Nusrat Ghani, Conservative MP for Sussex Weald, was delighted to join the management team and volunteers of MAYFACS charity to celebrate their 10th anniversary.
MAYFACS is a community charitable organisation which stands for Mayfield & Five Ashes Community Services. Its main objective is to help alleviate loneliness and isolation, by offering a variety of activities and services including information, guidance, to local people of all ages and needs. MAYFACS was borne out from Age Concern Mayfield and first formed as a charity in 2016, with Shirley Holland as its first project manager.
During the pandemic, Shirley mobilised a group of volunteers who worked round the clock to provide a network of services and ever-ready assistance to the whole community, and especially the elderly and vulnerable in the area. For her outstanding management, Nusrat was pleased to award Shirley with the Wealden Hero Award in 2020.
Since 2021, Nusrat has been in close collaboration with the current management team Lucy Jarvis and Freya Huxtable, as well as local resident Caroline Quill and Cllr Brian Redman, on providing support to Ukrainian families arriving to the area. Thanks to their efforts, Sussex Weald hosted the most arrivals to any district of East Sussex, and was one of the top 10 constituencies nationwide. For their tireless work, Lucy and Freya were awarded a special Platinum Jubilee Wealden Heroes in 2022.
To celebrate the wonderful milestone of a decade of service, MAYFACS are holding a series of celebrations, one of which was their Gala Event on Friday 12th June. Having worked with MAYFACS closely since the Covid-19 pandemic, Nusrat was delighted to join as a guest speaker to thank all volunteers and supporters for their tireless work over the past decade.
Nusrat Ghani said: “Volunteers are at the heart of community-led support across Sussex Weald, and MAYFACS is an unmatched and shining example of our fantastic community organisations. It is vital that our vulnerable neighbours have familiar faces they can turn to for support and all the extraordinary MAYFACS volunteers make an enormous contribution to residents in Mayfield, Five Ashes and the surrounding area.
"I am incredibly grateful to every single one of them, and especially to the remarkable Shirley Holland, Lucy Jervis, Freya Huxtable, Caroline Quill and Cllr Brian and Dr Deveda Redman who have been instrumental to the charity’s work over the past decade. A huge congratulations to MAYFACS on their 10th anniversary and I look forward to continuing working with them and supporting them for years to come.”
Pictured top: Dr Deveda Redman, Nusrat Ghani MP and Wealden district Cllr Brian Redman. Above: Lucy Jervis, Freya Huxtable with Nus.
