LINK WINS HIGH SHERIFF AWARD

A WOKINGHAM charity has been rewarded for its “remarkable response” to the coronavirus pandemic at this year’s Berkshire High Sheriff Awards.

The Link Visiting Scheme won the Supporting the Isolated Award for its work supporting the borough’s elderly and vulnerable residents over the last 12 months.

The charity offers a befriending service for people in Wokingham who are suffering from loneliness, which has been more pronounced than ever during the pandemic.

Marjie Walker has been managing The Link Visiting Scheme for the past 14 years, and said she was “absolutely delighted” to see the charity recognised at this year’s Awards.

“It’s been such a busy year and we’ve worked so hard,” she said. “It really boosted our morale to see that acknowledgement of the volunteers and team.

“Everyone has gone above and beyond to support people feeling isolated throughout lockdown.”

Ms Walker said The Link Visiting Scheme has grown by approximately 35% in size since this time last year, and its volunteers made more than 16,000 phone calls during the first lockdown.

“We contacted just under 3,000 people who were shielding to make sure they had access to food and medication, and expanded our telephone befriending service to take on an extra 200 people,” she explained.

“Not having that face-to-face contact has been difficult because it’s at the core of what we do, but we’ve managed to visit some people as their support bubble.”

But looking back on the pandemic, the scheme manager said there have been some positives too.

“We’ve been overwhelmed by the support of the community to help our older residents,” Ms Walker said. “It’s been really moving.”

The Link Visiting Scheme has also partnered with Wokingham Borough Council, and other voluntary sector organisations, to increase funding and make it easier to refer people in need.

More than 10 individuals and charities from Wokingham borough were nominated for this year’s Berkshire High Sheriff Awards, which were tweaked to reflect the pandemic with new award categories, including the Supporting the Isolated Award and the Good Neighbour Award.

A spokesperson for the High Sheriff said: “The Awards are a way of giving recognition to people whose work might not otherwise have attracted appreciation from the normal sources — they are our unsung heroes.”

The spokesperson said all leaders and groups nominated have “gone the extra mile”.

Other winners included Helen Vaughan-Graham, who won the High Sheriff Award for keeping Family Courts running throughout the pandemic, and Shah Mohammad Nawaz won the Good Neighbour Award for his “outstanding demonstration of care” for this elderly neighbour.

The award winners were announced a virtual ceremony on Thursday, March 19.