August 6th-8th: RESONATE Resonate 08 was an awesome three day event which saw many individuals work hard to benefit many other individuals. A huge thank you to all who took the time to be involved and those who organised it.

- August 6th @ Joiners Square Park: Energy levels were high and God had put the rain on hold… day one of Resonate 08 was here and we were ready to go! Everyone went to Joiners Square Park for a day of fresh air, litter picking and painting. The fence surrounding half the park was our biggest challenge but was completed with time to spare. The roundabout and swings were given fresh coats of paint and we got rid of loads of rubbish and broken glass. All-in-all, Joiners Square was a big success and it was great at the end of the day to see kids already enjoying their new-look park!

- August 7th @ Trentham High School & Women's Safe House: Always ready to rise to a challenge, the Resonate teams tackled two big projects: Trentham High School and a women’s safe house. While the future of Trentham High School is uncertain there are still young people to invest in and so there is still work to do! The men were sent back to school to paint two classrooms while the women arguably had the task of glossing doors, skirting boards and radiators in the three storey safe house. By the end of the day there quite a few light heads from gloss-fumes but knowing what we were doing, why and who we were doing for kept us all going and no light-heads were about to stop us! Day two…challenging but successful!

- August 8th @ When... Distribution Centre: Ok, so energy levels were not quite as high as Day One but like that was going to stop us! The team went to the When… Centre, a 15,500 square foot warehouse full of brand new clothing and household goods to distribute to those in need in the city. Resonate volunteers were put to task, sorting boxes of clothing and distributing them around the city. In fact, in this one day the same amount of boxes were sorted as had been since When… opened! What an achievement! Some of the ladies from the safe house were on the receiving end of When… and it made it all worth the hard graft to see their faces as they saw what was being given to them.

Resonate 09 is already taking shape with Hope Community Church coming onboard to love and hug this awesome city that we call ‘home’!

Earlier in March, Councillors, council workers, The Sentinel, project managers of www.lovestoke.org - Rhi Stapleton and Jim Halliday, along with the awesome 10 year old girl visited the site to explore design ideas for the new park, and on March 15th 2008 this work was completed!

The press office of the council will be running the story through the Sentinel. Catch the news of all www.lovestoke.org via the web or The Sentinel.

On February 9th 2008 www.lovestoke.org conducted its first project. The council released permission for Love Stoke to renovate and enhance the children’s play area off Abbey Road, Abbey Hulton.

The project was in collaboration with several partners including ABC Residents Association, Carmountside Residents Association, William Sutton Trust Community Group, Councillor Andrew Wragg, the Neighbourhood Renewal Team, Staffordshire Police, Bethel City Church and St. Johns Church.

On the 9th February volunteers from across the community set to work renovating the play area. The work included sanding down, painting, replacing equipment, restoring fencing, the removal of dangerous & damaged items, the provision of bins and establishing sheltered areas.