Swanmore Care Group
Swanmore Voluntary Care Group & Lunch Club
The Care Group exists to provide support to members of Swanmore village who are in need because of the consequences of disability, including that brought about by advancing age, illness, bereavement or loneliness.
There are two main focuses: Transport to hospital or doctors' surgeries and a weekly Lunch Club
The Care Group is a voluntary, not for profit, organisation and always welcomes anyone who would like to help in any way - please click here for more information.
Transport
If you need help getting to or from a hospital, doctors surgery or any similar medical need, call us. We will do our best to provide transport.
To arrange transport call one of our co-ordinators:
Barry Rowe 01489 894521 or Alison Gurry 01489 895188
The co-ordinator will ring round our list of volunteer drivers and find someone to help you. We try and share the support between our drivers and are always looking for anyone who would care to volunteer to do an occasional bit of driving help. For more information see the Help section below
The transport is provided free of charge, but we welcome donations as suggested below to cover the costs that we pay our drivers.
Luncheon Club
The Lunch Club aims to provide a lunch each week to be attended by elderly members of the parish. Between 20 and 30 older people meet every Wednesday in the Paterson Centre (which has wheelchair access) and are served a two course lunch plus tea and coffee. Transport can be provided to and from houses. We have some excellent cooks who choose a varied menu and volunteers to help at table and chat, plus a raffle.
Some people who come have lived in the parish all their lives, others more recently. Some are able to get about and enjoy the weekly meeting, whilst for some it is the only time they get out of their house each week. We make a small charge, currently £5, for the meal.
If you would like to attend, or know of someone who might benefit, please contact Dennis Wheeler 07490 676710.
If anyone is unable to attend, eg due to illness, please call Pam Manson on 01489 892374 so that the cooks know how many lunches to prepare. If any of the helpers has a problem with their rota of shifts, please call Ann Warrington on 01329 510667.
We are always looking for volunteers to assist and run a rota so that you only need help as much as you can, rather than each week - for more information see the Help section below.
We are delighted to have been given a grant by Hampshire County Council Valuing Hampshire Communities Fund. It has been especially useful to help with the costs of moving to the Paterson Centre and the new equipment required.
Help
We would welcome any offers of help. The whole small organisation is made up of volunteers from the village. If you could help with occasional driving, either for the hospital transport or lunch club, it would assist us greatly. Some people donate their costs, but we are happy to pay a mileage fee to cover the expense and can provide cards giving free parking at the various hospitals.
Equally, if you could help with the serving or washing up or anything else at the lunch club, that would be a help. And last, but not least, we would welcome applicants to the small committee who handle the administration.
Please contact Dennis Wheeler 07490 676710 or email dennis.123.wheeler@gmail.com
We are delighted that we have been supported by a grant from Winchester City Council
