Hello!... and welcome to the Coffee Caravan’s web site version of our first ever newsletter.

Contents

• New Caravan, new donors, new venues
• … and funded by the Big Lottery no less!
• STOP PRESS!
• What we do and why we do it
• CAB Advice on board
• Child protection commitment
• Wilby joins Good Neighbours
• TV’s Amelia launches our new van
• Village Green Proves Ideal for Visits
• Aldringham visits prove popular
• Villages visited
• Leaflets on board
• Thanks to Volunteers.
• Our Committee
• An unsolicited testimonial
• Clean for winter

New Caravan, new donors, new venues

It has been quite a year for the Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project, to give us our full name. Last February our original caravan went for its winter service and we reeled at the shock news that it was ‘unroadworthy’ and ‘uneconomical to repair’. Sheer wear and tear had taken its toll. Near panic ensued because we were scheduled to start our summer season of village visits at the beginning of April!

 

Fortunately for us, the good folk at Mid Suffolk District Council Community Development Services rescued us with a capital grant and that, coupled with a very generous discount from Stowmarket Caravans, allowed us to purchase our lovely new vehicle – a youthful Avondale Argente 460/2 with just the facilities we need. We were really up against it time-wise and we would like to thank MSDC, Stowmarket Caravans and Chapple Signs for the tremendous co-operation we received. It enabled us to keep to our original schedule and not let anyone down.

 

We have been joined by some wonderful new volunteers, notably drivers who can tow, to whom we offer our heart-felt thanks; the project simply could not exist without them.

Many villages asked us to visit them for the first time and as a result asked us to establish regular monthly visits. We have met more people than ever before, provided vital information, promoted community spirit, and offered a real focal point where villagers can gather for a chat, a coffee and a cake, and meet their fellow villagers, sometimes for the first time. I think we can fairly claim to have started a number of new friendships in rural Suffolk.

Somersham folk at the "Official" opening of the new Caravan

We would also like to thank the lovely people of Somersham for hosting the ‘launch’ of our new caravan. (Read more elsewhere in this issue). Our fortunes had definitely turned and we went on to have a very successful summer.

… and funded by the Big Lottery no less!

A lot of hard work goes on behind the scenes to (literally) keep the wheels turning. A major part of this is fundraising for the project.

 We were therefore very excited when we learned that our application to the Big Lottery ‘Awards for All’ programme had been successful to the tune of £7,640. These funds will go a long way towards meeting our operating costs, volunteer expenses, training publicity and printing costs for the year ahead (hence this lovely newsletter). We would like to give special thanks to Community Development Officer Gal Travis for all he has done to help the project.

 

We have also received generous donations from County and District Councillors, £600 from Orwell Housing Association, £400 from Neighbourhood Watch, £2000 from West Suffolk Community Development Unit, £2000 from the Western Area CDRP and £250 from Bury St Edmunds Rotary Club. Many, many thanks...

 

These funding successes mean that we can continue with our work addressing the problems facing residents of rural villages in Suffolk.

 

STOP PRESS!

 

As we go to press we have just heard that the Project has won a BT Community Connections Award! This fantastic award will give us a brand new desktop PC, Microsoft Office 2007 software and twelve months of free Broadband connection. What great news at the start of the year!

Our entry was ‘among thousands across the country and impressed judges with our ideas on how a (new) PC would benefit the group immediately and benefit the wider community long term’.

This will make such a difference to us, as our current system ‘drops off the radar with alarming regularity’. We can’t wait to receive the ‘Award Package’ between now and the end of March. We will bring you more about this in our next newsletter, and explain how this will help us to help you.

What we do and why we do it - Information instant, coffee 2 minutes!

The Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project has now completed its fourth year. We are a fully constituted voluntary organisation, and provide a mobile caravan information service that visits rural villages in Suffolk to provide social contact, information and guidance to individuals and local businesses that may be difficult for them to source due to rural isolation.

 

In the past year, the type of information and/or help sought has been very wide-ranging. We have had various planning and housing issues, matters relating to childcare, benefits, mental health, domestic violence, support for carers, family business support, enquiries about Neighbourhood Watch, Good Neighbour schemes and much interest in our crime prevention leaflets. We have helped people to contact advisors in the pension service with regard to Pension Credit and Direct Payment and we have been approached for help with legal issues on several occasions. In all instances we try to “sign-post” people to the most appropriate service for them. We have also given out information on distance learning and interest groups. If a visitor asks about something we cannot immediately help with, we try to source information and forward this on to them.

 

Some villages, however, need our visits as a point of social contact, a ‘parish pump’ where the residents can pass the time of day with their neighbours, sometimes even making new friends. The closure of so many local shops, post offices and public houses, has led to a situation in which many people rarely see their fellow residents. This is exactly the rural isolation we are trying to combat, and some villages ask us back on a regular basis to provide just this type of support.

 

We serve tea and coffee (and more often than not, home-made cakes) free of charge and invite residents to simply visit and chat, look at the help and advice available, spend some time with their neighbours or even meet them for the first time! We have often been instrumental in introducing people to each other and this actively promotes community spirit.

 

This is vital work, reaching out to the young, the elderly and disadvantaged residents of rural Suffolk, providing access to information and promoting social inclusivity that would otherwise be denied to them.

CAB Advice on board.

An important development for the coming year is that I am training to be a Citizens Advice Bureau Advisor. This will mean that we are able to offer actual advice as well as giving information. This will be a real enhancement to our service and I am working hard to gain my qualification.

 

If we have not visited your village before, now is your opportunity! If you would like to try our service in your village this summer please ring me on 01379 855338 or email to coffee.caravan@btinternet.com.

 

Ann Osborn, Project Manager

Child protection commitment

 

Members of our Committee, together with the Project Manager and Volunteers attended Child Protection training in the autumn. The course was run by S.A.F.E. (Safer Activities for Everyone) and held in Stowmarket at the Old Library at Red Gables (the home of Mid Suffolk Action in Partnership). veryone found the course interesting and informative. Our trainer was very well qualified having been a policeman for many years before joining S.A.F.E. and he made us all understand just what an important issue this is.

 

More information about the course and booking can be obtained from; Safeguarding Children Partnership, (Suffolk) PO Box 271, Diss P23 7WS Tel: 01379 678961.

There is also en excellent website for parents, carers and teachers. It can be found
at: www.oursafesite.com

Wilby joins Good Neighbours

Our visits to Wilby have been a great success and a growing number of villagers have come to the caravan which we park on the village hall car park.

One of the very positive outcomes from our visits has been that Wilby village has now been annexed into the Stradbroke Good Neighbour Scheme (Tel 07749 445531) which is part of the growing SuffolkACRE network of Good Neighbour Schemes (GNS) across the county.

 

Gavin Hodge, the Good Neighbour Scheme Co-ordinator at SuffolkACRE is also one of our trustees. He distributed the GNS questionnaire in Wilby and raised a small team of volunteers willing to help their neighbours with such services as giving lifts, collecting pensions and prescriptions, shopping, checking smoke alarms, minor domestic repairs, befriending the elderly and lonely and newcomers to the village.

 

For more information contact Gavin on 01473 242538.

 

TV’s Amelia launches our new van

BBC TV “Look East” presenter Amelia Reynolds was our celebrity guest cutting the ribbon to launch our “new” caravan in the village of Somersham in May. Our grateful thanks go to Amelia and to the people of Somersham – a regular village on our rota – who turned out to enjoy the ceremony.

Amelia, who grew up in a rural village, gave a lovely speech supporting our project. She is very sympathetic to our aims. The weather was kind and we had some 50 visitors who came to either lend their support or find out more about us.


Our thanks to Somersham Parish Council Chairperson Janet Hodge who has always helped ensure that our visits to Somersham are very successful.

The local police also joined us for the launch and everyone was invited to have a look round the new vehicle.

The local press were on hand to take photos and Sally Fogden, Chairperson of the Rural Coffee Caravan Information Project, thanked both Mid Suffolk District Council and Stowmarket Caravans for their generosity. She also talked a little about the project and its purpose.

 

After the ceremony Amelia stayed on to meet and chat with villagers. An enjoyable afternoon was had by all and it gave us an excellent start to the summer season of visits.

 

Village Green Proves Ideal for Visits

 

The Project has visited the village of Redgrave on several occasions in the past year. Originally we parked outside the village hall but it was felt that we were too tucked away and so we were invited to park on the lovely village green in the centre of Redgrave.

 

 

This resulted in many more people using the service, and we even had a visit from a resident of a nearby village asking if we would be able to come to them! Redgrave had an issue with dog fouling and we were able to refer them to the relevant dept at Mid Suffolk to install dog litter bins.

Also they are keen to make better provision for their young people and as a result of the Project putting them in touch with Gal Travis from Mid Suffolk District Council Community Development, they now have a fully constituted youth group who are actively seeking funding for the construction of a youth shelter. If they are successful they will work with manufacturers to design their own shelter.

Ann Preston of Redgrave Parish Council wrote:

“I would like to thank you for putting me in touch with the relevant people in respect of the two projects I am interested in here in Redgrave. You provide a friendly and important service to the rural areas. It is good to sit down and chat to someone who has so much useful information available and who is so easily approachable One lady, who got a lot of information from you, came to the next Parish Council Meeting, to say how helpful you had been.

Since we lost our shop, there is no regular focal point where everyone meets to exchange information, local news and generally what’s going on. Keep up the good work”

Aldringham visits prove popular

 

In 2006 we visited the lovely village of Aldringham once a month from April to October. This was their third year of regular visits and we always receive a warm welcome.

 

 

There is no village hall or shop actually in the village and the Project provides a welcome meeting place for the ‘full time’ residents (there are many holiday homes in Aldringham) to simply get together . We have also, on occasion, been joined there by agencies such as Age Concern, The Suffolk Regeneration Trust or Suffolk Carers and on the last two visits we have managed to coincide with the Suffolk Coastal Mobile Police Unit and turned the little village green into a real community resource.

Aldringham folk turn out come rain or shine proving just how important the Coffee Caravan is in providing a point of social contact and fulfilling the need for access to information.

 

Villages visited

 

During 2006 we visited: Aldringham, Battisford, Bruisyard, Butley, Campsea Ashe, Coddenham, Crowfield, Drinkstone, Earl Stonham, Euston Rural Pastimes Show, Eyke, Fakenham Magna, Framsden, Friston, Great Bricett, Great Finborough, Hinderclay, Kettleburgh, Leiston, Metfield, Mickfield, Occold, Orford, Otley, Redgrave, Snape, Somersham, Stratford St Andrew, Stowupland, Stoke Ash, Sudbourne, The Suffolk Show and Wilby.

 

Many of these villages have requested return or regular visits. On occasions we have been able to link up with the Mobile Library or Community Police services. We have also had County or District Councillors with us from time to time giving them and the people they represent the chance to meet informally, an opportunity appreciated by all. Representatives from organisations sometimes join us as well - notable Orwell Housing, Age Concern, Suffolk Regeneration Trust, SuffolkACRE, SAVO, Neighbourhood Watch and the CAB.

Leaflets on board

On board the Caravan we carry a wide variety of leaflets and information. Here are just some of the organisations with which we maintain links:

• AGE CONCERN
• ALZHEIMERS SOCIETY
• CHILDLINE
• CITIZENS ADVICE BUREAU
• COMMUNITY LEGAL SERVICE DIRECT
• COMMUNITY TRANSPORT
• CRIME PREVENTION
• DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FORUM
• DISTRICT COUNCILS
• FARM CRISIS NETWORK
• HOMESTART
• MIND
• OPTUA
• PENSION SERVICE
• RURAL GATEWAY
• SAVO
• SHAW TRUST
• SUFFOLK ACRE
• SUFFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL SERVICES
• SUFFOLK PRIMARY CARE TRUSTS

Thanks to Volunteers

Project Trustees often give up even more of their time to help with Caravan visits, but it is volunteers that are the lifeblood of the work of the Coffee Caravan. This year we have again had great support from our “regulars” and we have also been pleased to welcome some young volunteers willing to give up their time.

Young volunteers helped to keep the coffee flowing at Bacton

We simply could not function without volunteer drivers willing to tow the caravan and in the summer we were delighted to welcome some new “recruits” to our already hard-working towing team. In order to expand our activities we constantly seek more volunteers; especially people to tow the caravan and folk who would like to come out with us just to chat to our visitors and, even more importantly to listen to them. It is an unusual opportunity for voluntary service, since no other project quite like this exists in Suffolk. It is enjoyable and can be a very rewarding at a personal level when you realise how much you have helped a person, or even a community.

 

We pay travel expenses and we are very happy to accept whatever time you wish to offer, even just a couple of sessions a year means a lot to us. So, if you would like to find out more, please contact Ann Osborn, the Project Manger and she will be happy to discuss it further with you. You can reach Ann by ringing 01379 855338 or by emailing coffee.caravan@btinternet.com.

To all existing volunteers—a big thank you...we could not do it without you !!

Our Committee

Chairperson Rev Canon Sally Fogden

Vice Chair George Frost Agricultural Chaplain

Secretary Jean Turnbull Rural Link

Treasurer Laura Hack SAVO

Trustee Gavin Hodge Suffolk ACRE

Trustee Derek Clarke Shaw Trust

Committee Members:

Muriel Frost Retired teacher

Tony Fowler Councillor MSDC

Richard Jones Salvation Army Major

Richard Browne Retired insurance executive

An unsolicited testimonial

Dear Ann,

A great big thank you to you and all your team for the wonderful service you have provided to Somersham over the past summer season. Each of your visits has brought a great deal of pleasure and extremely useful information to our villagers.

The Coffee Caravan Information Project has provided a valuable meeting point for people to get to know each other, for new residents to integrate into the village and for younger and older residents to gather together in an informal setting. Several friendships have been formed and younger ones offering help to others.

It has also enabled those elderly and/or disabled, and their carers, who cannot go far to have a social life and get support from the wider community, providing company where they might have been in isolation and giving a great boost to their mental well-being!

The presence of the community policeman, visitors from various agencies and local councils make it a very easy way for people to see the human face of the big organisations, feel comfortable with them, get to know them, gain information and ask questions of them which comes about in a very informal way over a cup of tea. Definitely a way to break down any ‘them and us’ barriers.

I know, also, that several people have been helped very much by gaining information for problems they have had, both in speaking to someone and with the help of the leaflets you carry.

I was also made aware at the last visit that, having now gained confidence and a feeling of ease with your team, people were opening up, and people are dealing with problems which may not be obvious at first, such as a partner’s depression, family divorce, a bereavement or some other problem. Talking about it, even at surface level, and getting some information in a leaflet relating to that makes one realise that one is not alone with a problem, that others, too, have the same life events, and this makes it easier to cope.

So, you can see I am a great fan of the Coffee Caravan Information Project. I think it has operated on many levels in our village, given a great social occasion (absolutely delicious home-made cakes – what a real treat!) especially to those not able to get out and about much, given access to much information which may not be readily available to people in an isolated area, and promoted a general feeling of mental well-being amongst all who attend.

Again, thanks to all concerned, and look forward to seeing you next year.

Janet Hodge

Chairman

Somersham Parish Council

Clean for winter

The Coffee Caravan has now been bathed and put to bed for the winter.

Volunteer driver Richard Browne helped spruce up the caravan before its hibernation

We are out and about again from early April. If we have visited you before, we will have been in touch during February to let you know our schedule for this year. If you have not had a visit before and you would like one then please contact Ann Osborn.