Please help with the TimeBank Project

Dear Resident

You may have heard of TIME BANK a scheme, which operates in towns and cities all over the country. It is a system that promotes volunteering and rewards people for helping others.

Example: Frank has poor mobility and finds it hard to get to the supermarket to do his weekly shop but Jane only works part time and has access to a car so its easy for her to do it for him. She always pops in for a coffee and a chat and they have formed a friendship. Jane is glad for this as she is new to the village and doesn’t know many people. Jane spends about an hour a week doing franks shopping and each time she earns a time credit, which she can exchange for some one else’s skills. This week she’s thinking of getting David round to do her gardening or Katie to wash the car or maybe she can find someone who can help out at the next WI event…

TIME BANK can be fun as well as useful. Through TIME BANK Lincoln, for example, some people have been accessing music lessons and learning new crafts. Fun activities are valued equally to those more serious ones. With TIME BANK the possibilities are endless. The more people who join, the more skills there are to share.

Regeneration Across Communities of Lincolnshire and Sleaford CVS would like to set up a similar scheme in Billinghay. Before we start our planning and organising we need to know we have the support and input from the residents. In order to establish this and to hear your views we have put a short questionnaire on the back of this flyer. It would be really helpful if you could fill it in and drop it into the Billingay Parish Office by Tuesday 19 September.

Two drop in sessions will be held in the Church Community Rooms on Wednesday 4 October between 18:30 and 20:00 and Thursday 5 October from 14:00 to 15:30. We hope that we will have received enough responses to the questionnaire prior to these sessions so that we have some idea of what is wanted and needed in the village. Ann and I will both be present to answer any questions, listen to your ideas and register contact details for those who might be interested in the scheme. If you are unable to fill in the questionnaire or attend one of the sessions you can also contact us by phone, or email. It is a really exciting opportunity for residents of Billinghay and we hope that you can be a part of it.

To take part, please download our questionaire in PDF format from here.