We run a number of programmes where
we're delivering services, such as
our community transport, taking people
to hospital or day centres, based
on electric rechargeable vehicles.
We have a community newspaper
called Watchet Connects.
We produce and deliver to
every house in Watchet.
And we have a programme with young
people called Strives, where we're
working particularly with those
kids who might not go to education
or youth club, to do activities.
We also help other groups
identify and potentially apply for
funding for their own programmes.
We support local organisations,
with things like upskilling.
We've recently started
up a women's group.
We also work in the library with
Sparks IT, helping sometimes
older people, get used to using
things like computers, smartphones.
There's the community bookshop which
we renovated and we now rent that out
to the people who run the bookshop.
That brings a profit in for us, which
we then plough back into the community.
When the lottery funding came
through, that's meant that we can
expand into two rooms rather than one
room and put out a lot more stock.
Previously it was damp, it was
cold, it felt very restrictive.
It's a great building to be in
and very welcoming to visitors.
The Quantock Foodbank serves a
very rural and coastal population.
We have changed the whole of our
operation from just being a food bank to
actually operating through our pantries.
One is static and the other is
a fully electric mobile vehicle
which goes round the villages.
Those who have been referred
without funds can still access
the pantry free of charge.
However, those who are struggling
with the cost of living, pay a
membership subscription of four
pound a week, and for that they're
receiving 35, 40 pounds worth of food.
Watchet Connects is a bi-monthly
magazine that is free to
everybody who lives in the town.
The whole process is done by volunteers.
It tries to publicise everything
that's going on in the town.
Both the opportunities for volunteering,
but also the options that are available
for people to enjoy themselves, to join
groups, to become part of the community.
The people that we see, a lot
of them are very vulnerable.
A lot of them are in severe ill health.
They come in very shy.
And we have seen remarkable changes to
a point in time when they say that they
are ready to stand on their own again.
And they have developed
confidence in dealing with people.
Helping these projects
makes me feel proud.
It makes me feel part of the community.
I enjoy making a magazine because
I like the feeling of connecting
people together, that's one of the
reasons for the name and it works
in my head, it works for me as well.
It's a great place to volunteer.
It keeps you in touch with local
people but it also enables you
to meet lots of other people.
Also, it's raising funds
for local good causes.
Through connecting all the different
groups in Watchet, we're stronger
together than we are individually.
And so building
cohesion of different groups and
individuals making them feel more
part of the community and being able
to participate in it and enjoy it.
We support the economic wellbeing
of the town through improving
the infrastructure, for example,
refurbishing the bookshop.
And we've got over 100 members
of charities, businesses, other
interest groups who help shape what
the people of Watchet like to do.
We're working towards upskilling
people so that they can take the
opportunities that's around this area.
The town's growing and young
people are choosing to stay.
Watchet Connects is really
important to Watchet.
It's a way of getting information
into every property in Watchet.
We do have a significant number of
people who don't have a computer.
They often complain that they
don't know what's going on.
And so Watchet Connects is a
tool that we can enable them to
know what's happening in Watchet.
I think over 6000 pounds this year
has been donated to local causes.
And the building is available for
community groups, and also used by
some of the Ukrainian immigrants
who are having English lessons.
And they also share some of their skills
with some of the local community.