The Old Dean Community Group

The Old Dean Community Group works with and supports those living in areas which are among the worst scoring on both the National and Surrey Multiple Deprivation index.

We have always been at the heart of this community but in response to the Covid-19 pandemic we created free food stalls, entirely in the open air, with a simple setup utilising public car parks etc and offering deliveries of food parcels to those unable to come to the stalls. 

We saw the need for this service to expand beyond providing food and our project focuses on providing more advice and support on diet and health - impacting on physical health, mental wellbeing, loneliness, social isolation and anxiety.

The first thing the Innovation Funding allowed us to do was to purchase two gazebos which kept the weather off and through this process we have established a relationship with the Mental Health Support Team which allows us to expand out support offer.

After some negotiations we now have a licence to use the car park of the Surrey Heath Young People and Family Centre and have just been able to start the active demonstrations to everyone visiting the Free Food Stall. In the mean time we have been working with the Hope Hub to run basic cookery/ food education sessions at St Martin’s Church and we collectively have big hopes for 2022.

You can view more about our project in the Frimley Clinical Commissioning Group's 2021 Annual General Meeting film HERE and we are featured at 2mins 39.

Coming to the stall encourages people to talk about their health, consume more fresh fruit and vegetables and shows them there are people who care about them. It encourages conversations allowing people to avoid the anxiety of using shops or certain services and most of all it creates friendships and reaches the corners that are hard to reach by other means.

We would love to link with other groups that could support us in our ambition and especially to community gardens and allotments. We hope that you will support our journey.