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A Reflection

A Sunday Reflection

It is an extraordinary time when families and friends cannot gather together over Sunday lunch, when our little church up on the hill cannot be open for Sunday worship, when our village pub cannot open for convivial drinks and conversation, and even our remarkable community shop has to take a short break and close its doors for 24 hours.

Yet, just as extraordinary, has been the response of the people in our village and its immediate neighbourhood, and today we say “thank you” to all those who have made sure vital things happen when so little can happen.

Especially we thank the village shop team – staff and volunteers – who have had to adapt over the past seven days to ever-changing circumstances, moving from near “business as normal” to a delivery-only service in such a short time.

The church has had to adapt as well, moving its services on-line, and offering help across the community.

The Parish Council has been liaising with all village organisations, making sure every household is informed about what to do and how to find help if needed, especially for those self-isolating or living alone.

The Parish Magazine has come out on time, packed full of useful information and is being distributed by volunteers to every subscriber this weekend.

The village website team have ensured that information, advice and developments are updated daily.

The Hambledon Community Fund has said its coffers are open to those in need of help and its umbrella organisation, the Community Foundation for Surrey, has launched both a new Coronavirus Response Fund and an appeal for donations.

Hambledon Nursery School has been working hard behind the scenes to assess the impact of enforced closure on children, parents, staff and the school as a business. 

Spare a thought for staff at St Dominic’s School, which remains open to care for the most vulnerable of its special needs pupils and those of key workers.

Peter de Savary, owner of the Merry Harriers, has offered his local staff as helpers if needed.

Jeremy Hunt, our local MP, has praised the response of Hambledon and offered his support for the initiatives taken by the Parish Council and others.

Details of all of the above can be found by looking back over the website update articles in recent days.

What a week it has been! And tomorrow it starts all over again as the Village Shop reopens after taking a day’s break and once again processes on-line orders to be delivered across the area.

We can also be grateful to the foresight, hard work and generosity of those villagers, some no longer able to play an active role in community life, who drove through the initiatives that led to our shuttered village shop and post office reopening as a community venture, so important to us today.

Finally, the best wishes of all go to one such individual, a wonderful and much-respected village stalwart who is suffering from the Coronavirus and in a critical condition in hospital. She is a fighter, and we all say “keep fighting” and we look forward to you coming home soon.

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Hambledon Village Shop – Update Saturday 28th March

Today was our busiest day so far for orders. Almost 50 were provisioned. Thanks to all involved. Please note there will be no deliveries tomorrow (Sunday) apart from newspapers. We will be delivering again on Monday.

The shop remains well stocked with all the essentials. You can find out more about what the shop stocks by downloading this document: HVS Groceries.

The process for placing orders for delivery is as follows:

  • place your order by email to shoporders@hambledonsurrey.co.uk. Only call us if you must, the shop number is 01428 682176
  • orders received before 12 noon will be delivered same day
  • include your address and phone number with your order 
  • whilst we understand you may not know our prices, we would ask that you attempt to place an order with a minimum value of £10
  • DON’T COME TO THE SHOP
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Latest Updates – Saturday March 28th

Latest Updates from Hambledon Parish Council, Saturday March 28th

  • The Village Shop will not open on Sundays or Tuesdays until further notice, and no home deliveries will be made on these days.  Pre-ordered Sunday newspapers will be delivered tomorrow, but this will be reviewed. The shop is closed to the public, so DO NOT visit. Please see http://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?p=12566
  • The Community Foundation For Surrey, which has been of considerable help to local initiatives in Hambledon over the years, has established a Coronavirus Response Fund, for which £300,000 was raised in its first week thanks largely to existing donors. As soon as the Foundation announced the fund was open to applications it was flooded with requests from community groups. It is now in need of additional voluntary donations to continue to give support in the current emergency. If you can help please do, and urge others to do so. This is the link to the Foundation’s online giving page: virginmoneygiving.com/fund/surreycoronavirusfund You can also give by BACS. All details on how to donate, and how to apply for funding, can be found by visiting www.cfsurrey.org.uk
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Hambledon Village Shop – Update Friday 27th March

A busy day at the shop, almost 40 orders provisioned. To put that in context, Waitrose Godalming do 120 a day. 

Most are following instructions and keeping away from the shop. Just to refresh:

  • place your order by email to shoporders@hambledonsurrey.co.uk. Only call us if you must, the shop number is 01428 682176
  • orders received before 12 noon will be delivered same day
  • include your address and phone number with your order 
  • DON’T COME TO THE SHOP

Until further notice we will be closing the shop on Sundays and Tuesdays, no deliveries will be made on those days, except that this Sunday we will be delivering newspapers to those that have pre-ordered. We will update you on our plan regarding future newspaper deliveries as soon as we can. Some newspapers are offering a free home delivery service for a few weeks, we’d encourage those who want newspapers delivered to explore the options open to them.

 

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Latest Updates – Friday March 27th

Latest Updates From Hambledon Parish Council, Friday March 27th.

  • The April Parish Magazine will be delivered across the village this weekend, thanks to several of the existing volunteers and others who have stepped in to fill the shoes of those who are self-isolating. The magazine contains all the necessary contact details for key organisations and coordinators helping the community through this difficult time of Coronavirus restrictions, plus all the regular features. As some subscribers previously collected from the village shop, and the list for home deliveries may not be complete, please bear with us. If you are a subscriber and do not receive your copy please contact Stewart Payne/Mary Burrows on 07831 393561 and 07909 9284251.
  • The Village Shop is continuing with its daily deliveries and its method of operation is approved by Waverley Borough Council’s Environmental Health officers. Please see the update from the shop sent out yesterday for more details: http://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?p=12556  Having your groceries delivered to your home involves less risk of contamination than visiting a shop or supermarket. Food packaging is not known to present a specific risk but, as an added precaution, some health experts suggest leaving goods for 72 hours before opening, or spray and wipe plastic or glass containers etc carefully with bleach diluted in water as directed on the bottle. (Source:  BBC News website).
  • The shop is well-stocked and staff are emailing regular customers with a list of what is available, including a PDF version that can be printed out for future reference. If you receive this email and know of someone else in the surrounding area who may not have seen it, but would find it useful, please pass it on.
  • Perhaps surprisingly, the 503 Hambledon bus to Milford, Godalming and Guildford, is still running to its usual timetable, three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. The service is operated by Stagecoach and its website states that social-distancing is in force on all buses. You cannot sit close to another passenger, you must take newspapers and magazines home with you and, if possible, use contactless payments. The same rules apply to the regular 71 bus service along the Petworth Road.
  • Volunteers continue to come forward and this is greatly appreciated. For the time being enough help is available to deliver the shop supplies and for distribution of the parish magazine, but all names are logged and may be called upon in the future. Thank you. In the meantime you may wish to enroll in the national NHS volunteer scheme. goodsamapp.org/NHS.
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Hambledon Village Shop – Update Thursday 26th March

Thanks, once again, goes to the team who provisioned today’s orders, around 30 orders were processed and delivered. The Shop continues to be well stocked (we’ll even have grapes tomorrow….). By using the shop delivery service you can avoid making unnecessary trips and help ease the burden on the food supply chain. The more that food demand is spread across a wide network the better. It avoids congestion in food outlets and buys some time for everyone involved to adjust their processes.

Advice from Waverley Environmental Heath

The shop has received excellent advice from Waverley Environmental Health on what process and procedures need to be put in place in the current environment. They believe the shop should be doing everything possible to stay open and serve the needs of the community. The shop is well placed to do this safely, given that it already has in place food hygiene procedures required of an establishment providing takeaway and on-site food consumption. The shop has been advised to continue to adhere strictly to good food hygiene practices even though on-site and takeaway food is no longer being provided. Additional practices have also been advised and are being followed.

A Contactless Delivery Service

In line with the advice we’ve received, the shop has implemented a contactless delivery service. Orders are taken by email (we will take calls, but remember that if you call us those in the shop have to use a shared phone), deliveries are made with no contact between the deliverer and the customer, payments are made by a card transaction over the phone (with outgoing calls we can make sure the person using the phone is using their own phone). The email address to use is shoporders@hambledonsurrey.co.uk.

If we stick to this process, we can maintain a contactless delivery service and also help reduce unnecessary trips. We do not want anyone to visit the shop unless they are requested to. You may be able to collect your own shopping but we would prefer that you didn’t. We are not currently struggling with deliveries. 

Volunteering

This being Hambledon, we have not been short of offers to help, they are much appreciated. Our strategy, at the moment, is to provision the shop delivery service with a small group of individuals and minimise the contact between that group and others. Each member of the group has a specific role which helps maintain social distance between the team members and avoid shared contact surfaces. Should one member of the group show symptoms of infection, it is likely all of the group would need to self-isolate. At that stage we will need a new team. So while we may not be contacting you now for help, we may need to in the future, for now we would prefer you stay safe and are therefore available when we need you.

Serving the Vulnerable

We have had some calls from those in vulnerable groups who have been unable to get deliveries from elsewhere. We are more than happy to help them out if they live within a reasonable distance. If you are aware of people in this situation, please put them in touch with the shop or get in touch on their behalf. The supermarkets are inevitably taking some time to provide on-line deliveries in a timely fashion. We can help fill the gap.

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Latest Updates: Thursday March 26th

Latest updates from Hambledon Parish Council on Thursday March 26th.

  • The Village Shop home delivery service is operating well, thanks to staff and volunteers, and yesterday more than 30 orders were delivered around Hambledon. Please remember the shop is not open to customers. Please order on-line if you can. Full details can be found here: http://www.hambledonsurrey.co.uk/?p=12528
  • Waverley Borough Council’s Environmental Health team has given a full endorsement to the way the shop is operating and the measures it is taking. It has encouraged the shop to continue in this way, stressing that it wants outlets like ours to remain open for business to stop people making journeys further afield and to spread the supply and distribution chain. Please check on this website for an update on this from the shop staff this evening, giving more details.
  • We encourage you to subscribe to this website, if you have not already done so. This means you will receive an alert to let you know new information is available. To do this, simply enter your details on the “Subscribe to email news” boxes on the right hand column of the pages on this website, or in the Home menu and you will be kept right up to date in this ever-changing situation.
  • Hambledon Village Nursery School staff and trustees have been working hard behind the scenes to assess the impact of its temporary closure and to have measures in place to best support staff and parents and to safeguard its financial future.  All schools were ordered to close, other than to provide facilities for the children of key workers.  Hambledon Nursery School parents have been contacted and none have requested key worker status, so the school will not need to offer this provision and it will remain closed.