Supporting the community
The minutes from the scrutiny committee that met on the 19th January to discuss the proposal by Hereford Council to ‘take in house’ the Children’s Centre services that we currently provide are now available to view online.
Please click here to view the minutes.
Thank you to everyone who wanted us to send on their comments about the proposal to move the service to the Council. We collated
your comments and they were sent to the leader of the Council, Cllr. David Hitchener and Cllr. Felicity Norman, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People.
If you click the link below you can read the comments that were made. Thank you again.
Yesterday, the Children’s and Young People Scrutiny Committee, Herefordshire Council met to review a proposal made by Herefordshire Council to move services in house.
The meeting was recorded and can be viewed here Children and young people scrutiny committee – Tuesday 19 January 2021 10.00 am – YouTube
This link shows the public questions put to the Council in response to the proposal Public Questions
At the end of the meeting, a unanimous Scrutiny Committee vote recommended a deferral of the decision and an extension of the current service for up to 12 months.
A decision is due to be published on January 22nd by Cllr. Felicity Norman and more details can be found here
The Hope Centre Children’s Centre staff team and Board of Trustees would like to thank everyone who sent in their comments of support. They have all been sent in an anonymised format to the Council and a copy of what everyone said is available here.
Although the Council did not formally consult the local community, we are glad you had a chance to tell us what you thought and to see how much support there was for the Hope Centre and its many services.
We would also like to acknowledge the support and involvement of Bromyard & Winslow Town Council who held an Extraordinary Meeting last week to discuss this item and also give thanks to the Ward Cllrs. Alan Seldon, Jonathan Lester and Nigel Shaw all of whom made representations on behalf of the community in Bromyard. Finally, our thanks to Sarah Kelly, Chair of Trustees, who was called as a witness to the meeting and delivered a very powerful endorsement of Hope’s services.
Thank you, Heidi Mulholland and Sarah Eardley
The Hope Centre became part of Herefordshire’s Talk Community Hubs in Herefordshire last year. More information about this can be found here . 
At the Hope Centre, we offer lots of help, advice, support through trained and experienced staff. We also have a wonderful group of volunteers who help out in the community. Being part of this is important to us as it means we can bring our community knowledge and experience to the project. Having been in Bromyard for over 20 years we know lots of people and lots of great relationships with partners locally.
If you call us 07359 959240 or email info@hopefamilycentre.org we can help out. The service operates in normal office hours 9am-5pm.
Citizens Advice Bureau for specialist debt, budget checks, form filling, PIP plans and specialist money advice. Appointments available every week
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When the current contract ends at the beginning of April, Herefordshire Council would like to deliver the Children’s Centre service instead of HOPE. This is a link to the council’s proposal
http://councillors.herefordshire.gov.uk/mgIssueHistoryHome.…
HOPE have always delivered this for nearly 20 years. The service is about helping families with children 0-5. This includes the groups we run, the family event days, the café activities, the advice and guidance you get and many other things that HOPE offers.
You might have used us in the past or are using us now. Either way, it is really important that a locally provided service can continue, especially when the pandemic means getting help is really difficult.
Bromyard’s rural location means it is not always easy to access services. As a local provider we think we know what people need and can respond quickly when help is needed. We know the local community and think we are in a good position to know Bromyard pretty well. This means that the future of Hope will be affected if the services are moved.
You can send us a comment, messenger us or mail us and we will collect all the comments and give them to the council. It is really important to say what you think about local services if you want to protect them. You can mail us heidi.mulholland@hopefamilycentre.org and this is our Facebook account @HOPECentreBromyard.
If you prefer to comment directly to the council on the proposed changes, you can write to Amanda Price, Amanda.Price@herefordshire.gov.uk or Richard Watson, Richard.watson@herefordshire.gov.uk
