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?

West Norfolk Befriending held our first coffee morning at Downham Market Town Hall last Friday, 17th November. It was lovely to see so many new faces who came to have a cup of tea, a slice of homemade cake and a good chat. Our raffle was very popular thanks to some very generous donations from local businesses such as Barkers Bros, Morrisons and Tescos. We had great support from our volunteers who served up refreshments, spoke to the visitors and explained how our services work and the rewards they get from volunteering for WNB. We raised a total of £125.70 which will help to keep the charity’s services available to those most isolated in the local communities.

We held our Annual General Meeting on Friday 28^th 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 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.

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

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.

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.

Local photographer, Jon Clifton, has been busy designing a new calendar ready for 2024. Featuring stunning photographs of sunsets taken at renown beauty spots along our coastline, some of the photos are instantly recognisable.

Individual dates are boxed with plenty of space to write those all important birthdays and anniversaries. The calendar is spiral wired bound, A3 in size when opened.

Calendars will be signed on the reverse and orders hand packed at his home in Snettisham, West Norfolk.

Jon has committed to donating £1.50 from the sale of each calendar to a number of local charities. West Norfolk Befriending is one of the chosen charities. When buying, the purchaser can pick their preferred charity from the list. If you would like to pre-order one of these beautiful calendars and help raise funds for WNB along the way then click on the link below. The calendars cost £12.99 including postage to UK addresses. Delivery is expected to start in September.

To place an order or for more information go to www.joncliftonphotography.com and click on the Shop tab.

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.

We are seeking a new Treasurer to join our Board of Trustees to help oversee and guide everything that West Norfolk Befriending does.

The Treasurer plays a major role in terms of organisational decision-making and developments.

Whilst experience of managing budgets and analysing financial data is not essential it would be helpful in the role of Treasurer.

Please download the role description for full details and instructions of how to apply.