After the whirlwind activities of the previous week it was good to look into the diary and find it more manageable, but as usual at the Hub things do not turn out as they appear at first glance.

The intended catch-up with Donna with discussions about the past week and events yet to come were constantly interrupted by a phone that never stopped buzzing together with visitors whose needs ranged from a simple chat to some complex and testing situations that were made easier by an experiences ear. 

This, of course, is where the Hub is at its best - able to respond according to the complexity of problems presented and equally at home with the variety of situations.

While all this was going on there was also a very active Crochet Chain gang in 'Rays Room' working their nimble fingers to the bone finishing the production of the 'police friendship dolls' which are intended to be given to schools when the community police team do their talks to the kids.

A couple of members from that community team also popped in to see the progress being made, and were blown away by the talent on show - with one officer seriously considering how she could have a figure for her own kids.

Went home for an afternoon of admin thinking what a great community we live in....

A major workstream we are involved in at the moment is an attempt to put in a more robust system that captures the work we do in both numerable and descriptive detail.   This will assist us when we are applying for grants - essential work to ensure we can remain independent and nimble in our responses to the need of our community.

While this work was on my admin agenda list for Monday afternoon, I had found that it needed a more talented input that my own limited knowledge of systems!

Therefore Donna and our volunteer, Mike, spent good quality time during Tuesday morning working on a computerised programme that  trustee George had devised to ensure that we capture each and every stream of work that we are involved in. 

To some this may not seem too difficult, but to capture the vast scope of every day life at the Hub is not a process that transfers easily to a useable form.

But of course, at the Hub we never say never...

Wednesday began early with an 8pm remote 'Teams' meeting reviewing the results of a survey that the Town Team engaged in - 'From Recession to Renaissance' - by LHS and Revo. 

This was a good piece of national research with some of the outcomes that are applicable to our lovely market town here in Wiltshire.

It truly is important that the community engage totally with the work that is going on to change and improve our town centre - with an emphasis on the transition to a central area that is both diverse (and more importantly) fit for the leisure and pleasure of the community no matter what their needs and status.

Arriving at the Hub mid morning it was tremendous to find two of our trustees, Donna, and the volunteers, all busy in several areas of work in a wonderful atmosphere of purpose and calm. 

Early evening saw Donna back at the Hub to facilitate a well attended 'Not on Your Own' meeting - a community group set up to combat the increasing rates of suicide found in the 18-36 year old age group.

The Hub is assisting Nigel to get this group up and running because we recognise that in these very difficult days there is an increase in people who can see no other way out of life's problems - and it is all of our responsibility to offer any appropriate support and assistance possible.

Kindness costs nothing, but there are sadly times when more that this is needed..... 

Busy, busy day at the Hub!

At 9am there was a meeting of the Health and Wellbeing Community Mental Health sub group with the new chair, Emily, leading the way. we discussed various projects and actions that were designed toward improvements in how we deliver and what we do to address shortfalls at present.

This was followed by a very active Trustees Meeting, which lasted for a full two hours during which the thorny issue of funding was one of the major topic. 

In particular we discussed the contribution of local funding streams such as Chippenham Borough Lands charity, who until the end of this month had assisted us for two years with part funding of our only paid employee. Alongside this we discussed  the contribution of statutory authorities whose workstream we often pick-up and run with in the present overarching financial conditions that see many areas now left for the voluntary sector to pick up.

We are in a transition period at the Hub where our triage of actions when a person walks though the door, no matter what the problem, acknowledging that their needs to be met with a higher standard of training for the benefit of both recipient and the contributor.

At day close, once again, there was a need to open up the Hub for an evening booking.

This time it was for a group dealing with specific help in an area that would not necessarily be understood by the public.  Non-the-less this is something that needs our facilitation to yield a good result.

​

Final fun day of the week already - my how time flies when you are fully engage and enjoying yourself!

It is always great to see and hear our lovely Knatty Knitters who each week fill the Hub with a multitude of talent and joy!

While that was going on in the main part of the building, I had a meeting with a new officer from Wiltshire Council who is involved with the 'Wiltshire Towns' programme in 'Rays Room' of Positive Thoughts'.

It is always good to meet up with people whose job reflects their own philosophy on life and Rebecca was just one of those people - using her vast and varied experiences of life in Trowbridge that ensured when she left the overall impression remaining was that Wiltshire Council have someone in post who really does have innate knowledge of what makes a towns tick.

As the afternoon loomed, both Donna and I rushed to make sure that we were online in time for a presentation by Rethink on Mental Health and the Recession - and oh my, how disappointed we were.

Unknow to us the demand for this had been oversubscribed, and so it took a full 20 minutes to enable everyone to join, then when it settled down it was so London centric and concentrating on the 'big hitters' of the voluntary sector and their achievements, that it held little benefit or interest for us.

Another busy productive week at the Hub had come and gone by so fast. It had again been one that saw us face the challenge of the ever changing demands from our local community and realise how very lucky we are to live here....

Saturday would be taken up with a small paper for a Wiltshire Council officer on the origins, development and work of the Town Centre Community Team - but that, of course, is yet another story xx