News

By Sharon Smith and Madiya Shokat

Mrs W attended a Multiply engagement session run. At the session all the attendees were offered the opportunity to have an energy call from one of the team and Mrs W accepted this offer.

A call was made, and she explained her circumstances briefly. She lives with her grown up granddaughter in a privately rented property that has 2 bedrooms. Mrs W has issues with her heart and has breathing difficulties, she also suffers from asthma which is worse when it is cold and damp.

She uses smart prepayment meters provided by Utilita; she mainly tops up online but does have cards to enable her to top up at a local shop should her internet be unavailable. She has a small amount of arrears on her meters (@ £50) which has accumulated by using the ‘power up’ system offered by this company. This scheme allows you to request top up when running low and the cost is added to the meter and collected in weekly instalments from future top ups.

Mrs W said she does worry about her energy bills and struggles on occasion to keep up with her top ups.

We discussed ways to be more energy efficient including closing doors to rooms that are not used, drying washing whenever possible outside etc.

Mrs W was informed about the energy crisis grants currently being offered by Rotherham council and encouraged to apply as soon as possible as we are unsure how long the scheme will remain available.

We also offered to refer her to for some free top-up vouchers, she was made aware this requires her to provide photo or download of a recent bank statement showing her name and address, opening and closing balance which she confirmed she was happy to provide to me.

Mrs W was also offered a visit from the greendoctor scheme to look at minor draught proofing work in her property, installation of radiator foils and led lightbulbs where possible. She was very happy to accept this offer as it will help to make her home more efficient and help her top-ups to last a little longer.

Mrs W was very appreciative of the information and referrals that we had discussed.

By Janet Malsch and Lee Lazenby, The Open Arms Team

At an Open Arms session we had a visitor, whose first language was not English, who had found herself in a precarious situation. With her husband hospitalised for long-term medical treatment, she became the sole breadwinner for her family. However, the burden proved overwhelming, leading the family into a spiral of debt that culminated in a court order. The imminent arrival of debt collectors added further stress to an already dire situation.

Navigating the complexities of paperwork and legal proceedings proved challenging for the client, compounded by language barriers. Recognizing the urgency of her situation, our dedicated Citizen Advice team sprang into action. They swiftly connected with their debt team and arranged for the client to be seen on the same day, providing her with the support and guidance she urgently needed.

Understanding the importance of effective communication, Citizens Advice offers free translation services to ensure that language barriers do not hinder access to crucial assistance. With the assistance of a translator, the client was able to fully comprehend her options and navigate the intricate legal processes with confidence.

The outcome was nothing short of remarkable. Through the collaborative efforts of Open Arms and the invaluable support of Citizen Advice, the client was empowered to address her family’s financial crisis head-on.

By Dan Barron and Sam Dixon, The Heart of the Community Team

The summer events have officially started this year and the Heart of the Community team have spoken to over 1000 of Rotherham’s residents at community events. The team have been asking you how you support others throughout your day. Although most people don’t shout it from the rooftops that you’ve helped someone, we’re here to show that residents in Rotherham look after each other. Some of our work also looked at how residents feel about the community they live in. The team attended summer fayres and Pride 2024 throughout June. Lots of people took the time to speak with us about how they’re supporting someone on some way.

“(I) Support a friend in addiction”

“I helped a person get back onto their feet when they was down”

“I made someone happy when they were upset”

“I helped someone when they were lonely”

“Helped people to learn to horse ride in my spare time”

“Helped my mum when she was down”

Some residents are supporting their neighbour or family with small acts of being there for support when times aren’t so good, some support others to learn new skills and hobbies. You spoke to us about many different acts of kindness. Some acts of kindness came with personal journeys of supporting a friend or family member through addiction and a personal sacrifice on behalf of another person to support them when they need it the most.

Some of the children made their little act of kindness something really simple by helping a friend with their work, when they’re sad or they’re there for someone they don’t know in a moment, people supporting each other makes a positive impact to someone.

HotC put together a presentation to speak to students at one of the local comprehensive schools. The school want to help their young people recognise the impact they offer their communities already, and the impact of positive action whether small or large. The presentation created an opportunity for the young people to think about and share their ideas about how they personally impact their own communities as well as giving an opportunity for workers to talk about the voluntary sector and the advantages the experience will have for future prospects.

The young people we spoke returned 148 pledge cards, detailing their little acts of kindness.

“If I see anybody on the streets, go into the closest shop and buy them food, in hope that they won’t sleep hungry for that night and other may copy this kind act.”

“Help the elderly in care homes. Eg, making cups of or having a conversation with them”

“Start working at my local library and charity on weekends to engage with people”

It’s been amazing to speak to so many people who support other people they may know or just by chance was kind to a stranger in need. Its further proof that people of Rotherham look after each other when they see someone else in need. So, we would just like to say, well done residents of Rotherham, keep up the community spirit and taking care of each other.

By The Tenant Involvement Team

At a recent meeting with Rotherham Council (RMBC) staff to discuss the Fitzwilliam Estate, it was agreed to hold three community days on the estate. These will comprise of a community skip/litter pick, a RMBC services day, where residents can speak to council staff for advice etc and a family fun day, all to take place within the next few months.

The community skip was planned and booked for Friday 28 June at 9am until full, the Councillors wanted the skip day to go head as soon as possible, despite them not being able to attend due to it being the election period, as it has been a while since skips were available for residents on that estate. Rotherfed staff lent a helping hand at the event and worked with RMBC Housing officers to ensure the clean-up ran smoothly. 

The initiative, aimed at helping residents dispose of unwanted items and declutter their homes, saw enthusiastic participation from the local community fill two skips with a vast assortment of refuse, in a very short space of time. Mear’s caretakers also assisted by collecting waste from residents’ gardens and picking up bulky items which they couldn’t get to the skip themselves.

Community skip days are always a much-needed service, enabling households to get rid of bulky waste that is typically hard to manage, and it supports residents that have no way to take rubbish to the tip. The overall aim of this is an attempt to help reduce fly tipping in the area and make the estate cleaner and safer for residents.  Due to the demand, another community skip day will be investigated for later in the year.

A community litter pick is also in the process of being planned and this will hopefully be towards the end of July/beginning of August, during the school holidays so that the children can be involved too.  Councillors will also participate in the litter pick. 

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 Sharon Smith, Lynn Clarkson and Madiya Shokat, the Energy Know How Team

A Client got in touch with Madiya from the energy team. Madiya previously met the Ms J* at the Eastwood Village Primary School who wanted some energy advice and she chose to meet at Clifton Learning Partnership as it’s close by to where she lives. She recently moved here to the UK, and she is struggling to understand how her bills work. Ms J bought her bills with her and one of the letters that she was struggling to understand was the breakdown of her bill. Madiya explained to her how much is going towards her electric and how much is going towards her gas. Ms J didn’t realise it will be one bill for both gas and electric in total as a direct debit. Ms J also realised that so far, her gas has been higher than her electric and didn’t understand why. She was asked if she is using her gas more than electric and mentioned she is cooking every day and using her gas for that as well as using the gas to make tea. Ms J was advised to lower this and try to make her tea using the kettle and when making food, see if she can make food that can last a couple of days, to save her using her gas every day. Ms J was also advised of some energy saving tips around the household to help her save on her energy annually. She was offered a green doctor as well which Madiya filled out with them. So, she is aware of the minor draught proofing that will be set out in her property. Ms J was very pleased with the amount of help offered to her.

*name has been changed.

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 Dan Barron and Sam Dixon, The Heat of the Community Project

On a warm summers evening in August, Clifton Park saw 9 volunteers come together with project workers from Rotherfeds Heart of the Community project to help to create a new forum. The planned activity for the day was to litter pick and discuss what groups thought Rotherham needed to support litter pickers better and how that could be achieved.

The forum was well attended by seasoned Litter pickers from the S61 litter pickers, Rawmarsh & Parkgate Friends of Green Spaces, Rotherham’s Older Peoples forum and the Rotherham Inter faith group. Whilst picking in the centre of the park 9 bags of litter were picked to provide a safe and clean area for families to enjoy at the height of the summer.

The rubbish that was collected by the group was quickly collected by the rangers in the park with further reports of where sharps were discovered being made to the relevant council department. A good haul for 45 minutes work on a refreshing summer afternoon.

Once we had regrouped, we asked what groups thought Rotherham needed to support litter pickers better and how that could be achieved. There were lots of conversation and ideas It was agreed that it would be a good start to create an online forum on social media where all litter pickers from the borough can come together to share their events, achievements and stories. There is interested in creating a committee which will continue to be explored.

After our discussion we all enjoyed a share of sandwiches, crisps and cake.

So far, the group has managed to increase its online membership to 90 individuals. The group is already seeing lots of members posting about litter picks across Rotherham. The next plan is to create another event that will engage with more members and will have a positive impact on more green spaces in Rotherham.

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.