Category: Good News Stories

By Rachel Cole, Projects Officer

Shaftesbury House is a RMBC sheltered housing complex close to Rotherham town centre. It is predominantly for people who are over the age of 50 or have a disability.

Back in May 2016 a couple of residents from Shaftesbury House contacted Rotherham Federation to see if we could help support them to start a group. We helped them write a constitution and open a bank account. The group started with three members and now three years on has over twenty members.

By Ian Huddleston, Community Organiser

Following on from listenings with the young people at JADE, the information back was that they wanted more sports activities to do.

I arranged to meet with David Robinson who has run fitness and boxing sessions previously at a gym, to see if he would like to get involved and run some sessions at JADE with the young people. David is from Dinnington, and all his family are from the area. He talked about the area when he was a child and the community spirit that seems to have been lost, and how he would love to get involved in putting something back into the community.

By Sarah Bingham, Community Organiser

Through listenings carried out in the first year of organising in Rawmarsh and Parkgate, I began to find out what was important to people living there, what issues were affecting them and what change they wanted to see where they lived. It became apparent that a lot of the residents I spoke to were passionate about the area’s green spaces and that there were concerns some of them were under threat, in particular, council-owned Green Hill in Parkgate.

By Louise Johnson, Employment Coach

A new client attended our job club on a Monday and said she has recently been let go from her job as a recruiter due to personal circumstance.

After a loss in her family, she was only allowed 5 days off work for bereavement and so went back to her job as a recruiter but couldn’t handle the pressure and stress she was under. It was a mutual decision between her and her employer to leave the job.

By Penny Thompson, Community Organiser

Following from the success of the Easter Extravaganza and recognising and confirming the skills capacity with the residents who hosted the event. The group has now decided to formalise themselves as a constituted group.

I have supported the group with skills audit, which allowed the group to reflect on their own individual and group skills, such as creative writing which can be utilised for promotional activities as well as writing donation letters to local organisations and companies. This will also be useful for when the group begins to apply for funding. I also recognised the group is very effective at strategical timelines so I have supported and encouraged the group to assess a timeline of the short, medium and long term objectives and how to measure the impacts of the type of activities they would like to deliver.

By Jess Clarke, Project Manager

As a community Organiser I worked in Canklow for 2 years, in this time I supported a team of community leaders and volunteers in forming the community group ‘Canklow Rainbow Kids Club’. In 2018 the group developed and became self sustainable and needed only minimal support from me.

Over the last year the group have found the need in Canklow to be extremely high but with little engagement from other community members. Because of this and personal circumstances /opposing ideas two group members left this group in order to form a new group which focuses on younger children and the older generation. This new group is called ‘Canklow Kidz’.

By Rachel Cole, Projects Officer

In 2017 we applied and received a grant from Coalfields Regeneration for £10,000. This grant was to be used for the Thurcroft residents who were over 50 years of age to promote health and welling being. Part of the grant was used to set up a Lucheon Club for the over 50’s. A part time worker was employed to set up this up and run it every Wednesday from 11am until 2pm. This was run over a ten-week period and was free of charge to the residents. Numbers started low but by the end of the ten-week period they had almost doubled.

By Jess Clarke, Project Manager

In October 2018 a local group was supported to form under the name of Swinburne Social Club.

They originally set out as a social club whom met weekly for a ‘cuppa and a chat’- every Tuesdays and Thursdays and from this they have been working on raising funds weekly, to go towards future activities.

By Dan Barron, Community Organiser

Sarah and I were preparing for a day of engaging with the community in Springwell. As we approach our first resident’s door, I was standing their waiting for the answer on my first day of training.

The resident opened the door and enthusiastically prompted us to come inside for a chat. This resident expressed her views on the estate and highlighted the history of her involvement in a previous project that saw £36 million transform Oak meadows flats into Springwell Gardens in 1994-1999 through the Single regeneration Budget 2. The next thing we know 3 hours have passed and we were hooked on the resident’s passion for her community.

By Sarah Bingham, Community Organiser

I met Rob whilst working with Green Hill volunteers on their Lantern Walk project in December 2018 through door knocking in the area. I found out from listening that he was passionate about the green space and the wildlife that lived there. When listening to Rob, I found out that he was over 6 months into a severe depressive episode brought on by personal circumstances.