North Essex Support Team (N.E.S.T.)
Our Chairman, Les Nicoll has a background of 50 years with the Essex County Fire and Rescue service, working directly in the community since 2006. In 2019 he was awarded a British Empire Medal for his community work.
In the course of his work as a safeguarding officer he discovered:
Children sleeping on the floor or on grubby, soiled mattresses with no sheets or pillows
Elderly people sleeping in urine soaked and faeces stained beds and bedding
Families in crisis running from terrible domestic or political violence, with all their possessions in a few carrier bags
Hungry, poorly clothed children going to school unprepared for winter
“I started using my Facebook page to source beds and bedding for these people and in the first four years was able to help over 400 families and individuals”
Les Nicoll – Chairman, N.E.S.T
As his work became public knowledge the referrals grew and grew to the point where Les was struggling to meet the demands. Then in 2019 some good friends crowdfunded a storage container and rallied round to help.