Were you part of the local fundraising events in 2024? If you joined in with the Ash Village Fair, Ash Fantasia and more, we want to say a big thank you! As Ash Parish Council’s chosen charity for 2024 we have just received an amazing donation, which will help feed local people in crisis for 5-6 weeks, a huge help this winter.
The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project is a joint project between St Mary’s Church Ash Vale and the Ash Villages Support Circle led by Cllr Carla Morson*. We have been running the project together for 5 years, first as a covid crisis response and more recently it has evolved into our very own local foodbank for Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. Last year our amazing team of volunteers sourced, sorted, packed and delivered food for 1040 parcels, feeding 3331 people and also ran the Community Fridge which feeds many more people locally.
The team are celebrating this wonderful donation, have a look at the photos! Our charity cheque was kindly presented by Cllr Fiona White, Cllr John Tonks and Ali Watmore the Ash Parish Council Clerk. Thank you Ash Parish Council and thank you to the whole community who have made this donation possible. It will mean that we can support many struggling families in 2025.
Best wishes and thanks
Alex, Revd Neil and Carla
Cllr Carla and team fundraising at the Ash Village FairSome of our Foodbank Heroes in 2024Cheque Presentation from Cllr John, Cllr Fiona and AliFoodbank team celebrating the wonderful donation from Ash Parish Council
Note – if you are struggling and need help with a food parcel you can be referred to us via citizens advice, social services, DWP, local churches, schools and other agencies. We cover Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham. https://ash-vale.org.uk/foodparcels-2/
* note – Carla of course declared a non pecuniary interest (she does not receive any money from the project, but is one of the founders and leaders), and did not vote when we were selected as charity of the year 2024.
The Bishop of Guildford’s Communities Fund (BGCF) exists to reach out to disadvantaged and vulnerable people across the Diocese of Guildford in the name of Christ.
The charity is looking for a volunteer to manage communications by promoting fundraising activities, including the charity’s Lent Appeal and to highlight the positive impact of the grants. If you know someone who is passionate about community work and has some experience or interest in communications, please encourage them to apply.
Did you know? Revd Neil will soon be visiting the Amaha We Uganda team. If you would like to know more, make sure you join us this Sunday 10:30am as Neil will be speaking about the projects on Sunday.
Please continue to pray for William, Job, Benjamin and all the Amaha We Uganda team as they serve the local communities there and lead the projects including tree planting, womens groups, Good Samaritan skills centre, education projects and working with the street children. Your prayers for the team and communities there, and for the UK based trustees too, are much appreciated.
If you would like to join the team in prayer during this years’ mission please contact Revd Neil for the whatsapp link or contact Karen or Alex for prayer times where we will be meeting in person. (you can ask us at church / cafe / toddlers – whenever you see us next!)
Please can we ask everyone to vote for St Mary’s with a blue token in the local Tesco each time you shop? Our “Fruit for Kids” project will enable us to put more healthy fruit in the foodbank parcels and also give out fruit at our toddler groups Little Lambs Library and Chapel Kids.
Please ask everyone you know to vote in-store with their blue token by Monday 31st March 2025. Every blue token helps. The more tokens we get, the more funding we stand to receive from Tesco for this simple but important project. Vote for us today!
I have been collating all the annual foodbank data today and thought you would be interested to know the headline statistics for the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project for 2024. This is a community project jointly run by St Mary’s Church Ash Vale (Revd Neil Lambert) and the Ash Villages Support Circle (Cllr Carla Morson) for the benefit of all in the local community who are in need.
In the year from Jan to Dec 2024 we have provided 1040 Food Bank Parcels to households in need in our local villages.
This has gone out to feed 1644 Adults and 1687 Children, a total of 3331 people across Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green, and Tongham.
Our biggest week was just before Christmas where we sent out 83 Christmas parcels, bringing vital food and Christmas gifts to 261 people.
We had 30 volunteers involved during the year and lots of extra helpers at Christmas for gift wrapping and deliveries.
I am so proud of this team and all the work we do, what a huge difference this makes in our local community. We can say with confidence that no one in our local community need ever go hungry. There is help at hand every week, and the team are always going the extra mile to make sure that everyone has what they need. What a blessing you all are to our community in these difficult times! A big thank you to everyone involved.
Best wishes, Alex (Project Manager)
PS – This data is for the foodbank alone, and does not include the food distributed via the Community Fridge, so there are even more families out there who have been fed anonymously!)
PPS – would you like to support this project? You can bring food items to St Mary’s or The Chapel, donate at Ash Manor School or in store at the Co-op on Wharf Rd. You can also donate funds online here: https://givealittle.co/c/7a47190c-ad4e-4cf9-8662-da844101a41c Thank you for your support!
Need to contact us? Referrals number is: 07762 136542
Did you know? The Co-op offers members the chance to win £500 for themselves and £5,000 for their chosen local cause in their ‘Winners Share It All’ monthly prize draw.
A wonderful local hero right here in Ash Vale won in 2024 and nomiated the Ash Villages Food Parcels Project to win too! This means a £500 win for them and a £5,000 prize for the local foodbank! We are all celebrating this amazing donation, what a wonderful boost for the foodbank, and all the local people in need who use this lifeline when life gets tough. The Ash Villages Food Parcels Project is a vital lifeline to many in Ash, Ash Vale, Ash Green and Tongham, and we cannot do it without the food donations and the funds to buy supplies. This prize made all the difference especially during the cold of winter, the time of year when we see lots of local families in need. It was a great help during the Christmas period when we had over 80 families in need in 1 week!
We don’t have photos of everyone yet, still waiting for a few snaps from the team, but here are some of the foodbank packing and deliveries team, plus local community champions and some of the lovely volunteers and co-op staff who help get the donations of food from store to foodbank in the evenings. A huge big community thank you to all involved!
Have you chosen your local Co-op community fund cause for 2025? Please remember to keep voting! Select us when you go online or download the co-op members app, so we are your chosen charity. Please choose https://membership.coop.co.uk/causes/90078The Chapel Project ( St Mary’s) to keep supporting all the work we do at The Chapel, including hosting the community fridge and foodbank as well as the Chapel Cafe, toddler group and more. …And of course keep tapping your blue membership card whenever you shop in store for your own personal members prices and other benefits. That way, everybody wins, including you!
If you would like to donate tins / food directly to the Food Parcels Project you can donate in store in Ash Vale Co-op on Wharf Rd (basket by the tills), or at St Mary’s on Vale Road or The Chapel on Wharf Rd whenever they are open. Ash Manor School also has a donations box in reception. We use the app called “bank the food” to let you know what we need most urgently. Thank you for your support!
And finally – the easist way to support us without moving from your armchair is a donation online here: https://givealittle.co/c/7a47190c-ad4e-4cf9-8662-da844101a41c Funds donated for the foodbank go towards tins, pasta, fruit, veg, uht milk etc to make sure we can give every client a balanced nutricious parcel whenever they are in need. We can genuinely say that no one in our local community needs to go hungry while this amazing project is running. Thank you for supporting us and celebrating with us!
With all our best wishes and thanks from the Foodbank Team.
Have you seen? The Chapel Project in Ash Vale has lovely new windows, and the best thing about them is, they are double glazed! Have a look next time you are passing and let us know what you think. Why not pop in to Monday Chapel Cafe to see them from the inside too?
We would like to say a huge thank you to all involved with the project, and in particular to Your Fund Surrey – Small Projects Scheme, who supported us with a grant. Special thanks also go to our local councillor Carla Morson, who very kindly supported our application and has been so supportive of all the Chapel projects over the years.
The Chapel is a well used local building, much loved and well attended by the local community. We host Chapel Cafe (a Warm Welcome hub) on Mondays 9:30-12:30 in term time, Chapel Kids (baby and toddler group and Lunch club) on Wednesdays 11:00-14:00, Chapel Craft group on Wednesday nights 8-10pm, and of course prayers, worship and Sunday Services at weekends led by New Way Christian Life Fellowship. Adding to this, the Ash Vale Community Fridge is based here – open 24/7 in the car park. We also host the local Foodbank team here, who are in and out 6 days a week with donations, deliveries, stock checks and supplies. They pack Food Parcels on Wednesdays and Fridays that go out to local people in need every week. (Watch this space – we are planning a Food Forum for like minded charities in March!)
Why double glazing? Having committed to aiming for carbon net zero by 2030, the Chapel Management Committee have agreed a strategy to move away from fossil fuels. Our quick wins in phase 1 were simple improvements like a better heating schedule, dealing with drafts, planting some trees, reducing waste and doing more recycling. Double Glazing is undoubtedly the most important step in Phase 2 that takes us a long way forward on the net zero journey. We are already noticing how much better the room tempreature is, now that the heat loss from the windows has been drastically reduced.
The real heroes of the windows phase were Truglaze in Frimley who have been superb throughout this double glazing project. They measured up precisely, removed the old units carefully, and installed the lovely new windows and doors beautifully. We were extremely impressed when – to overcome a delay due to the glass being delivered late – they sent several installation teams over to work together and do the fitting in a day, so we could be all done and ready in time for Christmas Foodbank. It was a superhuman effort, and a big challenge for Lisa co-ordinating everyone. We would like to say a huge thank you to them all.
What next? Phase 3 will be to see how we can reduce heat loss through insulation of the ceilings and floors – another big job, but a crucial one before we can move away from gas heating. And then the final phase will be to explore things like solar power and air source heat pumps, and see what we can to to complete the move away from fossil fuel. Would you like to support us with phase 3? Our donations link is open, and we would be glad of you support. thank you! https://givealittle.co/c/506zJ4CysgBvk5OPRjRZLF
Photos: Truglaze Team working their Christmas magic / Cllr Carla Morson and Revd Anne Day celebrating the new windows / Beautiful Chapel windows up close / Foodbank Team were the first to enjoy the warmer Chapel with the double glazing in, as they packed the Christmas Parcels.
