Harriet's Story

Tale of Extraordinary Service to Our Community ….. Under Real Threat

My name is Harriet Green, a Global Founder & Philanthropist, living in Gressenhall Norfolk, who became involved with the Dereham Meeting Point only last year, when Shonette Mooney the Centres wonderfully gifted manager asked me to help her team raise money for a mini bus with disabled capabilities to collect folks from local villages to spend the day at the CentreTo understand more Shonette invited me to spend the day at the centre and I was quite simply blown away! It’s not just the what of the extraordinary service to the community that is so amazing :-

• 1000’s of people over two decades have been treated to great food, care and activities such as Memory Workshops, Dancing, Band Practise, Story Telling, Massage and so much more

And it’s not just the What, it’s the Amazing HOW the Centre Enriches Lives

Happy well trained carers, lovely staff, brilliant cooks, a fun yet careful & action packed environment, interesting, mind and body helping activities that create sheer joy for the lonely, the elderly and those with varying forms of brain disease including dementia, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s. The Centre is also is a god send for the families of those who join daily. So superb is the Centre at supporting the visitors, that they don’t need to use as many other services in the County, relying much less on hospitals, dementia units, mental health hot lines and care homes. The Dereham Meeting Point is a Norfolk Treasure in my humble opinion. It won’t surprise you to know we raised the funds for Sally the Happy Bus and many more folks from communities around Dereham, including Gressenhall, Longham, Beetley & Wendling, now come to the centre and we started the year full of joy and positivity.

This amazing Centre that is open to all, 5 days a week, fund raises and receives a few grants from a number of incredible organisations and individuals concerned with the wellbeing and longevity of the elderly and unwell BUT …. the largest grant of £30k a year has suddenly been taken away from the Centre by Norfolk County Council with pretty immediate affect starting in a the reasons given by NCC seem to lie with a £26M deficit perhaps because of overruns on other programs and projects like for example the Keep Museum in Norwich which will cost an estimated £36M running £8M over budget. So what can we do, to prevent the Centre from closing in a matter of months! This can not happen, it affects the lives of so so many

1. Try to convince Norfolk Council to provide some ongoing support and funds – so far after many meetings, no movement from the council and we will plead our case again on February 18th at the Norfolk County Council Offices if you’d like to join us?

2. Raise funds from other bodies and individuals, we have set a target of £100K.

3. Start charging more for the services we give, which is already underway.

We’d love to get your views and help if possible – funds are critical at this time to stop the centre from closing. Please contact Shonette on 01362 698866.

Warmest – Harriet