'It's been a hard year', say Nottingham residents as…

'It's been a hard year', say Nottingham residents as they praise advice centre

“It’s been a hard year,” St Ann’s residents agree as they’ve spoken out about the cost of living crisis and how the St Ann’s Advice Centre continues to support them. Without the St Ann’s Advice Centre, it has been said many wouldn’t have known about the help and support that can be found.

At the St Ann’s Advice Centre on the Robin Hood Chase at their elders Christmas party, people have described the past year as “difficult” due to soaring food prices and bills. The community spirit and willingness to help one another in St Ann’s however has made things better for people, they say.

With a warm space being created at the St Ann’s Advice Centre on a Wednesday evening until 8pm, the St Ann’s with Emmanuel Church have also created a warm hub for residents on a Tuesday morning. Angela Leivers, 61 is from St Ann’s. Angela goes to the advice centre at least twice a week. Now retired, she spoke about the struggles faced this year and said: “I’ve got a smart meter, £30 or £40 used to last me two weeks now, I’m paying £60-£80 a fortnight. I do think there’s help if you look for it but a lot of people are struggling or they don’t know about the help out there.”

Angela continued and said: “The advice centre has been giving out vouchers and help, they have a warm space here for people and cheap meals, it’s friendly, it’s good, I’ve had a few difficulties this year but here has helped me, everyone here is great especially Rachel, she’s fantastic.” Rachel Graham is the centre’s community engagement worker.

Angela continued and said: “Without the advice centre, we’d struggle, the government needs to think of the vulnerable like us and people that are struggling.”

Terry Foster, 57 who lives in St Ann’s, has spoken out about how the St Ann’s Advice Centre has helped her and said: “It’s been a hard year, we’ve not been able to afford fuel and everything’s going up. Here, they’ve been really good.

“You get help with energy vouchers and then the centre will put food outside sometimes for people to take. I think a lot of people would struggle without them here.”

PICTURED: Christmas dinner chefs L>R: Gisella Sobarasua, Fatima Woodward and Cristina Anglero. (Nottingham Post/Marie Wilson.)

Staff at the St Ann’s Advice Centre have previously spoken out about how many people have a “fear of the unknown.” It was also said that many people won’t have a “full standard” Christmas this year.

Reverend Maureen Collins has said that her church, the St Ann’s with Emmanuel Church is “for everyone, even if you’re not Christian”, the church works closely with the St Ann’s Advice Centre. Speaking more about how the advice centre helps people in the community, Maureen said: “Small steps, big changes work here, Rachel and the community here and fab, we love working together.”

“There’s always a good feeling in St Ann’s, I know in the past the area had its problems but it’s friendly compared to anywhere else where people don’t say hello.”

Independent Age is an older people’s charity in the UK. Kate Duncan, a community service manager for Independent Age helped host the advice centre’s Christmas party.

Kate said: “Anyone who is pension age, 65+ and lives in Nottingham city can contact our advice team, a lot of people don’t know about some of the benefits they are entitled to. This year, we’ve had a lot of phone calls regarding bills and we’re doing all that we can to help signpost people to the correct services.”

Farah Khan, a community service manager for Independent Age added: “Many people are worrying about paying their energy bills, the cost of living has had an immense effect on people’s livelihood. They’ll be people really isolated for Christmas this year so doing things in the community is important and it’s great to be a part of something.”

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