Search

Our best ever year of fundraising

The Cone Exchange is our flagship community project, taking waste from 25 local businesses, including our own, and using it to support our local community. The Cone Exchange shop is open three days a week, selling a wide range of items for crafters, gardeners and bakers.

Over the course of the year, thanks in large part to shop sales, the Cone Exchange team donated over £55,000 to good causes in our local area, including Horticap, Yorkshire Dales Millenium Trust, Inspire Youth and Follifoot Disabled Riding.

Promoting recycling

In 2023, the Cone Exchange team attended a wider range of events and talks, to promote recycling and encourage people to think about waste in new ways. In all, we attended 22 community talks and events, including educational events for school children via the Yorkshire Agricultural Society such as the Great Yorkshire Show and Countryside Days.

Supported work placements

The Cone Exchange provides supported work placements for adults with additional learning needs. Typically, our placement students spend one day a week at the Cone Exchange, helping with a variety of tasks which build confidence, communication and self-esteem. In some cases, placements are a step towards paid work.

2023 was the start of the return of our placements following Covid, with four adults with additional learning needs experiencing a placement at the Cone Exchange, with 75 hours of placements hosted in total. The placements are co-ordinated with partners including Henshaws and Time Together.

Our fabulous volunteers

The Cone Exchange also brings together a team of volunteers who give their time, ideas and connections to help protect the planet and raise funds for local good causes – while making friends and being creative. In 2023, we welcomed 14 new volunteers to the team, taking our total number of volunteer supporters to 38. In total, we benefited from over 7,000 hours of volunteer time and we deeply appreciate the support and commitment demonstrated by all our volunteers.

Wooly great work

In 2023 Cone Exchange volunteers and supporters knitted over 3,000 items to support local charities. Examples include baby clothes for Peace of Mind in Gateshead, a charity providing vital services for refuges, and blankets for Age UK’s warm spaces

Marking our 20-year anniversary

The year gone by also saw the Cone Exchange celebrate its 20-year anniversary – an opportunity to look back on what’s been achieved over the last two decades and how far we’ve come.

More information on the Cone Exchange and how it began can be found here.