Crossroads is one of the Community Association's nominated charities for 1999. Val Selby who manages the group explained what they do so that you know where your support goes.

Soap operas are often condemned but the Crossroads scheme actually originated from the old Crossroads soap which had a disabled character called Sandy whose carer wrote to the show telling them what caring for someone 24 hours a day was really like rather than how they had depicted it! The end result was a grant of £10,000 and the establishment of the first Crossroads scheme in Rugby 25 years ago.

Crossroads Care Huntingdonshire is the local branch of a national network of over 200 groups offering a range of high quality support services for carers. Each group operates independently to be able to respond to specific local needs but within a framework of policies and procedures produced by national Crossroads. The scheme provides support for people who care for either adults or children with severe physical disabilities or dementia. The local scheme has 15 trained care staff who go into people's homes to care for a person with disabilities so that other members of their family who normally care for them can have a break.

Crossroads tries to meet carers' needs within the limitations of their funding and staff availability. On average carers might receive support once a week for a couple of hours. Crossroads try to be flexible about the arrangements made, as establishing good relationships with all members of the family is essential to the success of the service. For instance, care staff might occasionally go in to look after a disabled child for a whole day to enable parents to take a non-disabled child out to take part in an activity they might otherwise be unable to do. For other carers the break provided by Crossroads staff provides time for basic activities that others take for granted like going shopping or a trip to the cinema.

No charge is made to the users for this service although many are active fundraisers. The group receives funding from Social Services and the Health Authority; plus they have successfully applied for money from some national and local trusts such as Children in Need. Contributions from groups such as the Community Association and from individuals provide a valuable top up to their funding.

A Board of Trustees, all of whom are volunteers, oversee the group's work and organise fundraising events. Their main annual fundraiser is a prize draw and dinner, attended last year by Norma Major.

1999 is Crossroads' Silver Jubilee and national Crossroads Week will be celebrated from 17 to 24 July. A series of special events are planned including a "Picnic in the Park" at St Neots on 18 July and a tea at the Primrose Centre in Huntingdon on 22 July. Throughout the week Crossroads are inviting people to host tea parties to raise people's awareness about the important work Crossroads does. These can be as simple or elaborate as you like; information packs are available with everything you need from invitations and suggested themes right through to recipes. If you are interested in hosting a tea party phone Val Selby on 415154.

For the future, Val Selby hopes to get funding for a "Young Carers Project Worker" as they have a number of families where children have a very large share of the caring responsibility for other members of their family. Although many children respond well to the challenges this presents to them it can take away from part of their childhood and a dedicated project worker could help significantly improve their quality of life. Unsurprisingly, Crossroads has a waiting list for its services due to funding limitations. Val said that what she would really like to see is the time when Crossroads can provide support for all carers, irrespective of what is wrong with the person they are caring for. There is a lot of unfulfilled demand for people caring for those with learning difficulties, autism and mental health problems who are not currently eligible for the service.

Your contributions on Gala Day will help.

Clare Bond
© 1999 Godmanchester Community Association