Hornbeam Wood Hedgehog Sanctuary is a charity that hosts Educational and Awareness talks to local schools, beavers, cubs, scouts, brownies, rainbows and girlguides. The Sanctuary hosts nearly 100 talks annually and have engaged close to 6,000 local children helping them to gain a better understanding of wildlife and the ways they can help to preserve and protect endangered species. The Sanctuary had been unable to host these talks during the cold and rainy seasons due to the Charity having no sheltered cover for the children while the talks took place outside.
The Harpenden Trust very kindly granted the Sanctuary funds to build a wooden open fronted education shelter that holds up to 35 children. This shelter has been an invaluable building that has greatly benefited the Sanctuary and the children that attend these talks. It also includes a blackboard that is used to highlight key messages to the children and creates a more engaging experience for them.
During 2020 the Sanctuary unfortunately had to completely stop all Hedgehog Awareness and Educational visits due to Covid-19. This put a huge strain on the Sanctuary as the talks were also a way for the Sanctuary to generate income through donations and purchased from the onsite gift shop. The Harpenden Trust also granted the Sanctuary funds to purchase a camera and livestream equipment that enabled the Sanctuary to continue Awareness and Educational talks to groups via Zoom meetings and livestream events.
Martin Maylin of Hornbeam Wood Hedgehog Sanctuary said:
“We are very much looking forward to all the local children's groups that have booked Educational and Awareness talks during 2021 and the new Education Shelter is now one of our key focal points for these talks."
Willow Court is a modern, purpose built care home based in Harpenden for approximately 15 years providing an excellent range of facilities. It provides both residential and specialist dementia care, respite care and acts as a day-centre for non-residents, providing extra care and a chance to meet other people and try new activities.
There are currently 68 permanent residents who as well as having their own bedrooms enjoy a wide range of communal areas including lounges, cosy-corners and their own pub, the Rose Briar Arms. In addition the home has beautiful gardens with a number of seating areas and a gazebo surrounded by a range of flower beds.
The Harpenden Trust is delighted to have been able to support Willow Court, originally financing the gazebo but more recently, in 2021, supporting both internal decoration and improvements to the gardens making both more appealing to residents who clearly benefit from this attractive and welcoming environment.
Mrs Michelle Tramiro, the lead activities coordinator at Willow Court, said:
“A huge Thank you to the Harpenden Trust for their kind donations helping to fund internal and external projects, including our newly revamped pub as well as the Candy Cart tea rooms , with our residents enjoying a bespoke birthday experience . Heather Nye and Steve Pryor of the Trust have visited Willow Court on several occasions helping to support and advise on new and existing projects enabling and improving the lives of people living with dementia . Willow Court enjoy engaging and building friendships with the local Harpenden community and it would be fair to say Steve and Heather have not only become regular guests but also great friends to us here at Willow Court."
There has been a Harpenden Rovers football team in the town dating as far back as 1895. In 1928 Rovers began playing on the common just off Cravells Road but it wasn’t until 2017 that Harpenden Rovers Youth FC was resurrected by a couple of dedicated parents. In six years it’s grown from 11 children kicking about on the Common to 220 children from ages five upwards, and outgrowing the historic, tree lined home of Rovers, ‘The Acre’.
Rovers Youth can now be found be on Saturday mornings ‘up the hill’ at Katherine Warington School (KWS), their home for the past four years. Clad in their new kit, based on the golden wheatsheaf on the towns crest, the children train and play under the guidance of a group of almost 50 dedicated and fully FA qualified volunteer coaches, rain or shine in both training and matches against other local sides - with a focus on participation and fun.
The Harpenden Trust have been delighted to have been able to support this tremendous growth by providing grants for essential equipment, including football shirts decorated with the Harpenden Trust logo as well as helping with the cost of training the extra coaches that have been needed to support the additional players that have become involved with the club.
From small acorns, Rovers now fields 14 league sides in the local Herts Youth League, while the club are proud to be able to have achieved full FA Accreditation this year. The new Chair, Jeremy Finch, credits the Trust for help in making it all possible:
“We’re extremely grateful to the Harpenden Trust and support from KWS in helping us bring even more football to the towns children’s. The goal is to increase our offering even further into the community, to set the roots down to ensure there will be a Harpenden Rovers team in the town in a 100 years time.”
Gilly Winsley, Pottery Manager, tells the story of The Network Pottery which is located at the site of the missionary organisation YWAM, at Highfield Oval, Ambrose Lane, Harpenden.
15 years ago armed only with a donated old-fashioned kiln, a loaned pottery wheel and a derelict room within the old factory building owned by YWAM at Highfield Oval in Harpenden, somehow we started The Network Pottery.
5 years ago we asked the Community Fund of the Harpenden Trust for help in buying a pug mill, which recycles clay rather than having to do it by hand and also for two portable pottery wheels, allowing these to be taken to schools and other venues.
Over time demand for our services increased and further help was requested from the Community Fund to buy two modern pottery wheels for the studio. Again we were delighted to receive their support which means that combined with a new redeveloped area of the factory building we can support even more clients.
Through another connection with the Trust, for the past two years we have run weekly sessions for Mind in Herts with guests referred by their GP, and it is wonderful to add that a second Mind group has just started with further support from the Trust.
So today with such amazing encouragement and support from the Harpenden Trust we really now have a proper Community Pottery.
To finish, a little snapshot story demonstrates how important our support is. A lady was introduced by Mind and was suffering with panic attacks so extreme she always had to sit on the chair nearest the door and was in permanent ’flight mode’. Slowly she worked on the pottery wheel becoming a gifted potter. She then moved away but installed a potters wheel in her barn and let everyone know how ‘the pottery literally changed my life’.
