Author: Laura

By Sharon Smith and Lynn Clarkson, Community Energy Advisors

I met with Sam at the Social Supermarket at Rotherham Minster. Sam had popped in for a warm, cup of tea and a chat. Sam confirmed that they looked after their partner who had suffered with back problems since they were 17 years old. They were both claiming benefits and Sam confirmed that they were worried about the energy crisis and frightened to use their energy to warm the home. Sam struggled to read and write and suffered angina and diabetes.  Sam’s partner felt the cold in the home exasperated the difficulties they had with pain in their back. I asked Sam if they had any draughts in the home and Sam confirmed that the door and windows did let a draught through.  I therefore mentioned the Green Doctor services and the client was more than happy to be referred for contact by them.  Sam confirmed that they were happy that they were claiming all benefits entitled to them.  I mentioned Rotherham Borough Council Energy Crisis Support Scheme and the client had not heard of this before. Sam confirmed that they had £91 per month left out of their benefits when all necessary bills and essential items had been paid for. I offered to submit a form online to the council for the client for a call back and Sam was delighted for me to do this. The client was happy with the winter warm pack I gave them and said all the items would be very useful. The client confirmed that they were glad they had popped into Rotherham Minster as they were made to feel welcome, listened to and part of the community. Sam thanked Rotherfed for all the information and assistance and was more than happy for me to call them in two to three weeks for an update of their circumstances.

By Martin O’Donoghue, Julie Fletcher and Neelam Rhuksar, Making Our Money Go Further Project Workers

K came to the fair with her partner. Not seeking any particular support and probably feeling a little lost, K just by chance, came to the Making Our Money Go Further (MOMGF) table, we began to chat, and K was quite open about how she was feeling, what was happening in her life, at one point K did get little tearful. On the day she felt very alone, low in mood and isolated with her situation.

K and her partner had been in full time work, but due to a recent illness her partner is unable to return to work. Over the past months K’s partner has been diagnosed with an illness that makes it difficult for him to work. (This is life changing, in itself and brings about many worries). K has been on maternity leave but is not able to go back to work.

Their family’s lives have completely changed. A lot of this is out of the control of K and the future looks bleak, for her and her family. They do not know how they will manage financially.

After having a conversation with K, which involved explaining about MOMFG and passing information on, we discovered that she lived near a library that holds a coffee morning and an open arms event, K did say “if she felt strong enough to come along one morning she would.” 

We directed her to the next stall, who could extend the support she needed. (Cortonwood Comeback Centre).

K won the slow cooker on the day of the event, so we invited her to come along to Greasbrough to the open arms on Thursday 9th March 2023.

K came along and this is what she told us –

“Cortonwood Comeback, have helped. My situation has changed in just a short time, and MOMGF you have helped me so much you have encouraged me to reach out and access other services”
“I am Having hot meals at the centre. “ 
“Been out my own, I Feel more confident, and I am Ready to join in more groups”.
“I Would like to join a make do and mend group or upcycling group”.

By Martin O’Donoghue, Julie Fletcher and Neelam Rhuksar, Making Our Money Go Further Project Workers

Maltby Joint Service Centre is a fantastic community hub that already supports residents with their health, fitness, and wellbeing. Facilities within the centre include the Library, leisure centre, Manor Fields Doctors, Pharmacy and additional NHS referral services.

On Saturday 18 February, Ward Councillors from both Maltby East Ward and Hellaby and Maltby West Ward invited local community organisations to support residents’ wellbeing.

Residents were able to gain advice around the cost-of-living, household budgeting, information on local activities and social group meetings, home security and support from Rotherham Council Employment Solution Team.

Rotherham Federation of Communities (Rotherfed) attended, who offer a free service to Rotherham residents who need advice, support and guidance regarding their personal finances. Rotherfed has supported Maltby Foodbank, as well as groups and individuals within the Maltby and Hellaby area for many years. You can follow this link to view their Maltby and Hellaby, Making Our Money Go Further, Facebook page.

At the event, Rotherfed gave advice ranging from good shopping practice to helping people understand and reduce energy costs. You can find out more information on their dedicated Energy Know How, website page.

By Martin O’Donoghue, Julie Fletcher and Neelam Rhuksar, Making Our Money Go Further Project Workers

After attending the parents evening and talking to families we received this email from someone we had engaged with:

Good morning,
I don’t know if you remember me from when you came to the parents’ evening at Greasbrough School, and I took some recipes and said I would give you a review. So as promised I have sent you some photos of the slow cooker doner kebab, here is what we thought:
I cooked slow cooker doner kebab throughout the week for myself and my family. This was really low cost and tasted amazing. We love a kebab from a takeaway, but this was by far much tastier and much healthier which was a bonus. We will definitely be having this again, thank you for the recipe.

By Rob Gooding, Community Organiser

Wishing Well Gardens is a small group that formed around six months ago with a focus on improving the green spaces around their community centre, based at the Lings community centre. The group have already started to make a huge difference to the area, supported by Rotherham Council and funded by the Ward Housing Hubs, the group have transformed the area around the community centre to create a beautiful garden area.

The group supported by housing staff arranged for community caretakers to remove the self-set bushes from the area giving them the blank canvas they needed to start their first project. After a successful bid to the ward housing hubs for the tools and plants they needed the project began to pick up pace and was recently finished. I believe this project demonstrates how the ward housing hubs working with residents and staff can really make a difference to local areas.

The group are eager to start the next part of their project, this is going to be a community allotment plot close to the centre where they plan to use gardening as a means to improve residents physical and mental health by growing fresh fruit and veg that all residents can access as they need with any surplus being donated to a local food bank.

By Sharon Smith and Lynn Clarkson, Community Energy Advisors

We met a group of ladies at the Salvation Army Kimberworth Playgroup, who were happy to engage in conversation with regards to budgeting, money and saving money.

They shared amongst themselve some idea to save money,

“We share mealtimes at each other’s homes”.

“Help each other save money”.

“Save clothing to pass on to younger children”.

“Food share / bulk buying food”.

These ladies have a strong friendship that brings out the best in each other and just a small amount of change can be positive. They have found themselves in situations where support is needed but have helped each other.

Moving forward they said would they like to start growing their own vegetables and pass all the good ideas on to others.

Upon reflecting on the morning and the feedback from the ladies, they expressed a desire that they would like to do more and that they were quite focussed and strong willed.

We will support them to move forward and keep this good story going, we will also have regularly updates over the coming months.       

By Rob Gooding, Community Organiser

Swinburne social club have been running regular Sunday lunches and breakfast clubs for almost a year now, these are the perfect place to interact and meet new friends in a relaxed environment. The group deliver lunches to members that can attend the sessions in person.

In January it looked like the group may need to suspend these sessions, as their food hygiene certificates were due to run out and they were unsure of where they could source and pay for this training. This was distressing for members as for a lot of them these are the only social interactions they have during the week. Determined not to let these sessions stop the group reached out to us for help with training to enable the sessions to restart. I’m pleased to report that two members of the group have now been trained to level two in Food Hygiene and after only three weeks of the sessions being stopped that they restarted on the 28^th February. The group are now looking into doing a Fire Marshall course so they can hold their second South African themed BBQ event, this was an extremely successful event last time they held it.