Area Partnerships

Dunbar & Connected Communities Manager: Gordon Horsburgh

Festive support in and East Linton Organisations from across Dunbar and East Linton area partnership are joining forces to spread Christmas cheer during festive holidays. Local schools have contacted families eligible for free school meals to offer support. Community volunteers will deliver cooked turkey, steak pies and gifts to families on the 23rd and 30th December. Deliveries will be co-ordinated from Bleachingfield Centre by Connected Communities and Dunbar Grammar School staff, alongside volunteers from Dunbar Rotary Club. The Rotary Club is collecting donations for some treats to be added to the meals. We are also including Christmas crafts for each family with youth workers from Bleachingfield Centre organising packs. Dunbar Basics foodbank will also be making up additional food parcels to provide additional meals for each family over the holiday period. This provision includes families from , East Linton and Primary school catchments. We know Christmas can be difficult for families with extra costs for fuel, food and the pressures that Christmas can bring. This can often spiral folk into debt over the Christmas period and by offering support during this time, we are aiming to avert this and take families into the New Year in a better financial position and to give them a happy festive experience. For further information contact Helen Harper, Community Development Officer at [email protected] Working with Dunbar Parish Church’s Basic Foodbank, Dunbar Rotary Club and Belhaven Church, the Ridge will deliver a Christmas Day lunch for up to 120 people. These are people who would otherwise not be able to make their Christmas meal, (whether through poverty or other factors). We will also deliver a small gift and provide fuel cards as many individuals are under tremendous financial pressure being exerted by the COVID crisis. Should you require more information about this offer please contact [email protected]

Fa’side Area Partnership Connected Communities Manager: Simon Davie

Haddington & Lammermuir Connected Communities Manager: Diann Govenlock

Christmas in Haddington & Lammermuir 2020

The Christmas and New Year provision is being provided by a large number of organisations working in the Haddington and Lammermuir area some of which have been supported by the Haddington & Lammermuir Area partnership funding and Connected Communities staff. The role of the community groups, community councils and organisations is testament to the huge role volunteering plays in our communities.

Haddington Community Council

Haddington Community Council have secured funding to support local families who are experiencing difficulties during the pandemic; they have set up the HCC food voucher and clothing grant scheme for local families. This provision is available now and will be available in the lead up to and throughout the Christmas period. For a referral form and further information please contact [email protected]

Haddington Community Council are preparing to restart their lending library of books and jigsaws which operates out of the Bridge Centre with plans to extend this to include kindles. Funding has been successful awarded from HLAP, to address issues of isolation especially for people in our communities who will not be able to visit families and friends this Christmas and who would benefit from seeing a loved one online.

Haddington Bridge Centre

Have an emergency supply of food, mostly dried and tinned and a freezer of Wiltshire meals for those in hardship this winter.

Humbie - Soupersnack

Will be restarting their soup lunches from Wednesday 4th Nov 2020 and offer this until March 2021. Normally would have a Christmas Community Lunch, instead this year it will take the form of a Christmas goody box which will be delivered by the soup lunch team on 23rd December 2020. 25 soup lunches will be delivered on a weekly basis with a total of 60 soup lunches and Christmas goody boxes on the 23rd December.

Gifford - Soup and a Smile

Continues to support 29 people with soup and a smile and also provide a fish and chips on the last Friday of every month. A Christmas gift bag is being delivered with the last soup before Christmas. The Coop are donating mince pies for everyone and the Community Council are enclosing a hand written Christmas Card. They are also planning a Christmas Trail for the whole village where people are encouraged to decorate their gardens. A map will be prepared which people can go safely around and see all the gardens and vote on a winner. There is a charity donation for each map and little torches will be provided as a bit of fun and Festive cheer. They are working with the Gifford Horticultural Society on this as a follow on from the recent scarecrow trail which was very well received.

Our Community Kitchen

Delivers hot food Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday each week. Plans are being made for Christmas celebrations with food, Santa Claus and additional gifts from volunteers, Haddington primary and the Brownies. Meals are supplied to 50 people with approx. 100 meals per week. A large team of volunteers continue to support people with comfort phone calls. Referrals are needed from Health or Social Work to: [email protected] For more information visit the Community Kitchen Facebook page.

Friday Friends Preparing 25 days of wee advent gifts for all 24 of the Friday Friends service users to be delivered every 7 days as well as regular food parcels.

Haddington Day Centre

Supporting 42 adults many of whom are experiencing loneliness and depression and who are showing a decline in their wellbeing. Christmas plans are being arranged, with funding support from HLAP to give the Day Centre members a boost and let them know they are not forgotten.

Haddington Lunch Club

Continuing to support their members with plans for a delivery of a Christmas meal, box of chocolates and a cracker helping to make them feel a bit more connected in these challenging times.

Haddington Homestart

Will be co-ordinating a Christmas gift appeal as in previous years with Tesco and other local donators - the gifts will be available for any organisation to come and collect from for families across East . Christmas activity packs will go out at the end of November, with an activity for each week leading up to Christmas to all Homestart families. A further delivery is planned for the week before Christmas with a gift and book for each child.

An online book advent is being planned this year and hoping to widen the availability to other families via social media. Unfortunately the book advent delivery as in previous years will not happen due to COVID19 restrictions.

Haddington Bridge Centre

Staff are organising a Gift Appeal with a local drop off at Haddington Library. The Bridge Centre have had two very generous donations from Nungate Gala and Haddington & District Community Council to support the purchase of gifts for local children and teenagers.

For further information regarding Christmas support please contact the Bridge Centre Haddington telephone number 01620823137

Doug Haig Community Development Officer [email protected]

Diann Govenlock Connected Communities Manager for Haddington & Lammermuir Area [email protected] mobile 07970 189338

North Berwick Coastal Connected Communities Manager: Doug Haig

Christmas Cheer in 2020 The Christmas and New Year provision is being coordinated by Connected Communities in partnership with the following organisations; Stepping Out, North Berwick Community Centre, Support from the Start, Fareshare Hub, North Berwick News and View, the Christian Fellowship, The Rotary, East Lothian ladies, EL Foodbank, North Berwick Playgroup, North Berwick Area Partnership, 5 Local Primary Schools. Winter Quality second hand coats and jackets have been collected by the Connected Communities volunteers and allocated to the families on the Christmas Cheer list which is collated between the local Support from the Start Family worker, North Berwick Playgroup worker, Stepping Out, The local primary schools and the Community Development Officer for the area. Christmas and New Year Provision We have run the Christmas Cheer project for the past 7 years in the North Berwick Area. It was originally the brainchild of a local community member who works in the playgroup after she was approached by parents who explained the embarrassment felt when they couldn’t afford to provide Christmas for their family. When the current Community Development Officer came to post they worked together to establish the Christmas Cheer Project which relies on Local people buying an extra gift and local funding to provide gifts and food parcels for people identified by the partners who devise the list for support. At the moment we are working through the overstock from last year to enable us to allocate presents and identify the gaps so we can put out specific requests for ages of gifts. North Berwick News and Views are fund raising for the project so we have a pot of money to provide for any age group were we run short of and some luxury food items, we also have been offered money from the Area Partnership and have money left over from the Christian Fellowship Church donation last year. We have been offered 100 chocolate advent calendars which can be distributed to local low income families at the start of December. We have been gifted 3 tablets, 3 laptops, 3 Wii consoles and an Xbox 360 all with games and controllers which will be distributed to local age appropriate children. At the beginning of December Rob our volunteer chef is going to make Christmas dinners with Katie which we will freeze to be given out on the 21st/22nd of December. The connected community volunteers will also be making up Christmas bags containing essential items such as Bread, Milk, Eggs, Cheese, Ham, yogurt, fruit, toiletries, juice, and breakfast cereal which will be given out with the jingle bags from EL Foodbank. We have also arranged for a local baker to supply boxes of cakes to go out with the parcels so people can feel treated in a small way. Our food parcels will be doubled to take into account the holiday period with extra Stewing Steak, Vegetables, puff pastry and potatoes to help with New Year’s Day dinner. We will also be helping Stepping Out to create holiday hampers for their clients as their Christmas Dinner won’t be able to happen due to the COVID crisis, by providing EL Fareshare overstock and donated DVD’s and toiletries to help bulk out the hampers. Currently there are 108 individuals on the list and 33 of these are family groups but this is only the first draft of the list so we are expecting more referrals to come in as we approach nearer Christmas. We are helping families in North Berwick, , , and Direlton which means that we are covering our full area with help at this time. However by linking with Stepping Out we are also helping people throughout East Lothian as this project spans areas right across the county. If there are any questions regarding Christmas support please contact Katie Nevans, North Berwick Coastal Community Development Officer on 07814293296 or [email protected] or Doug Haig, Connected Communities Manager for North Berwick Coastal Area on 07790912642 or [email protected].

Musselburgh Connected Communities Manager: Stuart Baxter

MUSSELBURGH CHRISTMAS PROJECTS 2020

BAXTERSTOREY CHRISTMAS COMMUNITY APPEAL.

First, during the lockdown from March to August 2020, Resilient Musselburgh received a huge amount of support from BaxterStorey. This included large amounts of food provision, hundreds of boxes of confectionary, 800 new books for distribution to isolated members of the community and two deliveries of children clothes.

BaxterStorey are continuing with community support with a Christmas Community Appeal. This is in the form of Christmas boxes to help make this Christmas a little bit better for people who are struggling in the community. The staff from the Connected Communities Team in Musselburgh and Our Families project, who worked within Resilient Musselburgh, have identified 100 families within our Area Partnership boundary area that would benefit from this Community Appeal. Musselburgh Area Partnership will be supporting this project.

Food Pantries - Families

We continue to operate Food Pantries in both and , these offer food, toiletries, baby supplies, pet food and facemasks on a call and collect basis, 3 days a week.

Christmas Meal Packs - Families

We are working to provide a Christmas meal pack to 100 local families this will include the ingredients to prepare a 3 course meal including soup, a main course (although unfortunately we cannot provide fresh meat) and a Christmas pudding. This element of our provision has been supported by Musselburgh Area Partnership.

Christmas Activity Packs – Children

We will provide 100 activity packs for those children identified from the Easter and Summer Lunch and Activity club, as this was unable to be held due to COVID19 we are looking at different ways to achieve the objectives. Supported by Musselburgh Area Partnership.

Food Hampers – for the more mature members of our community

We aim to provide between 30 and 40 wellbeing hampers for elderly residents in our area. These residents have been identified through the summer as part of the Hickory Food and Mercat Grill initiatives two businesses that contributed immensely to our COVID response. Supported by Musselburgh Area Partnership.

Winter Essentials - Children

We aim to provide a selection of Children’s clothing to families this will be done through the ‘Our Families’ Project from Musselburgh East Community Learning Centre. It is looking to support 25 children with coats, hats, gloves, scarves and boots/shoes. Supported by Musselburgh Area Partnership.

Christmas Toys

We are working with local Schools to secure toys through Homestart East Lothian for approximately 30 families in Wallyford and Whitecraig.

For more information on what is available in the Musselburgh area, please contact:

1. Musselburgh /Whitecraig area:

Jane Cummings, Community Development Officer

Email : [email protected] Telephone : 0131 653 5051 Mobile : 07973 765 520

2. Musselburgh/Wallyford area: Pamela Martin, Community Development Officer

Email : [email protected] Telephone : 0131 653 2804 Mobile : 07814 293 297

3. Our Families Project – Musselburgh area: Donna Doherty, Family Outreach Worker

Email : [email protected] Telephone : 01875 824136 Mobile : 07967729554

Preston, Seton, Gosford Connected Communities Manager: Emma Brown

Christmas and New Year Provision in PSG 2020 The Christmas and New Year provision is being coordinated by the Area Partnership in partnership with the following organisations; Pennypit Trust, , Cockenzie and Port Seton CC, Chalmers Church, East Lothian Chicken Dinners, Parish Church, Dads Work, Lighthouse Hub, East Lothian Fareshare Hub, John Bellany Centre and EL Homestart, EL Foodbank. Winter New Winter Jackets, Hats, Scarves and Gloves for adults and children are currently being collated at Pennypit Community Centre for distribution through the referral system detailed below. Christmas For Christmas there will be Jingle Bags (with many items donated by the EL Foodbank), toiletries and additional fresh and luxury items added for distribution to families the week before Christmas. These will be distributed from Longniddry and Port Seton Community Centres through referral system detailed below. We are currently collecting donations of Christmas presents for children and adults these will be distributed through the referral system below. With the move towards discussion of a digital Christmas following our next multi agency meeting on 11th November, we will be releasing a new referral system for people who are socially isolated where they will get a separate delivery. The Pennypit Trust and Cockenzie and Port Seton Meals on Wheels service will deliver a plated Christmas meal on Christmas Eve. There will be a slight additional capacity to the weekly meals they currently deliver. The Lighthouse Hub Foodbank + and East Lothian Chicken Dinners will be continuing to support community members they have been supporting and have relationships with throughout 2020, this will include hampers to Harlawhill Day Centre members, these names will be collated with the referral system to ensure there is not duplication. New Year On New Year’s Eve we will be delivering a second food bag in recognition that the EL Foodbank is closed. Referrals will be taken through the referral system below. Pantries The pantry at Longniddry Community Centre will be open 24th and 31st December 9.15- 12.15pm and accessible by any community members by dropping in. The pantry at Port Seton Centre will be open 24th December and 29th, 30th, 31st December 9- 4pm. The pantry at the Pennypit will be open 24th, 27th, 28th, 29th and 30th December – from 11- 1pm For a visual view of what’s on offer in PSG, please use the attached:

PSG Xmas What's On (3).pdf Referral System The referral system will be coordinated by the Pennypit Trust and referral forms can be accessed by electronic copy or link. The Electronic Link can be accessed here (https://forms.gle/37V7nUdBopeaPUex5). The electronic form is encrypted with all referrals being stored on our secure database and in a secure location to ensure we are complying with all data protection regulations (GDPR). We are holding our second multi agency meeting on 11th November, where we will discuss a separate referral form for those who are elderly/socially isolated. Completed hard copies of the referral can be collected from you either by myself or one of our staff. Alternatively, they can be delivered to the Pennypit Offices (just off North Grange Avenue) - please mark for the attention of Jonathan Sharples.

If there are any questions regarding Christmas and New Year Support you can contact Emma Brown, Connected Communities Manager, [email protected] or 07967 777794.