Carers Week Celebrations

It was another exciting Carers Week and a great opportunity to get together with Carers and professionals to help raise awareness and support unpaid Carers in Sutton.

Carers Week is a vital opportunity to recognise the invaluable contribution Carers make every day, while ensuring they know where to access help and support. This year’s theme encourages professionals, whether working directly or indirectly with Carers, to find out more about how they can support #BuildingCarerFriendlyCommunities.

We kicked off the week with a visit to the Mayor's reception where we were hosted by Mayor of Sutton, Councillor Muhammad Sadiq and his wife. Abbey Primary School attended and the room was filled with laughter, warm conversations and nibbles to enjoy. Thank you so much to Councillor Muhammad Sadiq for hosting us and hearing the views and voices of our Young Carers.

If you’d like to learn more to help identify, support and work with unpaid Carers in Sutton and find out more about what we do and how to make referrals to SCC, please get in touch.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to stop, chat, and learn more about Carers' experiences.

Our late night opening was 'party time', when we invited Carers of all ages along with family members to join us for food, drink and fun!

The fabulous Andy (pictured) from Radio St Helier broadcasted live, raising awareness of Carers’ issues and the support available, whilst playing everyone’s favourite tunes and filling the dancefloor. Amongst others, we were pleased to meet new Councillors Steven Kingdom and Judy Walsh, receive best wishes from Sutton’s Carers Champion, Cllr Paul Cole, and welcome senior Council colleagues Anna Saunders and Nick Ireland.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FebNRpV9o-o

Nick also took to the Radio St Helier microphone to share his support for Carers and the work of the Centre - press play to take a listen!

As always, we are grateful to our local Volunteer Centre Sutton-NHS team for providing Carers and staff with much-valued free health checks.

Please remember that we are open every Tuesday until 8pm (though not always for a party), and Carers Week is an annual event. We extend our gratitude to all professionals and Carers who joined us.

Special thanks to Jack Petchey Foundation and LG&A Precision Ltd for their support, and to Linda McNaboe and friends Paula Kilmurray, Sallie Crozier, Lisa Cornwall, Lynn Campbell, Amelia Laughton and Rachael MacLeod for their generous donations towards our pamper basket raffle prizes.

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/9d73df_75dfa28205884ba3b3038981b967600f/1080p/mp4/file.mp4

Thank you also to everyone who has helped raise £1,640 and counting for Sharlene De'Allie and Rachael MacLeod's Sponsored Silence. Through your donations, encouragement and occasional attempts to make them crack, they not only completed the challenge but smashed their original fundraising target.

The Sponsored Silence also helped highlight a challenge many Carers face every day: their voices can often go unheard, be overlooked, or be drowned out by other priorities.

The money raised will help provide more opportunities for Carers to take a break from their caring responsibilities and enjoy some much-needed time for themselves or with their families and friends.

For anyone who doubted they could actually stay silent (and there were a few of you!), Sharlene and Rachael proved you wrong - and there's still time to donate here!  

If you'd like to help create more Carer-friendly communities, please do reach out.