Author: Laura

We first met this person many months ago at Shiloh homeless Drop-in session. Through the help of Shiloh and Rotherham Council, they secured accommodation. Through MOMGF (Making Our Money Go Further) they were referred to Citizens Advice who helped them with their benefits.

They seemed lonely, so we continued to engage with them regularly at Shiloh and provided information about money and community groups i.e., Government Cost of Living measures. We even went online with them to access Rotherham MBC’s Energy Crisis Support Scheme, from which they got £250 towards energy costs.

I met them again recently, at the social supermarket, where they are continued to be supported, and they were happy with their new accommodation and receiving tenancy support. They had always been keen gardeners and although their new accommodation did not have a garden, they were volunteering at a community allotment. They described the joy of picking and eating a ripe fruit straight from the tree.

It just shows that with the right support from different partner organisations, people can turn their life around and increase their sense of wellbeing.

The Keppel and Scholes Heritage group were formed during lockdown to help Chris from the museum with the restoration of Keppel’s Column.

Since its conception the has evolved and now encompasses the surrounding area that contains a Roman encampment, a rare ecological meadow and wet land and is home to rare daytime moths that the group spotted on their bug hunt and flora and fauna events earlier this year where they catalogued the species they found.

This month the group working with Clifton Park Museum the group helped to host the Keppel’s Column open day, this is the first time in around 50 years that the column has been open to the public. During the event members of the group led tours of six people up the column where they held a talk on the rich history of the site and landmarks that are visible from the top one of the members of the group also made a short documentary that visitors were invited to view.

On the run up to the event the group interview people around the area to get their memories of the column and these were incorporated into a land art installation where visitors were invited to listen to the interviews on mp3 players as they explored the different areas of the installation.

Looking to the future the group are looking at becoming part of the Rotherham Heritage Society, this is an umbrella group that showcases Rotherham’s many heritage projects through numerus events over the year the group are planning on using this platform as a means of promoting the group borough wide.

This was Joanne’s first coffee morning to organise for Rotherfed, just 5 weeks into the role. With a great team effort, she pulled it off! The event was well shared and was great that KC café and Mowbray Gardens Community library were happy to pop posters up and are happy to share any future events with posters being dropped off and/or emailed through to them.

Having received great feedback from those who attended including befriending recipients, people from different communities and professional colleagues who came along to find out more about what we are offering, share what they are doing and chat to all those who came alone. We had 38 people attend which was fantastic, Nic had to run out and get some more milk and cakes – which was brilliant.

The kids loved the activities, the shells and fossils went down well, it was nice they took some home with them.

Friends of Dalton, East Herringthorpe and Thrybergh Green Spaces are always on the look out for new volunteers and for people to attend the coffee morning that the group support.

Pam has attended the coffee morning with a view to engaging with the litter picks. She told us that it was something she was interested in as she likes to take pride in the area. The group at Warreners Drive quickly made Pam feel at home and she was laughing and joking with the group as though she had been attending for months.

Pam has now attended the Keep fit session that the coffee morning group engages and has joined in with a litter picking session. She told other volunteers that “it was just what she needed”, that she will now be attending the coffee morning on a regular basis and wants to visit the Re-Wilding project to see how she can help out there.

To know that a group that we support can have such a positive impact on just one individual really justifies all of our hard work.

Martin first encountered a person at a foodbank who was having difficulty with money issues and referred them into Citizens Advice. The referral was closed because Citizens Advice, despite three attempts, could not contact them. A few weeks later I saw the person, with their partner, at a social supermarket. They still had money issues but were mistrustful of ‘official’ organisations and feared they would lose their existing benefits.

I emphasised that Citizens Advice were an independent organisation with no connection to the DWP. I also stressed that any advice they gave would include an assessment of the effects of different benefits upon each other and the choice to apply for other benefits was entirely up to the clients. They agreed to another referral to Citizens Advice.

I heard the other day that they are absolutely delighted at the outcome of the referral. They are eligible for three extra benefits which do not affect their existing benefits.

It illustrates how trust building, awareness raising, and patience can have a dramatic positive effect on people’s lives.

I have been working with this group now since November 2020 when I took over supporting the North of the Borough.  This is a really pro-active group who have been running now for nearly 5 years and have 10 active members, they also have volunteers who help at events, with the planting of flowers around the village etc.  

On Thursday 18 August, the group held a ‘Out of Covid’ event at the Civic Hall. This event was funded through the COMF funding from RMBC. The event was held from 12pm until 3pm and over 50 local residents, including residents from local care homes, enjoyed a pie and pea lunch supplied by the Honey Pot Cafe, a few games of bingo, some fantastic singing from Chantelle and Chloe and Sarah played the violin for them. It was a lovely afternoon, and it was so nice to see people enjoying themselves singing and dancing, the residents said how much they had enjoyed it. John Healey MP attended the event and joined in with the signing. The group are holding another similar event on Thursday 1 September to make use of the remainder of their COMF funding which need to be spend by 31 August. I will also support at this event.

As well as holding monthly meetings, many different events, the group also holds regular litter picks around the village, at their latest litter pick this week, there were 12 volunteers and they collected 17 bags of rubbish. The group had a stall at the Swinton ‘Party in the Park’ on Sunday 29 August to raise some funds for the group. They are great group who I enjoy working with. 

Heart of The Community attended the Annual event Ferham Festival 2022 on 11^th August this month. The festival always draws in a big diverse crowd from the residents and this year was no exception. A welcomed change was this year the festival was also supporting South Asian culture as to support the south Asian heritage month. 

The Roadshow kicked off by setting up the stall ready for engaging with the community on a beautiful sunny day. The day started off slow but 30 minutes in and the festival was in full swing. It was an amazing day filled with cultural activities, colour, and good food.