We have just heard during this past week that Essex County Council has come up trumps for us again. The two grants received last year which have helped us to extend the work in Braintree and south Essex have been made available for a further year.

This is really good news and means that we can move ahead with confidence and creativity, and look at new ways to meet the needs of people with dementia in these localities. Many thanks to ECC.

We are also indebted to Bob (below left) and to Andrew (below right) for enabling us to settle in to our new office and get up and running comfortably.

Bob has his own company called Niglibits (does what it says on the tin) and has helped us with all those niggly bits which you need sorting when you move into a new home. Bob seems to be able to do anything in the DIY line and has fixed stuck doors, hung blinds and whiteboards and, perhaps most important, solved the problem of a disconcerting ‘fragrance’ that (according to our predecessors) has been bothersome for years. Bob also sings and is a karaoke jockey (though not while DIY-ing) and has helped us out on several occasions at the drop-in centre. So if you want a niggly thing fixed or you need an entertainer, Bob’s your man. You can contact him on 01787 224128 or at bob.tuck1@btopenworld.com.

Andrew of 4Tek has become our IT man and has done a wonderful job of getting our computers up-to-date and up and running; it has been an enormous relief to have him around. He’s always happy to be on call and has been extremely generous with both time and equipment. If you need knowledgeable and reliable support, you can contact Andrew on 01376 310620 or at www.4tek.co.uk.

Actually not that new – it’s just taken us a long while to get round to posting this. We have been rapidly growing out of Tessa’s home office, our domicile for the last 4 years, and in need of space where we can work together.

The office (not beautiful to be sure – but functional) found us and we moved in at the beginning of December, just in time for the worst of the snow and ice. It’s not a public convenience – although you could be forgiven for thinking that (see pic below). It’s a portakabin: it’s cheap and it gives us all the desk and storage space we need. A lick of paint and a new carpet over Christmas has made it habitable.

Special thanks to Pete ‘The Carpet’ for that, and also to David Brooks of Amaryllis Environmental Services in Chelmsford. Amaryllis recycles unwanted office furniture – free to charities – and David has equipped us with every single office item we have needed. We probably have several thousand pounds-worth of office furniture now in residence. Thank you David – we are very much obliged.