Your Hertfordshire Rural Affairs and Community News Bulletin
Welcome to our December 2021 eBulletin
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Annual Village Halls Conference 26 November
Thank you very much to the Committee and volunteers of Little Hadham Village Hall in East Herts for hosting this year's Annual Conference. Over 40 participants present in the Hall were joined by others at home thanks to Zoom and were treated to a wide range of presentations from our valued speakers followed by an excellent buffet provided by Purple Raspberry Catering.
CDA Herts - Rural Digital Inclusion at Little Hadham Village Hall
The rural Digital Inclusion & IT Learning Opportunities sessions, held at Little Hadham Village Hall and funded by Clarion Futures and running since early June, have now become a regular weekly activity for all those taking part, providing a welcoming and supportive learning opportunity for local people seeking digital help & IT advice.
The Drop In sessions currently assist between 8 to 12 Digital Learners each week and run from 2.00pm to 4.00pm on Wednesday afternoons.
When attending the sessions, digital learners are assigned a Digital Champion or Digital Buddy volunteer to help & assist them with their specific digital and IT queries.
CDA Herts hopes to be expanding the project to a couple of other Village Halls next year.
Face coverings have become mandatory again on public transport and shops in England in an effort to slow the spread of the Omicron coronavirus variant.
Hertfordshire Health Walks Update: Christmas Closure
Hertfordshire Health Walks office and booking line will be closed between 23rd December and 4th January however, there are lots of Health Walks which will be running throughout the festive period. Book before 3pm onThursday 23rd December by calling 01992 555888 Click Here to register as a new walker
Applications opened on 2 December for grants from the new £4 million fund to support suicide prevention voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations across 2021 to 2022. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has made available £4 million for a grant fund to support suicide prevention VCSE organisations across 2021 to 2022. A portion of the grant fund will be ring-fenced specifically to help support small community-led and user-led groups and organisations.
Application process
The application portal for the grant fund opened on 2 December and will close on 6 January 2022. The grant fund is being administered by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) on behalf of DHSC.
Further guidance and support on the application process will be available through a webinar shortly.
Reengage is giving the gift of friendship to lonely and isolated older people this Christmas. Our Christmas film tells the story of Barbara who lost her husband six years ago. The joy she gets from her Re-engage tea party group is written all over her face. The film is narrated by one of our tea party hosts, Sara Cox the BBC Radio 2 drivetime presenter. Please watch and share our film to help ensure that people like Barbara aren't forgotten. The Big Give Christmas Challenge is designed to help us reach thousands more people like Barbara. In the first week of December, any donation made through The Big Give, will automatically be doubled. It is a great moment to give a gift and know that someone is waiting to double it for just this one week.
The ParksHerts Project provides a single online point of access for information about Hertfordshire’s parks and open spaces to encourage residents to make more of our valuable local spaces and visit parks they may not have previously explored. The useful activity selector on the front page of the website helps you choose a park according to who’s going and what you want to do, whether that’s getting some fresh air, making a day of it or taking it easy.
Grants of up to £5,000 to support innovative local schemes which aim to reduce crime and make our communities safer. Application deadline: 6 January 2022
Grants of up to £10,000 are available to groups operating in Hertfordshire to support the needs of those recently arrived from Afghanistan. Application deadline: 6 January 2022
Grants of up to £5,000 for projects that aim to improve our local environment in Hertfordshire, educate about climate change. Application deadline: 6 January 2022
Grants of up to £5,000 are available for groups helping to tackle needs in Hertfordshire including needs linked to the pandemic. Application deadline: 6 January 2022
Grants of up to £5,000 are available for groups supporting vulnerable adults by providing access to food and/or support with bills such as fuel and water. ApplicationDeadline: 14 January 2022
St Albans Masorti Synagogue (SAMS), together with local Christian & Muslim groups, arranged to have 80 trees supplied to their local park, which were then all dug in by the combined group on 21st November . The trees had been donated under the Queen’s Green Canopy scheme, in celebration of her Platinum Jubilee. The photograph shows Father Richard Watson (St Saviours Church), Iqbal Zia (President of Mauritian Muslim Association) and Rabbi Adam Zagoria-Moffet (SAMS), together with participants from their respective communities, at the planting event at Highfield Park. For the synagogue, the event was undertaken for their ‘Mitzvah Day’ (an interfaith day of social action) initiative.
East Herts Council Asks "How did we do this year? Let us know and win £50!"
We're inviting everyone in East Herts to have their say on local services.
As well as gathering opinion on how well services are run, the survey seeks to understand overall satisfaction levels and whether you feel you receive value for money.
The survey can be found online and is open until Monday, 20 December. All respondents will be entered into a prize draw to win a £50 voucher.
Wheathampstead Support For All is our featured Rural Support Network, still providing support to the elderly, isolated and vulnerable in rural Hertfordshire.
MPS LAUNCH INQUIRY INTO HIDDEN RURAL MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
Politics.co.uk reports how MPs on the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee are set to embark on a wide-ranging inquiry into rural mental health
Farming and other agriculture-related professions are known to face particular mental health challenges, with higher-than-average rates of depression and suicide. Improving the overall quality of mental health provision has been an increasing priority for the Government and the NHS in recent years.
Rural homelessness is an unseen crisis in the countryside, driven by limited access to services and an absence of affordable homes
The extent of the crisis is unclear as limited rural data is captured in official statistics. Trends show that overall homelessness has increased in the last decade and where interventions have helped in urban areas, their impact is less successful in rural communities. A rural housing task force has joined forces to shine a light on the crisis by commissioning a 12-month research collaboration between academics at Kent and Southampton Universities.
Herts County Council Winter Health Guide
Snuggle up with our new winter wellbeing guide
All Hertfordshire households will be receiving our winter health guide this week. It’s packed full of information on where to go for medical advice as well as tips on how to stay healthy, active and connected with your community. Look out for it on your doormat.
Are you one of Hertfordshire’s 100,000 family carers?
It was Carers’ Rights Day earlier this week, which focused on raising awareness of the rights that unpaid carers have. The pandemic has had a massive impact on the lives of carers, affecting access to services, the ability to juggle work and care, and much more. It’s more important than ever carers are aware of what they have the right to. If you’re an unpaid family carer providing vital support to a loved one in Hertfordshire, we can help you:
Hanukkah which is Hebrew for “dedication,” is the Festival of Lights.
It commemorates the victory of the Maccabees over the Syrian Greek army, and the subsequent miracle of rededicating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem and restoring its menorah, or lamp.
The miracle of Hanukkah is that only one vial of oil was found with just enough oil to illuminate the Temple lamp for one day, and yet it lasted for eight full days.
If you’re of Black, Asian or Arab origin and live in Herts
Healthwatch Hertfordshire (HwH) wants to hear from you.
HwH is working with local communities and NHS organisations to improve equality and inclusiveness within NHS services. Help make a difference by sharing your views and experiences of local health services – even if you don’t use the NHS. COVID-19 has worsened ethnic health inequalities meaning some people have faced even more difficulty accessing and using health services. By working together, we want to ensure everybody receives the same level of care regardless of ethnicity. To get in contact you can visit their website to complete their anonymous Survey which is available in multiple languages, and will take 5-10 minutes to complete.
CDA Herts Supports our Refill Shops & Stores
Heart To Earth Refill and Re-Use Royston
At Heart to Earth we work extremely hard to bring you products that are conscious about the planet. The products we stock are as Eco friendly and plastic free as possible without substituting quality, we source natural where possible and all our products are vegan and cruelty free. We work with companies that are actively giving back to initiatives to help restore the environment. For every order Heart to Earth gives back by planting a tree to help the fight in climate crisis. All our packaging is recyclable, biodegradable, made from sustainable materials and plastic free.
Berkhamsted Farmers’ Market is held in the centre of the delightful market town of Berkhamsted. The market offers delicious, fresh produce straight from the producers and plenty of hots snacks to make it an excellent refreshment stop.
Harry Bott's December Farming, Wildlife and Garden Reports
Harry reports on a great year for Mice which also means the Kites have been feeding well, worries that the Wheat might become "Frim" and comparisons with intensive cattle farming in Texas and raising winter broad beans.
Read the full report from Harry by clicking below.
Click Hereto download and read Harry Bott's December Countryside Notes.
(c) Unsplash
Make this Christmas a sustainable one Spread a little bit of love to your family and friends whilst caring for the world and wildlife around you. Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust have put together nine ways to have a wildlife-friendly Christmas this year. Here are just a few of the ways to get wild this festive season. Give birds a Christmas treat
As the days get colder and snow starts to fall, our garden and countryside birds can struggle to find enough food. Give local birds a treat with an edible Christmas wreath. Bring nature inside
Instead of buying new Christmas decorations, make your own from what you can find in nature. Use small twigs to design star patterns for decorations, attach pine cones together in a garland, or paint them green to look like a Christmas tree. Make sure that you take only as much as you need and leave plenty for wildlife. Give someone the gift of a wilder future
We all know that one person who is impossible to shop for, giving a wild gift will support nature on your doorstep and give them the joy of knowing wildlife near them is being looked after. You can purchase wildlife sponsorships, gift memberships and even badger watcher experiences from our online shop.
16 Days of Action Against Domestic Violence is aimed at businesses to support them to take action against domestic abuse and violence. Employers have a legal obligation to assess dynamic risk and support the health and safety and wellness of their employees. Companies can do more to aid their employees who endure domestic violence, to train those who witness it, and to protect staff as a whole, with the goal of securing safety and mitigating financial loss. Spanning across 16 days from 25th November to 10th December, a theme will be identified each day to explore the various forms of domestic violence. In doing so, the workplace will be better equipped to acknowledge the signs that indicate it may be going on.
We need your support to raise enough funds to get our Mobile Hub on the road
enabling us & other partners to bring information and support to rural areas on
numerous helpful services.
Click Here to Support our Mobile Hub Project by buying
East Herts Lottery Tickets.
Join us on Facebook and Twitter and we can share your information, stories and events.
We have a new Facebook Page Click on the icon to follow our page where we share information from our partners, other organisations and charities all over Hertfordshire.
We also are back on Twitter, all our old friends are still there, why not join them? Just click the icon. andInstagramis a work in progress
CDA Herts Services available to communities in Hertfordshire
Community Garden St Albans - Plots available
Village Halls Advisory Service - part of the ACRE network
Rural Support Networks
Rural Issues Network
Rural Loneliness Forum
Digital Inclusion Project
Farmers' Cafes
Rural Affordable Housing Needs Assessments and Surveys
Village Connectors Project
HMP The Mount Play Area
Jobs Pathway
BAME Covid Recovery Project
Community Energy Network
Management Health Checks
Health & Safety Training, Audit and Risk Assessment
Health & Wellbeing advocacy
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CDA Herts does not endorse nor recommend any services or products featured in the eBulletin and accepts no liability for any unforeseen circumstances arising.
