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.

HMP Bronzefield partners with local parish church and homeless charity to provide secure home for women on release from prison

A fantastic ‘Team Spirit’ collaboration, delivering Social Value, has provided a secure home for female residents facing homelessness on release from prison. HMP Bronzefield works with a local church, St Hilda’s in Ashford, Middlesex, to provide accommodation and comfortable home for female residents faced with homelessness on release from the prison. It is an excellent example of a joint delivery of Social Value in the local community.

Through Bronzefield’s strong links with the local community the team has been working in partnership with St Hilda’s Church in Ashford to provide accommodation to women to help them integrate into the community and support rehabilitation. The church is one of more than 70 in the UK linked to ‘Hope into Action’ – a charity whose unique purpose is to enable churches to help house the homeless. What is unique about this specific project is the partnership between the prison and the parish church.

HMP Bronzefield’s deputy director Vicky Robinson said:

“This is a vital step for the women, and the partnership with St Hilda’s Ashford has been a great success. A key factor in reducing reoffending and desistance from crime is accommodation and support. Turning a house into a home with a safe space to grow and develop should not be underestimated.”

Brookwood Cemetery team receives award for care

On a bright, crisp morning at Brookwood Cemetery, the High Sheriff said a big thank you to all the staff for their tremendous work in continuing to provide families with a dignified burial for their loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic.

She also thanked them for their continued work to restore this historic Surrey site to its former glory and presented a High Sheriff certificate to the Brookwood Cemetery team.

The team, led by manager Avril Kirby, makes sure that families receive the best service, care and support at this resting place for people of different faiths from all over the UK and other countries.

They also make it a place of interest to visit or just find a few moments of welcome peace from busy lives.

Employee awards for HMP Send team

The hard work of staff at HMP Send in Woking during or as the prison emerged from the pandemic has earned them all Employee of the Month awards.

Dr Llewelyn was delighted to present the awards to a group of employees specially selected by the Governor, Amy Frost. The team members had built relationships and considered the needs of vulnerable prisoners.

“We had tea and delicious cakes, which were prepared by two of the prisoners who are participating in the prison’s restaurant training programme,” said Dr Llewelyn.

HMP Send is a closed female prison with a population of 202 women. It has the only democratic therapeutic community for women in the country and a specialist psychologically informed planned environment (PIPE) unit.

Despite the challenges of lockdown, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Prisons said the prison’s leadership team and dedicated staff established and maintained a “strong, deep culture of respect and support”.

Joining the dots with Guildford Samaritans

Dr Llewelyn is very interested in the work Guildford Samaritans does in prisons. During her meeting, she linked two of its representatives to local charities and Surrey Police who are interested in restarting some pre-pandemic work.

Nick Martin, director of Guildford Samaritans, and Renato Lowres, responsible for the charity’s work at HMP Send, told Dr Llewelyn about the national Listening Service, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.

Guildford Samaritans runs the service at HMP Send and trained selected inmates to become listeners. Prisoners can talk to them about their problems, which prevents issues from escalating.

Listeners have a separate uniform, and fellow inmates can interact with them during ‘association’ time. Alternatively, inmates can phone the main Samaritans helpline, which will arrange a meeting with a listener.

The Listening Service was invaluable in HMP Send during the lockdown and saw heavy use.

Dr Llewelyn said: “I was pleased to meet one of the listeners on my recent visit to HMP Send, and she invited me to go and meet the listener team.”

Moving tribute to people impacted by Covid

The Peace Garden at the Muslim Burial Ground in Woking was the peaceful setting for the Woking People of Faith Prayer Vigil – a moving commemoration and celebration of lives affected by the pandemic.

Woking People of Faith invited Dr Llewelyn, the Mayor of Woking, the Bishop of Guildford, the Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey and the public to light an LED candle in memory of those who passed away and thank those who gave incredible service over the last 18-20 months.

Following the Mayor’s welcome, multiple faith leaders from the Baha’i, Christian, Quaker and Muslim faiths offered short prayers.

The Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey gave the closing remarks.

Royal visit to Transform Housing and Support

A visit to the charity Transform Housing & Support with the Countess of Wessex gave the High Sheriff the ideal opportunity to discuss housing challenges across Surrey with the chief executive and chair of trustees.

During a visit to one of the charity’s residences in Hersham, Dr Llewelyn spoke to CEO Lawrence Santcross and chair Mark Austen. They are keen to do more with the homeless community in Surrey and build on their success and learning during the pandemic.

Dr Llewelyn and the Countess of Wessex met some of the people who teach cooking skills to the residents and the Countess made pizzas! They also met residents who were doing a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle.

Happy visit to Gosden House School

Gosden House School in Bramley extended a warm and happy welcome to the High Sheriff and the Lord-Lieutenant of Surrey during their visit in November.

Dr Llewelyn and the Lord-Lieutenant, Michael More-Molyneux, attended a whole school assembly with an audience of children with special educational needs (SEN) and their teachers and teaching assistants before touring the school and grounds.

The assembly took place outside on a bright sunny day, and Dr Llewelyn and Mr More-Molyneux presented badges to new school council members. The councillors are responsible for sharing pupils’ opinions with teachers.

Dr Llewelyn said: “We then had a delightful tour of the school, looking at their focus on working with each child to put together an individual toolkit for all they need to learn to be successful when they leave school.”

It’s the second visit by the High Sheriff to the outstanding school, which focuses on growing lives and building futures for children ‘facing the toughest challenges every day’.

Princess Alice Hospice tour reveals outstanding care

Nicki Shaw, chief executive and Sean Hilton, chair of trustees, welcomed Dr Llewelyn to a tour of Princess Alice Hospice in Esher, where she met staff and volunteers.

During her tour of the In-Patient Unit, Dr Llewelyn saw the outstanding palliative and end-of-life care the hospice provides to adults across Surrey, south-west London and Middlesex. The hospice also supports patients’ friends and families.

Dr Llewelyn thanked team members Nicki, Sean, Lesley Munro, Jo Reynolds, Rosie Noble, Sarah Friggeri and Carrie Lee and volunteers Vanessa Hill and Debbie Clements for their hospitality. They discussed the wonderful work they do in caring for patients, volunteering, engaging with the community, and supporting the bereaved.

As a leading UK hospice charity, part of its work involves learning, teaching, and research, but 84% of its income is spent on care, and at least 800 people in need receive care at any one time. All its work is funded by fundraising and community support to supplement its modest NHS grant.

Celebrating Hambledon Community Fund’s success

Hambledon Community Fund has now given over £30,000 in grants to local organisations and occasionally villagers in need and is a vital part of the vibrant and thriving village community.

Among the organisations to receive grants from the endowment fund are the shop, football club, cricket club and almshouses. The fund has also purchased a defibrillator, equipment for the nursery and storage heaters for the village hall.

Dr Llewelyn, who chaired the fund until this year when she became High Sheriff, unveiled a plaque at Hambledon Village Hall. It was to celebrate the fund’s success to date.