Wellsford Citizens Advice meets changing needs

The Wellsford Citizens Advice Bureau has been serving the Warkworth/Wellsford area, and wider rural communities from Puhoi to the Brenderwyns, for the past 25 years.

The idea of setting up a bureau in the town was first mooted by Wellsford Co-op Church and the first of two public meetings to discuss the proposal was held in March 1986.

The Wellsford bureau opened on 10 November 1986, in tiny rooms provided by Council in the present Wellsford Library building. It remained in those premises until the new Wellsford District Community Centre was built in 1994, after a fire gutted the old hall on the same site.

Council provided space in the new Community Centre and the bureau relocated in December 1994.

Today the service has 29 trained volunteers and two part-time paid staff.

The service continues to make people aware of their rights and responsibilities by providing free confidential information, advocacy and a listening ear, no matter who they are or what the subject may be.

Coordinator Heather Ede says the Wellsford office appreciates the time, energy and support it has received since its inception from Susan Tomas and Lou Densham.

She says other volunteers who deserve recognition include chairperson Sue Mayne, Maureen Lambert, Chris Hoogerwerf, Lorraine Merton, Eric Parsons, Ian Gardner, Liz Mitchell, Margaret Lester and Phyllis Browne, who have all given at least 10 years service.

“CAB empowers people to know their rights and responsibilities and use information to get their needs met effectively,” Heather says. “As our economic, social and political climate gets more complicated people’s needs are changing and we work hard to meet those changing expectations.” 

The Wellsford office is open from 10am to 3pm every weekday except holidays.

Pictured: Bureau stalwarts Lou Densham (left) and Susan Tomas.

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