This is the latest in the monthly articles publicising the work of Maidstone’s voluntary agencies and community groups.
Co-ordinated by Voluntary Action Maidstone. It provides information for everyone using voluntary services, and encourages people to offer their time and skills to benefit others. If your group would like to feature here, call Sue Towns Okorodudu, CEO of VAM, on 01622 677337.

THE January freeze didn’t stop VAM’s very own V Team from their year-round task of helping elderly and infirm residents and people on low incomes by handling a wide range of practical jobs. The volunteers merely switched priorities.

Team leader Jackie Preston’s cheerful squad mobilised to help isolated older people by shovelling snow from paths, going to the shops for anyone afraid of slipping on icy pavements, and even cooking the odd hot meal.

Jackie explained: "Despite the difficult weather conditions, some volunteers even walked into Maidstone from as far as Barming. We found ourselves being contacted by older people and some with disabilities who were simply trapped in their homes by the appalling conditions. They were tremendously grateful for the volunteers’ efforts."

Usually the V Team undertake gardening in the summer and switch to decorating and DIY in the winter. They will also help with crisis intervention tasks such a moving furniture for a family fleeing domestic abuse, or manoeuvring a bed downstairs for an older person coming home from hospital.

The team receive a small amount of funding from Maidstone Borough Council and Kent County Council, but they rely on donations to continue their valuable work. For further details please contact Jackie Preston or Deborah Trend on 01622 677337, or email volunteers@vam-online.org.uk

In case winter hasn’t finished with us yet, Age Concern in Maidstone has won a grant to buy gas camping stoves and gas heaters for use in emergencies by elderly people in the borough. Also, the next session of Age Concern’s "Wii and Tea" programme, enabling the over-55s to keep mobile and socialise by using console video games, will be held at Shepway Court housing centre next Tuesday, Feb 23. For more information telephone 01622 753618.

A curry evening being staged on Saturday February 27 will interest anyone who likes France, travelling, and a pleasant social event. It’s being run by Maidstone-Beauvais Twinning Association to raise funds. For tickets (£10) ring 01622 761004.

A Last Night at the Proms is being celebrated by Maidstone Salvation Army band on Saturday March 13 in the Army’s worship and community centre at 74 Union Street, starting at 7.30. Bring your flags, just as Prom-goers do every autumn at the Albert Hall, to enjoy this traditional British musical feast. Tickets are £5 – telephone 01622 681808.

Mother’s Union, like any other charity, has seen income levels nose-dive as donors struggle with the credit crunch. Yet its grassroots workers, serving communities in 78 countries, know that the desperate needs of the poor in some of the most impoverished nations on earth have not decreased.

Every Mothering Sunday (this year’s is on March 14), Make a Mother’s Day offers donors the chance to buy ethical gifts designed to help women caring for families to survive some of life’s most challenging difficulties. Each is designed to help a mother, granny or carer provide protection, nurture and a better future for children.

In this year’s catalogue there are 14 gifts to choose from at prices ranging from £7 to £168. Your cash could provide subsistence-level help such as seedlings, chicks and ducklings, or a goat; maybe pay for leadership training, or a literacy trainer’s salary for a month.

And for £40 you can help Mothers’ Union lobby against aggressive commercial marketing to children with its Childhood Going Bust initiative, which seeks to ban bras for girls as young as seven by driving home the message that the sexualisation of pre-teens is wrong.

A catalogue of gifts is available from Mothers’ Union Allington branch – telephone 01622 751243, or purchase online at www.makeamothersday.org

More volunteers are being sought by the Medway Valley Countryside Partnership’s River Warden project, which is being extended in the Medway Gap. More helpers are wanted in Cuxton, Wouldham, Holborough and Aylesford to be the project’s eyes and ears, recording wildlife, collecting litter and reporting any problems. An upcoming event will introduce volunteers to the scheme; all equipment is provided. For more details call 01622 683695, or e-mail medwayvalley@kent.gov.uk

Time is running out to enter the River Medway photo competition. It’s a great way to get out along the river, use your creative photography skills, and display your work on the website. Prizes include a photography workshop and your picture framed as keepsake. See the competition website www.rivermedwayphoto.org

For anyone who wants to learn more about the history and heritage of the Medway, and pick up loads of inspirational ideas for spending time along the river, MVCP’s new website www.medwayvalleymaps.co.uk is now live. There are circular walk maps and heritage and wildlife spotter guides ready to download, as well as a new environmental activity pack providing lots of wildlife discovery and outdoor games for families to try. If you have a story about your time living by the Medway, and would like to put it on the website, get in touch.

Kent Charities Group is a unique partnership of diverse, independent organisations committed to improving quality of life throughout the county while retaining their individual identities and diverse work. It includes Hi Kent (for deaf and hard-of-hearing people), Kent Youth, Kenward Trust (addiction issues) and Kent People’s Trust (safer communities), and the door is now open for other charities to join.

Recent fundraising events included a charity service at Rochester Cathedral, carol singing in the Mall shopping centre, Maidstone, and a Christmas draw which raised more than £3,700. The group’s chairman, Tony Williams of Kenward Trust, said: "Given the difficult financial climate, we’re very pleased with the amount raised, and we’re discussing more fundraising initiatives for this year. We’d be delighted to hear from Kent-based registered charities interested in joining us." For more information and contact details, visit www.kentcharities group.org.uk

Growing Concern is a horticultural employment and vocational service providing real work-related opportunities for adults with learning disabilities. It supplies and maintains plants for offices in the Maidstone area as well as growing plants and produce at its garden site in Staplehurst. It is looking for anyone who would like to use the service, and also for volunteers to help at Staplehurst. For more information, telephone (weekdays) 01580 893604 or email growingconcern@mcch.org.uk

The recent move to a new home by the Maidstone and Rural Communities branch of the Alzheimer’s Society enables it to offer more support groups for people with any form of dementia, and their carers.

There is a choice of groups for both over- and under-65s, peer support for anyone recently diagnosed with dementia, and activity groups for those in the early-to-middle stages of the disease.

The branch’s new and much larger centre is at 1 Dairy Court, Fairview Farm, Linton Road, Loose, ME15 0AL. For more information, and to join any of the new groups, call 01622 747181. There is also a new dementia 24-hour helpline on 0845 604 4391.

A new support group in the area is the charity Fibromyalgia Maidstone and the Weald (a branch of Fibromyalgia Association UK) for those with the chronic pain and fatigue of this muscular disorder that GPs may be slow to recognise.

It provides a place to meet others with the same condition and make friends in a relaxed and sympathetic atmosphere. Relatives, supporters and friends are welcome as well, but, because of insurance restrictions, children cannot attend.

The group intends to arrange speakers from different fields and specialities to provide information about subjects such as medication, physio, and benefits.

The next event is on April 21 at Maidstone Community Support Centre in Marsham Street. For more information e-mail heather.hammond@mypostoffice.co.uk or telephone 0845 4583762.

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