Today I popped in to see folks at CHESS, the local homeless charity.

In the early 1990s Churches in Chelmsford became concerned about the plight of homeless people in the Chelmsford area.

Its first response was to organise a soup run; local Christians would prepare soup and take it to distribution points in Chelmsford to hand out to those living on the streets.

Harsh Winters then caused further worries and local churches would take it in turn to open their halls for a week at a time so homeless people could sleep there at night. Volunteers from each church would look after the residents’ comfort and safety.

It became clear that the need for shelter was not restricted to the Winter months. CHESS opened its Night Shelter in the middle 1990s. Since the beginning of this century it has acquired an Annexe to the Shelter and move-on houses accommodating 30 service users.

CHESS has a number of properties offering shelter to homeless folks. The first stop is the Night Shelter, staffed with support workers.

CHESS also offers counselling service and work with local GPs. They encourage service users to access specialist providers for specific needs, ie Open Road; GP and Health Services; Citizens Advice; Job Centre Plus; Debt Advice Services; Volunteering; and each service user is allocated a support worker.

This is a great charity, with a great history helping people to gain security and independence.