How well do you know Cheltenham. What goes on in the lives of the people you work with, what goes on in the houses you walk past or live next door. How well do you know the deprivation in Cheltenham? How well do you know the wealth in Cheltenham?

Did you know?​
4000 millionaires live in Cheltenham, 3rd highest place in the UK outside of London.
Parts of Cheltenham rank in the top 10% nationally for deprivation. Particularly St Pauls, St peters, St Marks, Hesters Way.
The national average of children on free school meals is 21% there are schools in Cheltenham with 60+ % children on free school meals.
I have worked with 100’s of people and families who live in this real deprivation. I can if you are interested give you stories and statistics and impact this poverty will have on someone, including their life chances, the difficulty of breaking out the cycle of poverty and what the effects of poverty have on a child and their adult life and then how this will have another cycle around the children that these adults have and how the organisations in Cheltenham work tirelessly to break this cycle and bring a sense of hope and long lasting change. Do you know there are 5 food pantries in Cheltenham feeding 800 households a week, homeless charities, family support charities, social prescribing, lunch clubs, mental health support, weight management, growing food projects, domestic abuse support, debt advice, counselling support, benefits and housing advice and I could go on.
Let me tell you brief one-line stories of the lives of the people who live behind the doors of those in the most deprived parts of Cheltenham and maybe a few houses or a few miles away from where you live or work. Have you ever stopped to think about them, why they are in that situation. What happened to them as children and what is happening to them now for them to be victims of their circumstances and where people often through no fault of their own find themselves in these very difficult situations. Do you know the reasons why these people cannot afford to eat or why the mum cannot or does not reach out for help?

Do you know?
• The domestic abuse the woman behind the closed door is a victim off.
• The parent who cannot afford to feed her family today yet alone tomorrow or next week.
• The child who didn’t leave his house for the whole of the 6 weeks summer holidays because his mum was too anxious to leave the house.
• The family who wasn’t getting any Christmas presents that week because their dad had lost his job and spent any spare money on drink because he was too depressed to look for other work?
• The lady who didn’t eat for a week because she couldn’t afford to buy food.
• The child who hasn’t seen his father for 7 years because his mum hates him and is determined the child won’t have a relationship with him despite the dad having spent thousands on court costs.
• The children who cannot complete their homework because the only device is the mum’s mobile phone, and she cannot afford data to access the school online system.
• The disabled man choosing to charge his mobility scooter so he can get out or put his heating on so he can be warm.
• The girl wanting to take her own life as she cannot cope with the pressures on her at school.

Do these images tell you of a different story of the wealthy Cheltenham that is portrayed to us?
Charities in Cheltenham and beyond are stretched and overrun with demand. A Teenage counselling charity offering counselling support to teenagers who are facing exceptional pressure and horrendous mental health struggles are over run with demand for their services. A local counselling charity has at least a 6 month wait for a service. Food Pantries across Cheltenham need approximately 3000 items of food a week to keep up with demand. A £50 fuel help support voucher over a cold weekend will barely last a weekend and people are allowed 3 of those in a 6-month period.

An advice charity reports that they receive 2 calls minute nationally for people enquiring about the cost-of-living crisis. For the first time ever energy prices are the highest issue of concern for people ringing them. The average person is £650 in debt which has doubled. The next crisis we will face is a debt crisis. People have lived the last months on credit over the winter and will now not be able to make their payments. This is going to bring real anxiety and crisis to people.
Alongside this there are people who used up their small amounts of savings over Covid and find themselves in more dire need of help. People were struggling before COVID and now this is exacerbated by the increasing prices of fuel and food costs and mortgages and rent going up. People do not have the savings to cope.

What is your social responsibility to help people. Do we all have one?

I believe, everyone either needs help or can be someone who gives help. It’s ok if you need help. Sometimes its about where to help and how to help.

I spend a lot of time campaigning for people who need help but who do not have the confidence to ask for help or know where to get the help even if they do feel able to reach out. Often the hardest step is admitting you need help and support. Then finding the right place

I have learnt this on my journey. I want to tell the people that it is ok to ask for help if you are struggling. Another day it maybe you that is in a position to give the help, but if you need help and support at the moment then don’t be afraid to ask for it. We can be people through our companies and organisations who offer a sense of hope. Not to bring We know from experience that if you can give someone food, you ease myriad of anxieties. No children or adults in Cheltenham should be going hungry and this is just sometimes an easy place for people to start to access help and support.

We are all at any one point either someone who can give help or someone who can help and knowing which you are is important to spread help around. I know we can be people who are both but knowing where we can give help and get help is the first step. Then it is a case of getting and giving the right support.

How can you help?

• Donate to a local foodbank at the end of your shopping.
• Raise awareness of the dire needs people in your town are living in and get others to give support.
• Donate your energy rebate if you don’t need it so others can heat their homes.
• Help your neighbour with something practical.
• Take someone out for coffee who you don’t know well and give them a listening ear so they may be able to open up and talk to you.
• Give your skills and volunteer at a local charity, to give help and support to these overwhelmed work places.

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