Author: Laura

Women of the World Rotherham

Laura/ / Good News Stories

By Sharon Smith, Community Energy Advisor

Led by Founder Jude Kelly, WOW Festivals are the world’s most comprehensive festivals celebrating women, girls and non-binary people. Launched in 2010, WOW Festivals have now taken place in more than 30 locations in six continents, reaching more than three million people to date. WOW Rotherham was on the 16th and the 17th of July. The two-day festival was to celebrate community, culture, and entrepreneurialism with artists local, national, and international taking part in the event, the first of its kind for the town.

One of the panels that takes place at every WOW festival is ‘Urgent Conversation’. WOW Global describe this as ‘Every day, it feels like we wake up to something new to respond to, a new urgent conversation to have, a new set of injustices to carry and solutions to come up with together. With the news agenda and world events changing at such rapid speed, WOW has reserved this panel to respond to the most up to date and recent happenings that affect us, gender equality and societies around the world.’

WOW Rotherham’s Urgent Conversation was around the cost-of-living crisis. Chaired by Jude Kelly the panel included myself, Noor Salih from Energy Know How Rotherfed, Becca Stacey who is the Senior Research Officer for Money and Mental Health Policy institute and GP Hannah Barham-Brown. The panel discussed about how where you live can impact your mental health and how GPs do not have enough time to really get to know the issues that the patients have and the importance of social prescribing. The discussion was also around the energy market crisis.

There was a real buzz from the audience during Q&As, they had no knowledge of Priority Service Register or Warm Home Discount. 95% of the audience said they didn’t understand what was happening in relation to the price rises and what cost of living payments they were entitled to.

The audience was taken aback by the cost of running a prepayment meter and the importance of having a conversation with your energy provider about moving onto a tariff instead of moving energy providers. One of the audience members talked about their daughter becoming a mother and moving into her first rental property with a prepayment meter. The daughter wasn’t aware she could have it changed to a standard meter to save some money.

The audience was mostly women with just 2 men in the audience, the entire audience were parents and were not familiar about how much money they could save by making small behaviour changes in their household. More than half of the audience weren’t aware of how to access their meters to read them to ensure accurate billing.

By the end of the panel the participants were aware of:

  • Priority service register
  • Warm Home Discount
  • How to access and read their meters
  • Cost of living payments and eligibility
  • Simple energy saving tips
  • Services offered by Social Prescribers
  • What is happening in the energy market

Wickersley and Bramley Neighbourhood Watch

Laura/ / In Your Community

The Wickersley and Bramley Neighbourhood Watch have been a group for around 20 years established under the old Neighbourhood watch system and later changed to the Our Watch system, this sends alerts to all members of the watch instantly,

The group first contacted RotherFed due to dwindling membership over the last few years, the group wanted support in attracting new members and creating a new online Facebook presence in the hopes that this will entice new members from the local area. After the first meeting the group recruited a new member that would take the lead on social media, this has been a huge success attracting over 100 members to the page, the group regularly post updates on crime in the area as well as scam alerts and other useful information for community.

The group decided that to attract more new members they would need to work closer with partner agencies, to achieve this they have started working closely with both parish and RMBC councillor’s, the local PCSO’s and Neighbourhood officers getting their events and information posted in the ward bulletins, parish newsletter and even on the police alerts making the group known to more of the community.

The group didn’t want to stop there, they decided to start visiting established events in the area to promote the group even more, they have recently held their first drop in session at the Bill Chafer centre in Bramley, unfortunately this wasn’t as successful as the group would have liked but they enjoyed the experience and made new connections in the community, they are now planning on holding a monthly session there and hope that interest will grow over the next months.

Looking to the future the group would like to become RotherFed members and start applying for funding to further promote the group and make visible changes to the area, they would like to make some crime prevention goodie bags they can give away to new members containing items like shed alarms and tv simulators.

Dawsons Croft

Laura/ / Good News Stories, In Your Community

By Neelam Rhuksar, Activities Coordinator

Rob Mellors, a man who has suffered 3 strokes in Dawsons Croft thought his life was over. He rarely met anyone and had absolute no social life.  He was often depressed and really suffered mentally as well as physically trying to manage the aftermath of his strokes.  When another resident mentioned to me how much Rob loved the coffee afternoons, I didn’t realise how much exactly. The coffee afternoons have changed his life.  When I was having discussions with the residents as to how often they thought they can genuinely commit to the coffee afternoons. Some said bi-weekly, a couple mentioned monthly, and Rob was amongst the ones that said he wanted them weekly. He now has social interaction at least once a week at the coffee afternoons if not more as a result of the coffee afternoons. Once he was going to miss a coffee afternoon due to feeling down but then came and said he would never miss one. His mental health nurse has said he has improved in leaps and bounds and the major reason for it is the coffee afternoons.  His health is also getting better because other people in the group are looking out for him. He is now being loved within his community and feels cared for. A specific resident knocks on every day to check in on him. Tuesday is essential for him. If it stopped, his health would go downhill.  This is the outcome of the difference the coffee afternoons have made to this individuals life. The residents involved in the coffee sessions have started to form stronger bonds and it’s started to feel a bit like a big family. Rob also won bingo 3 times in a row on the pyjama bingo night.  The group also organised a day out to Wentworth Gardens which Rob went too. This was the first time he went out in a long time to socialise.

Friendship Calls Participant – Sandra

Laura/ / Friendship Calls

Sandra has only been receiving the befriending phone calls for a few weeks, she has had lots of bereavements in the last few years. She has lost her parents and all of her siblings. Sandra had a heart attack in 2021 and other serious health issues. She said she was in a dark place because of how lonely she felt, and how she felt like she had no-one to talk to.

She now receives the befriending phone calls once a fortnight and looks forward to them immensely, she has recently really connected with one of our volunteers and the volunteer has said how much of a darling Sandra is and how much she looks forward to the calls as they both benefit from having someone to talk to. Both Sandra and the volunteer enjoy having the calls with each other as they have a lot in common.

She stays in bed most of the day as she feels tired all the time and doesn’t really like going out. She does like to sit in the garden from time to time, she speaks fondly about her family and her siblings. Sandra feels that the dark cloud has gone, and the sun is shining through! all thanks to a simple phone call.

Friendship Calls Participant – Martha

Laura/ / Friendship Calls

Our volunteer Fiona spoke to Martha today a week after she was referred to Karen from RotherFed’s Making Our Money Go Further Project. Martha was over the moon with all the help Rotherfed had been able to offer her. Last week she was referred to MOMGF after she disclosed during a friendship call that she was really worried about her finances and the rising cost of living. She was in a real anxious state. Karen called her promptly and was able to offer some help and also referred her on to Citizens Advice who have helped to get her money situation under control, this was all done in just 3 days. She is now due a large council tax rebate and her gas and electric bills have been lowered.

When Fiona rang her today, she informed me of everything that Karen and Anne from citizen’s advice have done for her, she was so happy with everything we have done to help her, she said a huge weight has been lifted off her shoulders and she’s now in a position where she isn’t scared of using her gas and electric anymore. She stated that the volunteer was a “god send” and couldn’t imagine where she would have turned if it wasn’t for the calls.

She said, “if my knees and elbows were up to it I would be doing cartwheels up and down the street”.

Our volunteer reported that Martha spent over half an hour on the phone singing everyone’s praises saying if our volunteer hadn’t suggested referring her to the Money Management team then she would be in an awful situation with her money and wondering how she would make ends meet. Now she feels secure in the knowledge that she is in a much better place with her money and isn’t scared of what the future holds.

Volunteer Walk with Voluntary Action Rotherham

Laura/ / Good News Stories, In Your Community

The Volunteer Walk is an annual celebration of Rotherham’s Volunteering community hosted by Voluntary Action Rotherham. This year Heart of the Community was asked to support the event.

The event was to be a combination of hearing from speakers sharing their stories of how and why they give up their time for volunteering, followed by a walk through the town centre being led by the African Drummers. Refreshments were available for all taking part at the end of the walk.

On the day of the VAR volunteer walk we arrived at 10am to begin setting up the event as well as our own Heart of the Community stand. We themed our stall a with Luau vibe and gave a flower garland to everyone who filled out our Little Acts of Kindness pledge cards. The Luau theme stall and garlands was a big hit amongst everyone who attended, we collected 50 pledge cards, even the mayor of Rotherham himself wore a garland and shared his own little act of kindness.

The African Drummers led the crowd through the streets of central Rotherham. Shoppers, shop owners, business leaders all came out to applaud the group which added a massive sense of pride for those taking part.

We really enjoyed this event and understand how important it is recognizing the importance of volunteers working within our sector. Personally, we received some great partner feedback from Voluntary Action Rotherham. “It was a great day. Sam and Dan were awesome! I really appreciated their help from start to finish. Absolutely brill… “

We both hope to be involved in the Volunteer Walk over the remaining years of our project.

Warreners Drive Residents

Laura/ / Good News Stories, In Your Community

By Dan Barron, Project Worker

Sam and I first met the residents of Warreners drive in February to introduce the Heart of the Community (HotC) project on a night meeting. Back then the residents were forming to become a constituted community entity named the UNIT group. Unfortunately, some of the community leaders were unhappy about the guidelines they would have to operate in, and the group stalled in progress.

A few weeks later residents were engaging with the flowering arranging sessions arranged by Neelam. Meanwhile the coffee morning was running on alternative sessions that were supported by HotC and HRA. Residents were loving the flower arranging sessions and the coffee mornings were only seeing small number of members attend. Nicola Jackson from the Friends of Dalton East Herringthorpe and Thrybergh greenspaces group had been speaking with the group for since 2021. She suggested the residents receive support from the DEHT umbrella, so they did not have to become a community group themselves due to the lack of residents wanting to lead. Since then, Nicola has attended most coffee mornings and the now have reached a peak attendance of 15 not including partners. The group are in high spirits and have really created amazing relationships. Every week we are seeing the group sitting in a circle nattering away and creating a positive social atmosphere.

The residents hosted their first community event which was a celebration of the Queens jubilee on the 3rd of June. Residents collaborated with us to plan the event. The residents and RotherFed decorated the centre from funding that Nicola Jackson has applied for and successfully achieved through RMBCs jubilee grant herself. The Jubilee was attended by a mixture of immediate residents to the centre and some from further away. A total of 44 people attended the event in total which was fantastic for their first event. Residents organising the event all took responsibilities on the day and delegated that amongst themselves.

The resident’s confidence has grown through consistent support from RotherFed over the last few months. They are regularly attending fitness sessions, have taken part in some digital support sessions, and are currently undertaking food hygiene level 2 training of which 4 have already passed out of the 8 residents taking part. Overall, the change in community activity and the residents has been amazing and we hope to continue to support a fantastic group.

Friendship Calls – Volunteers

Laura/ / Friendship Calls

Friendship calls continues to be in demand, 23 new referrals in June took our total referrals to 657. Out of the 657, 268 are council tenants. Our amazing volunteers, 36 of them at present with a further 7 pending, currently make calls to 168 active recipients and we continue to receive such positive feedback.

In the month of June 515 calls were made taking the total calls over the project to 11,714.

Calls are made to lonely and isolated residents in the Rotherham Borough, we receive referrals from many different professionals, including, RMBC, Social Prescribing, RDaSH, South Yorkshire Police & Red Cross. We welcome referrals from all sectors, self-referrals and family and friends can also refer in. The individuals on the project come from all different backgrounds, different ages, different races, and all genders. Subject to assessment we take adults over the age of 18 who, for whatever reason find themself isolated. Isolation doesn’t necessary mean living alone, some of our recipients have young children and no other adult company, others have a house full but for personal reasons need the friendship calls to help them combat the loneliness they feel. Partnership working with Rotherfed projects such as Energy Know How and Making Our Money Go Further, ensures that recipients can access the services to get them the help and advise they need. Close links with the social prescribing teams continues, this is a fantastic timely intervention which from time to time enables us to get the right support, including medical support. The project/service we offer is called ‘Friendship Calls’ and 90% of the time this is the case, but as ever our volunteers and staff team will always help and assist often going the extra mile to help the recipients.

Volunteers are a major part of our project, without them we simply do not have a service, all volunteers follow an induction and have access to further training to benefit both the project and their own personal development. This month 5 of our amazing friendship call volunteers joined us for Voluntary Action Rotherham’s Volunteer Walk, which is a celebration of volunteering in Rotherham. As a thank you we meet up for breakfast prior to the event and had a lovely get together.

“I have to say I’m really proud to volunteer with Rotherfed, it’s a great organisation.”

Volunteer Walk

Laura/ / Good News Stories, In Your Community

By Nicola Evans, Volunteers Coordinator

Five of our befriending volunteers joined me, Ffion, Yasmeen and Rob on the annual volunteer walk in Rotherham, this was the first one in 2 years following covid. It was arranged by Voluntary Action Rotherham and supported by Dan and Sam from RotherFed’s Heart of the Community Project. It was an amazing celebration of volunteering across the Rotherham borough. We were proud to represent Rotherham Federation and had many positive conversations with other organisations and their volunteers.

One of the volunteers said “thank you so much for all the efforts you and the RotherFed team put into everything to make what you do a success; you really do go above and beyond. I am truly thankful to have found and taken the opportunity to be a part of it all. You always thank us for what we do but without your guidance and support I certainly couldn’t have done the role, you built me up and really helped me to develop confidence, I have grown as a person and gain so much personally from volunteering you are an inspiration.”

Hiltop School and Bevan Crescent

Laura/ / Good News Stories, In Your Community

Following discussions with Hilltop School a young lady was identified who was interested in doing some community volunteer work. The young lady is due to leave school in July to go to Doncaster College in September, she has done some basic volunteering and is wanting to do something on her days off from college. Kirsty has down syndrome. It was agreed that Kirsty and her tutors would be introduced to a community group based at Bevan Crescent Neighbourhood Centre, having spoken to the residents in advance we arranged a visit. On the day Kirsty was joined by her tutors plus 2 other pupils. To be honest nobody knew how this visit was going to pan out, each of the girls has different needs and all find communication a challenge especially in new surroundings. What can I say though! from walking in the door the residents were so accommodating, instantly making the girls feel at ease, offering homemade cake was a deal breaker. It was obvious that they were nervous but as anxieties eased the girls relaxed, one of the tutors stated how amazing it was to see the interactions happening so quick and how nice it was to see the girls having two-way conversations with a variety of residents. The residents who are aged between early 50s to late 90s were in their element, Keith who is instrumental in the group even took the girls outside to see the garden and the things they were growing, with patience and a big smile he spoke to the girls, the girls responded by asking questions, again the tutors were amazed and one even had a tear in her eyes she said she had never seen anything so remarkable. As Kirsty and the girls made their plans to leave there was talk of a team from Hilltop versus the residents at indoor curling which really excited all involved. Kirsty is considering her options and we hope this is the start of something amazing for all.

The tutor commented, “The group were very warm and couldn’t do enough to make our students feel at ease. We felt incredibly welcome. It gave our students opportunity to practice their communication skills. Long term there are lots of opportunities for our students to develop their life skills and confidence.”