“We are having to adapt our activities, carefully thinking about the people who attend”
The Good Neighbours Scheme has been run by local partners Help on Your Doorstep (HOYD) since 2013. In Canonbury, King’s Cross and Caledonian Road it reaches out to thousands of local people.
Due to the pandemic, HOYD are not currently able to run any face to face Good Neighbours activities or events, but coordinators and volunteers have adapted their activities to deliver them safely.
Val, Good Neighbours Coordinator, shares her experience of running services during the height of the pandemic.
Senior’s hands holding a phone while it is charging by Joshua Hoehne
Thinking outside of the box
“Thinking outside of the box is something we are used to doing in the Good Neighbours Scheme, but never more so than now during lock down. We are having to adapt our activities, carefully thinking about the people who attend.
A lot of my 70 plus group users do not have smart phones, tablets, laptops or computers so the other online zoom activities that we are running are not something that they can join in.
Having a chat line that multiple residents can use at one time has been a life line for a lot of my residents. Many of them live alone and really miss other group users’ company and the Good Neighbours weekly bingo/coffee afternoon group they attended at the Hugh Cubitt Centre.”
