In this season of love, I wanted to spend some time shining a light on those wonderful organisations that we have in Hatfield who help spread the love in the community.
Young or old, richer or poorer, and in sickness and in health, we all need a bit of support from time to time, and we are lucky to have some fantastic charities and volunteer organisations based right here.
Some of those organisations have a very local focus, like The Wellfield Trust, who provides grants to people in need and funds projects based in Hatfield; Love Hatfield, who seek to support local causes; the invaluable Hatfield Foodbank and of course Breaks Manor, where generations of young people have gone to hang out and make friends (including me!).
Hatfield is home to the Welwyn Hatfield Citizens Advice Bureau, and a new Mind in Mid Herts Wellbeing Centre.
Welwyn Hatfield Community Voluntary Service is also based in Hatfield and is behind some of the great litter pick events we have in the town.
We also benefit from organisations which have a Hertfordshire-wide focus.
These include Herts Young Homeless; Family Lives and HomeStart Hertfordshire, both of whom offer support to parents; ADD-vance, the ADHD and Autism Trust (something which is very close to my heart); Groundwork Hertfordshire, which seeks to bring communities together to make positive changes to their local landscape; and Resolve, which runs structured drugs and alcohol treatment programmes, a crisis homelessness project called ReStart and the wonderful SPARKS Community Café and shop.
On a national scale, Hatfield is also home to Crohn’s & Colitis UK, who are there to give people affected by Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis hope, comfort, and confidence.
And I hope readers will consider sharing their love with these amazing organisations.
Many of them need donations, customers, volunteers and/or Trustees. Do consider what you can offer to help share the love.
Explore Hatfield
Have you visited the Free Book Store in the Galleria? I have and I love it.
Established in 2016, it is an independent local charity run entirely by volunteers.
It saves unwanted books and offers customers three free books per day, all with the aim of improving literacy and access to books in the area.
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