We have had a busy summer with many plans coming to fruition across outings, afternoon teas and activities galore in the new halls at No. 130. Home visits have been very busy too with a record number of calls last month. The final refurbishments at the Trust Halls (No. 130 Southdown Road) are taking place and everywhere is looking very smart.
Update
Seniors Fair: planning is well underway for the 2024 event and we are in the process of sending out applications to last year’s exhibitors, and anyone else who expressed interest, and are hoping that we can send out confirmations to exhibitors this side of Christmas.
Christmas Appeal: we have received the licence for the house-to-house collection and the Appeal will run from 1 December 2023 to 14 January 2024. We have had a few Collectors retire so are looking for new volunteers able to help.
Seniors Outings: in August we organised the second boat trip of the year on the Ouse River attended by 32 clients and three volunteers. In September we held an afternoon tea at Aldwickbury Golf Club for 34 clients and three volunteers and a choir was laid on to provide entertainment. There will be a second tea party arranged at Aldwickbury Golf Club and we will run 2 mini trips towards the end of the year. The arrival of the Trust minibus will help going forward with the running of small trips and negating the need to hire coaches.
Hall Hire: the Trust Centre will again be hosting The Harpenden Art Club exhibition in late October. We are seeing some movement of half-term hirers from the Trust Centre (No. 90 Southdown Road) to the Trust Halls (No. 130 Southdown Road) and are seeing increased activity by existing hirers at both the Centre and Halls as well as new hirers coming on board. Refurbishment and improvement work at the Trust Halls has been managed although some disruption has been inevitable. We are looking forward to much of the work being completed by October. We expect, with the work complete, we will see a number of hirers come to us at the start of the next term, January 2024.
Home Visitors: we have had a record number of calls during August, well up on our usual average. Many of these calls have been dealing financial concerns over the school holidays where parents are struggling with food costs also the back-to-school problems of expensive shoes and uniforms. Our Ukrainian guests seem to have settled in well, have moved away or returned home.
Minibus: our minibus is finally due very soon with its delivery to us - after it has been adapted, its livery put on and then the official inspection carried out – before the end of the year.
Wellbeing Friends: we continue to accept clients only following a referral made by the GP/Social Prescriber and then help referrals connect with a variety of activities. In the past two months there’s been 23 new referrals from the social prescribers. Nine Wellbeing Friends are supporting 44 clients across a wide age range. The response to the free Wellbeing yoga sessions has been positive with a good regular attendance.
Mind in Mid Herts: we continue to work on developing a Men’s Group.
Frazzled Café: numbers are around 4-7 per week in the evening session. Ruby Wax, founder of the Frazzled Café movement, came to the Eric Morecambe Centre (EMC) in mid-September to promote this work.
Memory Lane Café: this is still a great success with a wide range of activities. The Sensory Projector has been a huge hit both at MLC and on its second outing to Willow Court where 12 residents enjoyed an hour of interactive games.
The intergenerational dementia choir with the Clover singing group and Sir John Lawes School students started rehearsals in September and has proved to be a great success whilst Arts on Prescription (AOP) courses are also a going well - the next course starts in October.
Youth Talk: Youth Talk’s trial group counselling pilot was a success and they will be running group sessions from October with the assistance of two Trust volunteers who meet and greet the young people on arrival.
Ribbon Cancer Support Group: RCSG launched in June and we have on average 7-10 people coming each week. RCSG have had a mindfulness session, acupuncture, Health & Well-being coach using resistance bands and the participation of Macmillan social prescribers. There are plans to have regular guest speakers including a scar massage therapist and a solicitor discussing wills and powers of attorney.
The exercise classes for Parkinsons, in partnership with Everyone Active, have been a great success - with 26 turning up for the first class which was for 16! We have secured some funding from the regional Parkinsons UK and additional funding from the national organisation for walking poles and further training.
Well Bean Café: our Cafe has now been open for over 3 months and we have our 5-Star Hygiene Rating certificate. The team of volunteers is growing all the time and all are learning constantly. Customer numbers have not been high during the summer holidays but we are already seeing an upturn with classes returning to the Halls for the Autumn term. This quiet period has allowed us to train some of the new volunteers and improve our skills with the coffee machine. There have been lots of compliments about the way the Café has been set up, especially since the artwork from St Georges pupils has been hung, as it really brightens the place up and it has a proper 'cafe' feel about it now. Also we have got our Book Exchange up and running – please donate any books you no longer need, or pop by and pick up a new read. It feels like it is becoming a real Community space.
Compassionate Café: this will be a new initiative for a place for the bereaved to meet for mutual support and will be a partnership with Rennie Grove/Keech hospices who will provide training. We have a small team of volunteers and hope to have this up and running by the end of the year.
Befriending: we currently have about 5 referrals a month for clients asking for help with their blue badge applications and the team has recently expanded to support this. We now have five volunteers and a Blue Badge coordinator. We are continuing to go to the client’s home to help complete the forms, however, where possible, we are trying to complete the forms in the Office. The number of befriending clients remain fairly static with a regular turnover of both befriendees and befrienders.
Family Outings: the August outing day dawned sunny and bright for the trip to Wicksteed Park in Northamptonshire. Everyone had a great time and returned to the coach with souvenirs, memories and a few sunburnt faces. All the families were very grateful for the opportunity to get away from Harpenden and their worries for a day of fun, and it reminded us of why we do these things!
Nick Luckett, Chair, Care Fund
14 October 2023
