IN this most difficult of years, people have great worries of their own, but we believe nevertheless that it is more important than ever that we help others.

So we have launched the Hereford Times Christmas Appeal 2020, in partnership with the Herefordshire Community Foundation.

Our aim is to help seven LOCAL charities in each of the key towns where the Hereford Times is read.

We invited the county’s mayors (and the mayor of Hay-on-Wye) to nominate a charity to receive an equal share of the funds raised.

The Mayor of Kington, Bob Widdowson, nominated Kington United Charities.

RELATED NEWS:

He said: “Its purposes are to assist local people in financial hardship and to support the education of individuals in education or training.

"It can offer help at a time of crisis or need when help cannot be found elsewhere.

"It helps local groups such as the Kington food bank and other local community services."

One person who has first hand experience of the difference Kington United Charities can make is Nick Turner, who runs his own shoe repair business in the town.

The charity stepped in to help Mr Turner, whose mobility is compromised by cerebral palsy, in 2018.

“I had a scooter that I’d been given by the Lions Club, but it had come to the end of its life and the Lions Club had been dissolved, so I wrote a letter to Kington United Charities, which I’d heard about from my dad.”

KUC responded positively and, in partnership with another charity, paid half of the cost of a new scooter, which is essential as a result of his medical issues for Mr Turner to get to and from work and to get around town.

Mr Turner, who is Kington born and bred, opened his shoe repair business in 1987, a business he chose because he needed a job that he could do with my hands.

“I’ll never be a millionaire doing it, but it keeps me from sitting at home in a wheelchair.”

As the second lockdown began, he was continuing to go to work, “but only catching up on my work.”

The first lockdown provided evidence of how important it is for him to be able to get out and get to work. “It didn’t do me any good sitting at home for 12 weeks. My muscles got weaker.”

“I am very grateful to KUC for buying me the scooter. I could never have afforded it and without it I’d have been reliant on my wheelchair to go to work. The scooter gives me mobility and independence.”

To donate visit www.herefordshirecf.org/donate or send a cheque to the Herefordshire Community Foundation, The Fred Bulmer Centre, Wall Street, Hereford HR4 9HP.