At the start of the pandemic, few could have anticipated its prolonged and destructive impact. Although the vaccination programme has since served to improve the outlook, the residual impact on aspects such as mental health and wellbeing may remain with us for some time. We now also face other wider global events from the horrific war in the Ukraine to the rapidly growing cost of living crisis - a whole new set of challenges that will impact on our local community.
For over 70 years, the Harpenden Trust has sought to be a source of support for anyone across our local Harpenden community who needs help – whatever their age, whatever their background. The simple underlying principle behind the Trust is being a good neighbour. To local people, the Trust offers that degree of readily accessible, practical support - either accessing our range of core services and activities, or by signposting people to the relevant local expertise where they can find the advice they need.
During the last year, the Harpenden Trust continued to play a major role in supporting the successful vaccination programme at the Harpenden Public Halls. The Harpenden Health Primary Care Network (“HHPCN”), a collaborative effort between the town's three GP practices: Davenport House Surgery, The Village Surgery and Elms Medical Practice, ran the programme. Over 300 Harpenden Trust volunteers ensured that all those attending the Vaccination Centre received a warm welcome, efficient check-in and clear signposting through the Centre, ensuring a safe environment was maintained at all times. Over the course of 15 months, the centre administered over 60,000 COVID-19 vaccines to patients aged between 5 and 105. Although the Centre officially closed at the end of March 2022, we continue to support the Hertfordshire Community Trust with vaccination services now based at the Salvation Army in the centre of town.
One enduring legacy of the vaccination programme has been the establishment of the Harpenden Wellbeing Hub – with the Harpenden Trust and HHPCN combining forces, with support from MIND in Mid Herts, in response to the growing number of local patients presenting with depression and anxiety, being on the road to poorer mental health. The establishment of the Wellbeing Friends programme, the recently launched Frazzled Café and the Arts on Prescription courses are just three tangible signs of our Wellbeing Hub really taking shape. We are supporting the Memory Lane Café, an important local facility open every Monday afternoon to assist those living with dementia and their families. There has also been a five-fold increase in demand for our Befriending services, matching volunteers with local residents in need of support. Our Befriending work has now all been incorporated within our overall Wellbeing offering.
The Harpenden Trust's Christmas Appeal is an important revenue driver for our Care Fund and this year’s total of £68k surpassed that of any previous year, highlighting the kindness and compassion local people have for our neighbours here in Harpenden. We are so thankful for the generosity of all who were able to donate. Donations to the Trust continue to enable the Care Fund to provide financial and practical support to local families and residents, with over 660 visits annually to assist with aspects including food costs, school uniforms and essential appliances. Christmas parcels were again delivered in person to around 150 local residents.
Whereas the pandemic had curtailed certain aspects of the Trust’s work in the early months, over the course of the last financial year, it has been a delight to see all our services reopen – and in all cases with greater demand. The Care Fund’s Tea & Coffee mornings, the Seniors’ Outings, the Family Outings are all thriving. It has also been wonderful to see our two halls in Southdown full again – although we remain increasingly conscious that demand for our halls outstrips the space we currently have available.
The Community Fund continues to access the financial reserves it has built up since 2008, following the endowment the Trust received from Abbeyfield. Alongside many local projects and support for local charities, the Community Fund’s contribution to the new Rothamsted Play Park and Batford Springs Boardwalk represents highly visible signs of the Community Fund’s continued great work and contribution to the local community.
Volunteers are the essential backbone behind the work of the Harpenden Trust, with over 500 Trust Volunteers giving well over 50,000 hours of their time during the course of the pandemic. It was wonderful, thanks to the kind financial support of some local businesses, to be able to say a proper “Thank You” to all our volunteers at the Rothamsted Conference Centre back in late September 2021. The lovely evening was also an opportunity to showcase much of our work in a thirty minute film – and our enduring thanks again to Greta and the team for making this happen. The Harpenden Trust film remains easily accessible on our YouTube channel or via our website – and well worth watching if you have not already viewed it!
My Chairman’s Statement is my opportunity each year to thank formally everyone who has been able to help so many individuals, families, charities and organisations across our local community. Everyone has played their part – from all my colleagues on the main Trust Board; to the members of the Care Fund and Community Fund Committees; to the members of the various related sub-Committees and teams that volunteer in all these areas; to the Trust Office teams answering the phones each day, and those arranging the hall bookings; to the Care Fund Home Visitor teams - whose work is so often and necessarily anonymous and hidden from plain sight; to all those so kindly befriending local residents; to those members of the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee and Investment Committee who carefully monitor and oversee our assets and governance; to the Trust's annual Christmas Appeal team, involving Area Organisers and so many individual Street Collectors; to all the volunteers at the Harpenden Vaccination Centre (the huge number of indoor and outdoor marshals, to the Vaccination Centre Volunteer Leads, to all those handling such a mammoth amount of administration required behind the scenes to make it all happen); to the External Affairs team building awareness of the Trust’s work through our various media channels; to those starting to develop our latest initiatives such as the Wellbeing Hub; and indeed to everyone else who has made such a difference to the Harpenden Trust over the course of the last year.
This has truly been the most fabulous team effort.
Thank you everyone for the extraordinary kindness shown by so many; for everyone’s generosity with their time; for the fun, the laughter, the friendships built along the way. It has been another year when the Trust has truly lived up to its founding principles.
“We’re here to help”.
Richard Nichols
Chairman
(For the year ending 31 March 2022)
15 August 2022
