Author: Richard Corby

New Family Fun and Friendship group comes to Saffron Walden

Home-Start Essex are launching a new, free to join fun and friendship group this September, supporting local families and helping to reduce isolation

Home-Start Essex are launching a new, free to join fun and friendship group this September, supporting local families and helping to reduce isolation

The group runs for 12 weeks during term time. Every Tuesday 10-11.30am.

There is no criteria to be able to attend, all of the services provided are FREE of charge. Families will also receive lots of free resources and will be invited to attend the free Christmas party!

  • Reduce Isolation
  • Make New Friends
  • Meet Other Parents with Children
  • Support available from a friendly staff team

Where: Salvation Army Hall, Abbey Lane, Saffron Walden, CB10 1AG

When: Every Tuesday during term time between 10.00 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. starting from September

To find out more and how to join, go to the Home-Start Essex website www.home-startessex.org.uk

or call 01245 847410

Host a MacMillan Coffee Morning in September

Each September people all over the UK host their own Coffee Morning and donations raised on the day are made to Macmillan

Macmillan’s Coffee Morning is their biggest fundraising event to support people living with cancer

People all over the UK host their own Coffee Morning and donations raised on the day are made to Macmillan

A Coffee Morning can be whatever you want it to be. It could be at home, on your driveway, a hall or online, whatever suits you best. You can hold a garden get together and throw a barbeque, or treat your colleagues to some homemade bakes, or even get together with friends for a takeaway.

In 2021, MacMillan raised over £11 million and hope to top that this year.

For more information on hosting a coffee morning for MacMillan visit:

https://coffee.macmillan.org.uk/hosting/how-to-host/

Reduced food waste with Too Good to Go!

Too Good To Go is now available in all East of England Co-op Food stores, making it the biggest grocery retailer to be on the app in the region.

Did you know that the UK bins 20 million slices of bread a day? What a waste!

The Too Good To Go app lets you buy and collect ‘Magic Bags’ of unsold food – at a great price – so it gets eaten instead of wasted.

Download the app to help stop food waste: http://ow.ly/7ozS50KnUyg

Struggling to pay your bills? Help is available from Citizens Advice

Uttlesford Citizens Advice has friendly advisers ready to offer advice and support which is always free and completely confidential.

There is help available if you are struggling to pay your bills.

Uttlesford Citizens Advice has friendly advisers ready to offer advice and support which is always free and completely confidential.

Email: help@uttlesfordca.org.uk

or call: 01799 618840

https://www.uttlesfordca.org.uk/…/help-available-if…/

TouchPoint Community Cafe

The community cafe in Stansted will be open again on Thursday 25th August. Come along for relaxed chat, tea, coffee and friendship

The community cafe in Stansted will be open again on Thursday 25th August. Come along for relaxed chat, tea, coffee and friendship

Your first tea or coffee is free, and there is a lovely selection of homemade cakes available to buy.
Hot food is served from 12.30pm-2.30pm. Please email book@thetouchpoint.org or call 07572 114882 to reserve your meal.

If you’re new to the café, why not ask to join one of the chatty tables? These tables have people who are happy to talk and meet new people, just let us know when you order and you can start to get to know each other!


The team can help you to get in touch with the Uttlesford Citizens Advice team if you need support, and there are two community laptops and a private space you can use if you need to fill out forms, apply for jobs or even to make a Zoom call to a loved one.

Thursday 25th August 2022 11 a.m. to 5.00 p.m.

Crafton Green, Chapel Hill, Stansted Mountfitchet, CM24 8AQ

CraftAbility Thaxted need your help and support

CraftAbility are keen to meet people that are interested in supporting their work. This could be to help manage, to assist in the day-to-day administration and organisation; or to help mould the future of the centre as a trustee.

CraftAbility (previously known as Thaxted Disabled Centre) are looking for new volunteers and members

Right now they are keen to meet people that are interested in supporting their work. This could be to help manage, to assist in the day-to-day administration and organisation; or to help mould the future of the centre as a trustee.

To find out more about the part you can play in the continuing success of this much-valued local service email craftabilitythaxted@gmail.com or telephone 01371 830752

Police and Crime Plan. Do you feel safe in Uttlesford?

If you know of a public place in Uttlesford that makes you feel unsafe, you can have your say through the Home Office’s StreetSafe website.

Investing in activities and initiatives that prevent crime from happening in the first place and keeping communities safe, are key priorities in Roger Hirst’s Police and Crime Plan

If you know of a public place in Uttlesford that makes you feel unsafe, you can have your say through the Home Office’s StreetSafe website.

The data received will go to councils and the police, meaning they can work together on the best solutions for issues in Essex. From this, councils can review whether the area needs more streetlights or CCTV, or local officers can look at patrol plans and target hotspots.

Have a say here: https://www.police.uk/pu/notices/streetsafe/street-safe/

WECAN Bereavement Support

Do you feel like you are struggling to come to terms with loss? Do you want support to process your feelings around grief? Would you benefit from some extra support with day-to-day life?

Do you feel like you are struggling to come to terms with loss? Do you want support to process your feelings around grief? Would you benefit from some extra support with day-to-day life? WECAN Bereavement Support could help.

WECAN are offering free bereavement support to adults, children and young people in Epping Forest, Harlow and Uttlesford. We can provide local help, information and advice – whatever you need.

We provide a person centred, brief solution approach to supporting children, young people and adults who are experiencing grief and seeking some additional help.  

  • Early Days Support
  • Home/Living Support
  • 1-2-1 Adult Grief Coaching
  • 1-2-1 Child/Young Person Grief Support
  • Befriending and Community Signposting

For further information email bereavement@westessexcan.org or call 07967 726851

Your can also make a referral or submit a callback request using Frontline Referrals:

https://uttlesford.essexfrontline.org.uk/Library/ServiceDetail/62d5383c273a15ba2e95b812

Showcasing the very best in Assistive Technology

Support 4 Sight and partners would like to invite you to another of their award winning Zoom sessions showcasing the very best in Assistive Technology for people with sight loss

Support 4 Sight and partners would like to invite you to another of their award winning Zoom sessions showcasing the very best in Assistive Technology for people with sight loss

Sm@rt Technology’s systems of beacons and sensors use Bluetooth technology to enhance the lives of people with sight loss by giving them audible commands relating to their surroundings via a variety of sensors incorporated into the systems.

They can be alerted to objects that may pose a hazard and can be told what the object is so they are aware of the hazard. Also by using the Sm@rtVi app links to all kinds of technology can be achieved.

The session will go through several of their advanced technologies, including.

• SmartCane

• SmartWrist

• Smart Beacons

• Smart Toilet Beacon

• SmartCross Traffic light system

• SmartBus

• SmartApp VI

Smart Technology has many patents and designs continually improving the way a visually impaired person may experience their environment.

Thursday August 25th at 10.00 am, tell your friends and family!

Meeting details are as follows.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/4580437872

Zoom ID: 458 043 7872

For those without technology or the internet, you can join with your normal landline phone very easily, details below.

FOR THOSE ON LANDLINE PHONE

dial 0203 481 5237 and when asked put in the

Meeting ID: 458 043 7872

You might be asked to enter hash at the end also (bottom right button on phone dial).

The call may be charged at a local rate, however if like many people you have a free calls package it will probably be free, if in doubt please check with your phone provider.

Energy Rebate Exceptional Hardship Fund

Residents who qualified under the Council Tax Rebate scheme or the discretionary scheme will have already received their £150 payment or been contacted on how to claim it. What help is there for those that weren’t eligible?

Residents who qualified under the Council Tax Rebate scheme or the discretionary scheme will have already received their £150 payment or been contacted on how to claim it. What help is there for those that weren’t eligible?

If you did not qualify for either and are struggling to pay your bills, you may be eligible for the Energy Rebate Exceptional Hardship Scheme.

To qualify you must:

• Be the person liable for paying Council Tax at the property

• Have not already received an energy rebate on this or any other property

• The property must have been listed between bands E-H in the Council Tax valuation list in the Uttlesford area on the 1st April 2022

  • The application must be for your sole or main residence.

You have until 31 October 2022 to apply for the scheme.

To find our whether you are eligible, visit our website: www.uttlesford.gov.uk/energyrebate-ehf