are Aware - Local : North Somerset, UK to get people talking.

"𝘐𝘯 2021, 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦, 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘢 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. 𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘧 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘩, 𝘪𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘨𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦. 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘴."

You can catch Simon, and the unveiling of the bench, at our Pontcysyllte Chapel Tearoom Hope Hub👇

📅 𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝟰𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱
🕖 𝟭𝟬:𝟯𝟬𝗮𝗺 - 𝟭𝟭:𝟯𝟬𝗮𝗺
📍 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗹 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗼𝗼𝗺, 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗿

No need to book, just turn up!

Find out more about the Baton of Hope Wrexham tour by visiting our website:

🔗 www.advancebrighterfutures.co.uk/batonofhope-wrexham

18/09/2025

A big thank you to Sarah from Wards Solicitors for her talk yesterday as part of We are Aware - Local : North Somerset, UK Peer/Self Advocacy session in partnership with The Advocacy People
A really informative talk and discussion
Thanks Sarah!

17/09/2025

A huge thank you to Nailsea and District Community Transport and in particular our driver Nick for supporting the We are Aware - Local : North Somerset, UK summer trip to Sidmouth last week. A lovely sunny day in the midst of some heavy rain showers around at the time

21/08/2025

Choose We are Aware - Local : North Somerset, UK as your Local Community Fund cause on the Co-op app and enter Co-op Member Prizes for a chance to win £500 for you and £5,000 for us. Find out more on the Co-op App.

01/08/2025

We have some amazing ongoing conversations across the UK and further afield to continue to grow the TalkingPoint family.
We've met some fantastic grassroots organisations in the process, and found some really supportive organisations along the way!
We've heard so many moving, personal stories
Let's keep the conversations going
Reach out for support
Check-in on loved ones
Stay connected