There comes a time when you need more from life than shoes and trinkets (yes, really!). You all…read moreknow how cool growing your own is at the minute, right? You may even know that waiting lists for council allotments are as long as the M2. Well, there is a way to have your salad and carrots and eat them, too. At David Morrow's private allotments (up behind Ice Bowl in Dundonald, near Streamvale Open Farm). There is a whole other world of growing-your-own going on up there. The views are mid-boggling - you can literally stand on some of the allotments and gaze over Strangford and over Belfast Lough the other way. There are all sorts of people there, too - a real community. Retired people, families with dogs and toddlers, University professors - they're all there, planting and weeding and munching. There are picnics and barbecues and rows of sunflowers. Tidy allotments all in rows, higgelty piggelty ones and even some with chickens. You might never have thought of doing something like this , but lots of people club together and maybe take one between a couple of families (you pay by the year, per square foot - it's not that pricey). David is always happy for people to go and have a look - why not pop up and see for yourself?

The Link Family and Community Centre aims to bridge the gaps in the community by providing…read moresomething for everyone. They offer programmes for young people (Project23), adults struggling with addiction and housing issues (MARC), senior citizens (Lunch Club & Drop-In), parents and babies (Tots Time), and language classes for those for whom English is not their first language. They also provide volunteering opportunities for people to come and get involved, using their gifts and talents to help others and create a much more inclusive community where no-one should feel alone or of no value. A great place doing a great thing.

Te is a community space used for various activities…read more Set up to be the beacon of the community. Has workshops,counselling.. I was in here for a meeting. Just using their meeting room for a charity I volunteer with. The place seems quite spacious with numerous rooms. There is also an upstairs. It's located near Yorkgate shopping centre. It's is inside some terrace houses that where converted.

Bryson Charitable group is a really excellent organisation and it deserves the praise and attention…read moreof all Northern Irish yelpers! The activities of Bryson can be split into two main areas: care services and recycling services. From programmes for children and youth to services for the elderly, Bryson House provides the highest standards of care to those who need it most. I actually volunteered for a while with Bryson in the People, a volunteer befriending scheme matching adults with learning difficulties with individuals from the wider community on a one-to-one basis. In addition to our well-known Care Services, they have undertaken created a number of environmental projects including Recycling Services, an Energy Efficiency Advice Centre and a range of education programmes to help young people understand their relationship to the environment. From my experience the people of Bryson are passionate about their jobs and the people and communities they help in. If you have any desire to volunteer, or perhaps want to recycle more effectively, look no further than Bryson!

H.O.P.E stands for Helping Other People Everywhere, which apart from being an nice acronym, doesn't…read morereally tell us a lot about the actual charity. The sign on the shop did, however, inform me that Comber Christian Centre ran it, so at least that was something. HOPE (as it will be henceforth referred to) is basically a little charity shop that has just about everything in it. Women's clothes, men's clothes, children's clothes, knick-knacks, household goods, DVDs, books and the like. It actually had quite a good variety, much more so than many of the charity shops I'd been in previously. The selection of books was particularly notable...there were tons of them! I noticed that on Wednesdays (which just so happened to be the day I was in), they have a half price clothing day, which I thought was pretty good. Unfortunately, try as I might, I just couldn't find any clothes that I really liked, so that was that idea out the window, but a good marketing ploy nonetheless. HOPEfully you'll want to check it out now...

HOPE is a charity shop that sells well just about anything that people will give them and I love it…read morefor that! It's more like a bric an brac shop than anything else. You can find yourself wondering around for an hour just hoping to find something awesome. The past few times I've been there I haven't really managed to find anything I want/need. It appears that new things haven't been brought in, in a while as it hasn't changed as regularly as some other charity shops. Charity shops are always for a good cause, so I always recommend having a look around them before you go to the main chain stores in your local city centre.

what can I say, I'm a sucker for a charity shop! I love a good hoke among the clothes, shoes and…read morebags and often I find a wee gem, a wee diamond in the rough. Holywood is no exception when it comes to good charity shops, in fact I would say they have some of the best. On a stinking wet Wednesday recently I called to see if I could buy an umbrella - the wee lady hunted high and low for me and while she was doing that I looked at the shoes - some lady with great taste had obviously just had a clear out. I was able to pick up a gorgeous pair of red patent Kurt Gieger's for £6.00! She didn't have an umbrella but the rain didn't bother me as much as I left with my lovely, well broken in beauties!