Plans to revive Haverhill Volunteer Centre boosted by West Suffolk Council grant
The decision taken earlier this month by West Suffolk Council’s cabinet to support the release of £350,000 of funding for community groups in the district is going to help reinstate a volunteer centre in Haverhill.
The Community Chest funds will be allocated to 17 good causes, including the Haverhill Community Trust (HCT), which is set to receive £14,750 towards its project for a volunteer centre.
Haverhill’s former volunteer centre closed a few years ago but the wheels are in motion to revive it.
Colin Poole, from the HCT explained that the seed for the idea was firmly planted at the garden party laid on in June 2018 by the then High Sheriff of Suffolk, George Vestey as a thank you to the volunteer sector in Haverhill.
Feedback from that day showed a volunteer centre was something that people in a sector wanted and since then the HCT has been working with Community Action Suffolk, West Suffolk Council and community groups to reopen one.
An initial thought to base the centre at the former HSBC bank in Haverhill - after it was purchased by West Suffolk Council – has been discounted due to the costs of adapting the building.
However, an alternative venue has been found, although where that is cannot yet be revealed.
Mr Poole explained: “We are looking at a new venue. We’ve still got to get a few i’s dotted and t’s crossed before we can announce we are going into that building but it will be in the High Street.
“We are really delighted that the £14,750 Community Chest funding is going to the HCT because it’s acting as a parent body for new volunteer centre.
“The town council has already written £10,000 a year into its base budget to support a volunteer centre and we’ve had some generous support from town and district councillors and also it’s the mayor’s good cause for the year.
“There is a lot of goodwill for this and from our point of view it’s about supporting the volunteer sector because since the volunteer centre closed, despite the effort that Community Action Suffolk went to with online stuff, it’s not really delivered the results.
“The advantage of a volunteer centre is that you can just go in there because you are not offering your services to that person, you are just saying ‘who is out there that I might want to work for’.
“We are pretty confident from talking to volunteer centres that online is not the be all and end all and there are some things that you can’t do online.”
The Community Chest money will specifically pay for a co-ordinator to work at the centre and help match up volunteers to the right opportunity. The funding starts from April.
Recruitment for the post is planned to begin in February with a view to open the centre as soon as is possible after April 1, added Mr Poole.
He added: “We think the volunteer sector locally will be really pleased to hear it.”
Among the other projects to be funded in Haverhill and the amounts proposed are Reach Community Projects, £10.000; Befriending Scheme, £4,420; Suffolk Mind (to support its Get up and Grow project), £4,500 and Home Start Mid and West Suffolk – Sensory (which has a support group in Haverhill for people with autism), £14,000.
The largest grant being awarded is £240,000 for Citizens Advice West Suffolk, which operates in Haverhill.
Other projects that are on the funding list and might benefit
people in the Haverhill and Clare area are:
n Second Chance Support Group, £3,500 -Filling the gap of care services provided after discharge from hospital, members range from mild to severe disabilities with various ranges of mental and emotional disabilities.
n Sharing Parenting – Special Needs, £17,000 - Continued funding needed so parents receive education and develop skills, which will improve family life for their children who have additional needs. A range of programs trains professionals and volunteers who work within families and family support.
n Cruse Bereavement, West Suffolk, £8,000 - Request for an employee on a Contact-line and expenses incurred by the volunteers travelling and to promote the wellbeing of those who struggle with bereavement. The objective of the organisation is to enable people to understand their grief and learn to cope with their loss.
n Alumah CIO, £5,870 -Extend services to Barrow cum Denham, Clare and Mildenhall. To improve people’s physical and mental health and wellbeing through creative projects.
