DVD coming soon - 17th May 2010

Thanks to Two Castles Housing Association for commissioning a dedicated DVD for their tenants.

The DVD will take the best bits of Shontals work, add in contributions from Stakeholders and signpost people to those who can help.

We finish with out takes, all our mistakes.

Shontal go international - 14th May 2010

It is with huge pride that we can announce Shontal have very kindly been invited to open a conference in Brussells, thats Belgium.

As part of the 2010 European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion, the conference is hosted by Flanders Europe Liaison Agency and North East England Office.

Unfortunately due to the election taking longer than expected to form a government, this GIG has been put back to September 14th, my birthday, how did they know ?

Illegal Money Lending Team Funding - 5th March 2010

Our thanks to the IMLT funding future awareness raising using Its Only a Few Quid, we hope to make maiximum use of the money to raise awareness of the issues surrounding the activities of Loan Sharks.

We are proud to play a small part in what they do for communities in the North East.

New Show Coming Soon... - 7th April 2009

As reported towards the end of 2008, Shontal are working alongside Graham Brewis, Financial Inclusion Manager at Blyth Valley Housing. The new show deals with 'Affordable Credit' and will be show cased within the next month. If any of our friends and colleagues would like to be invited to the preview, please contact us.

Graham may even be playing a cameo role....

We're Back! - 31st March 2009

We've been very busy recently. We are thrilled to announce that our new show "It's Only A Few Quid.." was performed for the first time on 17th March at the Illegal Money Lending Team's conference at Wynyard Park, concerning the activities of loan sharks. Timed to coincide with the launch of the national help line for confidential assistance,. We were guests of Redcar / Cleveland Trading Standards, who originally commissioned the work in late 2008.

The Loan Shark help line number is

0300 555 2222.

Working in conjunction with the IMLT, we are able to offer the show to groups, and we are starting to take bookings.

The story concerns one central character, Gill. She loses her job and begins to struggle with the daily necessities of life. She battles with debt, and the people she owes. Then she turns to a certain individual for help....

We are hoping to have photographs of the show as soon as possible.

Keyring 'Tour' 2009 - 28th March 2009

Since February we have been working alongside Keyring, an organisation that provides support to people with varied abilities to be in control of their own lives, and live in their own homes. Their website is www.keyring.org and it's well worth a look!

We have so far performed and taken part in workshops in Newcastle, on 3rd Feb, and in Doncaster and Lincoln on 25th and 26th March. There has certainly been some lively debate, and it is a privilege to work with a forward thinking organisation such as Keyring. The issues raised by Keyring members for consideration, are Personal Safety, and Financial Abuse. Unfortunately some members of keyring, and many others besides, are sometimes exposed to abuse of various types. Working alongside Nikki and David from Keyring, we are very happy to help raise awareness of such abuses for the members. Our next sessions are in Manchester and Shrewsbury on 21st and 22nd April.

Our London session on 10th Feb was unfortunately snowed off, so we hope to visit the Keyring members in the capital in June. Watch this space.

Photographs were taken at the Newcastle session on 3rd Feb, and with the permission of the members included, we are happy to reproduce some of them here. See the gallery above.

The picture shown is from the Newcastle session, 3rd Feb this year. Keyring member Paddy is seen acting during the afternoon workshop.