In July 2020, local charity St John’s Foundation joined forces with Feeding Britain and Bath & North East Somerset Council to launch a £30,000 fund to ensure no child in Bath and the surrounding area went hungry during the summer holiday.
Every child deserves to eat nutritious food and be protected from hunger. However, despite the Government’s recent and welcomed U-turn on free school meals during the summer holidays, there are many organisations working with hungry children in Bath & North East Somerset who still require urgent financial support. We hope this new fund will enable their vital work to continue, both over the summer and in the long-term.
David Hobdey, CEO – St John’s Foundation
The Holiday Food Grant Programme was jointly funded by Feeding Britain and St John’s Foundation and orchestrated by Bath & North East Somerset Council, as part of their Food Poverty Steering Group. Each grant enabled charities and statutory services in Bath and North East Somerset to deliver support to families with children at risk of hunger and malnutrition.
Councillor Rob Appleyard, Bath & North East Somerset Council’s cabinet member for Adult Services, Safeguarding and Public Health, explained why this new fund comes at a critical time for local families. He said:
We know that use of local food banks across B&NES was rising year on year prior to the coronavirus pandemic and since lockdown even more people have become financially vulnerable. As a result, we have seen a significant rise in demand for emergency food aid locally and know that this need is likely to continue for some time. Our partnership with St John’s and Feeding Britain will help local families access the support they need right now, as well as developing longer term solutions to tackling food insecurity.
A core aim of the Holiday Food Grant Programme was to create lasting change across Bath & North East Somerset, so that in the future all families can afford and have access to, a healthy diet. To reach their goal, the funders supported projects that not only help hungry children over the summer months, but also aimed to reduce the risk of food poverty and insecurity in the future. Andrew Forsey, National Director of Feeding Britain, highlighted why this long-term approach is crucial to tackling this issue,
Families across the UK have found themselves in an impossible situation due to Covid-19, however the detrimental impact of this crisis will be felt for a long time to come. This is why it is incredibly important that we complement our emergency response with sustainable solutions. By funding projects that are taking a long-term view, we will help to protect children and their families from hunger both now and in the future.
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Monday 22nd June sees local charity, St John’s Foundation, launch At Home with St John’s – a brand new online activities programme for over 55s in Bath and North East Somerset. Designed to ensure that its fabulous suite of activities can continue despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the charity is offering the first week of classes completely free of charge.
We are really excited to be launching At Home with St John’s, and we would love to see as many people as possible join us for our first week and get a flavour of what’s on offer.
Having to suspend our regular programme due to Covid-19 has meant that our regular attendees have had to miss out on their weekly social groups, but it’s great to be able to continue with a virtual activity programme.
Ricky Bush, Community Outreach Service Manager, St John’s Foundation
The At Home with St John’s weekly timetable includes a variety of classes ranging from Tai Chi to cook-a-longs to learning to play the ukulele! All of the sessions are designed to give participants the opportunity to learn new skills, enjoy mental and physical health benefits and, importantly, be able to ‘meet up’ with both old acquaintances and new, like-minded people, courtesy of the internet.
Jayne Howse, Community Outreach Service Officer, highlighted one of the special benefits they hope At Home with St John’s will offer:
Pre-Covid, many of our attendees became firm friends and forged strong relationships through attending our classes – these same relationships have proved vital lifelines during lockdown. Our hope is that At Home with St John’s will give more people the chance to develop new friendships and feel far less isolated.
St John’s Foundation has been delivering activities for the over 55s for the past five years, and as Community Outreach Service Officer, Sam Norris, explained, the team hopes this new online programme will become a permanent fixture of their service, alongside their regular programme when guidance allows them to safely reinstate it:
An online programme is instantly accessible, and this is incredibly important for a community adjusting to life with Covid-19, particularly for people who are unable to travel due to, for example, transport or health issues.
We know it may be some time before we can resume activities within our hubs, so while our current At Home with St John’s timetable offers a class at 10am and 2pm each weekday, our goal is to add even more classes as we move forward.
To ensure as many participants as possible can enjoy the new classes on offer, St John’s has teamed up with Connecting Generations, who will provide step-by-step guidance for anyone new to Zoom (the online platform for accessing the service).
The free classes will run from Monday 22nd June – Friday 26th June, after which they will cost £3.50 each -which simply covers the cost of the tutors. To find out more about the new timetable or to book your free class, please visit https://stjohnsbath.org.uk/what-we-do/activities/
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Although we continue to find ourselves in unparalleled and unprecedented times, we are constantly reminded and inspired by the strength and compassion of our local community.
In our special newsletter ‘Staying home, saving lives’ you will find heart-warming examples from St John’s and across Bath & North East Somerset that show how, even in the worst of times, humankind comes together to help one another.
At the heart of our city, St John’s has responded to the Covid-19 crisis by transforming core services. From our new remote activities programme, adapting our individual funding criteria, to our befriending service for residents, we are doing everything we can to ensure the most vulnerable in our community receive the support they need during this challenging time.
We are of course not alone in our approach. Over the last few months, local organisations, businesses, residents and volunteers have been working tirelessly to unite, sustain, offer help, hope and guidance.
Please click here to view our ‘Staying home, saving lives’ newsletter.
We hope you enjoy reading some much needed good news from across our local community.
Stay safe and we look forward to seeing you soon.
“It is so refreshing to reflect that one of the best things to come out of the COVID-19 crisis is a renewed strengthening of connection and community. Standing on the kerb outside my house at 8pm every Thursday, the burst of sound from applause and pots clanging in support of our amazing NHS, care and other essential workers brings a lump to my throat. It creates a powerful sense of solidarity from households all around, but which are otherwise living in isolation from each other and provides a reminder that we are standing together to get through the challenges of the current crisis.
Sometimes the acts of kindness may seem small and, yet, make an overwhelming difference to the recipient who is reminded they are appreciated and not forgotten.”
David Hobdey, Chief Executive Officer
To support our residents during this challenging and potentially isolating time, staff at St John’s have been going the extra mile to make sure that our residents have access to everything they need, such as medicines and food and that no-one feels isolated or lonely.
In addition to our Independent Living Service operating its usual 24-hour care system (in line with government guidance on PPE and social distancing), members of the wider workforce have also been offering their time to volunteer for our residents:
We now have a group of staff who are making regular food-shopping trips, armed with residents’ lists and collecting prescriptions.
Community Outreach Manager, Ricky Bush, returning with a resident’s shopping
We have also introduced a befriending service, where staff make daily phone calls to residents who have opted to receive them. Self-isolating shouldn’t mean that you have to feel isolated and, given many of our residents do live alone, the daily phone calls provide a conversation, where they may have had no other interaction that day.
We are all feeling extremely fortunate to be able to offer this kind of support for our resident, and their gratitude shines through.
One of our residents is, sadly, suffering from Motor Neuron Disease and, due to his condition, is left unable to speak. Cindy, our Team Leader for the Independent Living Service, and other members of our service, have been visiting him regularly during this difficult time to ensure that he is ok.
On one of Cindy’s frequent visits; she asked whether she could do anything for him and he put his thumbs up to indicate that he was ok and didn’t need anything.
Cindy began to walk away, and the resident stood at his door and started clapping loudly for her, a non-verbal sign of his in appreciation for her kindness and hard work.
Chapel Court residents standing out to thank NHS & St John’s staff
Care and support can come in many different forms; like so many others during this difficult time, our residents are missing the positivity that comes from engaging with social groups, taking part in our Community Outreach Activities and accessing local community services.
Whist we have put measures in place to ensure our residents remain well, active and busy whilst isolating at home, we also felt it was important that they should have the opportunity to enjoy their traditional Easter Sunday Service, even if not at The Chapel of St Michael’s Within.
Many of you will have seen, ‘The Portobello Priest’ (Pat Allerton) trending online for offering portable Church Services in London. Our very own Chaplain, Jacky Wise, decided to follow in his footsteps and bring some joy to our almshouse residents by performing an Easter Sunday Service within the grounds of our two sites at Combe Park and Chapel Court.
Reverend Jacky Wise performing an Easter Sunday Service at Combe Park
View the short video on our website, here.
As you can see, the residents very much enjoyed taking part and having a sing-along.
During this time of lock-down our Chaplaincy team, despite the closure of the chapels, has been working to provide services for our residents, visitors and the wider community.
A prayer from the churches of Bath
Each Sunday we have been offering a pre-recorded service of worship via the website and services have also been available via Zoom. Our Chaplain, Reverend Jacky Wise, has been posting a virtual weekly service online, as well as leading outside celebrations on Easter Sunday (while adhering to strict social distancing rules, of course).
Reverend David Protheroe, who leads the congregation at Magdalen Chapel in Holloway, has also been holding regular services via Zoom.
If you would like to follow our Sunday worship, please click on Videos tab at the top of the page for the latest recording, other services in retrospect and also to see the Easter celebration from our Combe Park site.
Breathe & Begin is being offered via Facebook Live, Monday to Thursday at 8.30. The twenty minute session takes you through focused and mindful breathing in order to start the day calmly, and each day we close with an encouraging message and thought.
Do find us on Facebook and join the Breathe & Begin group to follow along each morning.
The Chaplaincy Team at St John’s; Jacky, David and Richard, are holding us all in prayer and send their blessings to you at this difficult time.
In light of recent events relating to the spread of Coronavirus, we wish to reassure the public we are following and adhering to the latest advice from Public Health England (PHE), the Government and BaNES Council to reduce the risk to our employees and the community of residents we support.
Following last night’s address by the Prime Minister, as of 17 March 2020, we have invoked our Business Continuity Programme:
- From this point onwards, all our office-based staff will work remotely, from home.
- Our Independent Living Assistants will continue to deliver a fully compliant service, providing personal and domiciliary support to our residents within their almshouse accommodation.
- Our Individual Funding Support Programme will continue to operate, however all Community Outreach Activities have been suspended until further notice.
- Our maintenance team is continuing to provide services at our almshouse sites.
- In keeping with government advice, any staff members working on site who present with a cough or temperature will have to self-isolate for 14 days.
- Our almshouse residents are asked to follow government guidelines with regard to self isolation and we ask that visitors only come to St John’s if absolutely necessary.
- All external meetings / events have either been postponed or re-arranged to take place by video conferencing.
We are monitoring the situation on a daily basis and will post regular updates as they arise.
Thank you for your understanding and support.
If you require any further assistance, please call 01225 486400.
What is a Dementia Friends training session?
Delivered by Dementia Friends, these engaging information sessions aim to make people more aware of the nature of dementia and the challenges faced by those living with the condition and their carers.
This is an accessible course that is suitable for anyone hoping to develop a greater understanding to help others.
Friends Information Sessions are run by Dementia Friends Champions to help you understand what it’s like to live with dementia and the actions you can take.
The information session will lasts for just over an hour and afterwards all attendees will be able to declare themselves a ‘Dementia Friend’.
The Dementia Friends programme is the biggest ever initiative to change people’s perceptions of dementia. It aims to transform the way the nation thinks, acts and talks about the condition.
Dementia Friends is about learning more about dementia and the small ways you can help. From telling friends about Dementia Friends to visiting someone you know living with dementia, every action counts.
When can I attend a Dementia Friends session?
The following Dementia Friends sessions will be taking place at St John’s Foundation and can be booked through the Wellbeing College by clicking below:
Full address for sessions – St John’s Foundation, 4/5 Chapel Court, Bath, BA1 1SQ
For more info or to discuss, contact Ricky Bush at St John’s Foundation on 01225 486453
St John’s Foundation has unveiled a ten-year strategy which will see it spending £30 million to support vulnerable children under the age of 12.
Last week, St John’s gathered over 300 guests at the Guildhall in Bath to unveil details of our new strategy.
Pledging to commit £30 million to support vulnerable children, the strategy heralds a radical shift in St John’s Organisation Funding Support Programme.
Before getting to the nub of St John’s bold future plans, Chair of Trustees, Ben Fletcher, first reflected on the history of St John’s and how the thinking behind the new strategy came about.
He said:
We were founded 845 years ago in order to change lives for good. The almshouses, created at the charity’s inception and aimed at older adults, remain central to what we do as does our commitment to our Community Outreach activities for the over 55s.
However, we also acknowledge that our charity’s founding was a moment of determined, big-thinking intervention and we have taken our inspiration for the next phase of St John’s from that.
We have come to realise that we need to be thinking about how St John’s could best serve B&NES in a modern-day context.
Despite outward appearances, the B&NES region is one of the most unequal places in the country.
From one end to another the differences in literacy levels, life expectancy, unemployment and life chances are stark.
Referencing this marked inequality, Ben continued:
And so, as our current five-year plan drew to a close, we, the trustees challenged St John’s to plot a new course and think how we could best make the biggest difference to our community.
Taking up the challenge, Chief Executive David Hobdey explained to the audience how St John’s had worked with local and national partners to best understand where we needed to focus and to ensure that any plan produced was backed up with robust research, together with the charity’s own knowledge and experiences.
He said:
We know that there are over 8000 children in B&NES officially classed as living in poverty but we believe the real number to be so much higher when you include the children of the working poor.
And children from disadvantaged backgrounds are far less likely to meet age-related expectations, creating an ‘attainment gap’, where children who live in poverty will typically not do as well at school as their more affluent counterparts.
This gap only widens as the child gets older. This type of inequality is shocking, with B&NES having one of the widest attainment gaps in the UK.
Acknowledging that the reasons behind such issues are often complex, David went on to talk about our response to the problem:
Through the implementation of the Foundation Fund, our commitment is to invest over £30million over the next decade to ensure every child from birth to twelve years old is supported to grow into a healthy, happy and educated member of our community. This is our vision.
David reassured the audience that St John’s would be continuing to offer crucial support to people in crisis through our Individual Funding Programme and that this would not change.
Recognising the extraordinary work of many of the organisations represented in the room, Director Louise Harvey spoke of how the Foundation Fund would build a co-ordinated infrastructure across B&NES to support children from birth to 12 years old.
She said:
We recognise we have responsibility to use our resources in a way that can bring about transformational change over the next decade.
We will take a preventative approach while children are young enough to make a lasting difference. We intend to make a generational change.
We are seeing families struggling to put food on the table and provide a nurturing environment for their children.
On a daily basis we witness families whose standard of living falls far short of what we in this rooms would accept for ourselves or our children. This is unacceptable.
We will ensure every child has access to nutritious food, professional emotional and behavioural support, extra support with reading, writing, oracy and maths and a safe space outside of school hours.
We will build on and enhance the current work already being delivered in these areas and support the dedicated professionals in their field.
Rounding off the presentation, Louise left the audience with a quote from Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are”.
And for the next decade, that’s exactly what the Foundation Fund will be doing.
Nominations are now open for the ‘Young Stars Awards’, a celebration of extraordinary young people from across Bath & North East Somerset, which will be held at The Apex Hotel on Saturday 2nd May.
The inaugural event took place in March last year and was such a success that organisers, Tim and Toni Warren, knew it could not be a one-off event. This year’s sparkling red-carpet Awards will be hosted by St John’s, who is inviting friends, family members, teachers, charities and community groups to nominate children who have displayed selfless and courageous acts, so they may be recognised and treated like a star for a night.
Louise Harvey, Director at St John’s Foundation, said
We applaud Tim and Toni’s dedication to the Awards and the effort they put in to the event happen. St John’s is delighted to be hosting this now annual celebration and we look forward to giving our young finalists an evening they will never forget.
Nominations can be submitted online at stjohnsbath.org.uk/young-stars-awards/ until Friday 28th February, at which point the panel of judges will have the unenviable task of selecting three finalists from each of the six categories: Courage, Creativity, Kindness, Education, Sport and Unsung Hero.
All finalists will receive three complimentary tickets to the Awards Gala Dinner and gift vouchers to go towards the purchase of their red-carpet outfits.
Awards founder, Toni Warren, shared her experience of judging last year’s nominees:
When we created the Young Stars Awards we wanted to discover and recognise the incredible children and young people in Bath & North East Somerset who have achieved great things in the face of adversity or personal challenges, and last year we read over 70 heart-rending and humbling stories of the selfless and courageous acts by these very special young people.
It wasn’t easy to select finalists as they were all so deserving, but the experience demonstrated this was just the beginning of the Young Stars story.
The sparkling red-carpet event is open to Bath & North East Somerset residents, and tickets include a three-course meal, live entertainment and, most importantly, the opportunity to show support to Bath’s young stars and let them know just how brightly they shine.
To nominate your young star and/or to book your tickets to the Awards on Saturday 2nd May, please visit stjohnsbath.org.uk/young-stars-awards/ or contact us on 01225 486400. Nominations close on Friday 28th February and finalists will be announced in March. Please follow #YoungStars2020 on social media for the latest news.
Behind the beautiful Georgian facade of Bath and the stunning surrounds of Bath and North East Somerset, homelessness – or the threat of it – is a problem facing a growing number of people.
There are over 4,000 on social housing waiting lists in the region and house prices are 14 times average earnings.
The issues go far deeper than the number of street homeless. There are countless individuals sofa-surfing, families housed in B&Bs and others in unsuitable temporary accommodation.
But, there is help available. This film, commissioned by St John’s and created by Meaningful Films, shows the realities of homelessness and the incredible work that is being done by local organisations to help. We witness first-hand the difference that support staff and volunteers make to those struggling to keep a roof over their head.
Meet the filmmakers and the organisations involved at the pre-screening networking event and get involved in the Q&A afterwards.
We would be delighted if you would join us for the premiere of the film at Komedia on Wednesday 13th November.
Doors open at 5:30pm for pre-screening networking.
Film starts at 6:30pm.
Q&A at 7pm.
You can watch the trailer for the film here.
A limited number of tickets are now available. To book, please email communications@stjohnsbath.org.uk.
