An appeal to continue funding a children and families community worker in Great Glen has been given a boost by Ashberry Homes.
The housebuilder, which is building new homes at Horwood Gardens in nearby Oadby, donated £250 to Great Glen Parochial Church Council (PCC) which will go towards the cost of employing its dedicated support worker, Linda Harwood, for a second year.
The PCC supports over 300 children in the village, with its services including Sparklers, a pre-schoolers and carers group held on Monday mornings in term time at St Cuthbert’s Church, a fortnightly assembly and weekly lunch club at St Cuthbert’s CofE Primary School, and a youth club on alternate Fridays at the Great Glen Methodist Church Hall.
Edward Brooks, the PCC’s fundraising coordinator, said: “The PCC made a bold decision in 2021 to restart most face-to-face activities that were lost during the lockdown.
“We decided to hire Linda as a dedicated child support worker and raised £12,000 with the help of local people and businesses, and we are now hopeful of extending the work that she does into 2023, and as such have begun fundraising for a further £16,000, raising almost £10,000 of our target so far.
“By offering services such as our pre-school group and school lunch club, we can provide children with the opportunity to get involved in meaningful activities from an early age, and at the same time instil good values and morals in a fun and easy way.
“Our fortnightly youth club on Fridays at the Great Glen Methodist Church hall is already incredibly well attended, and we expect this to become even more popular as the nights close in.
“Having lived in Great Glen for over 30 years, I have seen a lot of new housing developments created in and around the village. With these new homes come new people and new families, and we have seen a huge uptake in those visiting our church and clubs from those living in these new developments in the area.
“This donation is sizeable and will make a huge impact on helping us meet our fundraising targets for the year, as we develop further plans to expand the services we offer to people in the area. We are currently evaluating the possibility to introduce a Baby and Bump Club, which will allow young mothers to meet together while offering the services of a trained Health Visitor to support them on their journeys.
“As a group, our primary motivation is to support local people in any way we can. We are therefore extremely thankful to Ashberry Homes for this generous donation, which will help us to continue to provide these services for people in the village into the future.”
Shirley Macleod, Sales Manager for Ashberry Homes, said: “We are pleased to be supporting Great Glen PCC’s fundraising efforts to provide a support worker for another year, offering invaluable services for children and families in the village.
“We would like to wish the group all the very best with their appeal and hope that they can continue to go from strength to strength providing support for people in Great Glen.”
For more information about Ashberry Homes’ Horwood Gardens development, visit https://www.ashberryhomes.co.uk/new-homes/south-midlands/horwood-gardens, or call the sales team on 0116 490 0340.