One of my Northallerton office neighbours is a wonderful local charity Chopsticks which supports adults with disabilities.
Chopsticks provides work-based activities for its members, many of whom have learning difficulties. The members chop firewood from waste timber and sell the kindling in the local area. Chopsticks kindling has been lighting the fire at my home ever since my first visit to the charity back in 2015.
Any waste wood not suitable for the kindling production process is turned into woodchip for biomass boilers, including the one which heats their premises on Thurston Road.
My predecessor, Lord William Hague, is a proud patron of the charity.
In recent years, the Chopsticks has developed its services to provide a greater range of activities for its members. These include lawn-mowing services and making garden products such as planters and trellis.
So when the small garden frontage of my office needed a refresh I had no hesitation in asking Chopsticks to do the work.
They have done a beautiful job as you can see from the picture. What was a rather neglected corner has been transformed with hand-built planters, trellis and a bird table into an oasis of calm and colour – and has also helped hide the recycling bins!
The planters and trellis are expertly and sturdily assembled and everything has been painted a pretty willow green.
A group of members and staff led by Chopsticks’ community business manager Phil Bramhall came to the office this week to show me what they had completed and it was great to see the pride they had in their work.
The charity has emerged from the last year in good shape. Although its work-based services to its members were curtailed, its skeleton staff continued to produce kindling as an essential product.
It also found a way to enable its members who were not able to attend the centre to do packing activities at home. Free-standing kindling packing stations produced by Langton Steel Fabricators with assistance from Northallerton councillor Caroline Dickinson’s locality budget made this possible.
I was also pleased to hear that the charity was able to access some of the Government’s economic assistance measures including a grant, the furlough scheme, and a loan to help purchase a new delivery vehicle to replace one that was written-off.
I can thoroughly recommend the charity’s work.
You may have heard about the report in last week’s D&S about the message I recorded for the Northallerton and District Talking Newspaper.
I really enjoyed meeting the team of volunteers behind the operation which for more than 40 years has prepared a monthly audio digest of news and views for its visually impaired listeners.
It’s a great service for those unable to access the news via our local newspapers – in print or online.
As a result of the meeting, the group has kindly invited me to record this and future columns for the monthly programme.
To make a donation, to volunteer as a reader, or to nominate a new recipient of the service, email tnnorthallerton@gmail.com. You can find out more about the Talking Newspaper at www.TNND.org.uk.
