The Noise has now been going for 11 years, and each year volunteers have been driven by the same desire to simply ‘Show God’s Love in Practical Ways’.  

The Noise 2012 was not like any other year though!  While continuing to work in the communities of Horfield, Lawrence Weston, Little Stoke, Lockleaze, Manor Farm, Sea Mills, Southmead and Upper Horfield in North Bristol, this year The Noise also grew to work in Barton Hill in East Bristol.  It has been really encouraging to build relationships with people working and living in Barton Hill, and to work together to put on a Family Fun Afternoon, and complete a number of local practical projects over the weekend itself.  The feedback from everyone so far has been really positive and we look forward to building on this in the future, and continuing to support the work being done in this community.

The Noise 2012 also saw the first ever ‘100 Days of Prayer’ taking place in the lead up to the weekend.  It was great to have so many people praying together for The Noise and the detail of the weekend, but also for the people living in our local communities, the real needs, and for the projects and work that are ongoing throughout the year.  Please remember to keep on praying, these people and needs do not go away once The Noise weekend is over – for ways to get involved practically, have a look at the ‘What’s Next?’ information attached.

The Noise 2012 was quite literally the biggest Noise weekend ever, in every way!  

• 870 people volunteered over the three days (with nearly 600 on Saturday alone), giving 7840 hours of time.
• These volunteers came from 50 different churches or groups.
• 249 were under 18.
• 3 were over 80!

This year, Noise volunteers worked hard on 91 Community Transformation Projects, including building a shelter in a community allotment in Barton Hill, rubbish and bramble clearance at Lawrence Weston Community Farm, work in the grounds of local schools in Horfield and Lockleaze, and many different individual garden projects in Southmead, and across all other communities.

One local resident said “I am so grateful for the gardening work which was done last Saturday.  What a transformation from a ‘jungle’ to a garden again!  The friendly people worked so hard, and it was a pleasure to hear their happy laughter and chatter as they worked.  Thank you so much.”

While some of you were working on the practical projects, others were setting up and hosting the 8 Family Fun Afternoons and 3 Community BBQ’s that took place over the 3 days.  Hundreds of people came out to enjoy all the free activities on offer, from the face painting to the football coaching, the climbing wall to the café area – and even in the rain on Monday!

On the Sunday, The Noise also hosted 3 different events for Senior Citizens, a three course dinner in Horfield and Southmead, and a cream tea in Sea Mills.  Each event had a great atmosphere as everyone enjoyed meeting new people, eating good food, and being entertained.

4 Football Coaching and Tournament sessions were organised over the weekend by teams of volunteers and led by World Sports Ministries.  Rachael commented “My highlight of the day was hearing a group of boys playing football sing along to music from the fun day while one team where making their move to set up for a goal. Another great moment included the rain finishing within minutes of 2:30pm for us to start the football. (we had 24 boys raring to get going). Brilliant!”

And…  a lot of cars were washed for free all over the community!

It has been really encouraging to hear some of your stories and feedback from the weekend.  But we would love to hear more!!  We would also love to hear any feedback that you have from your experience of The Noise 2012, if there are things that you think worked particularly well, practical suggestions for how we might make things work better, or ideas for next year – please send us an email to info a_t thenoise d_o_t org d_o_t uk

To see photos and video clips from The Noise 2012, then please visit www.thenoise.org.uk, or have a look at www.facebook.com/bristolnoise, or follow us on www.twitter.com/bristolnoise

The Noise Organisers would like to say a massive THANK YOU to all of you who were involved over the weekend.  We really appreciate the time you gave up and all the hard work you did to serve and bless our communities and this City.

And don’t forget: the need to show God’s love in practical ways is an all year round thing!  Keep going! “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9)