Features / Barton Hill
Helping Barton Hill through the coronavirus pandemic
In response to the coronavirus outbreak, the Wellspring Settlement in Barton Hill are offering a range of services for those in need.
Since the middle of March, the organisation, which is part of Locality, has been supporting the community of Barton Hill in east Bristol with free services ranging from telephone befriending to virtual story telling.
“We’re leafletting in all the high rises to find out what people need,” says the co-director of Wellspring Settlement, Joanna Holmes. “It’s a constant process of finding out what people want.”
is needed now More than ever
So far, the main needs of the Barton Hill community have been food parcels and cooked meals, prescription collecting, dog walking, telephone befriending, parenting support and access to outside space.
Around half of the staff have been working from home, phoning people that are already on the organisation’s radar, while the other half of staff are spending their time coordinating the influx of volunteers supporting the coronavirus response effort.
Joanna Holmes, co-director of the Wellspring Settlement. Photo: Joanna Holmes
“Thousands of people already use our services, and the general feeling is that of just being stunned,” says Joanna. Through phoning service users, they have also found that those living in overcrowded high rises or living alone “don’t know what all the fuss is about”; isolation is normality for them. One of the main concerns for the Wellspring Settlement as the lockdown continues is the effects of isolation.
Since the pandemic began, Wellspring Settlement has seen a large increase of users, with an influx at the beginning of lockdown and over the Easter weekend. Joanna expects the need for their services to continue to increase.
“We’re finding that the things people need most are prescriptions and shopping, and some people just don’t have any money,” Joanna says. “There’s so many people who need Universal Credit, but it’s such a long process.”
Joanna and her team are also thinking ahead to the next three to six months, saying: “We are thinking about how we can do things better in the future, and how we can rally as a city to make sure the debt and psychologic effects are minimised.”
After a family used their one hour physical time at Wellspring Settlement’s family centre they left a message for key workers. Photo: Wellspring Settlement
The organisation has, for one of the first times, been included in the city’s wider response to the pandemic, connecting them with charities such as Feeding Bristol and public services, including the council.
They have also found that the common purpose of responding to the need for help during the pandemic has united them with smaller organisations in the area, such as church groups, with Joanna saying: “They are doing brilliant, quick response work. We’re seeing how we can help and tackle this common purpose together.”
Joanna acknowledges that it’s difficult to ask for help, but urges people who need support in Barton Hill to contact Wellspring Settlement, saying: “It’s hard to ask for things, but we’ve been here for over 100 years responding to the community’s needs. We know people well and people know us.”
For support or to find out more, visit www.bartonhillsettlement.org.uk
Main photo: Wellspring Settlement
Read more: My Bristol Favourites: Joanna Holmes
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