News – September 2023

As the new term starts, we continue to organise and fund English classes which are well attended both at St Robert’s Club and at Chain Lane and we are grateful to our excellent, caring teachers.

Much of what we do goes on “behind the scenes”. We deal regularly with an ongoing variety of issues faced byindividual families. Recently these have included such things as helping with school transport issues; financial assistance in specific cases; help for an asylum seeker; provision of essential items etc.

We liaise with NYC and with the Refugee Council and three new households have recently arrived in the district, having moved from accommodation in Catterick. We now have 30 resettlement families in the area.

HDoS trustees and members  give talks to various groups and this serves to raise awareness about HDS and also brings in donations. Do please let us know if you are a member of an organisation that might appreciate a speaker from HDS.

Thanks to successful grant applications to various bodies, weare able to fund most of our projects, but additional revenue is always welcome and put to good use.

RESETTLEMENT FAMILIES

At the end of July we held a very successful picnic at Conyngham Hall for the resettlement families. The weather was relatively kind to us and everyone seemed to thoroughly enjoy themselves. The venue was perfect, with plenty of activities available for children and adults. Attendance from Harrogate and Knaresborough was good and we were also pleased to welcome some families from Skipton.

UKRAINIANS

We have partially funded a series of excursions for the Ukrainians over the summer – trips to Whitby, Fountains Abbey, Thorp Perrow and Forbidden Corner. All were well attended and thoroughly enjoyed in spite of some dodgy weather on occasions.

The Monday evening drop-in at the Acorn Centre resumed at the beginning of September. This is well attended each week and we are visited regularly by Adam Nicholas, the  NYCCitizens’ Advice Support Worker for those here under the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Adam provides help and advice on many issues.

HELP NEEDED! We would welcome some extra volunteers at the drop-in, to  make tea and coffee and to be hospitable. If you could spare the time to help on an occasional basis –  Mondays 7.00 to 8.30pm – please contact me on [email protected].