Community Service 2015 - 2016

The Community Service Committee members are Stuart Coates, Peter Cooper, Harry Corps, Clive Hoggar, John Mellor, John Whelan and Neville Newton (chairman).

Food Bank:   (Mike Williams, Club Service):

Mike Williams is on the Club Services Committee but will continue to run the Food Bank collection, which supports many local people who are in temporary difficulties.

Daffodil Delights: (Bill Stockill, Environment):

Bill Stockill, Chairman of the Environment Committee has volunteered to organise the Daffodil Delights trip working with the local Care Homes and we thank him for that.

Fountains by Floodlight: (John Whelan):

John Whelan will again organise Fountains by Floodlight, working with local Care Homes which was such a great success in 2014/15 and we thank him for his commitment.

Carers Resource: 

I would like us to continue to support Ripon Carers Resource which is such an essential local charity. I would like to give them a donation towards the transport for the Christmas Shopping trip and towards Pamper Day, as we did in 2014/15.

However, we recently committed to sending an adult carer for a respite holiday organised by the Rotary Club of Scarborough. We booked a single room for the week 28^th August to 4^th September and have asked Jill Smith of ‘Carers Resource’ if she can recommend a suitable adult carer who would benefit from a weeks respite, we may have to arrange transport. (Neville Newton):

The Yorkshire Air Ambulance: 

I suggest that Yorkshire Air Ambulance is an excellent charity which supports our local community at times of greatest need and that we should recognise their excellent work with accident victims and medical emergencies by giving them a donation.

The Macmillan Nurses:

I suggest that the Macmillan Nurses is an excellent charity which again supports our local community at times of greatest need and that we should recognise their excellent work with cancer sufferers and their families by providing them with a cheque.

Help for the Homeless - The ‘Springboard Centre’, Harrogate:

The ‘Springboard Centre’ in Harrogate is an excellent charity which supports homeless people from our area. If we have any homeless people in Ripon they are directed to the Springboard Centre. The centre supports homeless people from our area by providing them with food and clothing and personal hygiene facilities and helps them with housing and social security. They often put them up on camp beds in the centre, particularly during the cold winter months, whilst they are organising support. They also arrange transport for homeless people from elsewhere in the country (or abroad) to get them back to their home area.  We have supported the centre with periodic surplus clothing collections and I will continue to organise and collect and deliver the clothing to the centre. We also provided them with a £100 donation specifically to buy food for the homeless and I suggest that we do so again in 2015/16.

Jennyruth Workshops :

Jennyruth Workshops is an excellent local charity which provides work for local people with learning difficulties. We supported the charity in 2014/15 with a donation towards the purchase of a screen as part of their presentation equipment. I suggest that we continue to support this impressive charity with a further donation.

Contact the Elderly:  (Peter Cooper):

We got a recent request from Patricia Chapman of Contact the Elderly for more hosts and drivers for their monthly tea parties for the elderly but we found that we already had a reasonable number of hosts and drivers. Whilst we will keep in touch with Patricia Chapman and monitor those club members who are hosts and/or drivers, Peter (Cooper) wonders whether there are other elderly people in our communities who suffer from isolation and loneliness in their homes and could benefit from our support. We can ask Patricia Chapman whether she knows any vulnerable elderly people who we could help. 

The Ripon Club for the Blind: (No Financial Commitment): (Andrew Newton):

We have had a relationship with the Ripon Club for the Blind for many years through Alan (and Dorothy) Matthews, who has been the club chairman. Allan is leaving in the very near future and Andrew Newton will become chairman. I suggest that we continue to support the club with speakers or transport when asked to do so by Andrew.

Asylum Seekers and Immigrants within our Local Community: (John Mellor):

With the support of John (Mellor), through the charity ‘City of Sanctuary’, we could ascertain how many asylum seekers or immigrants we have in our community who would benefit from our support. We could, for instance, invite some prominent members of their community to join us for a meal and ask them to share their experiences of leaving their homeland and living in our rural community.