We held our first Volunteer Forum recently. We invited all our volunteers to attend as well as guest speakers from The Samaritans, LILY and Elements at the Manor. The Forum was held in the Parish Council Rooms in South Wootton as this was deemed to be a mid-point for all our volunteers.

The thinking behind holding the Forum was to find out from our volunteers if the support and training we give them enabled them to feel confident when providing our befriending service. The guest speakers pitched their talks to give advice on how our volunteers can provide the best quality of support to their client.

The Samaritans explained about the importance of “open” questions. This involves phrasing questions to the clients in a way that would need more than a yes or no answer and are useful for encouraging someone to express their thoughts and feelings. For example, instead of “Are you feeling well today” this could be phrased as “How are you feeling today?”. Using words such as “what”, “when”, “where” and “how” can encourage a client to be more open. They also showed us how to look for signs of how a client is feeling from their body language  and to use this in influencing the questions we ask.

Rebekah from LILY explained how LILY works in conjunction with the local council, WNB and other organisations. She explained that their website is a hub for local communities to find out about agencies and organisations who advertise their services and events. She talked about the changes they had implemented during Covid and how their aim is to reduce social isolation in all age groups.

Annette, owner of Elements at the Manor gave a talk on the importance of maintaining self-care and wellbeing. She described how it is essential for our volunteers to take time for themselves, to stay hydrated and to eat a balanced diet. She explained that if you look after yourself properly then you are more able to look after someone else better. She also showed us some simple exercises to help keep joints mobile and to reduce stress within our bodies. These exercises could be done in an armchair and would be suitable to be shown to our clients.

After the talks there was an opportunity to have discussions. Each table had a lead person who prompted questions that we designed to find out why our volunteers chose to work with WNB, whether they felt their training met their needs and expectations and what WNB could do to improve the support and advice that we give to them. There was some very interesting discussions and feedback which on the whole was very positive to read.

We ended the session with a delicious lunch provided by The Filling Station. The conversations continued and it was lovely to hear the chatter and buzz from everyone. The general opinion on the event was that everyone had enjoyed it and appreciated the time to be able to give some feedback.

We finished off our review by sending out an anonymous survey. We had a good response and the findings showed:

• Over 60% of participants prefer to learn in small groups and talking to other volunteers was the next most popular choice. A few prefer to learn on their own or by reading. E-learning was an option no one selected
• Our face to face volunteer meetings are at a time or on a day 75% of participants can’t make.
• 43% of respondents regularly come to face to face volunteer meetings and 26% occasionally come along, while 21% have never done so.
• 43% of participants have never joined a Zoom volunteer meeting, while 21% regularly do and 26% do occasionally.
• 67% of respondents say the Zoom meetings are on a day or time you can’t make, and 25% say you can’t use Zoom
• 100% of participants say our volunteer mailouts are useful! Volunteers enjoy being kept up to date, and the mailouts help them to feel part of the volunteer team. Adding some real life stories might be a worthwhile addition.
• Most of the volunteers who replied, nearly 44%, have volunteered with us for 1-5 years. 26% have volunteered 5-10 years and nearly 9% over 10 years.

The comments told us that it’s hard for many of our volunteers to find the time to come to a face to face meeting, however that for people who are able to attend its helpful to meet other volunteers and talk.

Zoom is something many of them don’t feel comfortable with or would need help to learn about and this puts them off.

Volunteers said that they enjoy giving back to the community and making a difference, that they enjoy meeting clients and they feel a sense of purpose about what they do. Volunteers were also very complimentary about the organisation.

If you would like to see the full results of the survey please drop us an email at info@wnbefriending.org.uk

Due to the Forum being such a success WNB are hoping this will become an annual event. This will enable us to keep evolving not just our services but the training and support we give to the volunteers who carry out the service.

West Norfolk Befriending are excited to be holding their first Volunteer Forum this month.

Our aim for this event is to review how we support and deliver training to our volunteers, to make sure that we are continuing to evolve the charity and our services to keep meeting the needs of our volunteers and in turn our older, isolated communities.

This event will be an opportunity for our team of volunteers to come together to give their views and opinions on how our services work. They are the heart of our charity and the ones that make so much difference to the lives of our clients and therefore it is essential that we hear directly from them whether our support and training programmes are meeting their expectations.

We have invited guest speakers from key local organisations.  The Samaritans and  Rebekah from LILY who we work in conjunction with. Annette Lavendar from Elements At The Manor will be coming to discuss the importance of maintaining volunteer wellbeing.

After these sessions there will be a chance to discuss  how our volunteers feel about volunteering for West Norfolk Befriending and whether we meet their requirements. As a charity we are very aware that requirements and expectations change over time. It is important that our volunteers continue to feel satisfied and confident while carrying out our services and give them the opportunity to say where we may need improvement but also what works well. The volunteers can also share experiences with each other – which can be an important learning opportunity and a space to share knowledge.

Then to finish we will have lunch, refreshments and a chance to have a catch up with our team in person. We welcome feedback from the event and any information received will be used to review our procedures if necessary.

We are looking forward to having as many of our team together under one roof and hopefully this will become a regular yearly event on our calendar.

We did our annual visit to the lovely ladies of King’s Lynn Sugar Club. Once again they had lovingly made and decorated over 60 individual Christmas Cakes which they then donated to us to deliver to our clients. This beautiful gesture means a lot to our clients – this can sometimes be the only gift they receive at this time of year and goes a little way of passing on a bit of seasonal cheer.

We then held our Volunteer Christmas lunch which is a lovely chance to sit and catch up with some our amazing team of volunteers and share some food. We always have such a great time and it can get quite noisy with all the chatter and laughing. Our volunteers then take away the Christmas cakes to give to their client.

St Nicholas Church in Dersingham is holding their annual Christmas Tree Festival. A number of local organisations have been invited to sponsor and decorate a Christmas Tree. We were asked to take part again and our tree was decorated last Thursday and can now be viewed until the end of December. The Church held a coffee morning on Friday which was well attended and visitors were able to see the trees in all their glory. Our decorations were kindly made by Jo Itter – can you guess what they are made of?

We will be holding our AGM on Friday 28th July 11.30am at South Wootton Village Hall, PE30 3LJ. The AGM will start at 11.30 followed by lunch. This is an opportunity to meet the Trustees, Befrienders and some of our clients and hear more about the work West Norfolk Befriending does in our communities. Everyone is welcome to attend.

If you would like to attend, or are interested in becoming a Trustee, please contact the office on info@wnbefriending.org.uk

Over the past few weeks West Norfolk Befriending have been visiting the Freebridge communities around West and North Norfolk. We have been introduced to the residents who live on these estates and talked about the work that WNB do. In all instances we have had a very warm welcome and met some wonderful people, both residents and staff.

We have been introduced to people of all ages and had some very interesting conversations. Our visits have resulted in some of the older residents contacting us to enquire about the services we provide. Despite these neighbourhoods being focused on providing a close-knit community, some residents still feel isolated for reasons such as no family close by or being immobile due to poor health.

Where those residents have met our criteria, we have made follow up calls and placed them on our waiting list with the intention of finding a suitable volunteer to start the befriending process.

We have also had referrals made by the support advisors and suggestions of potential new clients from other residents.

We would like to thank the Housing Support Advisors for arranging these visits.

Last week we celebrated our 20th Anniversary with an event at Thaxter’s Coffee Shop. We invited our volunteers and clients to celebrate with us along with members from our board of Trustees. Our guest of honour was the Deputy Lieutenant of Norfolk, Kathryn Buscall who stepped in to represent our Patron, Lady Dannat, Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk. She made a speech about the importance of combating loneliness and commented ““I had a wonderful time on Tuesday and couldn’t have been more pleased to meet you all”. Our chairman stated in his speech that over the 20 years West Norfolk Befriending has been offering the befriending service we have helped over 2000 isolated older people.

Thaxter’s Coffee Shop did a wonderful job of providing sandwiches, cakes, scones and refreshments to everyone. We also had a special commemorative cake made by Val Gooding of King’s Lynn Sugar Craft group which the Deputy Lieutenant kindly agreed to cut with the help of one of our past clients.

It was an afternoon spent with much warmth and conversation. It was good to see so many of our volunteers and clients having fun.

On 16 April 2019, Dobbies in King’s Lynn hosted West Norfolk Befriending’s Easter Afternoon Tea event which saw 52 clients, volunteers and staff come together. Tea, cakes, and finger sandwiches on tiered stands were enjoyed over relaxed conversation and laughter, with the beginnings of new friendships and old friends reuniting again. Sharing food is a wonderful way to break the ice and get to know one other, and this is something we encourages at our monthly get-together at Sandringham Café and Restaurant, too.

Many of the charity’s clients have difficulty getting around but with help from volunteers and staff who arranged taxis and offered lifts, everyone got to Dobbies safely. It was lovely to see so many people enjoying good company and meeting others from the community. With an average age of 90, the ladies and gentlemen who came together on the day had many interesting stories to tell. One lady, aged 95, explained how yoga and keeping active have helped her stay healthy, and she is certainly a testament to this. There were many conversations of how much the clients were enjoying the afternoon and looking forward to future events, and it was an especially valuable social opportunity for those who struggle to leave their homes. We always look forward to our events and the chance to spend more time getting to know our clients.

On 9 April 2019, our volunteers were invited to fire safety training at North Lynn Fire and Rescue Station.

Fire safety is so important – it saves lives and this is especially crucial when working with older and potentially vulnerable people. We learnt many valuable tips on preventing fires and keeping everyone safe, followed by the opportunity to ask questions. The key message of the training was: get out as quickly and as safely as possible, and call the fire brigade. Don’t try to tackle the fire yourself. Just a few breaths of smoke are enough to cause someone to pass out, and that’s the last thing you want in an emergency.

If you know someone vulnerable and are concerned about the fire safety in their home, talk to them and see if they’d be happy to have someone from the fire service visit them for a fire safety assessment. Depending on the circumstances, the Community Safety Volunteer can install free smoke alarms to protect against the dangers of fire. Prevention is better than cure, but having an early warning is vital too.