Wooburn Green Locality Profile

Wooburn Green Locality Profile

Prevention Matters Priorities

The Community Links Officer (CLO) has identified a number of key Prevention Matters priorities for the locality that will form the focus of the work over the next few months. These priorities also help to determine the sort of services and projects where Prevention Matters grants can be targeted.

The priorities have been identified using the data provided by the Community Practice Workers (CPW) in terms of successful referrals and unmet demand (gaps where there are no appropriate services available), consultation with district council officers, town and parish councils, other statutory and voluntary sector organisations and also through the in depth knowledge of the cohort and the locality that the CLO has gained.

The CLO has also worked with the other CLOs across the county to identify some key countywide priorities which affect all localities.

Countywide Priorities Befriending Community Transport

Wooburn Green Locality Priorities Movers and Shakers (Beaconsfield) Dementia Friendly Communities (Stokenchurch) Gentle Exercise

Background data

Physical Area

From Radnage and Stokenchurch in the North, down through Marlow and across to Beaconsfield, the Wooburn Green area covers an area of 72.1 sq miles and has a total population of 81, 865.

The area follows almost precisely the boundaries of three local areas: Beaconsfield, Chepping Wye Valley and South West Chilterns and Marlow. Looking more closely, parish boundaries are a convenient way to delineate various areas, although for some of the larger conurbations – Marlow, Beaconsfield and Hazlemere - it has seemed natural to aggregate them. The area may be broken down, therefore into:

Stokenchurch and Radnage Chiltern Rise Hambleden Valley Marlow Flackwell Heath and Little Marlow Tylers Green and Loudwater Hazlemere Beaconsfield The Wooburns Bourne End cum Hedsor

Population

Across the three local areas, all have an above average proportion of pensioners in relative to the rest of Buckinghamshire. Approximately one in four households are pensioner households. The population demographic has also aged significantly in a short period of time. Since 2001 the number of pensioners has increased by 20% (19.77%), over an increase in population of just 4%, whilst the number of 20 – 59 year olds (working age) has fallen by 4.62% in the same period.

It is also an extremely wealthy area – 0% of the population are to be found in the 30% most deprived in the country in terms of income. Furthermore, proportion of households given an ACORN grouping of ‘hard pressed’ is approximately only 60% of the Bucks average, making up between 6% and 7% in each area. A total of 230 people claim pension credits, and 238 people claim disability living allowance. In addition to there being very few people with few means, there are a significant number of wealthy people. The proportion of people earning £35k - £49k is 18.8%, almost exactly the Bucks average of 18.6%. However, 37.7% of people earn more than £50k per annum, above the Bucks average of 34.9%.

The population is 93.1% white, which is slightly higher than the average for Buckinghamshire (108 on the Bucks index).

Following, is a report on each specific area.

Methodology

Below, a certain amount of analysis has taken place in relation to health, age, care and public transport statistics. It is necessary to explain the assumptions underpinning them.

1) Age, Health and Care. The comparator used for these statistics is Wycombe District. Although the Wooburn Green Area does not precisely mirror Wycombe District, the vast majority is within the District. As the most accessible source of statistics for the local area, it was considered that it was the most suitable potential choice and would bring to light most accurately where Prevention Matters need is most acute. When parishes or towns have been compared against the district average, a difference of 10% is deemed significant. So, if the Wycombe average was 10% of the population, a figure of 9% would breach the lower boundary, and 11% would breach the upper boundary.

2) The assumptions made for whether a place is well served with public transport are as follows. To get to from the centre of the relevant village to the particular asset, an individual must: a. Only have to take one bus b. Be able to get there within half an hour c. Not have to walk further than half a mile

Local Areas

Stokenchurch and Radnage (pop 5554)

The age profile of this area is broadly in line with district averages, if slightly elevated. Its health matrices tend to fall slightly below district averages. Interestingly, however, the amount of low and high-level care provision is significantly above average for the area.

Though grouped together, the two constituent villages are very much distinct. Stokenchurch is a fairly long, thin village, with the main infrastructure tending to cluster in the middle. It is reasonably sized and quite flat with a number of greens in the centre. The majority of it is paved. Radnage is not densely populated, with significant distances between the few key places in the village. Few, if any, of the roads are have separate pavements and there are some areas where the roads are fairly steep.

Stokenchurch is moderately reliant on public transport, and is adequately served by it. There is no need to go elsewhere to visit the doctor, but to visit the dentist and optician it is necessary to go to Chinnor, which is accessible by public transport. High Wycombe hospital is also accessible by public transport. For non- health related travel, the village is well served with a post-office, a number of small shops and a bank. The nearest big supermarket is in High Wycombe, which is accessible by public transport. Stokenchurch has a community bus service, which runs a weekly trip to either a market, or the supermarket in Marlow. It also has one day where it just goes up and down the village to help people access the services within the village. Two other days it is used to pick people up and deliver them to the day centre. This means that there is not much flexibility to the service.

Radnage, however, is far less well served. It has none of the assets of Stokenchurch, and there is no accessible bus service between the two villages. Indeed, it is impossible to access any required services by public transport. An additional problem is that the community bus in Stokenchurch only serves Stokenchurch parish, which does not include Radnage.

Radnage

There are four main activities that take place in Radnage: the church, the WI, the Royal British Legion and the school. From these, additional activities arise such as the winter lunch club and book club but almost all the village is covered by those four.

As with many of the smaller villages, formal services are fewer and help to vulnerable residents is provided in a more casual way. Radnage 4x4 drivers were able to help vulnerable people in the village get supplies during periods of snow, for example. Furthermore, the existence of the winter lunch club means that people in the village are aware of who is in the village and what their needs are. It is not of such a size that a person is able to remain anonymous to everybody. Good knowledge of the people in the area mean that the services that exist are in equilibrium in terms of their offer and capacity. The WI is a thriving organisation with nearly 40 members. The place that is struggling most is the Royal British Legion, which has fewer and fewer members.

Anecdotally, it is suggested that people tend to move away from Radnage once they become frailer and into Stokenchurch. This may be some mitigation to what could otherwise be a serious confluence of problems – lack of day opportunities, lack of public transport, a lack of regular community transport and few everyday community facilities.

The village hall is not used all the time, and does have availability during the days. However, some of the activities that take place, like the book club, are small enough that they tend to take place in people’s homes.

Stokenchurch

There is not a huge pressure on community space in Stokenchurch currently. However, more space is available if needed. The community library is very under-used. This is probably because they are finding their feet with running a library before branching out into other areas and may develop in due course. Further space will also come online with the completion of the Anglican church’s refurbishment, due in Oct 2013.

The independently run, two days a week day centre is very popular and is currently running at virtually maximum capacity. There is physical space for more people, but the group see that expansion would involve a lot more work in getting more volunteers and drivers. However, they do recognise that their current success is fairly precarious – bouts of bad weather stop the community minibus which they rely on to pick up service users. Similarly, they have been fortunate that few of their members have been ill. Viruses have the capacity to cut numbers attending drastically.

The area has some preventative physical activity. Two Simply Walk groups take place in Stokenchurch, and a pilates class is also available in the village.

There are a reasonable number of social activities going on within the village. The only pub lunch club set up by Community Impact Bucks in the Wooburn Green area is based at the Fleur de Lis pub. The supported housing unit at St Hugh’s also accepts non-residents to its lunches and bingo. The OPAG runs a lunch in addition to its speaker and there are a number of coffee mornings around about the village, including one which is times to coincide with the Simply Walk.

One of the better known assets within the community is the dog centre at Stokenchurch. This would appear to suggest a clear link-up with Prevention Matters and its hopes to improve pet fostering and adoption services, but the group do not see extending their work in this direction as a core part of their mission and do not want to explore this idea further.

Chiltern Rise (pop 5484)

On all the component categories of age, health and care Chiltern Rise falls within the district average.

The main village is Lane End, but also incorporates Cadmore End and Wheeler End. Lane End is a village that is cut in two by a wall, and the two sides of the village have very different characters. Towards the top of the hill, the village hall side, is prosperous and has a more rural feel, though there are still pavements on most of the roads. The other side, the Youth and Community Centre side, has much more social housing or former-council housing. It is also where the school is located, and people on this side tend to be younger. The accessibility of the area is more akin to a town, with full road paving and pavements. The other villages, Cadmore End and Wheeler End are smaller, more rural versions of the old part of Lane End.

Transport is a key concern to the people in Lane End, coming back both as one of the most regular and most pressing concerns for older people when consulted at the OPAG. Certainly, the village is not entirely self-sufficient. The village has its own doctor, post office and mini-supermarket. However, the nearest dentist and supermarket are in High Wycombe, which is accessible by bus. The nearest optician is actually not accessible by public transport, but there are other alternatives in High Wycombe. There is in the village an embryonic car scheme, which has been set up to deliver people to the coffee stop in the village hall. It has not been taken further to look at other possibilities.

Lane End has two main community facilities – the village hall and the youth and community centre. Neither is used to their maximum capacity, and simply raising enough money to keep the Youth and Community Centre running is a significant burden on the management committee. This situation is further complicated by a desire by members of the local community to increase the use of the playing fields, which involves a plan to redevelop the pavilion. It is unlikely that there will be sufficient demand from the village to support three viable community hubs.

There are a couple of notable activities which take place at the youth and community centre, which is also hosts the OPAG coffee morning and a lunch. One is Computers at the Centre, which gives low-level support and supervision for people wanting help with computers. The other is a weekly class is run for over 50s, which is well attended. This, however, is facing a transitional period – the longstanding instructor is due to retire and she intends to have her daughter take over her work.

There is also a particularly well-established Simply Walk. The group is almost a ramblers group, rather than a Simply Walk. However, it is a fantastic community, where people really do care for each other and those who drop out are noticed and helped if they are ill. There has even been a wedding between two people who met on the walks!

A number of the people attending the walk are also key drivers in the church pastoral group. This group is fairly small and itself getting older. However, they do provide a lot of support to the vulnerable in the community. The existence of an established network is slightly unusual for the area actually, with a lot of support taking place on a more informal basis. The lack of projects to help people stay in their own homes may not necessarily mean a lack of provision, certainly in this area.

There are a number of social activities in the village. Coffee mornings take place at both the Village Hall and the Youth and Community Centre, and there are two lunch clubs – the OPAG and one in the Elim church, which is made up of the remnant of people who used to attend the day centre there. This group have struggled to get more referrals so are wilting a little. There is further pressure on the viability of the group in that there has been a change of pastor at the church, who may be looking to narrow the activities taking place at the church to more directly spiritual ones. Whilst not a pub lunch club, The Tree at Cadmore End does run a two for one for pensioners on lunches, as well as a monthly curry club.

There is a fairly healthy variety of activities in the local area, including a drama group, WI, Royal British Legion, horticultural society, flowering arranging society and bridge club.

Hambleden Valley (pop 2648)

The age profile of Hambleden Valley is mixed, with single pensioner households being slightly below average, but pensioner family households being significantly above average. Health-wise the area is significantly healthier on all the health matrices. This picture of abundant health, however, is tempered by the fact that low-level care is significantly above average. Mid and high-level care, however, is significantly below average.

Hambleden Valley is the least populated area. It is made up of a number of villages: Skirmett, Hambleden, Fingest, Fawley, Turville, Ibstone and Freith. This section is very rural – roads are narrow and have no pavements. Being a valley, there are parts which are steep. It is not really a place for walking, particularly for those with mobility problems. Given its topography, the area is also liable to getting isolated in the winter – its small population and little-used roads mean that it tends not to be a priority for road-gritters.

Hambleden Valley is a fairly large geographic area with a number of small villages. Hambleden has been taken as indicative of the whole, though actually within the area there will be fairly significant differences due to their relative locations. An uniting theme of all of them, however, is that they do struggle with public transport. Hambleden does have its own surgery and village shop. However, it is necessary to travel to get to an optician, dentist or to High Wycombe hospital, all of which are not accessible by public transport. Similarly, the closest post office, bank and supermarket are all in Henley, which is also inaccessible on public transport. There are no formal community transport schemes, but there is a good community spirit and neighbourliness in some of the areas. When snow hit the area, the villagers in Turville, for example were able to coordinate the many four by four drivers were willing to help the vulnerable do their shopping or get to appointments. However, as a counterbalance, Ibstone, for example, is mainly made up of people with second or third homes, who come away from London to Buckinghamshire for privacy. Indeed, some the parish clerk does not correspond with directly, only via their lawyers.

The area is very well served with venues, with multiple village halls available. These actually tend to be well used in the main, with a number of preventative exercise opportunities taking place throughout the region, such as pilates, dance and yoga, as well as a table tennis club. There is also a mid-level Simply Walk group which takes place in Hambleden. The least used of the halls is in Turville.

There is a fairly healthy programme of activities in the area, but they tend not to be weekly, but rather one- off village affairs which, when aggregated, are relatively substantial. The churches run occasional lunches for the elderly, and there is also a tea club for the over sixties. Hambleden and Ibstone both have WIs.

Marlow (pop 19,597)

The area itself is a relatively elderly one, with the proportion of households being either single or family pensioner households being significantly above average for the district. It is, nevertheless, a fairly healthy area with health statistics being around average for the area, apart from a particularly low number of people in bad health. Care provision is correspondingly low, with low and high-level care being average and mid- level care being significantly below average.

Marlow incorporates the town of Marlow, Marlow Bottom, Bovingdon Green but has also been extended to include Medmenham because there is little going on in Medmenham itself relative to Marlow, and a number of people encountered who live in the Medmenham area are active volunteers in Marlow, suggesting it is the natural centre of gravity in the area.

The majority of the area is urban, paved and relatively easy to navigate for people with limited mobility. This does become less so in the more outlying areas, such as Medmenham which has little in terms of pavements but is based on a busy road, and Bovingdon Green which has narrow roads with few pavements.

Being the most populated area in the patch Marlow is well supplied with transport. It has multiple doctors, dentists and opticians, supermarkets, banks and a post office. It is also easy to get to High Wycombe. Even some of the areas towards the edge – Marlow Bottom and Medmenham, for example – can easily get into the centre. The Marlow British Red Cross car pool will take people to medical appointments at 7 days’ notice, and a minibus is used to collect people to deliver them to the day centre.

The area has a number of venues, which are generally fairly well used. Liston Hall is an extremely well- used community hub, which a wide variety of community members use. At the other extreme, the only significantly underused hall is that of Medmenham, which may be unsurprising given that it is probably the furthest from the centre of Marlow but its residents tend to go to Marlow for their community activities. The churches, particularly in the centre, are an important source of community space too.

Marlow does have a day centre, run by Age Concern Marlow. It is full to capacity, with people limited to attending only one day per week. The club run a specific service one day per week for people recovering from strokes, the Phoenix Stroke Club.

The area has a very wide variety of activities for socialising. Of particular interest is the U3A, which offers a massive variety of activities, is flexible to change to meet Demand for new services from its members and is growing. The most regularly run class is wine-tasting and appreciation; a fact that may be interpreted as a symptom of the local area’s elevated score on alcohol- related disease, rather than its cause.

Other social activities include a variety of musical, theatrical, sporting, gaming and special interest groups. There is also a very healthy provision for women in the area, with two WI groups in Marlow Bottom and Bovingdon Green, and a Townswomen’s Guild in the centre of Marlow. These are very close-knit groups, and it would be positive to get vulnerable people into them because there is a strong tendency for members to ‘look after their own.’ Marlow Bottom WI (and, incidentally, Little Marlow) limit membership to those living in the specific areas because they have waiting lists. A challenge and opportunity is to find ways of helping broaden the amount of community care given to those who cannot access the groups themselves, for example not limiting their walking groups to just WI members.

Marlow has very good representation for its older population; there are two OPAGs – Marlow and Marlow Bottom. Marlow Bottom OPAG, referred to as Valley Plus, is extremely successful. There are also a number of coffee mornings and lunch clubs, although one of the lunch clubs in the area is by invitation only.

Marlow Simply Walk is the only low-level walk in the Wooburn Green area. It may be that this is an area for development elsewhere; a number of the Simply Walk groups have become focal points for the able (though as noted above, they provide strong community ties too). Unsurprisingly for an area with this population, there are lots of opportunities to take part in Tai Chi, pilates and yoga, including age-specific classes.

A further interesting specific-condition project is the Triangle Project, which is an allotment-based project for people with mental health problems.

One significant area of opportunity is that Churches Together in Marlow have commissioned members from River Church to take a lead on doing a needs analysis for Marlow, to see where they can become more engaged with the community. This is due to be completed by Nov 2013.

Flackwell Heath and Little Marlow (pop 7403)

This area has the highest proportion of pensioners, with both single and family pensioner households being significantly above average. Health statistics report a moderate elevation amongst those experiencing little limitations, but those reporting very bad health are significantly below average. This reads slightly confusingly alongside the provision of high-level care which, alongside low-level, is significantly above local averages.

The two villages are very separate and very different in character. Little Marlow is little more than a hamlet off the main road. Its roads are paved, but narrow and pavements are rare. Flackwell Heath is a busy village, with a number of fairly well-used roads going through it. It has more the feel of a small town.

Flackwell Heath is well served for most amenities. The village has a doctor, dentist and optician, a post office, a mini-supermarket and other shops. It is easy to get to High Wycombe for bigger supermarket shops, or to go to the hospital. Flackwell Heath day centre is supported by a minibus, which collect people in the local area to bring them to the day centre.

Little Marlow has almost nothing in terms of facilities, and is not served well by public transport either. However, the Wye Valley Volunteer group do serve Little Marlow, meaning a community car scheme does cover the area.

Little Marlow

The area has two main community venues, Abbotsbrook Hall and the Pavillion. There is a limited amount of activity relevant to Prevention Matters, but of note are the hugely successful daytime WI, which has a waiting list, and the bridge club.

Flackwell Heath

Flackwell Heath has its own day centre. The numbers are reasonably resilient, but volunteers are required. There is a very early stage exploration of a partnership between Amersham and Wycombe college, who have a campus at Flackwell Heath to provide their students with opportunities to get experience by helping some of the older people in the area. Courses are fairly wide-ranging, but could include health and beauty doing hair and nails, art and design trying to make Telecare products less ‘clinical’, plumbers, electricians and builders doing jobs around the house, and social care to help with the elderly themselves.

Christ Church is a key provider of services in the local community. They run regular coffee mornings, which are attended by a pleasing mix of both older people and young mums. The church also hosts an exercise class aimed mostly at the over 50s. There is a pastoral group, who look after vulnerable members of the church and for the last two years in August they have run a ‘holiday at home’ for approximately 50 older people with three days of activities. Finally, the church also runs Oasis Bereavement services, which offer one to one counselling, but also support groups at the church too.

Aside from the elderly keep fit classes, there are a lot of preventative physical activities available, mostly focused on the community centre. However, there are also two Simply Walk groups.

One of the more unusual services available in Flackwell Heath is a weekly opportunity for those people with visual impairment to play bowls at Flackwell Heath bowls club. The club itself is both a bowls club and a social club during the winter. Other social activities include a women’s circle, and two WIs (a daytime and evening one).

The library runs basic computer lessons.

Tylers Green and Loudwater (pop 8683)

This area has the lowest proportion of retirees in the Wooburn Green area, with single pensioner households comprising only 9.5% of the total (Wycombe district average is 11.1%) and pensioner families making up a further 8.6%, though this figure is close to the area average of 8.9%. The area is notably healthy, with the number of people reporting that they are limited a little, in bad health or very bad health being significantly below local averages. Interestingly, however, the proportion of people reporting that they provide low-level care is significantly above the local average. This decreases, however, as the care needs get more severe, with mid-level care matching local averages, and high-level care being significantly below average.

Again, though grouped together the two are very different. Loudwater is at the bottom of the hill and has a much stronger sense of being part of greater-Wycombe. The area follows the London Road and has an urban feel with busy traffic and a large number of places that are destinations (office blocks and supermarkets). Tylers Green as a village feels far more affinity with its neighbouring village, Penn. Its roads are not all necessarily with pavements, but they are of moderate size.

Tylers Green has some necessary amenities, though the rest are easily accessed by public transport. The doctor is available in Penn, which is virtually the same village. There is a post-office and village shop. To get to the dentist and optician it is necessary to go to nearby Hazlemere, which is a short bus journey. The only major obstacle is the supermarket, which is not easily accessed from the village. High Wycombe hospital, however, is reachable. The village runs a community transport scheme called Village Care, which offers lifts in cars for any reason (not just medical appointments). These do require booking 3 weeks in advance, however.

The situation for Loudwater is slightly better. A doctor and optician are nearby, but although it is not a great distance to the nearest dentist, it is not accessible on public transport. However, access to High Wycombe is easy, and there are a large number of dentists available in addition to the hospital and shops. That said, a post office, number of small shops and supermarket are all to be found locally anyway, reducing the need to get to High Wycombe.

Tylers Green

The Village Hall is the primary community hub for Tylers Green. It hosts a variety of preventative physical activities (yoga and pilates), as well as bowls and badminton. In addition, the bridge club play there, two WIs run and there is a monthly embroidery club. One unique service is a monthly osteoporosis group which also runs from the Village Hall.

Hazlemere (pop 9623)

Significantly above average in terms of both single and family pensioner households. Health statistics mostly mirror local averages, with the number of people reporting being in bad health being the only response to fall significantly outside average boundaries, being a long way below. Low level care is very slightly above the local average, whereas mid-level care is significantly below and high-level care is almost exactly on the local average.

Hazlemere has the feeling of being a part of greater-Wycombe. There is no major break between it and High Wycombe itself. However, it itself is the locus of the transition from greater-Wycombe to the surrounding countryside. This means that at the Wycombe end it feels very urban, whereas further out it becomes increasingly less so. A number of the roads that go through Hazlemere are fast, and points which do not have pavements would prove difficult. Some of the area is also built on the hillside, meaning that walking for the less able-bodied is more difficult.

Hazlemere is well served for health assets, having a doctor, dentist and optician and being within easy bus reach of High Wycombe. It also has a post office, bank and large number of smaller shops, though a full size supermarket requires a trip to High Wycombe. There is a community car scheme, called Hazlemere Good Neighbours which runs, though it is struggling to find sufficient volunteers to meet demand.

The Community Centre at Hazlemere is the major social hub in the area, with the others being the sports pavilion and the library. The centre is the source of a wide variety of activities, hosting a club for the visually impaired, a coffee and chat club for the elderly, cribbage, chess, bridge and lots of sporting activities. There is also a local gardening club and theatre group.

Hazlemere is unusual in that it has three specialist groups meeting in the area: a dementia carer’s support group, a stroke support group and a Parkinson’s disease support group.

In addition to its services as a lift-provider, Hazlemere Good Neighbours also does offer help with staying independent. However, similarly to the driving, it struggles to find sufficient people. Another interesting service based in Hazlemere (from the library) but is actually county-wide is the home delivery service. Here, volunteers with WRVS take books, CDs or anything else from the library to people’s homes. Mostly it works well, though there is a sense that this opportunity could be broadened to make it more helpful to those getting the service.

Beaconsfield (pop 12,081)

The town ranks significantly above average proportion of single and pensioner families, but health and care statistics track district averages.

Beaconsfield is taken to incorporate the Old Town, the New Town and Holtspur. These areas have very different feels, with the Old Town being very picturesque and quaint. The roads that go through it are big and busy, but there is a lot of pavement space. It is also fairly flat. The New Town is where a lot of the shops are, and has a modern urban feel to it. Holtspur is a more residential area.

Being another of the major urban sections in the Wooburn Green area, Beaconsfield is very well supplied with healthcare assets, banks, post offices shops and supermarkets. It is also a good transport hub, making it fairly easy to get to other places, such as Wycombe and Stoke Mandeville Hospitals. Beaconsfield Advisory Centre run a community car scheme, which is reserved for taking people to medical appointments and can be booked at 48 hours notice.

The South Bucks U3A is based primarily in Beaconsfield. Like its Marlow equivalent, it is a fantastically well supported organisation with a very wide variety of activities. It is interesting to note that they have found finding sufficient spaces to run their activities more and more challenging as they have grown. This does indicate that despite the large number of halls in churches, the Curzon Centre and the Beacon Centre, demand for community space is high relative to supply.

One of the supported housing schemes, Kiln Court, are particularly helpful in this regard. They run a coffee and chat group for the wider community, but also are willing to host other groups such as the Beaconsfield Carers Support Group.

Aside from its car scheme, the Beaconsfield Advisory Centre also runs a service similar to the CAB, but with more flexibility. The centre is heavily funded and resourced by volunteers from the churches. This allows the centre to call on specific know-how when they see a need.

There is certainly a sense of pastoral responsibility towards the local community by the churches. St Mary and All Saints host a training group for those people who go out to be pastoral visitors in the Beaconsfield, Amersham and Chesham areas. Beaconsfield Baptist used to run gardening days and such like for local residents, but they ceased to do so because too few people were found to be in need. However, they appear committed to serving the local community if needs arise. There are also a fairly large number of rotary clubs, probus clubs and similar organisations in Beaconsfield, which extends the good-will towards the community beyond the church community.

Regarding provision for specific illnesses, the Alzheimer’s Society have their Southern office in Beaconsfield, and the Fitzwilliam Centre is used to host Singing for the Brain, which is hugely successful. It is attended by about double the number of people it was initially aimed at, and appears to be highly valued by attendees and carers alike.

The Beacon Centre, which is the sports centre in Beaconsfield run a number of targeted exercise classes: an over 55s class, a get fit avoid falls class, and a cardiac and stroke rehab.

A key problem identified by the CPW, and one which is surprising given the age profile of Beaconsfield and its population, is the paucity of day centre places available. There are a lot of social activities aimed at older people, from lunchtime concerts, multiple lunch clubs and coffee groups. All day activities, however, are sparse. Bradbury House do run a day centre, which is fairly expensive at £40 a day. However, it is primarily run for residents at Bradbury House, with only a handful of extra places available for non-residents.

One exciting opportunity worth mentioning is Latimer Minster. This is a church group who have purchased some farmland outside Beaconsfield with a view to turning it back into a working farm and community asset. They have already done some work to it, and they have a working hall, which is used as a church but also to run a needle work group. However, there is massive capacity for other work to be done, and it seems on paper as if it could be a mutually beneficial project if a Men In Sheds could be set up to deliver it.

The Wooburns (pop 5261)

Above average number of single pensioners, but not significantly so, whereas it is significantly below the district average for the number of pensioner families. Health and care statistics follow district averages almost precisely.

Wooburn Green is the site for the majority of the infrastructure in the area. However, this grouping does also incorporate Wooburn Town and Wooburn Park also. Nevertheless, for ease, they shall be discussed as one. The Green is to be found at the bottom of a steep hill, but the majority of the housing actually falls within the valley created by the hills opposite. The main road going though it can be fast and busy, but there are (some) points to assist safer crossing.

Wooburn Green is relatively self-sufficient. There is a doctor’s surgery and optician. The nearest dentist is in Bourne End, a very short bus ride away. It is also relatively simple to get into High Wycombe for the hospital and shops, though the nearest supermarket is actually in Loudwater (also accessible by bus). The village has other shops, such as a post office and mini-supermarket. There is not a community transport scheme in Wooburn, though obviously it must be remembered that Wycombe Dial a Ride does cover the area, and Wye Valley Volunteers do go as far as Wooburn Green (see Bourne End).

The major venues in the area tend to be the churches – the Chapel on the Green which hosts a lunch club, games afternoon and and bingo. The Parish Church of St Peter, although a little way out of the main village, has a large hall and hosts a number of classes, such as Tai Chi and seated exercise. At the very boundary of the area, Cores End URC church host both table tennis and a bi-weekly lunch club.

Bourne End cum Hedsor (pop 5531)

Significantly above average number of pensioners relative to the rest of Wycombe District (15.7% to 11.1% for pensioners living alone, and 11.7% compared to 8.9% for pensioner families). The area has a higher proportion of people in ill-health, with 6.9% stating that their lives are limited a lot, and 9% saying that their lives are limited a little. These compare to district averages of 5.4% and 7.7% respectively. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the area also is significantly above local averages for the amount of unpaid care provided.

Although technically separate, the majority of Hedsor’s assets lie towards the Bourne End side of the village and there is little to demarcate the end of one and the start of the other. They can, therefore, be discussed as one entity.

Bourne End is fortunate to have a very clear community hub. The community centre, library, day centre, volunteer centre, one of the churches, the mini-supermarket are clustered around a car park off the main road. The majority of the shops are based along this main road. It is a suitably busy area that there are measures to help people cross.

Bourne End is well served with a doctor, dentist, post office, bank and variety of other shops in the village itself. To reach an optician, it is necessary to take a short bus ride to Cookham. High Wycombe hospital is also easily within reach by public transport. Wye Valley Volunteers run a community car scheme, mainly for day centre or medical appointments.

There is a good amount of activity in the local area, particularly for women. The Townswomen’s Guild, Soroptomerterists International, and a morning and evening WI all operate in the village, in addition to the traditionally female-dominated flower arranging and sewing clubs. A counterbalance to this is the video and film club, as well as gender neutral activities such as bingo and coffee mornings. Hedsor Social Club tends to cater to younger people, with activities around music and dance. Bucks Adult Learning are responsible for putting on preventative activity classes: tai chi, pilates and 50+ exercise. The Catholic Church also hosts some activities but has capacity for more potentially. Also worth mentioning is the library, which has separate function rooms, which appear not to be used anywhere near capacity.

The day centre runs five days a week and is managed by Fremantle. It is currently undersubscribed. When visited a few months back, they had nobody using the service on a Wednesday. This may be partially down to the higher cost relative to the other day centres in the Wooburn Green area, which cost less than £10 each, whereas the day in Bourne End costs £30.

As mentioned, Wye Valley Volunteers run from this area. However, they do also cover the Wooburns, Flackwell Heath and Little Marlow. Lifts tend to be given solely for medical appointments.

One specific area of interest is Headway, which is a charity caring for those with head injuries, who run a resource centre from the community centre.

Observations of the Prevention Matters Team in the Wooburn Green Locality

Given the fast pace at which the population has aged, and the commensurate fall in the number of younger people, it would appear that there is at least a prima facie case to consider investigating further the potential for homesharing.

Whilst there are a number of community transport schemes, there is rarely sufficient capacity to consider running new services, such as non-medical appointments, or new mini-bus routes. On the other hand, a large number of organisations are prepared to offer lifts within their own membership. Getting people plugged into organisations, therefore, is key. This is one rationale behind trying to explore the benefits and limits of teleconferencing.

A large number of people have mentioned about the difficulty in finding speakers and entertainers for day centres. This appears to be an opportunity to get people through the door of day centres and lunch clubs and to get to see the problems a little more.

The single biggest referral destination currently made by CPWs in the Wooburn Green area is to the Age UK Befriending Scheme. In the Wycombe area, Age UK report that they need more volunteers to meet demand for their services. Interestingly, despite the wealth of the area, one of the reasons given for this being such a common referral is that the project is free to access and those entering the project are often reluctant to pay for clubs or services.

The Library Delivery Service is a great opportunity in that there is an infrastructure for delivering things to the vulnerable. However, the limitation to the delivery of solely library-related things appears to be unnecessarily reduction in its potential benefit.

There is already some opening up of supported housing schemes to non-residents. However, there is significant potential in working with housing associations to run and host projects.

When brought up, various church pastoral groups have expressed desire to be made aware of how they can better respond to the major issues that they face when visiting the vulnerable: early signs of dementia, rogue traders, spotting and working with people who have mental health problems, Telecare opportunities. Designing a programme of opportunities they could access could massively increase the number of people on the ground capable of noticing problems early. Another type of group who might be interested in similar resources could be the WI.

It is important not to overlook the requirement to ensure there is a good way to communicate need, rather than simply to focus on the supply of help. For example, two gardening clubs run by local churches have withered for lack of people needing their help. Whilst this is built into the project, it does bear re-stating that not all failures to meet people’s needs are down to insufficient numbers of people willing or able to help.

A final point to make is that, contrary to the localism agenda, not all groups of people who want to help those around them want to be responsible for setting up and designing projects. Many do actually want a list of things that need doing, and suggestions as to how they might get involved in tackling them, rather than having to design projects themselves. Whilst it runs the risk of failing to succeed through groups not taking ownership, proactive work by Prevention Matters in designing and setting up replicable projects may be greeted more positively than the general trajectory of thought may otherwise suggest.