Category: In Your Community

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.

By Vicky Hilton, Community Organiser

I was invited to attend the first planning meeting at St Pauls, with the church and members of the local community. This meeting had been called by the church to help support identified issues within the communities – food and family poverty.