St Nicholas’ Church in Dersingham held their annual Christmas Tree festival and coffee morning at the beginning of December. West Norfolk Befriending sponsored a tree which was kindly decorated by Jo Itter who made many of the decorations herself. The idea of the Festival is to promote the services of many local organisations and members of the public can view the trees and pick up leaflets and information about the services available.
There are many of these Christmas Tree Festivals around the county including one that was held at St John’s Church in Terrington St John. Another of our past volunteers, Margaret, kindly decorated a tree on our behalf and this was on display at the church for the public to view.
This is a lovely way to promote West Norfolk Befriending whilst adding to the festive cheer at the same time. Our thanks to the volunteers who kindly agreed to oversee the decorating.
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?
Trinity Rotary Club has donated £500 to West Norfolk Befriending.
John Hodson, Trinity President, said “The Club wants to help local charities with their fundraising. We know that they have more difficulty getting donations when many people are having to be careful with the cost of living. West Norfolk Befriending provides a vital service for older residents who are lonely or isolated so we are very happy to give a donation. We hope that others will lend more support as well.”
Chief Executive of West Norfolk Befriending, Pippa May thanked Trinity Rotary for the donation. “This will help us fund the training of volunteer Befrienders and the running of this local organisation. Our aim is to reduce isolation, enhance the safety and quality of life, maintain independence and thereby improve physical and mental well-being of older people. We are always seeking volunteers, who will themselves gain much satisfaction from their involvement so please contact us via the Website or give us a call if you would like to help.”
Local photographer, Jon Clifton as released a special edition calendar, featuring 12 beautiful photographs of sunsets taken at local coastal beauty spots. The calendars are A3 in size and spiral bound. They can be ordered from Jon’s website and cost £15 including postage. Jon is donating £1.50 from each calendar to a local charity and you can choose West Norfolk Befriending when ordering. These would make a lovely Christmas present or you could treat yourself. Click on the link below to order.
We held our Annual General Meeting on Friday 28th July at South Wootton Village Hall. Not only were the staff from West Norfolk Befriending and Board of Trustees present but we were finally able, after 3 years, to invite volunteers and clients. It was so lovely to go back to holding a summer celebration for everyone involved at WNB.
Alan Hayes, our chairman, gave a presentation on the progress WNB has made over the past year and expressed how delighted he was to see so much growth not only in the parishes we are covering which has gone from 23 to 35, but also in the number of clients we have been able to offer our services to. This has been possible thanks to a rise in the number of volunteers we have inducted over the past year. He also introduced our new Treasurer and Board member, Karl Jermyn, our accounts were approved and then the Board members were re-elected.
Pipa May, our CEO, thanked the staff, Board and volunteers for all their hard work. She said how lovely it was to finally be able to come together with some of our more mobile clients to see out the past year and welcome in the new financial year.
We had to say goodbye to two of our Board members. Jean McGuinness has been a member of the committee and volunteer for 9 years and has decided to step down from both positions. She has supported WNB in many ways from helping at our social events such as the coffee mornings and the Christmas Tree festival, as well as giving her time to befriend a number of clients over the years. We will be sorry to see her go but we have no doubt that she will continue to support us at our social events. We also said goodbye to Mike Carter Rowlands who has stepped down as a Board Member but will continue to volunteer as a Telephone Befriender. Our thanks to him for his support too.
Once the formalities were over, we were able to sit down for a delicious lunch of sandwiches, scones with jam and cream and cake. Plenty of tea and coffee were drunk and there was much chatter and laughter. It was a lovely opportunity to talk to our clients, some from past befriending and some current members.
Our Board of TrusteesIt was lovely to be able to invite volunteers and clients to celebrate with usThe scones were a big hit!Who could resist?
Our recent Summer Coffee morning at Orchard Close, Dersingham, was a great success. We had a number of stalls including the ever popular Tombola, book stall, cake stall and puzzle stall. Our volunteers turned up to help out and man the stalls and we had a huge turnout of visitors. James Wilde, MP, also came to support us with his wife and generously agreed to draw our raffle.
It was evident from the sound of chatter and laughter that everyone was having a lovely time and the weather didn’t dampen anyone’s spirits. There was a never ending stream of teas and coffees from the kitchen and all the tables in the Community Lounge were occupied by happy customers.
It was lovely to see so many faces from our local communities and gave us an opportunity to catch up with them. We raised over £350 which will help us to continue offering our services to those isolated and in need of a befriender.
Our cake stall was very popular with lots of tempting treats on offer.The tombola stall had a lot of customers and was ably manned by one of our volunteers.There was a huge range of books to chose from.James Wilde, MP, kindly stepped in to draw our raffle.
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
We are holding another Coffee Morning and Sale on Saturday 15th July 10am-12pm at Orchard Close Community Lounge, Dersingham PE31 6LU. There will be a tombola, raffle, book stall, puzzle stall, gift stall and cake stall. Entrance costs £1 which includes a cup of tea or coffee and biscuits. All proceeds raised will go to West Norfolk Befriending to help support socially isolated people in this area. So if you fancy a cuppa, a bargain and a natter then pop along.
West Norfolk Befriending were invited to take part in the Community Champions Parade at the Royal Norfolk Show. Pippa May, our CEO, and Sheena Law, one of our longstanding volunteers went to represent everyone who works and supports WNB.
Held as an acknowledgment of the Coronation of Their Majesties The King and Queen, and their commitment to supporting community cohesion and volunteering, it was a tribute to all community champions. The parade took place in the main arena and those representing the various charities and organisations were followed by a piped band. Lady Dannatt MBE, HM Lord-Lieutenant of Norfolk – who is also our patron – addressed the showground.
“I was incredibly proud of each and every Community Champion…as a county, we are indebted to the amazing number of people who give so much of their time to help others.” she said.
Pippa May said “It was wonderful to be part of the event attended by volunteers representing over 200 other organisations”.
A fantastic way to thank all those people who give up their time to help build our communities wellbeing.
Pippa May and Sheena Laws at the Community Champions Parade at The Royal Norfolk Show
We held our first coffee morning at Orchard Close, Dersingham on Tuesday 7th March. This is the first one for 3 years due to the pandemic. It was a smaller affair to our usual coffee events but a huge success. It was lovely to see so many familiar faces but also some new ones. We had a stalls selling, books, jigsaws, cakes and gifts. The raffle proved to be very popular with a large range of prizes. All the stalls had plenty of interest and the room was full of chatter and laughter. Plenty of coffee and tea was drunk and we had a number of enquiries about our service and volunteering.
We raised over £250 which was a fantastic amount and will help to keep our services on offer to our communities.
