By Dan Barron, Community Organiser
Dan had worked with Andrea Mason Vardy (RMBC) on creating a promotion day for the Bin Amnesty happening in Ferham to gather information from residents about their bins and when they needed to put them onto the street.
On the day we all met outside the Ferham community space, and the team consisted of staff and volunteers from Rotherfed, RMBC, Clifton Learning Partnership, Ferham Community Group as well as being supported by Cllr Ben Aveyard. Armed with translated leaflets, pen and paper we went into Ferham for a bin Door knock to listen and engage with residents.
The door knock on the day was supported by the Ferham community group and services to speak to residents about the bin amnesty day and gather information of residents who needed new bins. Through heavy rain and then blistering sunshine our group of volunteers managed to knock on over 700 doors. Listening to residents we had found that Bins had been stolen and they didn’t know how to replace the bins as a moderate proportion of residents don’t speak English. Olina from the Clifton Learning Partnership had volunteered her time to help us communicate with residents living in Ferham from the Eastern European communities. Without Olina we wouldn’t have been able to communicate with residents about waste disposal and receiving new bins. She was fantastic and gave a great insight into the community. As a result of door knock, we managed to engage with 93 members of the Ferham community with 154 bins listed to be given to services to distribute.
The Ferham community group also wanted to support the Bin Amnesty Day with a litter pick and to report any fly tipping. The litter pick took place over 2 hours we managed to clean up 8 bags of litter from road in very hot weather. The group were enthusiastic through the pick and in all was a good atmosphere on a very sunny day. Kadeer the acting chair of the group was litter pick and speaking to residents about the Ferham group and what they are trying to achieve. One resident was so pleased to see that a group was out litter picking his street and to have a conversation with people. So Kadeer had invited him to the group on Facebook and some general chatter. Overall, the litter pick was very positive. Both days were fantastic from RMBC services organising the bin amnesty day, to the services and volunteers who came together to door knock and litter pick the Ferham. It was a good display of community, voluntary service and publics services working together to make a difference. It was a pleasure to support the project!
