PVCG was set up in 1975. this means 2025 marks our 50th Anniversary.
I’ll leave you to work out how many thousands of lifts have been done in that time
Our Origins
PVCG was established in 1975 as a result of a meeting held by PACT (Petersfield Area Churches Together).
Originally it was known as Petersfield Community Care Group. The founders were 2 ladies, Joyce Perry and Bee Kenchington. Originally the group moved into the Old Infant School in Hyton Road which was set up as the Petersfield Voluntary Centre. Funding for this conversion was provided by Health and Social Services, the local councils and the Great Butser Run
In 1982 the group moved into Winton House
By 1995/1996 the name of the group had changed to its current form Petersfield Voluntary Care Group
In 2020 one of our founders, Joyce Perry, was taken to meet Bee Kenchington in her Funtington garden on 14th June by the Chairman There we met Karen Jordan from GNN, as Bee had been the first Manager of GNN in 1975/6, and Joyce had taken over from her, before she founded Winton House Centre. We have some lovely pictures of that reunion too.
Tasks Undertaken by PVCG
Over the years our volunteers have undertaken a huge variety of tasks to care for our clients. As well as driving clients to their appointments, volunteers have also done befriending, dog-walking, shopping, prescription collection, library book delivery and much more. In 2000 PVCG shoppers were doing 50 shopping trips a month. In the 2020s probably due to the wide availability of online shopping the demand for shopping is much reduced. One request in the past was for someone to go and read Pride and Prejudice to them which a volunteer was pleased to do.
Nowadays, due to volunteer availability it has become necessary to restrict jobs to driving clients to medical appointments only or to visit a relative in hospital or care home.. We still do shopping for the housebound who have no other means of getting their shopping done.
Technology
For many years, the day to day organisation and running of PVCG was done by telephone and records were kept in ledgers and books. However, with the increased use of technology, it was inevitable that other methods of record keeping and communication would be introduced
Website – Mention had been made for many years of PVCG having its own website. To start with they had a page on the Winton House Centre Website. A website was set up in approximately 20218. This was upgraded to this present site in 2025.
Record Keeeping / Spreadsheet – In 2013 it was suggested that records be kept on a computer spreadsheet that could be accessed by all the coordinators and the volunteers at Winton House. This met with some trepidation, as a number of the coordinators were not sufficiently confident with computers. One of the coordinators produced a suitable spreadsheet and it was introduced to run parallel with the manual record keeping system, so that those who preferred could keep to the manual system. By the 2020s the manual system has been dropped. The spreadsheet has evolved over the years. In 2025 an input sheet was introduced so that Winton House volunteers could key in requests as they were received. These could then be copied into the main sheet by the coordinator.
Communication / email – Originally all communication was by telephone. By 2020 all coordinators and drivers used email to communicate requests and confirm jobs. Communication with clients continues to be by telephone.
Payment Methods – Most payments to PVCG are still mainly in the form of cash. Cheques, made payable to PVCG are accepted. These are becoming less widely used. Direct payment methods are available, if requested. These methods could be developed in the future, depending on demand.
Periods of Office of Chairmen
| Chairman | Date |
|---|---|
| Joyce Perry | 1975 – 1982 |
| Gerald Mammen | 1982 – 1986 |
| Eric Francis | 1986 – 1993 |
| Robin Glover | 1994 – 1995 |
| Evangeline Bowen | 1996 – 2004 |
| Jenny Seaburg | 2004 – 2011 |
| Evangeline Bowen | 2011 – 2012 |
| Jennifer Robinson | 2012 – 2020 |
| Alison Gauld | 2020 – 2023 |
| Mary Fair | 2023 – |
The Covid Epidemic
On 23rd March 2020 Lockdown was introduced for the first time, and our lives changed drastically. Drivers over 70 were not allowed to drive so a huge recruitment drive was introduced. We managed to recruit some younger drivers who were either laid off from work or students home from university. By 2nd March 2021 we were back to 27 drivers of passengers and 8 shoppers and prescription fetchers.
The number of drives dropped to 731 during that year from an average of about 1100. We still carried on doing food shopping and this increased for the over 70s whose time allowed outside was extremely curtailed. People didn’t want to go in shops in case they caught Covid, even wearing a mask. We found that the number of shopping trips increased during the third lockdown, as word spread.
Fetching and delivering prescriptions was introduced, and we had a special team of drivers who delivered prescriptions for the Day Lewis pharmacy. Before Covid, Day Lewis had 245 clients receiving free deliveries, but by 14th April after Easter Monday, when we started, they had 484 clients registered with them for this free NHS service and who were shielding. We carried out 1472 deliveries for them from Easter until the end of July when lockdown was raised and their own DBS-checked taxi drivers could return. This cut down the long queues in the pharmacy and therefore the risk of transmission. We were doing it for free, just reimbursing our drivers out of our reserves. We wanted to do our bit and help the NHS and our local community. However, it turned out that the Good Neighbours Group Network (GNN) did then cover this with a grant
Des Newman and Lucy Spooner collecting prescriptions
It wasn’t until January 2021 that we were among the first people in Petersfield to be allowed a Covid vaccination. This was because we were keyworkers. Each driver had an authorisation to drive as a keyworker in case they were stopped by the police.
During lockdown we all had plenty of time, so we researched our history and started a scrapbook. I hope that one day it will go to the Petersfield Museum. There are photos, newspaper cuttings, reports and records going back to 1975.
Our accolade was the group being awarded a Special Award Certificate by the Mayor and Town Council for all its work. The Chairman also received a separate Mayor’s Award 2021 and medal from Lesley Farrow. See https://www.goodneighbours.org.uk/july-2021/
Above the Covid award certificate and Alison with hers framed
Our drivers really pulled together during the pandemic, keeping the Petersfield Voluntary Care Group going for the benefit of our community, and were pleased to have been able to give a little back to those in need.