James Wild completed the London marathon in a time 3hrs 37mins 15s. He was officially England’s 2nd fastest MP in the race! At the last count he has raised £1132.50 so far for West Norfolk Befriending. This will go a long way to help keeping our services going.
James Wild, MP for North West Norfolk has chosen West Norfolk Befriending to be one of the three local West Norfolk charities he raises money for when he runs the London Marathon on Sunday October 2nd 2022.
James previously ran the Marathon in 2021 and says “After last year’s race I said I wouldn’t run the marathon again but the opportunity to raise funds to support brilliant local charities was too good to pass up. During training sessions and on race day, the motivation of helping charities supporting women and children affected by domestic abuse, tackling loneliness, and helping deaf and hard of hearing people will drive me on“
James was the fastest English MP to run the Marathon in 2021, and is aiming to complete the course in 3 hours 30 minutes at his second attempt.
West Norfolk Befriending’s CEO Pippa May says “West Norfolk Befriending is delighted that James has chosen to support them. It will mean that we can work with more isolated older people in West Norfolk. West Norfolk Befriending are particularly pleased to be chosen, as this year they are celebrating 20 years of working with isolated older people and their carers in West Norfolk.“
We wish James a safe and speedy run, and thank him for his generous support.
James is also raising money for West Norfolk Deaf Association and Pandora Project, who help women and children affected by domestic abuse.
Last week, we held our AGM. Our Board of Trustees, staff and volunteers came together to review the year, approve the accounts and elect and re-elect members of the board. It was lovely to meet in person (with cake!) after two years of virtual AGM’s on zoom.
We’re delighted to present our Annual Report for this 2021 – 2022 year.
We are delighted to have been awarded funding to explore wills and legacy fundraising at West Norfolk Befriending. This would be a new source of funding for us and would help to ensure the longevity of the charity. It would help the financial sustainability of our work supporting socially isolated older people.
Through this project we will work with a fundraising consultant, connect with local businesses and engage the community. Supported by Norfolk Community Foundation through Your Big Idea.
For the first time since the pandemic we gathered clients, volunteers, staff and trustees together to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee.
It was a lovely day, the music was lovely and what a nice room!
A client
Thank you to the Norfolk Community Foundation for supporting this event through the Borough Council of King’s Lynn and West Norfolk’s Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Fund. Thankyou to the The Filling Station for the yummy sandwiches, scones and cakes. We were treated to a wonderful performance by Heacham Songsters with lots of opportunity to sing along.
So many of our volunteers helped with giving lifts, making tea and setting up and packing up the hall – we couldn’t have done it without you, thank you!
Thankyou to Your Local Paper for some lovely photos and write up. We’re already looking forward to our next event!
Recently, Pippa May, West Norfolk Befriending’s Chief Executive was delighted to attend the weekly session of Heacham Songsters and be presented with a cheque for £300. This donation will be used towards our next social event for all our isolated clients.
We are always delighted when a local group has raised money to support our vital work with socially isolated older people and their unpaid family carers.
The Heacham Songsters are Back in Business
For many years the Heacham Songsters have been presenting concerts to local community groups in and around the area, including residential establishments etc with any donations handed at year end to local charities. We were not functioning during the covid pandemic but now we are raring and ready to go again. If your local community group etc would like us to present a concert for you, please telephone Peter Francis on 01485 534031. Please leave a message if there is no answer.
December is always a busy month for us here at West Norfolk Befriending. Here’s a little round up of what we’ve been up to for Christmas this year.
Thankyou to our super volunteer Dot and her grandson Ben who decorated our tree in the Dersingham Christmas Tree Festival – we love the homemade decorations and look at that star! The festival was at St Nicholas’ Church from 3rd to 23rd December.
We received 70 handmade & finely decorated Christmas cakes generously donated by our friends & supporters at King’s Lynn Sugarcraft Club. We have now personally delivered a cake and other goodies to each of our clients – it’s a huge job and one we love! There’s even more photos of the cakes in this Lynn News article.
We were delighted to be able to have a small Covid-safe volunteer meeting. It was lovely to see each other and celebrate a successful year of befriending. Our volunteers have been making doorstop deliveries to our clients. They received a christmas cake (donated by King’s Lynn Sugarcraft Club), packet of tea (donated by Morrisons King’s Lynn), mince pies, crackers and biscuits (donated by King’s Lynn Tesco), puzzle book, small tin of shortbread, pen and notepad from Lily.
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2022.
We were delighted to be invited to take part in the Flower Festival at St. Nicholas Church in Dersingham. The theme was ‘Together Again’ which is very appropriate as we return to face to face befriending. Thankyou very much to our volunteers, Dot and Rita for coordinating the display and arranging the flowers.
The National Lottery community funded project Care Home Connectors will come to end on 31st July 2021.
This successful two year project connected with isolated people in care homes and their carers.
It was delivered at four care homes, The Grange, Downham Market, Goodwins Hall King’s Lynn, Fridham Rest Home at Heacham and Burman House at Terrington St John.
We worked with West Norfolk Carers and Friend in Deed, who delivered sessions as part of the project. Thankyou to all the volunteers who supported this work.
Sadly the pandemic stopped all delivery in the care homes but Care Home Connectors maintained support to the care homes. We delivered Easter hampers, worked with Angela from Norfolk Linking Lives and pupils at St Martins Primary School at Shouldham and All Saints Stoke Ferry primary school deliver festive cheer at Christmas, we also delivered cards and personal protection equipment during the summer and beginning of the pandemic.
Amanda Tickner, Care Home Connectors Project Coordinator, will be taking up a new post at West Norfolk Befriending.
We are really pleased to have made links and connections within the community and hope that we will be able to work to reduce isolation in care homes again in the future.
Last week, we held our AGM. Our Board of Trustees, Finance Officer and staff came together over zoom to review the year, approve the accounts and elect and re-elect members of the board. This is the second year we have had a virtual AGM and we hope that next year it will be in person.
We’re delighted to present our Annual Report for this 2020 – 2021 year.
