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Elderly charity LEAP is looking for people in South Lanarkshire with a couple of hours a week to spare to join its band of volunteer befrienders, friendship group supporters, handypersons and drivers.

Elderly charity LEAP has become the first organisation in the UK to be awarded Excellence in Quality in Befriending for the fourth time.

The charity had become the first older persons’ organisation to be granted the award back in 2014 and has held it through three subsequent reviews.

LEAP volunteer co-ordinator Iain English helped Thomas Small, one of his clients celebrate his 100th birthday on 28th September.

LEAP staff members Heather Jackson and Lysanne Erlings have raised more than £900 for LEAP after running the 10k race in this year’s Great Scottish Run on Sunday 1 October.

More than 40 volunteers and staff took part in LEAP’s Volunteer Week thank you event in Cambuslang Institute last week.

After a buffet lunch, everyone took part in games such as tin can alley, hoops, photo booth, hook-a-duck, noughts and crosses, giant Jenga, new age kurling and foam bowls.

“Tired and blistered but so proud of what we have done.” That’s the feeling Helen Jilks and Kat Hannon have now they have completed the West Highland way in four days – just short of walking a marathon every day.

LEAP duo Helen and Kat joined 26 others, including Kat’s partner Matt, over the May Bank Holiday weekend to raise money for Macmillan Cancer as part of this year’s Team McKeown challenge, which arranges the 96 mile walk from Milngavie to Fort William.

Chico, a Shih Tzu cross Pomeranian, was star of the show at a Wingate friendship group’s meeting when he wowed the audience at a Dogs Trust presentation.

Owner Kayleigh Maclean, who works with the charity and adopted Chico as soon as she saw him, was at the group to tell them what the Dogs Trust does and brought her pet pooch along to help break the ice.

If you have ever thought about going somewhere for a good walk but couldn’t be bothered organising something, LEAP has the answer for you.

For every fortnight, its walking group leaves Halfway and heads to the hills, or lochs, or parks with one thing in common. A nice, warm tearoom in which to end the day.

LEAP’s handypersons team took advantage of a quiet spell in their work calendar to take part in the charity’s inaugural ten pin bowling event with members of staff.

The group took to the lanes of M&D’s Cosmic Bowl in a fun-filled challenge, with the volunteers easily beating the staff - Bruce Robertson winning and Rob King runner-up.

Robyn Mia Elphick, the Tiktok sustainable fashion influencer, has fallen for the charms of R:evolve Recycle’s and volunteer Jane Dick’s sustainable vintage clothing.

In December, the R:evolve team sent a parcel from thrift+gift to Robyn (@robynmia), whose content is all about styling pre-loved clothing. She has 15.6k followers on Instagram and 54.6k on TikTok.

LEAP has been able to deliver Winter Warmer packs to more than 80 of its most vulnerable clients and volunteers thanks to Age Scotland and Celtic FC Foundation.

The charity was nominated by Age Scotland to receive the packs from the Foundation because of its work with older people throughout South Lanarkshire and took delivery of 83 precious packs to distribute to people throughout Rutherglen and Cambuslang, Hamilton, Uddingston, Blantyre and Bothwell, Strathaven and East Kilbride.

A 15-strong team including LEAP’s Stuart McGregor, executive director, and Jim Pettigrew, the charity’s project manager, has helped raise almost £180,000 (and counting) for Macmillan Cancer Support after reaching the peak of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The team – organised by Macmillan fundraisers Team McKeown – reached the summit on 16 October after several days climbing and getting used to the rarefied atmosphere.

Not content with making new friends, the Mill Street housing complex friendship group has started making fancy cards as just one of its activities and is looking for people to join the fun.

The group meets every Tuesday between 12.30pm and 2.00pm in the complex’s lounge and has returned, post-COVID, to being the highlight of the week for everyone taking part.

Local elderly charity LEAP welcomed people to its first post-pandemic AGM in Cambuslang Parish Church on 12 September.

More than 100 people attended the event – the charity’s first large-scale public event since 2019 – to hear how the charity had fared since restrictions had started to lift.

The Burnside Hotel reverberated to the sounds of old friends getting together again when the Recycled Teenagers held a friendship lunch at the hotel at the beginning of June.

The Recycled Teenagers – formed more than a decade ago by locals (and LEAP Trustees) Isabel Banks MBE, Jim Cunningham and Gilly Feron – had been in “cold storage” for more than two years when lockdown started and, as soon as restrictions were lifted, took the chance to get together again.

For the fourth time in 18 months Gulf customers have donated their Oomph rewards points to LEAP and earned the charity £1,000 as one of the top 10 in the UK.

Gulf announces its top charities every quarter and, in the past six quarters, LEAP has been in four top 10s – the only charity in the UK to do so.

Anas Sarwar MSP, Scottish Labour Leader, found himself the centre of attention when he visited LEAP on Friday 18 March.

Starting the day at the charity’s R:evolve clothing swap shop and haberdashery, Mr Sarwar heard from Wendy Russell, LEAP’s Social Enterprise Manager and shop volunteers about the recycling and upcycling activities that make sure every piece of clothing it receives is put to best use.

The LEAP Project, which helps create lifelong bonds and new interests for older people, has received a cash injection of nearly £200,000 from the National Lottery Community Fund.

The charity, which enhances the lives of older people in the community, received the new tranche of funding to support its befriending services and learning and leisure activities for the next three years.

For Irene and Nicola, befriending has turned into a lot more than a weekly call or visit - for both, it has extended their families.

Nicola has been phoning and (latterly) visiting Irene for almost two years now and, after quickly hitting it off, both feel they have gained a mother and daughter.

The start of February brought more than the end of the January blues to LEAP’s Learning and Leisure members - it also signalled a return to the charity’s activities programme for 2022.

The charity had postponed all of its activities for people aged 50 and over until restrictions surrounding the Omicron strain had eased and people were allowed to gather indoors again.

LEAP has been awarded Organisation of the Year in VASLan’s 2021 Third Sector Awards for its outstanding work supporting older people throughout South Lanarkshire during the pandemic.

The charity was recognised for its prompt and vital response to older people’s needs which saw it immediately introduce a shopping and pharmacy delivery service, continue to carry our free emergency handyperson work and help alleviate isolation through phone befriending services and online activities.

LEAP is celebrating its third £1,000 donation within a year from Gulf Cambuslang customers donating their fuel rewards to the charity.

Gulf awards its top ten charities £1,000 every quarter based on points donated by its Oomph loyalty scheme customers, and local drivers have made sure LEAP has been in the frame for three of the past four quarters!

LEAP’s R:evolve Recycle initiative has been recognised as a finalist in the Climate Conscious category of SCVO’s Scottish Charity Awards and is encouraging people in South Lanarkshire to vote for them.

Run annually by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), the Scottish Charity Awards celebrate the best of Scotland’s voluntary sector. This year’s shortlist includes 47 individuals and organisations from charities and voluntary groups across the country

LEAP has benefitted by more than £800 from Cathkin High pupils learning about recycling in Spanish after they learned of its R:evolve Recycle clothing recycling shops.

The S2 pupils had been learning about recycling in Spanish then they created designs for an eco shopping bag. The winning designs were chosen and made into shopping bags which the pupils sold around the Cathkin Community and beyond.

LEAP is supporting older people in South Lanarkshire during lockdown with a programme of online activities ranging from bingo to Spanish classes.

The programme starts on March 15, with something to suit most
people’s interests.

This year’s hampers were donated by a long-time supporter of the charity (who wants to remain anonymous) and went to clients in Cambuslang, Rutherglen, Hamilton, East Kilbride, Strathaven and Stonehouse.

Anne Jones, from Cambuslang, was one of the lucky recipients, and she said: “This is absolutely wonderful."

LEAP has received £1000 from Cambuslang Gulf fuel station after being voted by local customers. The campaign by Gulf Oomph Fuel Rewards runs across Gulf sites around the whole of the UK and 10 lucky good causes are awarded £1000 each.

LEAP was nominated by the Cambuslang station and customers voted via the Oomph Fuel Rewards App and website for their favorites. Members of Gulf Oomph Fuel Rewards get access to offers and rewards via the loyalty scheme, in addition to supporting their local charities.

After spending a work placement with LEAP student James Ross, along with his family, decided the charity’s clients were more important than sending Christmas cards this year.

How do you teach someone to make pancakes when you can’t see them or get to visit them? Simple – you phone them.

For Irene Munro and Graham Smith ­- who didn’t know each other before being introduced in June - making pancakes was one of the first things they talked about when LEAP introduced them through its friendship calls service.

R:evolve Recycle has solved the problem of people’s homes bulging with bags of clothing donations – a Donation Drive Through at its new Hamilton Road premises.

COVID quarantine rules meant the team at R:evolve couldn’t take clothing donations at shops but using the car park and sorting space across from the Tollpitch was the ideal solution.

An HR consultant and former headteacher are just two volunteers putting their sewing skills to best use by making masks for family, friends, local schools and care homes around Hamilton.

Winnie McCann and Catriona Mason are volunteers with LEAP’s R:evolve Recycle project who, as soon as lockdown hit Scotland, started making scrubs, scrub bags and gowns. But it is their masks that are making the biggest impact.

For Lorna Woods, an early morning Monday rise signals time to go shopping rather than work.

Lorna, who retired early from Scottish Power, now volunteers with LEAP as a personal shopper and gets out early to avoid the queues outside the local supermarkets.

The Covid crisis hasn’t stopped LEAP helping the most isolated people at this time as Alan Roden and Thomas Walton prove.

Thomas had been on LEAP’s waiting list for a one-to-one befriender such was the popularity of the charity’s scheme. Meanwhile, Alan had volunteered to be a telephone befriender after the person he used to visit as a befriender sadly passed away.

Even with Covid 19 restrictions around social distancing and isolating, elderly charity LEAP is still managing to help people with emergency handyperson work and vital personal shopping services.

When NHS Lanarkshire called LEAP about Ian Macdonald, an outpatient from East Kilbride, who was being supplied with a hospital bed at home, it stepped in to help out.

When LEAP wanted to promote its shopping and distant befriending services, Scottish Fire and Rescue’s South Lanarkshire Community Action Team stepped up to help deliver more than 10,000 leaflets to almost 120 shops and pharmacies across the district.

Even with Covid 19 restrictions around social distancing and isolating, elderly charity LEAP is still managing to help people with emergency handyperson work.

Peter McLafferty from Rutherglen phoned LEAP after his new washing machine had been delivered but not plumbed in.

Father and son Stuart and Calum McGregor were soon at Ian’s home to carry out the work.

Pupils at Newfield Primary in Stonehouse haven’t let coronavirus stop their Generation Friendship Group making an impact on the lives of the older people they have befriended.

The pupils had been welcoming the group into the school, including organising a birthday party for one of the group.

Our Learning and Leisure spring programme of events for Cambuslang and Rutherglen, and Hamilton have both been launched.

You can find out all about the classes, and a lot more besides, in our spring newsletters. AND, you get the chance to let us know what you think of our Learning and Leisure services. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Mount Vernon branch of Howdens – Britain’s number one trade kitchen supplier – has made LEAP the recipient of its Christmas spirit this year.

The branch makes an annual donation to a local charity and this year decide to support LEAP with a cheque for £500.

​Introducing the award, host Jennifer Reoch, the TV and radio presenter, said all the finalists had been exceptional.

An emotional Steven Lees paid tribute to LEAP volunteers when he presented the Betty Lees Trophy – named after his grandmother – to inaugural winner Ann Robertson, LEAP’s Volunteer of the Year.

Lanarkshire charity R:evolve Recycle is reporting rises in referrals to its clothing bank that could be outstripping rises to foodbanks.

In April, the Trussell Trust reported a 19 per cent rise in referrals to foodbanks and, though not on the same numbers scale, R:evolve has seen a 34 per cent rise in referrals to its clothing bank in 2018-19, and a 60 per cent rise in the number of people it is being asked to support.

More than 70 volunteers gathered at the Cambuslang Institute during Volunteers Week to be applauded by LEAP, to whom they selflessly devote their spare time.

Volunteers from across South Lanarkshire attended the event, which started with LEAP Chair Gilbert Feron accepting an Investors in Volunteers Award from the volunteering organisation’s Allana Fotheringham.

Glasgow MSP James Kelly is calling on the people of Rutherglen and beyond to become greener and make a positive impact on climate change following his visit to the town’s R:evolve Recycle store.

James already knew about and supported the work of LEAP, but with climate change being so high on people’s agendas just now, he wanted to find out

more about the sustainable fashion ethos of R:evolve Recycle’s projects.

R:evolve Recycle has been working hard to provide an alternative to the wasteful high street shopping model since 2015. Rather than people throwing away their clothing they encourage swapping and sharing instead.

Christina McKelvie, local MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, visited the new R:evolve premises at the heart of Hamilton Town Centre at 91 Quarry Street.

Anyone can drop in to the store and swap old clothing to earn points which they can use in exchange for a whole range of clothing including: shirts, jumpers, trousers, gym clothes, shoes and much more!

Two amazing ladies from R:evolve Recycle have raised more than £1,600 (and rising) by walking the West Highland Way in just four days.

Taylor McKeown and Wendy Russell set off on Friday 10 May to cover almost a marathon distance every day to reach the finish line in Fort William on 13 May

For Jim Lannigan and Aaron Kerr, from Lanarkshire Credit Union, it felt better to give than to receive this Easter, when they gave 50 chocolate eggs to LEAP to hand out to people it supports.

Lynn Robertson thought she had seen all the highs and lows at Ibrox, but was totally stunned when Broxi Bear turned up at her door to personally deliver a VIP tour of the famous Glasgow stadium.

The surprise visit was arranged by local charity LEAP after it heard from grandson Jon Stonefield how Lynn had spent more than 22 years managing the members’ season ticket area catering from 1962 to 1984.

Lanarkshire Charity LEAP has secured more than £47,000 funding for its Leisure and Learning programme for older people in the area.

The charity was set up more than 25 years ago by older people in the Cambuslang area because of a lack of things for them to do.

That is still the base on which the charity works today, and the National Lottery award from The National Lottery Community Fund, totalling £47,140, will allow it to continue its activity programme for a further two years.

LEAP Project’s R:evolve Recycle clothing shops have won this year’s Climate Challenge Fund Award for reducing waste.

They picked up the award at a ceremony which took place in Perth Concert Hall on 12 December, organised by environmental charity Keep Scotland Beautiful on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Staff and volunteers from LEAP’s Hands On Project raise more than £415 in Asda bag pack day

Local elderly charity Lightburn Elderly Association Project (LEAP) has raised more than £415 for its Hands On Project (HOP) through a bag packing day in Asda Blantyre.