Surrey Advertiser

Picture: Steve Porter.

Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace hand over a cheque raised from auctioning their dancing memorablia to Sarah Bennett and her two children, Alice and William.


TV stars help for cha-cha-charity

GUILDFORD'S own Strictly Come Dancing stars Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace have kick-started a fund-raising campaign for the Guildford branch of the UK's leading family charity Home-Start. The couple last week handed over a cheque for £1,676 to Guildford Home-Start, raised from an auction of some of their dancing memorabilia. Home-Start is a national charity which recruits and trains volunteers who help parents with young children. They could be parents who are isolated, suffer from an illness, disability or depression or those struggling with the demands of twins or triplets or simply finding it difficult to cope with the changes that parenthood brings. The Guildford branch was set up in 1996. Vice-chairman Ruth Jubert said: "Home-Start has been described by one family as "armbands in deep water". It helps give parents the strength they need to do what has to be one of the toughest but most rewarding jobs anyone can do, building better lives for their children. "Typically parents are referred to us by health visitors. "Some have quite serious problems, others might just want to talk or have help meeting new friends, they may have mobility problems and need to be taken shopping or to an appointment or it could be help with filling out forms. "It's a very simple service but it really seems to work and as volunteers, we feel privileged to be trusted and appreciated by the parents we work with." The charity has grown in the past few years, attracting more volunteers and helping 20% more families in 2009-10, but budgetary constraints have forced Surrey County Council and Guildford and Waverley Voluntary Grants Panel to cut their funding. "In total we are about £21,000 down on what we had hoped to receive and are having to dig into reserves," said Ruth. "So if we are to continue to help as many people, we need to place greater emphasis on fund-raising." Fortunately for Sarah Bennett, a self-employed translator, after being referred to the organisation Home-Start by her health visitor, she got a welcome helping hand. She now has two children, Alice, aged three, and William, 11 months, and can visualise a time in the near future when she will no longer need the help of Home-Start. Instead she hopes to make her own contribution by volunteering to work for the charity helping other struggling new parents. Sarah said: "I had battled with day-to-day living for about a year after Alice's birth and was finding it a challenge to do anything. I had a complete lack of confidence in my ability to be a mum and to function properly. Reluctantly at first I accepted help from Home-Start and after an assessment a volunteer was matched to me. It was important, for instance, that my volunteer understood I wanted to continue breast-feeding ." Volunteer Emma was Sarah's "guardian angel for a year and she was followed by Pru. "The knowledge that someone will come in every week for a few hours and deal with whatever needs doing is such a relief," added Sarah. "It also enabled my husband to get on with his work as he had been looking after me and doing a lot of the household chores." Home-Start Guildford is hoping to attract sponsorship from companies or individuals and a packed programme of fundraising events has been organised. For information contact Liz Westwood on 01483 511181 or visit www.hsguildford.org.uk