Join us
Members of FiSH get access to a whole range of brilliant activities, giving them the chance to get out, meet new people and keep active both physically and mentally. And it’s not just social activities we provide, we’re on hand with practical help, such as shopping and making hospital and doctors’ appointments easier. It costs just £30 per year to access many of these great benefits.
Members' Helpline
FiSH members get access to our very useful Helpline. If you need help getting to an appointment or getting shopping done just call our helpline and we will see what we can do for you. Alternatively, you may need assistance with small tasks around the house or gardening. Maybe you need to access help for more complicated issues, or you would simply like someone to chat to? Just call us and we’ll do our best to help.
FiSH is 60
2023 is a big year for FiSH as it marks our 60th anniversary. We started out as a small local voluntary association and now we’re an established charity, with five full and part-time staff and a team of over 250 volunteers.
FiSH provides a lifefline for older members of our local community and our work has been recognised with the gift of the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Who we are
FiSH is a neighbourhood care organisation, here to help the people of Barnes, Mortlake and Sheen, in particular our older members, and those who may feel isolated and lonely.
We offer friendship, support and practical help and advice, via our network of volunteers, as well as events, activities and outings for our members to meet each other and enjoy a social life. We also offer one-to-one befriending, as well as exercise classes, choir, and activities aimed at those living with dementia.
In 2018 FiSH was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service in recognition of its outstanding work for the community.
How we’re funded
We’re very grateful for the support of the local community, with a substantial part of our funding coming from donations and legacies. We also rely on membership subscriptions, charitable grants and fundraising events. This funding helps us run our buses, our Helpline and our community activities.
Last year FiSH…
Answered over 4,000 Helpline calls
Completed 3,889 jobs requested on calls
Made 1570 bus journeys for FiSH activities, shopping outings and events
Ran over 500 activities & events
Organised nearly 50 outings
Our volunteers
We couldn’t do the work we do without our network of amazing volunteers. If you join us, there’s a huge variety of things you can do, from helping on days out on the FiSH Bus (or even becoming a FiSH bus driver!), staffing our helpline, baking cakes for our coffee mornings, becoming a befriender, shopping for our members and helping with our many events. And you can choose to volunteer for as much time as you like. If you think you’d like to help, click on the link below
Watch our video
Our history
Celebrating 60 Years of FiSH
Like many of the best ideas, FiSH came about after a discussion between old friends. When a church group in East Sheen started discussing “Who is my neighbour?” one of the organisers thought of an old university friend who had successfully started a community support scheme where he lived.
They got together, organised volunteers and established a helpline. FiSH was born! Today, sixty years on, FiSH still has a helpline. It also has offices, five full and part-time staff, a network of volunteers, three minibuses and the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Services. And as for the founders of our volunteer network, their son also started a successful network himself. His name, Tim Berners-Lee, and his idea – the world wide web.
The difference we make…
On behalf of my aunt and our family, we would like to thank everyone at FiSH for the kindness you have shown, including the delicious cream teas, since you came into contact with my aunt a few years ago. We wish FiSH all the best with its wonderful work in the years ahead.
Thank you for the pleasure you gave my father when attending your Tuesday Talks. He was always impressed by the quality and knowledge of the speakers. I’m also grateful for you getting him out of his room… and out into fresh air. FiSH is immensely valued by so many, including me!
We all owe you a debt greater than you will ever know, and life for us would not be the same without you
Oh how I cried, overwhelmed at the love and warmth at the FiSH Christmas Carol concert; the enthusiasm of the choir, the exuberance of the quite fantastic Carl Speck who sparkled as he led them and the heartwarming atmosphere that welcomed us in the church, decked out with trees decorated by all the local schools. I’d like to think there is a FiSH everywhere in the country. Not only has my mum made connections but through their weekly painting group she has relearnt the confidence of holding a brush in her hand (when once she couldn’t even hold a fork) and so much is her progress that we made her painting into her Christmas card. Good people thank you”
Congratulations to all who have kept FiSH not only surviving, but thriving over the last 60 years!
Warmest wishes for the next 60 glorious years! May you go from strength to strength.
I just want you to know how wonderful it was for me to go with FiSH to Isabella yesterday! I have not been out in a green space for years except one brief holiday where there was a garden. It was wonderful and the entire experience was great. It was my first time with the group and everyone was so amazing. I also LOVED the new Choir more than I can say. I have not had fun like that in… I don’t know how long. My heartfelt thanks to you all!
I want to thank you for helping and supporting me to organise my father’s life from such a long distance. This arrangement allowed him to stay independent that bit longer than if he had been forced into a nursing home sooner. You have established an amazing organisation of volunteers and activities and we all owe you so much