Walk Hadrian's Wall with Nigel for Shildon Alive

Hi, my name is Nigel.

I am a brain survivor, that is looking to support a charity that has helped me. My challenge is to complete the 84-mile walk up Hadrian's Wall in 8 days! I Will be undertaking the task on 9th October 2023

Shildon Alive is situated within the post-industrial communities of Shildon, the Dean

Valley and Coundon Grange. Despite many challenges, the residents are resilient and

have a strong sense of community.

Low aspirations and a general despondency impact the population with over 25% living

in social housing, and similar numbers in private, often extremely substandard, let with

absentee landlords. In 2014 the last major supermarket in the town closed, the last bank

was closed and reopened as a betting shop, and a culture of decline increasingly

embedded as austerity cuts impacted. Drugs, long-term sickness, low life expectancy,

and many other issues paint a complex picture of urban decline in our community.

Recent Durham Insight stats state 41.5% of the children living in the Shildon and Dene

Valley ward was living in absolute poverty – the highest proportion out of all 63 wards in

County Durham. We regularly feed adults who haven’t eaten for a few days and undernourished

children. As a Community Anchor organisation embedded in the community, we can

support our community. Our team are trusted, and our Advocate helps families and

individuals in crisis and living in poverty.

Our community shop and takeaway is open to the whole community. The shelves are stocked with surplus food donated to us from local supermarkets; food originally destined for landfill! The shop operates on a ‘take what you need, donate what you can’ policy, meaning members of the community can come in, fill their basket with a wide range of products, and donate whatever they are able in return. This enables the community to affordably add healthy food to their diets whilst simultaneously funding the work our charity carries out to benefit residents of Shildon, Eldon and Dene Valley. We also give free full baskets with food parcels to those in crisis. As well as offering daily specials and a regular set menu, our community takeaway operates a ‘meals on wheels' service, through which residents can have a three-course meal delivered to their door. We also use a token system to hand out donation meals to those who need them. This operates as a hot meal and for those in crisis we supply a full hot donation meal worth £3.50, and we always feed children for free. In January 2023 we gave 217 free meals and 180 free baskets.