Over the weekend of the 14th March 2020, we saw several hundred Norfolk communities create new Mutual Aid Groups in response to the pandemic's effect on their communities.
This was our community spirit at its best. A process of forming groups that would normally take several months was accelerated into days. People were coming forward to help, who had never volunteered before. Whatever the legacy of the practical support that was delivered, the simple truth is “you can’t un-meet your neighbour” and this is hugely positive for our communities.
Village and community halls everywhere have felt keenly the impact of COVID-19 on their ability to provide social and recreational events. For many the ongoing lack of income has presented a tangible financial crisis. How much more so then, for a brand-new community hall, whose planned launch coincided with the first pandemic lockdown in March 2020?
Brundall & Blofield Good Neighbour Scheme (BBGNS) has been running since August 2016, and so was already well placed and had the experience to respond when the Covid-19 pandemic arrived. The volunteers, of which there are presently 28, cover a large area - the combined population of Brundall and Blofield is around 10,800, more than some towns.
The fourth Love West Norfolk day will be marked on Sunday 14th February – and this year, it’s an opportunity for everyone in the area to say: ‘thanks west Norfolk’.
We feature regular articles here about how VCSE organisations across Norfolk have been adapting to, and coping with, the demands and constraints imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here at CAN we work closely with Anglian Water on their ‘Love Every Drop’ water conservation campaign. It’s essential to making our communities in Norfolk sustainable for the future. https://www.waterwise.org.uk/As part of this, Waterwise, the national body that promotes water saving good practice, is asking everyone to sign up to their ‘Save 2021 litres in 2021’ pledge.
Many mutual aid groups and Good Neighbour Schemes are even more active in the final run-up to Christmas. Just one example is Thorpe Helping Hands, operating across south-east Norwich.
At CAN we work closely with the Borough Council of King's Lynn and West Norfolk on the Big Switch and Save energy switching project. There are three important news items about Big Switch and Save that we’d like to convey to West Norfolk residents, and we’d be grateful for the help of VCSE groups and organisations working in the area to help spread the word.
Every VCSE organisation has a duty to safeguard volunteers, staff members, participants and donors, and to have appropriate and proportionate policies and procedures in place. Likewise, staff and volunteers themselves need to aware be aware of their individual responsibilities to themselves and to their clients, service users and hirers.