New Halstead building project to benefit the local and
neighbouring communities
This page continues on from the needs identified previously.
To replace the current condemned
St John Ambulance Halstead headquarters (north Essex)
with a new building to "house our members in 21st
century facilities" which will enable first aid outreach
programmes to the surrounding villages and community
groups, rather than a building considered "totally unfit
for purpose".
Plans
The new programme of Community First Aid training will
be open to all and is non-discriminative, aiming to meet
identified needs of diversity, disability, exclusion and isolation
in these rural areas of Essex. Our Schools Liaison Officer(s), who
currently teach First Aid to the schools, will be able to use this
new building to offer their services to schools and community
groups which were previously out of reach.
We will be providing a new building not only to deliver the
“Life Lost” project but also to facilitate the continuing services
which St John Ambulance offers to the community and to expand these
to accommodate the waiting list of organisations and the
public.
No one should die because they needed first aid and
didn't get it. Our aim is to reduce the number of
unnecessary deaths due to the lack of first aid training in the
community.
Nationally around
150,000 people die each year because those
around them did not have any basic first aid skills. Two out of
three of us would not know what to do if faced with someone whose
life could be save by a little first aid. (see the
difference campaign).
To facilitate this training, with the support of local
organisations and the community (see Support), and to continue to expand
our present services to the community, we are working to
provide a new purpose built training facility (see
Location) to replace the
current condemned building (see current
headquarters).
Location
The proposed new building would be co-located
with existing vehicle garages at St John Ambulance, Fenn Road,
Halstead, Essex (see
Google map).
Plans for the new building have been prepared by JCN Design
Ltd. and included here
with their kind consent.
Timescale
This new building will be up and running in a very short time
after the remaining monies are found. The services we already
deliver will be expanded such as event first aid cover at events, open gardens,
patient
transport, and training for the general public via
Community First Aid courses.
On a rolling programme of 3 years our new "Life Lost"
campaign will enable us to deliver first aid life skills to rural
and excluded areas to 3,000 people over the programme's
lifespan. We have successfully run
such Community First Aid courses in other
areas of Essex, with waiting lists for the future. Our
feedback forms shows substantial public support for such
ventures.
Partners
We will partner “Disability Essex” who will provide
transport to and from these areas for their members free of charge
and our own volunteer trainers will give their time free of charge
as well. The onward running costs of the building are self funding
from our working together with other organisations in need of a
venue to fulfil their community aims.
Support
We have received letters of support from the following
organisations.