Mental Health Awareness Week 2025
Since 2001, the Mental Health Foundation has been leading Mental Health Awareness Week – bringing the UK together to focus on getting good mental health. This year, the week takes place from 12 to 18 May 2025 and the theme is ‘community’.We want to use this Mental Health Awareness Week to celebrate the power and importance of community. Being part […]
Blog: Email befriending
I started writing to Annie in late 2024 so I have been communicating with her now for about six months, I initially wanted to write to somebody as I wanted something that I could do which would be a really positive thing to do. I didn’t expect to make a huge difference to anybody’s life […]
May Bank Holidays
Community Champions, Community Wellbeing Harborough VASL Car Scheme Leicestershire Support for Carers and Business Support will be closed for the bank holidays on Monday 5th May and Monday 26th May 2025. Adult Social CareIf you need to contact Leicestershire Adult Social Care Monday to Thursday, 8.30am to 5pm, Friday, 8.30am to 4.30pm telephone: 0116 305 0004.Deaf […]
BLOG: Global Intergeneration Week
Encouraging Inter-generational dialogue VASL Community Champions is a National Lottery Community Funded project which aims to tackle loneliness amongst older people living in Harborough District. We do this through volunteers offering regular face to face, telephone and email befriending, providing support with digital inclusion, organising project events like Community Gatherings / Learning sessions and offering […]
Help with NHS App Summer 2025
Our digital volunteers are ready to help older people in Harborough District to register with the NHS App on their smartphone or tablet. You can use it to order repeat prescriptions, to check results of tests, look at your medical history and make some types of appointment. We know that a lot of our people […]
Blog: Ageism – Real or Not
8 Community Champions clients and volunteers joined retired tutor Jayne to discuss ageing and ageism. We agreed the benefits of getting older included gaining wisdom and confidence, not caring so much about the opinions of others, stopping work and having time to pursue hobbies or take on caring for family and friends. The disadvantages of […]
BLOG: Digital Inclusion Volunteers
VOLUNTEERING WITH A FRIENDLY AND PROFESSIONAL CHARITY THAT DELIVERS GENUINE BENEFIT TO OUR LOCAL COMMUNITY VASL (Voluntary Action South Leicestershire) is a local charity that helps the lives of people in our community. It does this through involving volunteers in all its projects – Support for Carers, Transport, Community Well-being Harborough, Carers Dementia Guardians and […]
Mental Health Friendly Harborough
Mental Health Friendly Harborough supports rural communities within the Harborough district to improve mental health and wellbeing and develop community lead initiatives supporting local residents. Mental Health Friendly Harborough has adopted the 5 ways to wellbeing model Do you live in a rural community and feel you are missing out on something? Maybe you have […]
Hospital Discharge Grant 2025
Are you a carer? If you look after, help or support someone who wouldn’t be able to manage everyday life without your help, and you are not employed to do it, then you are an unpaid carer. If “YES” you may be entitled to some support from the Hospital Discharge Grant for Carers * Please […]
BLOG: Radio Play around Loneliness
VASL’s Community Champions project excels at building connections between people and organisations unleashing creativity for mutual benefit.The final project 2024 learning session about Henry Dawe’s play The Autumn of My Years, and its broadcast on Harborough FM (HfM), came about through a series of Harborough connections.Henry Dawe, an Uppingham actor, comedian and playwright, had contacted […]