our year
a word from our chairman, Ruth Markland
Last year WRVS touched the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Whether as volunteers, people who use our services, supporters or employees, WRVS made a difference to individuals and communities throughout Great Britain.
We are proud of all that we do but I’d like to single out some of our biggest achievements.
We opened eight of our flagship Good Neighbours services, that are now helping more than 1,000 older people to stay independent at home and in touch with their community.
We completed major refurbishment of three community centres in Banbury, Oxfordshire; Pickering, North Yorkshire and Stourbridge, West Midlands. These centres now provide a great place for older people to meet and take part in social activities. They have also become an important resource for our partners such as healthcare professionals and the Pension Service, offering a place where regular advice and information can be given. Our community centres have become a point of contact where older people can be involved and also get the support they are looking for in their community.
We secured £775,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a three-year project to engage 6,000 people in East Sussex in heritage activities. The project will involve older people contributing to an oral archive, and intergenerational activities that bring older and younger people together.
And we opened a range of new hospital shops and cafés, continued to refurbish existing ones, and set up more support services for patients and visitors and services for older people who need extra support when they return home from hospital.
WRVS believes that all older people in Britain should have the choice and opportunity to be able to live fulfilling and independent lives. To do this they need support, access to services and information. They need social contact and opportunities to make a contribution to their communities, the possibility of remaining in control and of getting more out of life. For too many people this isn’t yet possible. Too many people are isolated, unable to enjoy the quality of life that should be their right.
WRVS provides the practical support that enables local people to do something about it. WRVS helps to end that isolation, to make contact and to strengthen communities.
Our services rely on the commitment and dedication of over 56,000 volunteers. Every one of them supports other people in their local community.
Many provide support to older people in their homes and or run our network of social centres, community centres and lunch clubs providing a focus for social activity in many communities.
Many others work in our hospital shops and cafés playing a vital role in reducing the worry and stress patients and visitors can experience. They also raise crucial funds that help us to deliver support to older people in the community and to help hospitals improve facilities and patient care.
And that’s not all. There are over 6,600 WRVS volunteers who are on call night and day to support people affected by floods, fires and other emergencies. They do a tremendous job, keeping people safe and offering comfort in some of the most distressing and difficult of circumstances.
Everyone involved with WRVS is justly proud of the impact WRVS volunteers have in their own communities.
But we need more volunteers and more supporters if we are going to meet the challenge of Britain’s ageing population, of creating caring communities.
Ruth Markland,
Chairman
- Click here to read a word from our chief executive, Lynne Berry