Good Neighbours Scheme

We love our village and we care about each other. Many of us would like the chance to use free time to be good neighbours to people who live nearby. Many of us have skills and would like to do practical things for people who need a little bit of extra help. On the other hand, some people would love ‘neighbourly’ things like a friendly chat over a cup of tea; help with things like keeping the garden tidy; checking smoke detector batteries; changing light bulbs, or exercising the dog.

This is why Village Action set up a voluntary Good Neighbours Scheme in the village in 2012. Since then we’ve helped over 50 people with one-off assistance like odd jobs in the garden, helping to move furniture etc. We have arranged for regular visits from volunteers for about 25 people. We have over 50 volunteers registered as Good Neighbours.

Our volunteers are insured, police checked and carry an I.D. card. We take calls from people in the village who’d like some help and we then put them in touch with a volunteer. We won’t try to provide services run by the council or the health service. We also don’t provide regular services like garden maintenance, taxi service or regular dog walking as there are several commercial operators operating locally.

If you would like to volunteer, or know someone who could use some help, please:

• call 0743 288 8586 and leave your name and number and we will get back to you.