Monday 22 July 2013

Volunteers and Neighbours Lunch – July 2013

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In this, our first year, the calendar has been filled with a series of “firsts”! At our last volunteer’s meeting in April, Dr Dan Poulter, MP, came along to talk to us and this time we thought it would be good to invite to lunch, a few of the neighbours we have met. We also invited Gavin Hodge from Age UK Suffolk and Garry Simmonds from the Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project. Gavin gave a round up of some of the help his organisation can provide for our community and signed up all our guests to receive the regular Talkabout magazine as well as signing up one guest as a volunteer for telephone befriending. In fact it was an article in the Talkabout magazine on Food ‘n Friends clubs that inspired us to hold the lunch so that we could help to spread the word.

Garry, pictured above, with some of our volunteers, gave a short introduction to just some of the things the Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project does and told everyone to ask Jane, who has been volunteering with them for a few years, if they needed to know anything more! He then presented Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme with a marvellous Soup Tureen that we can use for events when the weather gets a bit cooler. These soup tureens were given to the Rural Coffee Caravan Project by the Warm Homes Healthy People Scheme and put to good use during their winter road shows. We invited representatives of the scheme to come to our January volunteers’ meeting, to tell us all about it, and Kesgrave Market kindly gave them a stand at the monthly market where they were able to help a number of Kesgrave residents.

Many thanks to both Garry and Gavin for sparing the time to come and have lunch with us and for all their help, information and support.

A big thanks too, to all our guests, for so willingly accepting our invitation and for being such delightful company. It was also a great opportunity to get some more feedback on how we were doing and what else we should be doing!

The biggest thanks of all, though, goes to all the volunteers involved for making it such a happy and smooth running event, for providing the components of such a delicious lunch, for putting it all together and clearing up afterwards, and for picking up and returning our guests. It really was a case of many hands making light work and, in the sultry heat of a baking hot day,and given all there was to do, staying calm, cool and collected. Best of all we had lots of fun too!

 

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Kesgrave Monthly Market

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As regular readers will know, we’re great fans of Kesgrave Monthly Market and the weekly Country Market. We feel we’re lucky to have such a facility and try and support it where we can, including organising our last volunteers meeting, with special guest Dr Dan Poulter, MP, so that he could visit it first (pictured).
Link to Kesgrave Monthly Market  for more information.
Thanks to Keith Beecroft for today’s photo.

KGNS Team Up With The Police Cadets

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One of the areas we can help with is a “one off” garden tidy up – normally front gardens that might pose a security risk through giving too much cover to unwanted potential visitors, or occasionally back gardens that pose safety or other problems.

We're delighted to announce that, following on from our July meeting and an idea put forward by PCSO 3194 Mike Sarbutts of the Kesgrave and District Safer Neighbourhood Team, the Police Cadets have offered to assist us with these kind of projects.

We’ll need as much notice as you can give us and will generally aim to slot this into Thursday evenings or weekends. So if your garden has been overwhelming you for a while, give us a call and we’ll do our best to help.

Wednesday 24 April 2013

Dr Dan Poulter, MP, Meets Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme Volunteers

Dr Dan presents a volunteer manual to KGNS's newest volunteer

It was a fantastic turnout to our April volunteers meeting and we were delighted to welcome Dr Dan Poulter, MP, as our special guest. We had a number of  other important guests too, from other local organisations,  and,  after the more formal part of the meeting, and refreshed by tea, coffee, and nibbles, we were able to discuss many great ideas for working together.

Many thanks to all who came and also to Kesgrave Market for letting us have a stand in the morning.

The full press release is below:

The Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme (KGNS) was delighted to welcome Dr Dan Poulter, MP, to its quarterly volunteers’ meeting, on Saturday April 20th at Kesgrave Community Centre. Before the meeting Dr Dan met a number of Suffolk’s local producers and crafters at the monthly Kesgrave Market, and weekly Country Market, held at Kesgrave Scout Hall. Kesgrave Town Council kindly made a stand available to KGNS at Kesgrave Market, and volunteers made the most of this opportunity to talk to Kesgrave residents about the scheme and enlist a few more volunteers!

At the volunteers meeting afterwards, Dr Dan emphasised how important such community schemes were, particularly in current austere times and with an ageing population. He offered his assistance if the scheme needed any help with such issues as funding, and liaising with hospitals and other organisations. Dr Dan also presented the scheme’s newest volunteer, Eileen Gray, with her volunteer manual and photo ID card.

Chairman Jane Cody said how helpful and morale boosting it was to know that, despite such a busy schedule as constituency MP and a Minister for Health, Dr Dan was able to make time for a small group such as KGNS, and was available to help if needed.

Jane also referred to the invaluable help from Nat Bocking, of Community Action Suffolk: “Nat’s experience and expertise, together with a tried and tested professional framework and user friendly paperwork, were invaluable in setting up the scheme. Nat has given very freely of his time and held our hand all the way along, despite, with his colleague, Robert Horn, having 29 other Good Neighbour Schemes to look after! I’m not sure, despite our enthusiasm, we would have got off the ground, let alone got so far so fast, if we’d had to start from scratch on our own”.

Also invited to the meeting was Ann Osborn, of the Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project (RCCIP), another organisation that has played a big part in the set up and success of KGNS. Jane reports: “RCCIP gave me my first taste of volunteering and I loved it. I came across the Good Neighbour Scheme when I was volunteering for them at a Golden Age Fayre. I talked to KGNS co-founder Sally Beales about it, and we both agreed it was the best way to progress an idea arising from an Ageing Well conference, held by Suffolk County Council, that had ignited a spark in us the previous year. Up until them we were toying with an idea with the working title of VillageMatch.com !

Other special guests included PCSOs Michael Sarbutts and Sally Thomas, from the Kesgrave Safer Neighbourhood Team, (who came up with a great idea for a collaboration, between the police cadets and KGNS), representatives from the local branches of the WI, the Co-operative Women’s Guild the British Legion, and Kesgrave News.

After a vote of thanks to Dr Dan, volunteers and special guests alike tucked into a buffet lunch prepared by volunteers and including plenty of Suffolk goodies purchased from the producers at Kesgrave Market

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Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme (KGNS) launched in August 2012, with nearly 20 volunteers, following a series of public meetings, and surveys to assess community needs and resources. It’s backed by Community Action Suffolk (formerly Suffolk Acre) and is the first Good Neighbour Scheme in a semi urban environment. KGNS aims to provide a variety of help to neighbours, for example shopping, a listening ear, lifts for medical appointments, walking a dog, changing a light bulb, etc. Neighbours simply call the Scheme phone number and the phone holder will match the request to a volunteer. Volunteers initially fill in a form to say what type of help they might be able to give and when they might be available, and all volunteers are DBS/CRB checked and carry Photo ID cards.

Kesgrave residents who’d like some help can call the scheme on 07445 166 993, or find out more on www.kesgravegoodneighbourscheme.blogspot.co.uk

Community Action Suffolk (Suffolk Acre)

For more information on Good Neighbour Schemes in general, and contact details for Nat Bocking, visit www.suffolkacre.org.uk

For further information, and contact details for Dr Dan Poulter, MP, go to www.drdanielpoulter.com

For more information on the Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project, visit www.ruralcoffeecaravan.org.uk

For more details on Kesgrave Market, go to www.kesgravemarket.org.uk and for anything to do with Kesgrave, including Kesgrave News, community groups and what’s on, visit www.kesgrave.org.uk

Monday 11 February 2013

Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme–Latest News

 

 

Sofa

Below are extracts from our latest volunteer newsletter, edited to remove any personal details and confidential information.

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We had a great turnout for the January meeting at The Bowls Pavilion and met 4 new “fully fledged” volunteers. A warm welcome and thanks to them. Their details are now included in the phone holders manual but please break them in gently! We have 3 more volunteers in the pipeline  Many thanks to them too for sticking their head above the parapet!

April Meeting – Saturday 20th April 2013, 12 noon

This meeting is now confirmed and we have a special VIP guest to come and talk to us.  Attendance will be by invitation only - volunteers have first refusal so I would be very grateful if you could let me know whether you can attend.  After that, depending on places available, we may invite some representatives of other local groups etc.

Warm Homes Healthy People Scheme

We arranged a table for the Rural Coffee Caravan and Warm Homes Scheme at the January Kesgrave Market and they came to talk to us at our meeting afterwards. They also gave us a few mugs, bags and other goodies which was very generous of them. If you know of anyone who is struggling with their heating, the Warm Home Schemes can help and have a sizeable fund for this year’s scheme which, in theory, finishes in March. It’s council backed and the number to call is 08456 037 686. The website is www.suffolk.gov.uk/warmhomes

Lofty Heights

I have added their details, along with a few other organisations, to the blog.  They will clear lofts for people at hopefully a reasonable cost and this “unblocks” the problem some people have in taking advantage of free insulation schemes, etc. I have plenty of leaflets if anyone wants them.

Kesgrave WI

As some of you will have spotted in your Kesgrave News, the WI are having an “at home” event – afternoon tea and entertainment - for housebound residents on April 8th. They will pick up and drop off attendees if needed.

KGNS Funding

Most of you will now know that we are fully funded for 2013 thanks in large part to a very generous grant from local charity SPARKS. Funding may be less straightforward in future years and we’d like to organise a small event in 2013 to raise some funds ourselves. Current ideas include a sponsored walk around the streets of Kesgrave, a roadshow, a craft fair and a scarecrow festival. More suggestions to come and all ideas welcome! If possible we’d like to avoid needing to hire a venue.

Spreading The Word

Thanks to a specific project based grant from The Suffolk Foundation we are in the process of having enough cards printed to drop through every letterbox in Kesgrave. Distribution of the cards will start in March so we’ll be expecting/hoping the phone to be a bit busier! Having said that we are averaging more than one call a week now and have had some very successful visits.

Phone Rota

Attached is the new phone rota.

Next Social Meeting For Existing Volunteers Or Those Who Might Be Interested In Volunteering

Wednesday 27th February 2013, 7 30pm, Kesgrave Social Club

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Thursday 7 February 2013

Proposed New Development – Longstrops

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Whilst the Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme is not a lobby group, we do take a keen interest in our neighbourhood so, after an eagle eyed volunteer spotted the above announcement in the local paper, two of us went along to the presentation last night to find out a little more about it. We had a good long chat with the consultants and duly filled in the feedback forms expressing our own, personal opinions.

This posting is simply designed to alert our neighbours to the proposal if they have not already heard about it. You can find the outline plans by following this link Suffolk Coastal JDI Consult - Kesgrave Development Proposal . Briefly, the proposal is for 300 new house by Longstrops with an access road cutting through the existing footpath/walking area to Millennium Way and other access to eg Dobb’s Lane. The presentation last night is a first “foray” to assess local views and get some input into possible changes required to the plans before a formal application for planning permission is made to Suffolk Coastal. A presentation was made to Kesgrave Town Council just before the display opened to the public yesterday. As we understand it, Kesgrave Town Council will have influence on Suffolk Coastal’s decision but are not decision makers.

There is a very short timescale for initial feedback – deadline 13th February – and presumably the better the initial feedback, and the higher the volume, the more influence we can have on this proposal. The address given at the bottom of our feedback form for postal returns is:

Mr Will Lusty, Savills, Unex House, 132-134 Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 8PA

Friday 1 February 2013

Looking For A Local Tradesperson?

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Our Good Neighbour Scheme can’t offer any “professional” or skilled trades but we can help out on eg changing a light bulb, a one off front garden clear up, helping to move things, etc. And we have to be a little careful about recommending people and organisations. That being said, the best advice we can normally offer is to have a good look at your monthly Kesgrave News. Most of the advertisers in there have been around for a long time and are therefore tried and tested.

The other organisation we have come across lately is Checkatrade. One of our volunteers has a chimney sweep who registered with them last year. They are one of the more expensive Trade Organisations (for the organisation that registers with them), which is probably a good thing, and they also follow up, on a random basis, on feedback forms completed by customers to make sure they are genuine. Our volunteer had a call a couple of months after the chimney was swept.

The website is free to use for the customer, very easy to navigate around and carries some really useful information. Try it for yourselves by using the link that follows! Checkatrade

2013 Starting With A Bang!

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After an action packed volunteers meeting at the community centre on 19th January, we had another great turn out for our volunteers monthly social meeting this week – normally the 4th Wednesday of every month, 7 30pm till 9 pm at Kesgrave Social Club on Edmonton Road.

In the photo you can see the early birds in deep conversation over the price of beer -

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very reasonable at this venue

There was plenty of news to catch up on – calls are on the increase as people get to know about us, we have three new volunteers in the pipeline who should be ready to join the team next month, we have made contact with Kesgrave WI – see below, our cards are ready to go to print so that we can drop one through every letter box in Kesgrave over the next few months (kindly funded by The Suffolk Foundation) and our volunteers are itching to get busy so please help them out by calling us if you need a helping hand.

We’d also like to say a big THANK YOU to SPARK, a local charity who have given us a very generous grant towards our annual modest operating costs. So that means we can concentrate on helping our neighbours rather than scrabbling around for funding! We’ve now added them to our useful links on the right hand side of the blog.

Kesgrave WI “At Home” 8th April

Kesgrave WI are holding an “At Home” – an afternoon tea and entertainment for house bound residents on 8th April. They will pick up and drop back anyone who is interested so, volunteers, if you think any of our neighbours might be interested, please ask them and, if they are, let Jane have their details which she will forward onto the Secretary of Kesgrave WI and she will send them an invitation. More details on page 16 of your February edition of Kesgrave News which, incidentally, celebrates its 20th birthday this month.

Staying In Touch With News

After a nudge from one of our IT savvy volunteers, we have added a “Follow By Email” box on the top right hand corner of our blog. If you enter your email address (which you will be asked to verify) you will automatically be notified each time a new post goes up. Blogger assures us that this will not lead to any additional spam and even the blog “owner” can’t see who has subscribed.

Next Meeting

We have a very special guest coming to our next quarterly volunteers meeting on April 20th. More news soon!

Monday 21 January 2013

Volunteers Meeting 19th January & Kesgrave Market

Kesgrave Market Rural Coffee Cravan

This weekend proves what a hardy, loyal and good hearted bunch of volunteers we have. What a brilliant turnout to our first volunteers meeting of 2013, despite the weather! Our four new volunteers met our founder volunteers and we had an action packed meeting. First a talk from Garry and Catherine about the Warm Homes, Healthy People Scheme being promoted by the Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project; then twenty minutes of role playing a neighbour’s telephone enquiry, for the benefit of our new volunteers, and finally a round up of news and some discussion on fund raising, gritting and the year ahead.

Carry and Catherine had a table at Kesgrave Market, earlier on in the morning and did a roaring trade giving away mugs, slippers, rubber bottoms for walking sticks, kindling and a host of other things. They also took plenty of bookings for a Warm Homes survey – free advice from trained consultants on how to keep warm at minimum cost. And, even better, they also managed to recruit a new volunteer for the Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme!

Warm Homes, Healthy People have a sizeable budget to spend before the end of March to help those who need it most to keep warm this winter. They’re doing Road Shows all over Suffolk and often share venues with a number of other helpful organisations. If you can make it, they’re well worth a visit. Below are some useful links:

Warm Homes, Healthy People 

Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project

Monday 14 January 2013

BBC Radio Suffolk Promotes Good Neighbours

BBC Radio Suffolk

Many thanks to the lovely Mark Murphy (even lovelier in the flesh!) for inviting us onto his show to talk about the Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme, alongside Nat Bocking from Suffolk ACRE who told Mark about Suffolk Good Neighbour Schemes in general.

Here’s Jane, our Chairman waiting for the call and following in the golden footsteps of Len Goodman, the Strictly Come Dancing chief of judges, who spoke passionately on Mark’s show earlier about looking after our neighbours. We all used to do it well but we’re not so good at it now so we hope our scheme will help everyone in Kesgrave to do this a bit better. Well done to Nat, who took Jane’s photo, for angling it so that her head obscured the word in green on the poster behind. Jane wasn’t quite so diligent with Nat’s photo and the whole word is revealed next to his head shot. The poster is about one of BBC Radio Suffolk’s many successful campaigns – “Don’t be a Tosser”!  Guess which is the big word in green?!

If you listened to more of Mark’s show afterwards you will have heard about a really successful volunteer gritting scheme already happening in Stowmarket and Sudbury and that’s our next piece of research. If you listen regularly to BBC Radio Suffolk you’ll find out that there’s a lot more going on in the community than you might have thought!

You can listen again to our chat on Mark’s show by following this link: Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme on Mark Murphy Radio Show It starts at 2 hours 28 mins 50 seconds. You can only listen again for seven days from the broadcast but if you’re reading this afterwards, Suffolk Acre have put the audio up on their website. Click on this link http://www.suffolkacre.org.uk/main.php/news/269

Volunteer Meeting 19th January 2013

Warm Homes Visit To Kesgrave Market Final

Warm Homes, Healthy People are coming to talk to us at our volunteer meeting at 12 noon in the Pavilion, Kesgrave Community Centre, opposite the tennis courts. We’ve also got them a table at Kesgrave Market from 9am to 12 the same day so that more Kesgrave residents can find out about what they can offer to keep our homes warm. Anyone interested in finding out more about the Kesgrave Good Neighbour Scheme is very welcome to come along to the first 15 minutes of our meeting. Volunteers can find out what’s in store for 2013, hear some good news about funding and future visitors, and help shape our plans for the year.