Hot Square Meal Project

On Wednesday, 25th March, the Big Local sent members of the Partnership an email asking how they could invest some of their money as a way to help out the community in this difficult time. Within a few hours they had come up with a project idea to provide hot square meals to people in need, using a local café for the food and local volunteers to deliver it.

28 local people were helped directly with 740 meals cooked and delivered over 9 weeks. These were provided by 8 volunteers, who provided a combined amount of around 135 hours of time.

By sourcing the food from Riverbank Café in Radstock, Big Local helped a local business stay open and provide employment to their members of staff (owner Shane Kitchen also generously provided free meals to others who didn’t quite qualify for the service). Many of the people helped were elderly, disabled or ill with very limited support from others. Because they were unable to get out of the house and supermarket delivery slots were extremely difficult to get hold of, they were struggling to make a healthy meal. The project helped them enormously in a time of extreme stress.

One elderly person who had recently had a minor heart attack and was also in the process of recovering from a broken hip described the meals as “a real lifesaver” and gave the utmost thanks to the “incredibly friendly volunteers and to Riverbank café for such healthy food”.

Another person helped was a single parent with mental health issues, whose extreme anxiety about Covid was preventing them from going out, and delivery slots were impossible to get. The meals helped them feel like they were still connected to the community and that people cared about them. The young child, who is a very fussy eater, absolutely loved the meals and it has encouraged them to eat a much wider variety of food! (Good work Riverbank Café for making such tasty meals). All the people who received the meals have expressed their gratitude for the service and in their own ways have stressed how important it has been for them not just for their physical health but also their mental health – feeling connected and cared for by the community.

A massive thank you goes to the generosity of the volunteers who made this possible and helped create a community of care when it was most needed – John Bull, Sue Hill, Robin Moss, Emily Merko, Vince Cox, Carmen Goodwin, Sally Carmac-Bailey & Anthony Dutton. Thanks also goes to Shane Kitchen of Riverbank Café for agreeing to work with Big Local and providing quality, healthy meals for the community. Another big thank you goes to Janine Woodward-Grant from the Carers’ Centre, who spent a long time advising on the practicalities and carrying out the due diligence on the project proposal, making sure they would meet the requirements. The project has now ended because people are able to get to the shops or receive deliveries again, but if the situation happens again the Big Local are prepared! If you want to learn more about what Radstock & Westfield Big Local do and how you can join please check out the facebook page: www.facebook.com/ BLRadstockWestfield or website: www.radstockwestfield.org.uk

Since there has been a huge increase in visits to religious websites and a demand for places of peace and tranquillity for meditation, the churches have made an effort to open the buildings, with proper precautions, for meditation and prayer.

Radstock Baptist Church, Wells Hill, has been meeting live online via ‘Google Meet’ for their weekly 10.30am services and midweek homegroup. The church is now open for private prayer Mondays and Wednesdays, 9am – 12 noon. Online services will continue until the new guidelines are fully understood and correct safety precautions put in place. The Jigsaw Toddler group and Boys' Brigade restarting dates are not yet confirmed at the time of writing. St Benedict’s Church, Stratton-on-the-Fosse has been open for private prayer twice a day for an hour each time. They hope to continue with that although they might reduce some sessions. There will be Mass in the Abbey church 4.30 pm Saturdays and 11.00am on Sundays and restrictions on numbers and social distancing will be in place. St Nicholas Church, Radstock is now open for a weekly service on Sundays at 9.30am and St Peter & St Paul’s, Kilmersdon will be open every Sunday for worship at 11.15am. Revd David Izzard said: "All services will be conducted in accordance with the national guidelines and although things will be different for a time it’s good to be back in God’s house worshipping together, even though we are spatially separated!" St Peter's Church, Westfield is not reopening for Prayer or Services until early Autumn, if things continue to look positive. They will continue the online service for the foreseeable future and maybe beyond. Services can be accessed via St Peter's Westfield Facebook page at 9.55am each Sunday. “We have had a far larger attendance each week than we have on a normal Sunday in our building and we have had some good conversations with people who have started to watch.” said Revd Ian Rousell

Finally, Revd Martin Slocombe at Westfield Methodist Church and Radstock Methodist is planning to resume services on 6th September with a united celebration service of the Churches' Anniversary. It is anticipated that they will reopen on 6th at Radstock and 13th Sept at Westfield, then alternating weeks, for 3 months. This is, of course, subject to establishing the necessary social distancing and cleaning regimes. He said: "It seems very appropriate that we should restart public worship when we are also celebrating the anniversary of the church. Services may be a bit different, but that is a good thing, and might challenge and encourage us. "We extend a warm welcome to anyone who has found their faith deepened during ‘lockdown’ by using virtual material, and would now like to join an actual Christian fellowship."

We are a smaller than average school and pride ourselves on our caring approach and our ability to meet every child’s needs, helping them develop and ensure they reach their full potential, whilst growing in the love of Christ. We welcome children of all faiths. We also offer wrap-around care as well as an independent on-site Nursery. www.stbenedicts.info

Prattens Bowls Club is a small friendly club on Charlton Lane and draws members from Westfield and Midsomer Norton as well as from surrounding villages.

The club were due to hold their pre-season meeting on the 21st March, however this was cancelled due to lockdown. This is the meeting where members sign up for the season and pay their membership fees. Sadly, at the end of March, the equipment store at the club was broken into and a mower and strimmer were stolen. The padlock was replaced, however, thieves came back and stole empty fuel cans which they siphoned fuel from the motor for the pump used to water the green. This year was the club's 90th anniversary and it had been arranged for the Somerset Patrons to send a 5 rink team on the 5th June. This was unfortunately cancelled. Many other events had to also be cancelled including Somerset Bowls county wide Open Day and many social events.

As all league and cup matches were also cancelled, the lack of games meant that the club lost income from rink fees and the clubhouse.

In spite of them not having games to play, 35 of the members paid their membership fees to help the club keep afloat and they were able to obtain a small grant from Sport England to assist with some of the projects that needed to be done around the club.

Sam Chivers Estate Agents sponsored new club shirts and one of the members organised a plant sale with the proceeds going to the club. Since lockdown has been eased, some of the Prattens members have been practicing at the grounds. This has been done while strictly adhering to government guidelines and following the guidelines set out by Bowls England. There have, so far, been 15 members taking advantage of this. The club is looking to arrange a pairs competition to be held on a single day to enable some competitive bowls to be played while still meeting the government and Bowls England guidelines. They are also in discussion with Somerset Patrons to visit them next year instead. Prattens Bowls Club are pleased to report that, from what originally looked a dire situation, they are now confident that the club will be still be around to welcome all past members (and any new ones who are interested) next season. Naturally, if anyone wishes to join for this season (just to help them out) or would like to assist the club financially then contact details are on www.prattensbowlsclub.com

Volunteer gardeners have been allowed back at Midsomer Norton Station under a strict Covid-19 protocol which specifies social distancing, hand washing and keeping to certain areas.

The gardeners have started by grass cutting and clearing some of the obvious overgrowth of plant life but have been pleased to see the wild flowers and insects in the meadow area. Clearing and strimming up the line has also started.

There is a good and accessible footpath alongside the line outside the boundary fence where walkers are welcomed. Wild flowers including Orchids, Bramble roses, Elder Flowers and Campion can be seen growing alongside the line. Although there are no trains running, the Trust wants to make it clear that train lines and stations can be dangerous places and warn people not to go through barrier fences and on to the line. The rails themselves can act as trip hazards and there are many other pieces of equipment that can be hazardous. Other volunteers will gradually be allowed back distance working but it is unlikely that events with trains running will be possible until after the end of the year. The borders of flowering plants, however, can be seen from the road and the volunteers will be working hard to make them look as pretty as possible. There is a new website where the Trust are adding news items, photos and information about the railway. www.sdjr.co.uk Somerset and Dorset branded merchandise and other railway related products can be bought from the retail section. www.sdjr.co.uk/station-shop The Somerset and Dorset Railway Trust will be very pleased to welcome visitors back as soon as the Government allows. Meanwhile take a look at our Facebook site www.facebook.com/ somersetanddorsetrailway

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