We asked over 13,000 people what they thought of us, and they said “NEIGHBOURLY, COMMUNITY-FOCUSED and INFORMATIVE”. The vast majority of members said that we are effective in preventing crime, contributing to community health and wellbeing, supporting the vulnerable and isolated, and strengthening community spirit.

We wanted to delve deeper and understand more about what prevents people from joining, and we discovered the top four barriers were:

• there isn’t a group in their area
• they don’t know who else is involved
• no-one has asked them
• they are not sure about what is expected of them

This is where you come in! These barriers are all easily overcome by chatting with your neighbours. And there is no better time to invite people to join your group than now. Together you are able to not only celebrate the good times, but also support each other through the times such as the cost of living crisis.

Together we are stronger.