General Profile

The profile of LEAF continues to grow within the town. A meeting was held in September where the work of LEAF was presented to an audience of over 100 people. Members of the town council were present and more importantly many of the services that we work alongside addressed the meeting and were very forthright in their praise for LEAF and its work. The school, the surgery along with other groups, sent senior representatives who spelt out the power of the work undertaken by employees and volunteers of LEAF. The meeting had a very high “feel good” factor and was a real testimony to what Tony and the team have been able to achieve in a relatively short space of time.

 

The local “success” of the work has garnered interest outside the immediate locality. Tony has been asked to meet up with the head of Children’s Services to see how a similar project can be rolled out elsewhere in the county, Leominster in the first instance. And in January the churches in Tewksbury have invited Tony and the LEAF team to talk to all the fellowships about the work we are doing here in Ledbury.

 

As we reported in our last newsletter LEAF has plans to take on the lease of St Katherines and these are progressing well. The draft documentation for this is now in the hands of solicitors. The availability of the building, and one so central within the town, will have a huge impact on the breadth of services that LEAF is able to provide. Most notably it provides an option to solve the issue of the youth work in the town as there is currently no premises where they can meet.

 

Physical Well-being

The key element in this strand is that of the Ledbury Debt Centre, a part of LEAF that works with CAP Malvern which continues to work with a significant number of families in the town. The administration for CAP in Ledbury was taken on by LEAF in August, we give thanks for the work that Denise and our Befrienders do to help families in Ledbury..

 

The new Knit and Crochet initiative is a burgeoning group of ladies who meet regularly. It is focused on building a sense of community and it has been very well received. As always with the LEAF projects it dovetails into other aspects of our work, and we know of a few members who have, or are about to, access the Kintsugi course on the back of their attendance at this group.

 

Emotional Well-being

The fifth Kintsugi Hope course has just been completed and once again the feedback has been very positive. The attendees wished to remain in contact as a group and one of the attendees from a local church will facilitate this, enabling continued ongoing support for the group. Per chance, the Alpha course runs on the same night at the same venue and a handful of the Kintsugi group have expressed an interest in attending the new Alpha course when it starts in the New Year. The next Kintsugi course also starts in the New Year.

 

The children’s counselling is now up to 8 children, and this has hit a maximum in terms of capacity. We are also aware that the adult counselling list is similarly full and therefore we have had to close this list as well. Tony has requested a meeting with the Mental Health Team and social prescribers in Ledbury and Colwall to discuss referral processes with them. We are also aware that more funding would allow us to cast our net wider in this regard and at some point, there will be discussion with the school and the surgery to see if money ringfenced for mental health can be used to broaden our work.

 

Another door which has opened recently is the possibility of working alongside TLG (Transforming Lives for Good) to develop further mental support work in school. TLG wish to trial a mental health project and have offered one of their employees, Esther Goulding (a member of Ledbury Baptist Church) to work with Tony in the primary school. This would be a great way of building further capacity.

 

Spiritual Well-being

LEAF now has an additional chaplain operating on the team within the surgery. Martyn Kyle is training to become a counsellor and has offered a day a week of his time to facilitate this. The work continues to be highly regarded by the surgery and the practice manager.

The latest Alpha course will conclude in the early part of next year and plans are already afoot to roll out the next one virtually straight after as we know there are various people, many from some of LEAF’s other activities, that have expressed an interest in attending. 

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Children

The children’s work continues to be a core feature of the work in LEAF. The mentoring of children in the primary school continues and this year as some of the children moved on to Secondary school, we have seen a new group of children being engaged with the mentees. One of the mentors has also gained access into the Secondary school to meet up with the seven boys who left last year. This has helped with liaison and the hope is that when a similar situation arises in future years, we will be able to do more in terms of working with both schools.

We held two summer events for families. Sadly, the weather hit the first one but the second one in August was well attended. There was also a Forest School event held in September, the Light Party held in October and the Advent party last weekend. There are Christmas activities organised as well for the children. We are now finding that with the regularity of events, almost one a month, we are seeing the same children attend and this is allowing us to build good relationships with families in the town.

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Family Support

We were really pleased following our recruitment process to appoint Lydia Williamson to the role of LEAF Family Support in September. Lydia is a local Christian who attends Ledbury Baptist Church. Her role is based in the Primary school, where she works alongside the SENDco. Since September she has started a Tots group and has established a solid core of parents who attend but who are also increasingly looking to her and LEAF for support. The school is very appreciative of this initiative and are already seeing its value. Lydia’s hours will increase in the New Year and then increase again in September.

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How can you help?

The charity continues to be grateful for the support the diocese offers in relational to Tony’s accommodation. Whilst various grants are being applied for it remains the case that personal giving assists greatly in financing the charity and its work. As the demands on the work continues to grow, we would welcome any additional support people are able to give. In particular, we would welcome support for the St Katherines project and the exciting opportunity it provides for many services but particularly to restart provision for young people. We need support to meet the lease costs and the ongoing charges involved with running the building and these important services. Anything you can give would be really helpful in getting this initiative off the ground successfully.

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If you wish to donate, then please head to the website https://www.leafledbury.com/ where you will find a donation button on the home page or make a bank transfer to LEAF using the details below:  
CAF Bank
Sort Code                           40-52-40
Account Number             00034459

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We also are interested in hearing from you if you feel you could contribute your time and expertise to one of the areas we currently offer. LEAF provides an ideal forum for those from various churches to come together as one and enrich the provision of the services we offer to the community in which we worship and live. In particular, we need support in marketing and administration to meet the increasing needs of the charity. These are not full-time roles, and we would be willing to talk to anyone about what shape any involvement might look.