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A new face in Denbighshire…and a brand new community micro-enterprise

15 March 2022 · Categories: Communities Care, Wales

We’re pleased to welcome Nick Hughes to join our established Community Catalysts project in Denbighshire he’ll be continuing to work with partners and local people to increase the number of community micro-enterprises offering care and support to other local people in the area.

In his first couple of months working on the project, Nick supported Wendy, to set up Lean on Me – a community micro-enterprise and ‘friendly service that offers help at home’. Nick shares his experience of helping Wendy get up and running…


Lean on Me

Within a couple of weeks of completing the Community Catalysts’ development programme Wendy had successfully made agreements to start providing support to local residents.

Having worked on cruise ships, run a pizza restaurant in Florida and a coffee van across Denbighshire, Wendy clearly has an entrepreneurial mindset. But I knew that she would run a great community micro-enterprise, when I found out about how committed she was, helping older people access the Accident & Emergency department at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd Hospital, as a member of the Red Cross Resettlement Team. I was impressed with Wendy’s stories about how she alleviated some of the often-overlooked concerns of people who may be isolated, needing emergency hospital treatment. This included, for example, going to the home of someone who was worried about their dog whilst they were at the hospital, feeding and walking their dog, and making sure it was OK.

Wendy said that she joined our development programme because she wanted to be self-employed whilst contributing to the local community. However, ultimately her choice was triggered by her experience at the hospital, where she saw how many people desperately needed a hand, but did not quite meet the threshold for eligible care. At the same time, she realised the huge difference some of the simple things, such as a chat or a day out, can make to people’s lives, especially to those who are isolated.

With the project in Denbighshire moving from strength to strength, I’m excited to be joining the team and working with new and existing local enterprises in Denbighshire. I’ve enjoyed meeting local talented people with innovative ideas to support older and disabled people and can’t wait to help other Denbighshire residents realise their goals.

Get in touch

You can email at nick.hughes@communitycatalysts.co.uk or check out Community Catalyst Denbighshire’s Facebook page.

You might be interested in our other recent blog:

We are recruiting – come and join us: Community Micro-enterprise Catalyst (Gwynedd)

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