Over the last 20 years Home-Start Lakeland has supported in the region of 600 families in County Fermanagh.

“It’s an amazing achievement,” said Diane Noble, one of the co-ordinators at Home-Start Lakeland, who works alongside her fellow co-ordinator Denyse Walker. “Obviously we are a charity so to have been able to access the funding and be here for 20 years offering that consistent support is a real achievement.”

Diane noted that over the years the organisation has built up a good rapport with those who refer families to them. “They know the value in our service and can turn to us when there maybe aren’t other services for families with young children,” she added.

Home-Start Lakeland is a local community network of trained volunteers who provide expert support, helping families with young children through their challenging times.

“The level of commitment we look for from volunteers is two to three hours a week, so they will visit one family for two to three hours a week,” explained Diane, continuing: “We have around 20 volunteers per year, some of them have been with us a long time. Some of them have been with us the guts of 15 years but we’re recruiting and training new volunteers all the time. In fact we have a new volunteer course starting now towards the end of February so we will be calling out for new volunteers for that.”

“The trustees of the scheme oversee the management and the governance of the scheme and that’s all done on a voluntary basis as well. It’s all local people and it really has been the strength of local people,” Diane added.

Noting that it was a local church that initially had the idea to start up Home-Start in Fermanagh, Diane shared: “That was really where the idea came from and obviously it has developed from that so everything, all of the money that we receive is used to support families locally and I know that is important to people sometimes when they are giving to charities, that they know that all of the money is being used for people in the local community.”

On Saturday, February 22 from 2pm to 4pm, the Home-Start Lakeland are marking their 20th anniversary with a special party at the West End Community Centre and are inviting all past volunteers and families who received support to come along to celebrate.

“It’s really a family fun afternoon.There will be activities for the children, entertainment will be provided by the Party Bees and then we have refreshments from the Afternoon Tea Fairy and of course there will be cake,” said Diane.

“It’ll be attended by those who are currently involved and hopefully those who have been involved over the 20 years as well, that being volunteers, trustees, families and staff as well. So it’s just an opportunity for everybody to come together,” she added.

Diane advised that if anyone would like to attend the 20th anniversary party, they should RSVP to Home-Start Lakeland. “We want to know who’s coming so we can have provisions there for everybody,” she explained.

Sharing her hopes for Home-Start Lakeland over the next 20 years, Diane told this newspaper: “We have no doubt that our service is needed, we always have more referrals than what we are able fulfil so for the next 20 years I hope that we are still here, that we still have the funding to still be here because that’s one of our biggest challenges in the current climate and that we can continue to be able to offer support to families in Fermanagh.”