• Member Profile: Redbourn Care Group

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    • Member Profile: Redbourn Care Group
    • by Claire-Louise Lawlor
      Office Manager, Redbourn Care Group

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    Redbourn Care Group is based in the friendly village of Redbourn. Set in the heart of Hertfordshire we are a local growing charity which provides a friendly lifeline to local residents.

    Set up in 1980, and the proud recipients of the Queens Jubilee Award, our team of more than 100 enthusiastic volunteers, all Redbourn residents themselves, help make the Care Group what it is today. Whether driving our minibus for shopping trips or outings, car driving, couriering on the minibus or manning the busy office, we have over 50 volunteers who use their own cars to take our clients to hospital appointments both locally and into London. Over the last six years we have noticed significant growth in the demand for hospital trips, going from 300 car trips in 2010 to over 600 in 2015.

    Our charity is run by a group of trustees and our management committee who dedicate their time and effort into ensuring our charity is run well. All of our 124 volunteers are DBS checked and all drivers and couriers attend a health and safety briefing. We also provide ongoing training for our minibus drivers and couriers as the safety of our clients and volunteers is paramount.

    If you pop down to Redbourn today, you will see our minibus driving around the village collecting our clients and taking some of our 250 clients to the weekly pop in centre at the village hall. As our minibus is out every day it is now a widely recognised fixture of the village and it is regularly on loan to other organisations in the village such as the W.I and retirement housing.

    Due to cuts in the local bus service we have seen the demand for our shopping trips increase over the years and this in turn helps our clients to remain independent in their own homes. As with the modern world, family do not always live close so therefore knowing that you will be able to socialise and get out and about once or twice a week is so important.   However, we know that there are a lot more people in the village who could do with our help and support.

    Like with most volunteering organisations we wouldn’t be where we are today without our people and we would love for our legacy to continue for many years to come.  The biggest challenges we face are our ever increasing running costs of our minibus, office and keeping our healthy bank of volunteers. The Care Group relies on donations and, as funding is now limited, we are looking to new methods of fundraising.

    Last month, we distributed our first publication of the Redbourn Care News, celebrating 35 years of service to village by villagers, and now we are looking forward to the next 35 years!

    For more information on the Redbourn Care Group please contact Claire-Louise on redbourncaregroup@btconnect.com.


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