The Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust is excited to announce a new initiative which will help to support carers across our rural community.

Carers are unsung heroes who manage their daily lives, often alongside other work and commitments, to support family members, friends and neighbours. Carers often don’t realise they are carers, as what they do is part and parcel of their lives and who they are. They may be caring for elderly relatives so they can stay in their own home, living with and caring for a partner who is suffering from dementia, or perhaps they are a parent supporting a child with a disability or long-term illness, or helping a neighbour or friend who lives alone and needs a daily helping hand.

It can be a lonely and isolating existence. Concern about financial and practical arrangements, as well as physical and mental wellbeing for both the cared-for and carer, can be overwhelming.

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Thanks to an expanding team at GWT, our dedicated team of tealight nurses will be alongside carers by phone, text, email or messaging service to offer a friendly ear, practical advice and any medical concern, bringing a beacon of hope and light into individual lives and homes.

Helen Benson, the charity’s CEO, said: “This is a really important service which will add to the support available for anyone connected to a land-based occupation, but particularly gamekeepers, stalkers, ghillies, allied professions, their families, and the wider network in rural communities”.

Community nurse and co-founder of the health and wellbeing team of GWT nurses, Becky King said: “We are so excited to be able to support Carers in our rural community. We understand how isolated and lonely it can be. To be able to offer practical and emotional support will be an absolute lifeline to many people caring for loved ones”.

For support from a tealight nurse please call the health team on 0300 011 0018 or email help@thegamekeeperswelfaretrust.com