Help Deliver Hot Meals In Your Community.

GL11 Community Hub is appealing for volunteers to join its Meals on Wheels delivery team who help support the wellbeing of neighbours in Cam, Dursley and surrounding areas.

Volunteers, who can give as much or as little time as they have available, are invited to get in touch and discover what GL11 does, what it’s like to be a volunteer and to find out more about helping with the delivery of hot meals to those most in need in the local community.

Volunteer Manager, Adam Jones at GL11 Community Hub, comments: “We had huge success with the COVID vaccination support programme at the end of 2020, connecting with over 400 volunteers, but in recent months, we’ve seen the number of people offering to volunteer fall. Our team of regular volunteers are amazing, but as our community grows, and the range of needs grow with it, we need to bring in more people to help spread the load”.

In March 2023, GL11 Community Hub took on the provision of cooked meals for residents of GL11 and GL13 postcode areas. This was after Gloucestershire County Council’s existing commercial service provider ended their contract for the whole of Gloucestershire.

Adam continues, “As a charity we are busier than ever with the range of support we offer. Right now, we are particularly keen to take on more volunteers to help us with ‘Meals on Wheels’ as this is a vital service, meeting the needs of some of the most vulnerable in our community. We cook all the meals here at GL11 and we really need help from volunteers to help us with collection and delivery. The meals get driven by car to recipient’s homes while they are still hot, so enthusiasm is vital. We’re keen to recruit people with a caring nature too, as stopping for a chat and checking on how recipients are doing is an essential part of the role”.

GL11 prepare around 60 healthy and nutritious meals every week from their Café kitchen. They have a dedicated team of volunteer delivery drivers, who not only deliver hot meals, daily, Monday to Friday (with a chilled option over weekends) to local people, who otherwise would not be able to cook for themselves, but also ensures that they have a bit of company each day. The Hub is looking to expand its team of volunteer delivery drivers to keep this service running successfully in the future. Volunteers will meet new people, learn new skills and give back to their community.

Meals on Wheels are looking for new volunteers over weekday lunchtimes, on a day or days that suit. Mileage will be reimbursed, and full training will be given.

If you are interested in signing up as a volunteer, you can find out more by calling GL11 Community Hub on 01453 548530 or emailing office@gl11.org.uk. Alternatively, more info on all the volunteering roles at GL11 Community Hub can be found on their website – www.gl11.org.

Vote for us! GL11 shortlisted for Charity of the Year

We are so excited! GL11 Community Hub has been shortlisted for 'Charity of the Year' in the ‘So Glos Lifestyle Awards’ 2023.

To vote for us, all you have to do is:

1) Go here - www.soglos.com/lifestyle-awards/vote

2) Click the Join Now button to register your details

3) Scroll to the bottom of the voting page to vote for GL11 as Charity of the Year.

Thank you for your support!

Plan To Dress Cam and Dursley In Flags For King’s Coronation

A group of community organisations in Cam and Dursley have grouped together to encourage residents to dress up their homes in colourful bunting for the King’s Coronation in May.

GL11 Community Hub, along with with The Chantry Centre, Dursley Tabernacle Church, Dursley Methodist Church and St George’s Church are hosting drop in sessions, asking volunteers to pop in and make up ‘Bunting Kits’ which will be offered to local residents to take away, finish off at home and put up for the King's Coronation celebrations in May.

Kits will contain the fabric and printed instructions for making up lengths of bunting suitable for decorating homes and gardens. The kits will be free of charge and are aimed at all ages and abilities as can be sewn or glued in the final stages of make up.

As well as encouraging volunteers to attend the kit making sessions, GL11 Community Hub are asking for donations of fabric to fill the kits. If you can help with fabric - please drop off donations at GL11, Fairmead, Cam, GL11 5JS.

If you can help with making up bunting kits, then drop into one of the five Bunting Kit making sessions during March & April in Cam & Dursley:

Dates are

28 March 10 am 12 pm at GL11 Community Hub

30 March 10 am -12 pm at The Chantry Centre

19 April 1 pm -3 pm at Dursley Tab

20 April 10 am -12 pm at St George’s Church

21 April 10 am -12 pm at Dursley Methodist Church

If you can’t make it to any the sessions and want to take part at home, click here for the printed instructions.

For more information you can contact Kate Molloy - email katemolloy@gl11.org.uk or ring 01453 548530.

GL11 Sharpness Community Event

GL11 are inviting residents of Sharpness, and surrounding areas, to come along and get help and support on a range of issues in Sharpness Village Hall on Wednesday 29th March between 2pm - 4pm.

As well as tea, coffee and cake, GL11 has partnered with other organisations - P3 Housing, GL Communities, Gloucestershire Employment & Skills Outreach who will be there to provide free help and support with everything from digital access, job seeking and employment support, as well as guidance on housing, benefits and debt advice.

All welcome!

For more information you can contact Audrey Harris - email audreyharris@gl11.org.uk or ring 01453 548530.

New Year Honour for CEO of GL11

We are delighted that GL11’s CEO, Indigo Redfern, has been awarded an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) by King Charles in the 2023 New Year Honours List.

The Honour recognises GL11’s award winning services to the local community over the last 20 years, and particularly the Community Centre’s UK leading response to Covid, organised by Ms. Redfern, and now used as a national example of best practice.

Indigo Redfern says, “I am delighted to accept this MBE on behalf of all the volunteers, trustees, staff past and present at GL11, and our generous funders, who this Honour is really for.”

“During Covid, hundreds of people helped Cam & Dursley mount a unique community response. 5% of households volunteered, answering over 9,000 phone calls providing support and wellbeing. GL11 supported 12% of all household in our community during lockdown with shopping and prescriptions and directly fed 3% of the local population with over 7,000 hot meals.”

“Our community has had an outpouring of kindness, with everyone pulling together. It’s a successful model of coordinated community building, now used as national best practice. One we are delivering again now to help our community through the Cost of Living Crisis. This Honour is for everyone in Cam & Dursley who helps make that happen.”

GL11 fronts NHS #StayWellGlos campaign

GL11 are delighted to be part of the NHS winter #StayWellGlos campaign.

The NHS filmed at GL11 to produce a lovely short video, letting people know how to stay warm this winter, and where to get help with the Cost of Living Crisis.

You can watch their short video by clicking here.

GL11 on the six o’clock news

More excitement during our Cost of Living Support Day on, when BBC News reporter Faisal Islam came to chat to some of our regulars, about the impact of rising food and energy bills on people on small communities like Cam and Dursley. If you missed us on the News on, you can catch it on our YouTube channel here.

GL11 becomes National Covid Case Study

We are delighted that GL11’s unique community response during Covid has been recognised as a best practice case study by the UK’s National Preparedness Commission, to help others learn lessons for building good community resilience.

Indigo Redfern, the CEO at GL11 said, “The day after Covid lockdown, GL11 conceived a plan to support every single household in the GL11 postal area – some 15,000 people. The plan entailed the recruitment of around 200 local volunteers, supported by 12 coordinators, so that a lead “Street Vol” and a back-up “buddy” were allocated to every street in the area. These volunteers were assisted by a team of 20 qualified volunteer counsellors (“Listening Ears”) recruited to provide telephone support. Over the course of the first lockdown GL11 dealt with over 8,000 telephone calls and completed 4,130 requests for assistance, supporting around 1 in every 10 local households in our community.”

You can read the full National Preparedness Commission case study here - The Community Response to Covid-19 in Dursley and Cam: A Case Study | National Preparedness Commission

BBC Breakfast News visit GL11

It all got a bit exciting at our Cost of Living Support Day last Wednesday, when the BBC Breakfast team came to chat to some of our regulars, about the impact of rising fuel costs on rural communities like Cam and Dursley. If you missed us on the Breakfast News on Friday, you can still read all about it on the BBC website here - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-63407158

Community Lead the Way With Cost of Living Support

Today (Wed 31st Sept), civic groups and community centres from across the south of Stroud came together at GL11 Community Hub in Cam & Dursley to coordinate a community response to the cost of living crisis this winter (see picture attached).

As people struggle with rising heating bills, food prices and housing costs, the ambition collectively of the local community groups is to ensure a venue in Cam & Dursley is open every day of the week where people can go, that is warm and welcoming, with free or very low-cost food and drink, and access to help and advice.

An estimated 40% of households will be in poverty this winter, and the community groups, including representatives from GL11, the NHS, local churches, Chantry Centre and Stroud District Council, came together to discuss how best to provide a warm environment if people can’t afford to heat their homes. Another aim of the group is to reduce the stigma about asking for help with food.

Indigo Redfern, CEO of GL11 Community Hub, said “For example, GL11's own Cost of Living Support Day in Cam & Dursley will be every Wednesday, 10am to 7pm, starting on 21st Sept. Our Café will be serving £1 breakfasts, potluck lunches and suppers, with free hot drinks, cakes and internet access, alongside help and advice with debt, benefits, housing, employment and wellbeing. Our new Community Pantry will be open too, a £4 membership giving at least £15 of food, to help ensure no-one goes hungry.”

“There is a great collective will amongst us all to work together to provide spaces in Cam & Dursley every day of the week where people can be sure of a warm welcome and good company this winter. We are meeting again next week, bringing in even more local community groups to help plan and staff with volunteers, a 7-day Cost of Living Café across local community spaces, that will see Cam & Dursley leading the way for cost of living support. Anyone wanting to be involved in this great community effort can phone us at GL11 for more details.”

GL11 Wins Award

The GL11 Community Hub are proud to have won an award for being one of Gloucestershire’s most inclusive employers. The award which is part of the Inclusivity Works campaign, was launched by the Gloucestershire based, Going the Extra Mile (GEM) Project and presented to the GL11 Community Hub, honouring them as one of the first organisations, to receive the award which commends their commitment to building an inclusive culture in the workplace.

All of the winners, have been recognised for embracing and creating a culture where diverse groups of people feel valued, confident and able to be themselves, and have seen incredible benefits as individuals contribute their very best to the organisation. 

Awards were presented to 13 employers that have welcomed inclusivity and diversity as part of their working and employment practices, supporting candidates that, for a variety of reasons, have struggled to get into the workplace.  By doing so, they are helping to create a sustainable future for inclusivity in the workplace as well as reaping tangible benefits. 

The Great Jubilee Flag Project

More than 900 school children from the Cam and Dursley community took part in a joint project by Dursley Creative’s and the GL11 Community Hub during May and June.

 The project, which aimed to bring some creativity into the community and teach local children and community groups, how to silkscreen flag designs onto fabric to make flags for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations at the beginning of June, was a huge success, linking up schools, teaching staff and different community groups with local artists.

 As well as schools delivering the sessions as part of their creative programme, pop-up sessions were held here at the GL11 Community Hub in the evenings and over weekends and everyone in the community were invited to come along.

 The Flag project ran for 6 weeks and more flags than we could count were created as a lasting and memorable way to remember the celebrations held for our Queen’s 75th year in reign.