A monthly community lunch which aims to tackle social isolation in a County Durham village is set to welcome local people through the winter months thanks to a four-figure grant from the Banks Community Fund.
West Rainton & Leamside Village Partnership hosts the free Friendly Faces event at the Jubilee Hall on North Street in West Rainton, with up to 60 local residents attending each month and free transport laid on through Easington Lane Community Access Point for anyone who needs help getting to and from the venue.
The event was set up in the aftermath of the pandemic, during which local business owner Julie Dawson of Julie’s Deli started to prepare free weekly meals for a number of older local people who needed a helping hand.
The Village Partnership organised a team of volunteers to help reach more people across the local community and secured government funding to help meet the growing local need for support, with up to 120 meals being made and delivered across the area every week during the project’s busiest times.
As the pandemic subsided, the Partnership began to look at how the social isolation issues in the village which had become more visible might best be tackled and how different members of the community could be brought together to everyone’s benefit.
Alongside the free lunch, the Friendly Faces event, which takes place on the second Tuesday of every month, also includes additional activities including quizzes, bingo and dominoes, and gives the 15-strong volunteer Partnership team that runs it the chance to talk to attendees about any additional help they might need.
A £2,000 grant from North East employer the Banks Group will enable organisers to cover the project’s costs from October through to March, and will also support the Jubilee Hall’s position as a ‘Warm Space’ during the winter months.
Residents from local care homes, including some with dementia, are also invited along to the events to help increase their contact with the local community, while meals are made available for delivery to anyone who is ill or unable to attend.
Chris Burns, treasurer at West Rainton & Leamside Village Partnership, says: “We formed a lot of positive new relationships with older people across the village during the pandemic and wanted to find a way to make sure they continued to get the social contact with their friends and neighbours that was obviously so important and beneficial to them.
“Friendly Faces is open to anyone who wants to come along, while laying on free transport means that people with mobility issues or no transport of their own don’t miss out.
“We get a real mixture of people at our monthly lunches and it’s always such a pleasure to see how much everyone enjoys talking to and spending time with each other while enjoying the meals, activities and entertainment we make available.
“It also provides us with a great opportunity to see how everyone’s doing and to see if there are any other issues that we might be able to help individuals address, as well as to tell them about other things that are happening in the community.
“Banks have been very proactive in coming forward to see how they can support our work and we’re really grateful for their support in covering our costs over the coming months.”
Banks Homes is currently building 150 high specification new homes at its Cathedral Meadows development on Station Road in West Rainton, a scheme which will also include a new play area, new landscaped areas and new areas of public open space.
Kate Culverhouse, community relations manager at the Banks Group, adds: “The community’s commitment to looking after its most vulnerable members over the last few years has been invaluable and it’s clearly made such a real difference to their well-being.
“There’s a lovely atmosphere at Friendly Faces and we’re really pleased to be helping the Village Partnership to continue welcoming everyone along every month.”
Anyone from a community close to a Banks Group project who is interested in applying for funding from the Banks Community Fund should contact the company via its website enquiry form (www.banksgroup.co.uk/contact-us/) to find out if their group or project is eligible.