Faith in the community: Celebrating five decades of practical help from care groups

By Canon Nick Ralph, Portsmouth Cathedral and chair of the Good Neighbours Network

We celebrated 50 years of caring people giving practical help to their neighbours this summer.

It was a special milestone for the Good Neighbours Network, which brings together 4,000 volunteers who are part of more than 100 voluntary care groups across Hampshire. They typically offer shopping trips, lifts to hospital, and other practical tasks to those who live in their village or town.

These are the kind of small, practical acts of support that kind people offer to neighbours who they usually don’t know – free of charge. It goes under the radar, but thousands of these small acts of kindness actually make a massive difference to our local communities.

So many of those committee members, trustees and volunteers gathered at Holywell Estate near Swanmore for a celebratory tea party to mark this milestone. They enjoyed relaxed chat and music, as well as tea, sandwiches and cakes, under a marquee in the grounds.

We welcomed Mrs Annabelle Boyes, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire, who made a kind speech thanking all of those involved.

And the Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Jonathan Frost also had uplifting words for the Good Neighbours volunteers. He spoke about how they are mediators between support services and the community.

It was actually someone called Beryl Kenchington who co-founded the Hampshire Voluntary Care Group Advisory Service – which ultimately became the Good Neighbours Network – alongside the then vicar of Droxford, the Rev John Townsend, back in 1976.

She had the original idea that a network of small voluntary groups could carry out these small, practical tasks, and ultimately became the first GNN adviser. She sadly died earlier this year, aged 103.

Beryl – who was known as Bee – was a force of nature, and we owe so much to her vision. She started this idea of people helping people, and she would be proud to see that the network is still running 50 years later, and still making such a radical difference to people’s lives.

At the event, it became clear that a number of those attending have been volunteering with their groups for more than 40 years. And church members are often involved with either creating these groups or providing volunteers.

It was fantastic to bring together so many kind-hearted people to thank them in a very modest way with tea and cake. Discover more about what we do at www.goodneighbours.org.uk