Living in a rural community can seem idyllic but if you are older, ill or infirm it can become a nightmare and while many in villages help their neighbours on a regular basis, some people can find it difficult to ask their neighbours for help.
Aware of this, the Pembridge Good Neighbour Scheme was set up by a Pat, a local resident with a career in the health and social care sector. The scheme provides a number for the older, infirm or ill village residents to call if they need support with anything but personal care. The number goes through to an unpaid volunteer co-ordinator, who then contacts one of the village volunteers and arranges for the volunteer to pop round.
While the steering group knew a lot about health & social care and their local area, they needed support from Hannah, the community development worker for the area, to set up a constitution, write the necessary policies and find funding for initial publicity, volunteer expenses and a mobile phone.
Hannah was able to support the steering group in all of these areas and the scheme rapidly gained both volunteers and local funding and was able to launch in early summer 2011. £500 and a bit of support was all it took for a village to provide a service to its less-able members and, through charging a small amount to service users, is now sustainable.
