Darkops are a small micro business who started trading in the autumn of this year (2015) after the disaster of redundency due to the closure of City Link. Steve Perry, the founder, having dreamed of starting a small business related to his passion of table top wargaming, took the plunge and Darkops is the result.

Being a member of and contributer to My wargaming Life, he contacted us and we provided him with our e-commerce platform. One of our hopes for this particular community is to provide small businesses, such as Darkops, who create niche products access to low cost tools like our e-commerce platform. There are many such micro businesses in and around the table top (and board games) wargaming hobby who produce highly detailed and intricate works, from sculptors to graphic artists, figure painters and scenic creators. small publishing houses and more. Aiding these enterprises can only help create jobs and add to our national economy.

To visit the Darkops website, follow this link: www.darkops.co.uk

Bridge Community Farms have just released their new Nornir developed web site at: http://www.bridgecommunityfarms.co.uk/

The Farm provides employment and volunteering opportunities for local people. It is also engaged with the local community using the produce of the farm to foster healthy eating habits.

We are hoping to use the development of the web site and the links with Bridge Community Farms to expand the concept of Urban Farms.  By setting up a farm that will work with ex-prisoners providing them with employment and volunteering opportunities will help them settle into a more stable life styles.

We are opening our doors for a community volunteering day every Wednesday (10am-1pm) for anyone aged 16+ to come down and get involved in practical tasks on our vegetable growing site.  We'll be working together on various land-based, horticultural and crafts tasks in the fields and polytunnels so this is a great opportunity to get outdoors, learn new skills and meet new people.

We'll be providing tea, coffee and biscuits. As the days are getting colder, we will also start offering soup made with own organically-grown vegetables produce, served in our dome classroom.

Please wear suitable footwear and bring waterproofs and gardening gloves, if you have them. Whatever the weather, there will be plenty to do – and with three large polytunnels and classroom dome, we'll always have a wet weather plan! 

To let us know you're coming, or if you have any questions about the day, just contact Collette Littler, Volunteer Co-ordinator, on 07847 824 910 or email volunteersbcf@gmail.com 

The farm is located by the Rivacre Business Centre, entrance from Mill Lane, CH66 3TH.

To make sure we don’t add to food waste in our area, we are delivering any leftover fresh vegetables to Trinity Church Cafe, Ellesmere Port. 

Across the UK, 15 million tonnes of food is thrown away every year. In 2012 alone, 1.2 million tonnes of fresh fruit, vegetables and salad - worth £2.6 billion - was wasted. At our farm at Mill Lane we didn’t want to add to this waste so now any fresh vegetables that aren’t sold through our veg-boxes or at our pop-up shop on Thursdays, get delivered to the church cafe. Here the volunteers use our fresh produce to cook up some delicious meals. 

We are proud that we are able to give something back to our community and, at the same time, contribute to reducing food waste and more people enjoy our organically-grown vegetables.

On Thursday 24 September we are hosting a fundraising coffee morning at Mill Lane, taking part in the world-famous Macmillan’s Biggest Coffee Morning. 

We will be joined by local schools serving tea and coffee as well as offering delicious cakes and cookies, all baked by local volunteers in aid of this very worthwhile charity. The event will run from 9:30am until 11am. 

As well as drinks and cakes pupils from local primary school, St Mary of the Angels will be offering some light entertainment and there will also be games and a raffle. 

Guests can meet staff to find out more about how the farm operates and the volunteering opportunities we have on offer. There will also have the chance to buy some of the vegetables grown on the farm when our shop opens at 11am. 

Collette Littler, Volunteer Co-ordinator said, “We enjoy bringing our neighbours and local residents on to the farm so they can see what we are doing here. The coffee morning is a great way for us to get to know each other much better, whilst raising money for a wonderful cause.” 

For more information about the coffee morning please contact Collette by emailing volunteersbcf@gmail.com