Thanks for your comments guys. As one of the people behind the new Help Hub, thought I'd clarify a few things: 1) We are not at present getting any grant money to operate it on an ongoing basis (we did get a salary for one person for two months from Vodafone [thanks Vodafone] to help us with setting it up, but that's all finished now. 2) And that is part of the explanation as to why it is run mainly by volunteers [Actually, one guy will be paid for 2 days, but we plan to open the bub 3 days a week, and need at least 2 people on duty all the time, so the rest is volunteers]. We don't have the money to pay people. And people in County Church are happy to volunteer in this way to help the Communnity as a whole 3) is it needed? We'll let's see. One point I would make is the difficulty in applying for benefits, tax rebates etc. I had to phone the tax office the other day and they only give an 0845 number. I was on the phone for 20 minutes, pressing one option, then another, listening to recorded announcements, before they finally said all their operators were busy and cut me off. If I had only had a mobile phone, that call would have cost me about £10. In the bub its free. 4) The Job Centre themselves obviously think a service like this is needed which is why they have joined forces with NEWS (Northumberland Employability and Work Service) and Northumberland Business Services Ltd to open similar services (theirs just 1 day a week) in Blyth, Ashington, Morpeth ... but not Bedlington. We are trying to do something for Bedlington here. 5) But if it is not needed, is there some other kind of community service you would find more helpful? We'd be interested in ideas though of course we can't make any promises. Den
