Care Scheme
In 1983 a group of young adults at Stoneleigh Methodist Church produced a document entitled ‘Youth and the future with the Community’ which was discussed by a working party and resulted in a decision by Church Council that a Church based and organised ‘Care Scheme’ would be established.
The aims of the Care Scheme would be:-
- to provide transport to the elderly and handicapped people in the Stoneleigh and Ewell area to hospitals, clinics, doctors etc.
- to provide a shopping transport or deliver/collection service for the same range of people
- to visit to the lonely and housebound, and allow carers to go out
- to have a Community Room (later known as the Care Centre) for people to call in and talk about their problems over a cup of tea.
The Care Scheme opened on 20th May 1985 with three two hourly sessions on weekdays, and one on Saturday mornings, using volunteers from Stoneleigh and other Churches in the area. During the first year of operation there were about 350 calls for help, with very few actual visits to the centre.
Eventually the area covered increased to include Epsom, and some 1,500 calls for assistance each year – an increase unfortunately not matched by a rise in the number of volunteers. Nevertheless the care Scheme continued with two sessions every weekday, and provided a service much appreciated by District Nurses, Social Services etc until March 2012 when the service closed, with the remaining services transferred to Age Concern.
Original data by Edward Warren