We have had an exciting couple of months.  Firstly, we attended the High Sheriff of Essex Awards ceremony in March to receive an award certificate and cheque to work with colleagues in the night time economy to avoid people’s drinks being spiked. However, at the event, we were delighted and surprised to be the winners of the prestigious, overall High Sheriff’s Shield for 2021/22.

We were also extremely pleased to achieve the Investors in People standard exceeding all the standard areas above the national average, which is a real credit to all our staff and volunteers, as was our annual rewards and recognition event. This event, held at Colchester United Football Stadium in March, was attended by staff and volunteers from across Essex and Kent. A fun day was had by all.

We welcomed a new Patron, John Weir, former High Sheriff of Kent and look forward to working with him in the future and thank John for all his support of Open Road.

A big thank you to Julie Ellis, our North Essex IPS (Individual Placement Support) worker for agreeing to be in the spotlight for this edition also Simon Brice, High Sheriff of Essex for appearing in our Funder’s Spotlight.  

We commenced our new service for young people up to the age of 30 in Southend, with Corinne Johns taking the lead, along with our new team of recovery workers. This is an exciting new contract for Open Road in partnership with Forward Trust.

It was a pleasure to welcome our Patron, Harlow MP Robert Halfon, along with Councillor Dan Swords to our walled garden project in Harlow Town Park, where he met both volunteers and members of the Harlow team. Robert and Dan are now assisting us with finding new premises in the town centre. 

We have also been successful in obtaining funding for a new Colchester SOS bus to replace the existing one and we are currently exploring a number of avenues to ensure we find a suitable replacement.

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