The Grove Centre based, award winning charity, The Witham Hub has celebrated its fifth birthday with a party and the announcement of a new Hub opening soon in Braintree. The Hub was first registered as a charity dedicated to fighting against social exclusion and improving the lives of local people, on 19th February 2020 and commemorated the fifth anniversary with a community party on its premises on Wednesday (19th).
The party included crafts activities for children, free cakes with every hot drink purchased donated by Tesco, and a lego competition. Anyone who was in Town was invited to join in the fun.
Tina Townsend, Founder and Chair of the Witham Hub Trustees, commenting on its first five years, said: “It has been a rollercoaster ride from day one, with the Covid pandemic being a major issue in our first couple of years. We’ve also had to move to new premises, which was a major task. The Hub has become a Witham stalwart with countless activities aimed at bringing people together, supporting those with special needs and people who find modern life a challenge.
“We have won six High Sheriff awards, five of which were for our youth group. Fourteen of our volunteers have left and gone on to paid employment. We have made 300,000 interventions where we’ve helped people or signposted them to other organisations. We’ve also saved 200 tonnes of food from going to landfill, which roughly equates to 444,444 meals and our volunteers have completed nearly 8,000 collections. We are very proud of what we have been able to achieve in our first five years.”
As part of its anniversary celebrations, The Hub confirmed that it will soon be opening a new branch at 67 High Street, Braintree. Tina said: “I’m thrilled to be able to announce that, after a long search and nine months of negotiations, we have finally secured the lease on our new Hub in Braintree. We will be working hard to get everything ready over the next few weeks. It will be offering a community supermarket initiative with plans to expand to other services in due course.”
“Braintree here we come!