Home-Start Surrey Heath

There for parents when they need us most, because childhood can't wait

About Us

Click on the play button in the image above to see a short video about a family in Surrey.

Home-Start Surrey Heath recruits and trains volunteers from the local area including the Borough of Surrey Heath incorporating Bagshot, Lightwater, Windlesham, Chobham, Chobham Common, West End, Bisley, Deepcut, Frimley Green, Frimley and Camberley. We carefully match our volunteers with an appropriate family. All of the families we support must have at least one child under five. The volunteer visits the family in their own home once a week. Families tell us what a huge difference it makes to their lives to have that support at a time of need, often describing our volunteers as “a ray of sunshine” or a “life-line”. The best part of our work is to see the children start to thrive again as the volunteer helps the parents work through their difficulties.

Home-Start Surrey Heath is a local charity which was set up in 1989 in response to an identified need for a support service for families in the Borough of Surrey Heath families. The service is free at the point of access, completely independent and available to all.

Home-Start Surrey Heath is affiliated to the national organisation, Home-Start UK, but we are autonomous and responsible for our own management and our own funding. Home-Start UK provides advice and support through a regional consultant together with a stringent Quality Assurance review process to ensure the scheme operates effectively.

Trustee Board

Home-Start Surrey Heath is an independent charity run by a Trustee Board made up of local professionals (e.g. but not limited to Health Visitors, Teachers, Social Workers), 2 Volunteers’ Representatives and also independent people, who act as Trustees of the Charity.

Trustee Board meetings are held once every two months on a Monday morning. If you would like to know more about the work of Home-Start Surrey Heath, please see our Annual Report. If you think you may be interested in becoming a member please contact us on 01276 681121 for further details.

Our trustees come from all walks of life, bringing their experience and individual skills to our scheme. The kind of skills that are in demand are business or personnel management, finance and fundraising, IT and communications. But you don’t need special qualifications to be a trustee – common sense, flexibility, time and an ability to work as part of a team, a willingness to learn, understanding the pressures facing parents today and a genuine interest in supporting parents in the local community are just as important to us. Please contact us to find out more.

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