Welcome to another carer awareness post from carer activist Matthew McKenzie. This post was done during Carers Week 2024, the theme “Putting Carers on the Map”.

Many up and down the country were busy putting carers on the map, but quite a few were also rewarding those who helped put carers on the map.

I was over in the London borough of Harrow to help celebrate the amazing work Harrow carers does for the community of Harrow for their Carers Week Family Celebration.

Harrow Carers was easy to get to and despite the slight rain, everyone was in a good mood.

Harrow Carers centre supports carers of all ages over the phone, through face-to-face contact, support groups and workshops.

Their services include support groups, counselling, wellbeing sessions, hospital discharge, befreinding, events, advice and information. They also work closely with local and national agencies and can signpost carers to specialised sources of support.

On thursday 13th of June, I attend Harrow Carer’s “Family Fun Day”. A place where carers and the community can come together and celebrate, but also forget about their daily struggles.

While visiting the Harrow Carers site, I was shown around the festivities and facilities that they have built up over the years. Harrow carers have a large park area and have built a Barbecue

I was also shown their wellbeing garden.

I was greated by the CEO of Harrow Carers “Charmian Boyd” who showed me around the facilities. She talked about the special day and my role as one of the 3 judges to judge the “Harrow Carers Awards”.

The nominations for the awards were as follows

• Young Carer Award for someone under the age of 18 who goes out of their way to help and support others.
• Young Carer Award for someone under the age of 18-25 who goes out of their way to help and support others.
• Carer going above and beyond Award for someone who goes out of their way to help and support others.
• Longest serving / lifetime achievement Award – A carer who has faced big challenges themselves but has continued to care for someone a long time.
• Outstanding contribution to the community Award – For someone who spends their spare time volunteering to support carers and fundraises.
• General Practitioner Award – Award for a GP Pratice that has made a concerted effort to support carers.
• Social Worker of the year Award

While judging for the awards, I was amazed at how the community of Harrow supported each other and setting up the facilities for the event.

The staff at Harrow were welcoming and supportive. Everyone was so friendly and the food served was very tasty.

I also enjoyed judging and helping to present the awards, as you can see below

Plus enjoyed the music and taking part in the raffle

All in all, I enjoyed spending time with the caring community of Harrow, everyone there has the focus on creating a caring community and I look forward to collaborating with the community in future.