A community-led social wellbeing project has won a prestigious award at the annual Essex County Council’s ‘Who Will Care?’ Awards 2019.

Compassionate Neighbours, led by Hastingwood-based charity St Clare Hospice, won the Voluntary Community Service Award on Wednesday, May 22 at Angelia Ruskin University in Chelmsford.

Announced by award presented BBC Radio Essex’s Dave Monk DL, the project was chosen on the grounds of ‘outstanding service delivery to support their community and/or service users’.

Stacey Towler, Compassionate Neighbours project manager at St Clare Hospice, who collected the award on the night, said: “We are absolutely over the moon to have won this incredible, local award.

“The competition was extremely strong, as we were in the running along with lots of other wonderful local projects that sounded amazing.

“It is with thanks to all of our amazing volunteers that the Compassionate Neighbours project at St Clare has been such a success.”

The Compassionate Neighbours has trained 64 volunteers to provide social and emotional support to those facing a terminal illness on their own.

The volunteers are matched with people within communities located across west Essex and east Hertfordshire based on their mutual interests and experiences.

“Winning this award is a wonderful feeling, but it also really highlights the fact that we, as a community, have the ability, and therefore, the responsibility, to make a difference to local people’s lives through social support like this,” explained Ms Towler. “It’s really encouraging to know that something as simple as a weekly visit, a cuppa and a chat can make such a difference to people.

“Change is possible, and this award has recognised that and given us even more opportunity to reach more people who could benefit from this kind of support.”

Compassionate Neighbours was originally founded in 2011 by St Joseph’s Hospice in east London and now has eight hospices throughout the country signed up.

Community engagement manager at St Clare Hospice, Sally Muylders, said: “This ‘win’ for the Compassionate Neighbours project at St Clare is a tribute to the importance of social support networks for people who are socially isolated due to illness or frailty, or when they are approaching the end of life.

“It’s absolutely brilliant to see the project receiving recognition for successfully addressing and tackling this nation-wide issue in the local area.

“Stacey and the team have done a superb job over the last year and five months – real lives are being changed for the better. The future is bright for the project, and I can’t wait to see our plans for the next several months unfold at St Clare, when we will be trialling further support for local people as part of the project.”

For more information about Compassionate Neighbours, including how to volunteer, visit: stclarehospice.org.uk/compassionateneighbours