Congratulations on becoming a member of Portobello Timebank! If you are coming here for the first time, you have some work to do to get yourself on the timebank map. Your welcome letter describes all the ways you can get help to use the system – it may take a little time to get familiar with it, but it’s worth persevering with.
You’ll be most anxious to add your offers and requests – to help you out we’ve made the list on the left of what’s on the system at the moment. If there’s anything you have/want that’s not on the list, contact a timebroker on portybroker@gmail.com to get it added.
Don’t forget to add your profile and photo – we want to get to know you!
We'd like to make sure we're communicating with all our members. We have a local website at www.portobellotimebank.co.uk where you can review the principles of timebanking, catch up with the latest news and plans, then use it as a gateway to here, the hOurworld site where your offers, requests and exchanges are recorded. We also send you a newsletter every Monday morning. Make sure communications from admin@hourworld.org don't end up in your spam box!
Our community project activities are popular with our members and the public alike. You can see photos of the results on our Facebook page. We are grateful to Edinburgh City Council, Asda and Greggs for their support.
Our membership continues to grow steadily and several of the newer members are very active. Our bi-monthly meetings (normally at the Bellfield around the middle of each month, - check the website/Facebook) often feature a talk of general interest to our members. We meet for morning coffee on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of each month (see the newsletter for details). Exchanges are much more likely to take place if you have met other members - in fact a large number of requests never make it to the database or weekly newsletter. They're organised between people who've met through previous exchanges. So if you're feeling out of it, take the first steps: update your profile, add some new offers and requests, join us in person at our members' meetings, events, activity groups or community tasks.
We believe in Open Innovation! We implement the best ideas of our members and coordinators. This broad based co-production model of networking and development affords us all the best tools for sustaining our local communities!"The session with Lorna was very helpful and will be of long-term benefit to me. She explained the exercises really well and ensured I noted the details for future reference."
"Without Graham's help my unit would still be sitting in the box! He put it together with no input from me! Really appreciate his expertise."
"I would recommend Joan to anybody who likes foot massages. She was polite, courteous and professional."
"Manpreet has provided brains and muscle building a raised bed with me. We got the job done, and also had some fun while doing it. It took two hours to complete a job that could have taken me a week. Thank you, Manpreet!"
"Graham was fantastic and helped me do exactly what I wanted to do on social media. Thanks Graham. "
"Great to have Sarah do so well sewing which I simply cannot do at all adequately"
"Many thanks to Chris who did a great job pruning my challenging hedge"
Of Burn Clean-ups: "I know it is dirty, smelly work but I can't say enough about how much I love these events, especially the people, all united in trying to make our public spaces better."
"Frank repaired two items of furniture for me. An expert with a smile! Very happy with the result. "
"I had such a nice time meeting Frank. He is so engaged, friendly, talented in so many ways and has interesting stories to tell, too! He taught me drilling my precious beach finds and we had a lovely chat. All around a perfect first Timebank experience: Not just the passing on of a skill but also the social aspect of it. Looking forward to more timebanking experiences like this and giving back to the community!"
"Thanks so much for arranging for Joan to text me. Massive kudos to timebank for short notice request and the perfect candidate."
"Maidenhair fern gone from my flowerbed, now the fun bit to plant something new. Thanks Liz"
"Now I have two pcs connected to the internet and a lot of questions answered! Thank you Dick"
"Very pleased to have someone to help with watering etc while we were away."
