Good Neighbours
Sea Mills & Coombe Dingle
Community Hub Update #10
9 November 2020

Dear people,

Thank you for the responses to my last update. I finished the report, and it looks like that will be good enough to keep the relevant groups happy. If you would like to see a copy, do say.

We are in lockdown again, and inevitably that means people are struggling, both with practical arrangements and with the emotional and mental consequences. Many of the people we are in contact with are feeling fearful and isolated, very much missing the socially isolated activities which had grown up over the past few months.

If I have not been in touch with you over the last few weeks, then apologies: I will get round to you soon, but do feel free to give me an update on what you are doing and your expected availability over the next month or two. And if you know someone who would be interested in keeping in touch with an isolated person, please ask them to get in touch with me. Thanks!

As mentioned last time, I am planning to update the website with more guidance, and to make it clearer what we can offer and how people can help. Before I do more changes, it would be very helpful to hear from a few more people about the current content. If you have not read them yet, please have a look at these pages; and if you have read them, please read again with the benefit of hindsight and let me know what is missing or could be improved? Thank you.

There is a new page on Conversations which I would particularly appreciate feedback on. Is it helpful? Clear? Missing anything?

The other key pages are the Volunteer Guidelines and Some Practical Details, but there are a few others which you might find interesting and helpful. And then you have the volunteer training documents, which can be accessed from Our Documents page.

Another change to the web site which ought to happen soon is to allow you to control the use of cookies, so at some point when you visit the site you will be asked what cookies you want to allow the site to use - as, I'm sure, you are familiar with on other sites you visit these days.

Several people have contacted us, but for various reasons I can't yet let you have their details. But we do have a number of other people who would really appreciate more contact than they are currently receiving.

• ---- is a gentleman in Clifton, who already has one person phoning him each week, but he is very isolated following the death of his partner and would appreciate more conversation. He finds it hard to reach out to people, but recognises that he needs to build friendships where he can build trust and talk at a more personal level than he can with a stranger.
• ---- is in a wheelchair, and can't get out of her flat on her own. You can't visit her now, but a phone call would make a big difference: she is very sociable, and misses the company of others greatly. A couple of recent medical problems have made life more difficult, just as contact with others has been reduced.
• ---- would like someone to ring him - preferably someone with some interest in cars and motorcycles. He was in the army for a number of years, and then drove many of the massive vehicles you see on building sites. He is struggling with a recent family loss.
• ---- is an elderly lady in Lux Furlong, who would appreciate someone doing a weekly shop.
• ---- is a gentleman in Hill House, who needs a weekly shop, but we need to be careful about introductions here, as he is strongly independent and needs to feel it is a friend, or a friend of a friend, for whom it will be no trouble.
• Just before lockdown, we were asked to help with a gentleman who would appreciate someone to walk with him to Shirehampton library and then maybe share a coffee in a local cafe afterwards. That's not going to be possible for the next few weeks, but if anyone is able to volunteer, it would be good to have somebody lined up for him when we are able to visit libraries again.
• ---- is an elderly gentleman in Henleaze who would appreciate a regular phone call. His hearing is not great, so I imagine that conversations are not likely to be long

Finally, does anyone know a Michael Lark? He contacted us using the form on the website, but the phone number he gave doesn't work and he has not replied to any email messages. I am a bit concerned about him.

There have not been many urgent requests for help so far, but I tend to post these on the WhatsApp group - do say if you would like to be added, or if you can't but would still like to hear about them.

As always, thank you very much in advance for your help and feedback. And if you have any questions or need any support in what you are doing, do let me know.

All the best,

Paul.

 

---