Members' Activities

Maureen Payan and her husband Peter are long-standing members of the Twickenham Society. A friend of hers supplied this article, following Maureen's award of the MBE in the 2009 New Year's Honours List.

Maureen Payan’s MBE

In 1977 Maureen advertised in local shops and schools for good neighbours to take Christmas dinners to elderly housebound people. Over thirty years and thousands of hours of voluntary work later she is still the driving force and inspiration of a charity dedicated to improving the quality of life of people living in Twickenham who need help of a kind beyond the duties of local statutory services. The Charity is registered under the title HANDS (Help a Neighbour in Distress scheme), and is run by Maureen from an office on the Twickenham swimming pool site, at present provided rent-free by the Council.

Help is offered to all, but inevitably the elderly constitute the majority of her clients. Maureen spotted that when activities normally taken for granted are beyond them, they can still live in their own homes if well-organised voluntary top-up help is available. Thus shopping can be done for them, and the collection of pensions and prescriptions. Voluntary drivers can get them to their GPs, to friends in hospital and to hairdressers. The worry of being unable to change a light bulb, to walk a dog or tidy a garden is removed. Above all, cherished independence is preserved for longer than would otherwise be the case.

People confused by officialdom, documents and form-filling might need little more than help from a volunteer with good eyesight. Relief from the stress of living with a chronically disabled spouse or relative can be given by a helper prepared to sit in for a few hours. Being read to can enrich a lonely life.

Volunteers often form long-lasting friendships with those they help. The benefit to the Council with its increasingly stretched resources can be imagined. Indeed a number of clients are referred to HANDS directly by the Social Services department.

Someone taken up by HANDS need never feel alone or helpless again, because help of some kind can almost always be arranged and Maureen is never afraid to intercede whatever the problem. Seeming medical indifference and bureaucratic muddle are regrettably never far away.

It has always been the aim of HANDS to prolong active participation in the life of the community. There is an annual programme of Thames boat trips, theatre and garden visits and other events from which clients might have been excluded by infirmity. These functions are sponsored by a handsome annual donation from the Worshipful Company of Dyers, while day to day running of the organisation has from earliest times been made possible by the flow of small contributions from clients, friends and relatives.

A weekly special bus manned by volunteers collects people from their homes, takes them to do their own shopping in a supermarket and home again. A Sunday lunch club, with a roster of voluntary cooks, brings eight lonely people together.

Many years ago, in her enthusiasm for promoting voluntary activity, Maureen launched an annual late May bank holiday Twickenham Green Fair at which over 80 charities and societies set up their stalls and raise hundreds, even thousands of pounds for worthwhile causes, while enjoying the playing of students from the Guildhall School of Music. This event, traditionally attended by the Mayor, has become a central feature of Twickenham social life at which we see our friends, buy treasures of every kind and have a wonderful day (weather allowing!)

Maureen never expected, or thought she deserved, an award for work she so much enjoys, but Twickenham thinks otherwise. She has been overwhelmed by the outpouring of affection, and by the obvious pleasure which greeted public announcement of the award. In her turn she is deeply grateful to those whose efforts brought it about, and to all who have written to her so warmly.

HANDS
Bath House
The Embankment
Twickenham, TW1 3DX
Email: Hands@twickenham47.fsnet.co.uk
Telephone/Fax 020 8891 3346
The website is at www.acbe.co.uk/ncg/hands/index.htm