Soup glorious soup!
Dewsbury Soup welcomed a great turn-out of North Kirklees’ Third Sector movers and shakers at their 7th gathering.
The regular event, which organisers are keen to stress is ‘not just for Dewsbury’, was held at Ponderosa Business Park this time but moves venues for each meeting.
Dewsbury Soup has an innovative and effective format:
- Community groups submit an application with a project idea
- A judging panel (anyone is invited to join the panel) chooses 4 groups
- Those who attend pay £5 entry and receive a token (anyone can attend!)
- The four groups have 4 minutes each to pitch their idea
- The ‘audience’ can ask 4 questions
- Everyone puts their token in one of 4 boxes to vote for their favourite pitch
- A delicious bowl of soup and a chunk of bread is enjoyed by all!
- The winner of the micro-grant is announced…..(drum roll please)
With a simple format based around the number 4, the compere ably keeps the evening moving along at pace – as does the trill of the pitch timer’s whistle! The evening has a very sociable and friendly atmosphere so it’s a great opportunity for any small or medium-sized community groups in North Kirklees to go along and get networking!
The 7th Dewsbury soup was attended by MP Kim Leadbeater and a host of representatives from Kirklees Council, including Community Plus, Local Area Coordination and the Third Sector team.
Delivering great pitches at the latest event were Clare from Street Bikes, Rachel from West Yorkshire ADHD, The Rev James from Cleckheaton Community Food Bank and overall winners Give a Few Words – congratulations to Sharon on an emotive pitch!
Entry money creates the micro-grant and this event raised a very respectable £510 which was handed to Give a Few Words there and then for their Letters for Christmas project. The only ask of the winners is that they return to the next event and share news of how the project has been going and how the money was spent.
There’s also a wonderful opportunity for any other groups or individuals to present a mini minute ‘bribe’ pitch to promote their community work to the audience.
If you’re interested in attending Dewsbury Soup #8, submitting a project to pitch or applying for a slot for the minute bribe – then check out their website and email dewsburysoup@outlook.com.
The next event is on Wednesday March 9th at the Howlands Centre in Dewsbury.