Day of visits strengthen ties in Reigate and Banstead
The Mayor of Reigate and Banstead, Councillor Jill Bray, joined the High Sheriff for a day of visits to the YMCA East Surrey Sports and Community Centre in Redhill and the borough council’s Earlswood Depot.
YMCA East Surrey supports vulnerable children, young people and adults in housing and health and wellbeing and is one of the mayor’s chosen charities of the year.
A visit to the YMCA centre kickstarted the day. Dr Llewelyn met the team, including the chief executive Ian Burks and Judith Brooks, head of children and young people services. She visited the multi-sport and gym facilities and saw exercise classes in action.
YMCA Hillbrook House is nearby. It offers affordable accommodation for young people who do not have a permanent home, along with a lot of support and I was pleased to meet some of the tenants enjoying a training session. Some of this group had recently benefited from a grant from the High Sheriff’s Youth Awards, which had enabled them to climb Snowden. It was great to hear their positive stories about the experience.
Next, Dr Llewelyn visited Earlswood Depot, where she had a fascinating tour and congratulated the numerous teams. She was delighted to thank the entire waste collection and recycling team for their commitment during the pandemic and the green-spaces team for helping to maintain the highly used public areas at this time.
Dr Llewelyn was intrigued by the area where the borough’s refuse and recycling is collected before being sorted and the community recycling centre. Here, a wide variety of waste is collected and recycled, including through a shop which has raised over £2 million for good causes.
