Category: Tenant Involvement

By Rob Gooding and Rachel Cole, the Tenant Involvement team

RotherFed have supported Rotherham Deaf Futures for over 10 years now.  They meet at Springwell Gardens Community Centre every Friday where they get together for social purposes as well as having an interpreter present who helps with day-to-day issues and their correspondence.  Being profoundly deaf, this community struggles with daily issues and they are very isolated, which is why this group and the support we offer is very important to them. RotherFed have secured funding for the group to enable this to happen.

We now hold regular engagement session with the group, once every 6 weeks and at the last session RotherFed staff identified a housing issue faced by one of their members. The member, a longstanding participant in the Rotherham Deaf Futures group, was experiencing significant challenges in obtaining repairs to their home which were required immediately. This situation was exacerbated by a range of health conditions, that necessitated a warm living environment.

Recognizing the urgency of the matter, RotherFed staff immediately liaised with the local ward councillors to get the resident the help and support they needed with the repair process. This approach ensured that the tenants housing needs were met promptly.

In addition to addressing the immediate repair requirements, RotherFed and Its partners explored opportunities to enhance the property’s energy efficiency. By collaborating with RotherFed’s Energy Project, we arranged for The Green Doctors, to conduct a thorough assessment of the property. The aims of this assessment were to identify potential upgrades and recommended cost-effective solutions to reduce energy consumption and lower utility bills, this could be simple things like installing LED light bulbs and radiator tinfoil’s, thereby improving the member’s overall quality of life.

We will continue to support the group as and when required/needed.

By Rachel Cole and Rob Gooding, The Tenant Involvement team

As part of our new contract with RMBC, RotherFed must deliver two pop-up events across the brough.  Our first one was held on the Fitzwilliam Estate in Swinton, and this was a huge success.  We thought of the White Bear Estate at Wath for our second one and after agreement from RMBC staff we started to plan this.  The White Bear Estate is a disengaged area where we have struggled to get residents involved, despite many years of trying! FLUX have recently been putting some activities on the estate which residents have become involved with and have enjoyed.

Prior to the event we produced and delivered over 250 leaflets around the estate as well as promoting it on social media platforms.

Our event took place on Wednesday 28 August from 12pm until 4pm and luckily the sun was shining.  DB Entertainment brought a bouncy castle and slide and provided free hot dogs for the children to enjoy.  Early Years Help attended with activities along with our Energy Know How Stall and Tenant Involvement.  The face painter was kept extremely busy over the 4 hours, painting lots of different faces.  It was a great event with a fabulous turnout.  We had approximately 250 people attend the event, with around 60% being children and the rest parents or guardians.  90% of residents attending were council tenants.  We signed 12 residents up to the Connectors Pool who expressed an interest in becoming involved in council’s services/meetings.  We also spoke to 3 residents who are very interested in forming a TARA on the estate, which is amazing news.  Rachel will organise a meeting with these tenants very soon and move things forward.  RMBC Housing and Neighbourhoods staff also supported on the day.  It was a great day and hopefully the start more activities to happen on this estate.

An update from the Energy Know How team – one of the attendees who spoke with the energy team whilst at the event has been awarded 6 x prepayment vouchers worth a total of £294.00 because of their application to the Centre for Sustainable energy.

Quotes from a couple of residents.

“It’s so nice to see the field full of activity and children enjoying themselves”.

“Would like to see activities like this happen more often on this estate, it been a lovely day”.

By Rob Gooding and Rachel Cole, the Tenant Involvement team

Lots of good work continues on this estate with lots more planned.  At the end of July two community skips were held on the estate, and these were both filled within a couple of hours.  The caretakers helped with this by collecting large bulky items from residents’ home.  An additional skip maybe held later in the year. On Monday 19 August we held a community litter pick on the field off Calladine Way ready for an activity day the following day, we then continued to pick litter from around the estate. It was nice to see that the estate had been kept in a reasonable tidy condition. Rachel organised with Wayne Munroe Smith to get the equipment required, he also arranged to have the rubbish we collected picked up.

The following day FLUX provided arts and crafts on the green space opposite the shops along with parkour for the children to enjoy.  The libraries also attended, and children sat and read/listened to stories.  It was a lovely afternoon; the sun was shining, and everyone enjoyed themselves. 

Also, for the first time in a long time this year the residents enjoyed a coach trip to Cleethorpes in August.  This was organised and subsidised through the TARA on the estate.  The TARA had raised funds through tombola’s etc which when towards the cost of the coach making it more affordable for residents to attend.  Residents of all ages had a lovely day and asked if they could sort another day trip out soon!  As the TARA progresses it is hoped they can investigate funding towards this and other activities/trips.

A drop-in event for tenants for RMBC Housing Services and partners i.e. Mears, Equans etc is to be organised for later this year as well as a Halloween event in the October half term holidays.

By Rob Gooding and Rachel Cole, the Tenant Involvement team

The Kimberworth Park Over 50s Community Group, has been a vital social hub for many local people for over 10 years now. The group offers bingo, a brick a brac sales and daytrips to over 50 members a week, many of whom don’t get out other than to the group sessions. This has nurtured long lasting friendships throughout the community between both younger and older members.

RotherFed staff have stepped in to support the Kimberworth Park Over 50s Community Group after the unexpected closure of their regular meeting place, The Black Hut. The group’s usual venue was shut down which sent a shockwave through the community, leaving the groups’ members without a venue to get together. RotherFed staff were quick to respond to the groups needs by offering support and advice when the group needed it the most. Although the group had to close for a week, I am happy to report that the group have now reopened and are continuing to enjoy each other’s company and their usual activities.

The group has relocated to a new home at St Thomas’ Church, Kimberworth.  Although they have had to change the day the group meets, they have worked tirelessly to ensure that their members can maintain their social connections in the new venue, hopefully for many years to come. This demonstrates the groups resilience and the importance of the support that is offered to the community groups of Rotherham.  We will continue to support this group lightly, should they require any further help/advice.

By Rachel Cole and Rob Gooding, The Tenant Involvement team

Rob first met Jordan at Talk n Train; Jordan is an active member of this group. Talk n Train is a boxing group who meet at Millennium Boxing in Rotherham. The aim of the group is to support the local community through their emotional and physical wellbeing. They have a team of highly qualified coaches and volunteers who offer free training, coaching, one to one support and peer support groups where members can share the offload without judgement. The group has been supported by RotherFed for the past three years now. Jordan has thrived and become a key member of the group, helping deliver sessions and supporting members as well as his local community.

Rob spoke to Jordan about RotherFed, its services and the involved they have with RMBC. As Jordan is a council tenant, he expressed an interest in becoming involved in council services.

Jordan first attended the Housing Involvement Panel (HIP) a few months ago now, bringing with him a strong passion for making positive changes for tenants, particularly younger tenants not just in his area but across Rotherham as a whole.

Jordan’s first involvement in the HIP meetings was to showcase the amazing work of Talk n Train in the Rotherham area. With the support from RotherFed staff, the group produced a video interview which was presented at the HIP meeting, in the section dedicated to highlighting one Rotherham’s wealth of community groups. Jordan attended this meeting in person to answer any questions afterwards, marking the beginning of his commitment to the panel. From attending that initial meeting, Jordan knew he wanted to deepen his involvement and contribute significantly to the panel’s efforts in making a difference to council services for everybody in Rotherham.

As well as attending the HIP meetings, Jordan is keen to get involved with our volunteer get-togethers where he can learn and gain experience from other volunteers and in time will then be able to pass on his own skills to new volunteers.

It is great to have Jordan onboard and be involved, especially as he is a younger council tenant and has different ideas/views. We will continue to support Jordan where needed.

By Rachel Cole, the Tenant Involvement team

Leverton Way TARA has been running now for just over 6 years and Rachel has worked with this group since just before Covid started.  Peter Keyworth, who is the Chair, started the TARA up with another local resident just over 6 years ago and the group has continued to grow and go from strength to strength.  The group holds a breakfast morning every Tuesday and they have fish & chips delivered to the Centre every Friday lunchtime.  Also, recently they have started to hold a lunch club once a month where Pete Whitehead, who is the Treasurer, cooks a hot meal for everyone.  We have recently supported the group to get their food hygiene certificate and register their premises.  The group has been a great success in bringing the residents and community together and to enjoy each other’s company.  The residents also use the Centre to play pool and darts, and some just pop in to watch a bit of TV together.

The group received £500 refunding recently from RMBC and this month the group organised and held an afternoon at the Centre where all residents were welcome to come along and join them.  Leaflets were delivered to every resident around the neighbourhood centre advertising the event. There was a free buffet and raffle and a singer so residents could have a singalong and dance too!  The following day they all enjoyed a barge trip along the canal from Swinton Lock. 

This is a great group who want to make a difference in their local community whilst using their neighbourhood centre. Even during lockdown, the TARA made sure that those who were shielding in his community didn’t miss out on their fish & chip lunch by delivering it straight to their door.  Residents would phone or stop Peter whilst he was out walking his dog to place their orders which he then collected from the local fish & chip shop and delivered to their homes.  Peter said he didn’t want people to miss out on a Friday favourite just because they couldn’t go out.