Seasons Thanks and Greetings…

We’re in between Christmas and the New Year now and what a busy time we’ve had.

Along with our regular services, Creative Communities pulled off another lovely Community Christmas. Our volunteers strove to get the community together in bringing light to the village of Pewsey with the help of AG Builders and Fishlock and Dyer.

The Methodist Church again hosted our Christmas tree and Grotto where children could meet Father Christmas. There was also wreath making from material scraps which was very popular considering how cold it was – fingers were definitely feeling the freeze!

We had hot chocolates and mince pies kindly donated by local supermarkets to help with warming everybody up and live music by singers Elle and Emma and the Stand Sure Choir – thanks to Simon Tuxford for managing the sound.

The lantern parade kicked off after the Christingle service at St John’s Church and finished with the tree lights switch on accompanied by the choir.

A massive thank you to all involved as everyone gave up their time freely and graciously to bring smiles to all who visited.

We had hoped to launch our double decker bus at this event, and many worked so hard in completing refurbishments, but alas some last minute hitches meant we had to postpone this, so watch this space…

Lawn Farm we are forever grateful for your help and support with this project, you have gone above and beyond just letting us keep our bus on the land – the physical and practical help you have offered has been brilliant – what a great bunch of folks.

Taking this in between time to reflect on the last year which has been very difficult for a lot of us. Coming out of the pandemic into a cost of living crisis has been challenging for so many of us in lots of ways.

Times are definitely hard and down at PCA we have been evolving and moving with each challenge to try and help alleviate some of the hardships people are facing. We have introduced more food/household parcel options to our BURP (Basic Universal Resource Plan), which has fed almost 3000 people so far, this means more people can access this service. We will be promoting this more and more in the coming months.

We’ve been reaching to a wider Wiltshire and are now being recommended and referred to by households outside of Pewsey. Our aim is to take our services out to the more rural isolated areas and are currently talking to other Parish Councils about using their sites for this purpose.

Positive Community Foodshare is becoming more popular and we save several trays of food a week from going to landfill. This now includes frozen produce as well as the fresh bakery items.

Our Buddy Crew helps keep an eye (or an ear) out for those more isolated, and whilst also creating friendships they help establish any other needs that may be required. Our partnership with KAMP’s elderly Care Team is invaluable with this service.

Community meals reached a milestone of 3700 meals cooked and delivered whilst our Community Market and Friendship Cafe celebrated its 100th anniversary at their Christmas party on December 17th.

We are grateful to all of our grant funders, who this year have been The Princes Community Fund, The Allen Lane Foundation and The COOP Local Community Fund.

We’ve had many businesses donating materials, equipment and services – Kellaway, Enterprise Works, Mundy’s, Leoch Batteries, LoHeat, Basset Down Balancing, Kev Kyte Marine Welding, Morgan Lovell Southern, Reid Electrics, Waterpark Heating, Swift Boat Electrics, Hartwood Oak Buildings, American School Bus Glamping, Totteridge Farm, Sarum Graphics, Barefoot Signs, 12 volt Planet, St Peter’s Church Cafe, Savernake Dental Practice. With professional voluntary service by many qualified engineers, builders, joiners, carpenters and electricians the main refurbishments to stage one of our Bus HQ are almost complete.

We’ve also had some very generous donations over this Christmas period from local people in our community, local charities and organisations and from events that have chosen us as the recipients of their fundraising.

The support of our local and wider community has been outstanding and we couldn’t be more grateful.

Finally, the most gratitude goes to all of the volunteers who keep this organisation running. The dedication and commitment you continue to provide is really appreciated by all who are touched by the services of PCA. You are helping to make a difference. Here’s looking to 2023 in the hope that things get easier for a lot of people.

If you would like to join our team of volunteers, or need some help please contact us here at ourpca.uk or phone us on 01672 487022 (thanks also to Heather Barnett for doing the new phone voice recordings which were long overdue, but now up to date!).