Become a Friend of Rosehill Victoria Park
// 
Author: Laura
//We’re recruiting: Project Manager
//Full time, permanent | Salary: £36,274 + 6% pension contribution
Responsible to: Chief Executive Officer
RotherFed is looking for an organised, motivated and community-focused Project Manager to lead Changemakers, our 3-year National Lottery funded community-led environmental sustainability project.
This exciting role will support communities to take practical climate action, reduce energy costs, improve living conditions and strengthen residents’ voices on climate issues. You will manage a small delivery team, work closely with local partners and help develop a scalable model for resident-led environmental action.
About the role
- Lead delivery of the Changemakers project in line with agreed outcomes, funder requirements and organisational policies.
- Line Manage and support the Community Energy Adviser and Community Engagement Officer.
- Support residents and community-led groups to take practical climate action and reduce energy costs.
- Build strong partnerships and ensure inclusive, accessible community engagement.
- Monitor progress, capture learning and report on outcomes to funders, trustees and partners.
We’re looking for someone who has
- Experience of managing staff and funded projects.
- Strong project management, communication and reporting skills.
- Experience of community development, engagement or organising.
- An understanding of climate action, fuel poverty, energy efficiency and inclusion.
- A commitment to resident-led approaches, equality, diversity and social justice.
If you are passionate about supporting communities, tackling inequality and helping residents take action on climate and energy issues, we would love to hear from you.
How to Apply
For further details and to request an application pack, please contact: Sarah Fletcher on 07538 625113 or email sarah.fletcher@rotherfed.org
Key dates
Closing date for applications: 7th September at 10am
Interviews will be held on: 8th September
We’re recruiting: Community Engagement Officer
//Full-time, permanent | 37 hours per week | Salary: £26,363 | Based across Rotherham
RotherFed is looking for a motivated and community-focused Community Engagement Officer to support residents across Rotherham to take part in Changemakers, a three-year community-led environmental sustainability project funded by the National Lottery.
This is an exciting opportunity to work alongside residents, community groups, volunteers and partners to support practical climate action, reduce energy costs, improve local environments and help people have a stronger voice on climate issues affecting their communities.
About the role
- Engage residents and community groups in practical environmental sustainability activities.
- Support local climate champions, volunteers and community-led groups to develop confidence and take action.
- Work with partners to promote energy awareness, environmental improvements and community cohesion.
- Contribute to project monitoring, learning and the development of a community-led model for local climate action.
We’re looking for someone who has
- Experience of working in community-based settings and supporting residents, groups or volunteers.
- Strong communication, listening and relationship-building skills.
- An understanding of barriers faced by communities experiencing poverty, disadvantage or exclusion.
- A commitment to environmental sustainability, community empowerment and equal opportunities.
If you are passionate about supporting communities, tackling inequality and helping people take practical action on climate and energy issues, we would love to hear from you.
How to Apply
For further details and to request an application pack, please contact: Sarah Fletcher on 07538 625113 or email sarah.fletcher@rotherfed.org
Key dates
Closing date for applications: 7th September at 10am
Interviews will be held on: 8th September
Dinnington Family Fun Pop Up Event
//By The Tenant Involvement Team
As part of our contract with RMBC, Rotherfed has to deliver two pop-up events across the brough, this year’s areas chosen for us were Dinnington and Masbrough. We agreed on summer events for both areas, the first one took place in Dinnington, and the Masbrough event will take place on Thursday 13 August at Bradgate Park. As well as the events having family activities, we agreed we would have a mixture of stalls too.
Prior to the event we sourced permission to use the green space next to the Dinnington Resource Centre and also booked the hall at the Resource Centre as a backup in case the weather wasn’t good, produced and delivered over 300 leaflets to houses and shops around the area, as well as advertising in the library, RMBC ebulletin, Facebook pages and sending the leaflets to two local schools. RMBC also send a targeted text to 280 Dinnington council tenants.
Our event took place on Thursday 30 July from 11am until 2pm, luckily the weather stayed dry, and the sun broke through the clouds. DB Entertainment provided the inflatable Helter Skelter, bouncy castle and music, Beth kept both the children and adults happy with face painting and Chantelle had games for the children. Councillor Clarke kindly had a stall giving away sweet bags, juice and some seed pots, which were very well received. Weston Park Purple Bus was on site offering free cancer checks and spoke to 12 people who were attending the event. There were also arts and crafts and biscuit decorating which the children enjoyed. Rotherfed’s Energy team provided energy support and other stalls included MESMAC Sexual Health, RMBC tenant involvement, Ripple Effect, Citizens Advice, Biffa Waste, Love Where You Live, Library services and Early Years Help. All children received a free ice cream from Paul’s Mr Softee van; the ice creams were kindly part funded by the local Cllrs and went down a treat. It was a fantastic event which everyone enjoyed, it was also a great turnout.
We had 105 people attend the event, 37 adults and 68 children. Roughly 40% of the people attending were council tenants. We also advertised the connectors pool and will email the tenants who attended to see if they are interested in signing up to the local newsletter. RMBC Neighbourhoods staff also supported on the day. It was a great event and hopefully the start more activities to happen in this area.
Few quotes from tenants and children who attended.
“What a lovely event it has been, can you please make it a regular thing”.
“Lovely to see people getting out and enjoying themselves, great event and even better being a free one”.
“I had an amazing time, thank you from Harry”.
“A fun event and encourages the community to get together, thank you from Evie”.
“I loved it thank you very much, from Arther”.
Barney Baloney
//By The Open Arms Team
Barney Baloney is a comedy magician who entertains children and families with a fun-filled show. He is joined by his mischievous ventriloquist monkey, Henry who keeps everyone laughing with his cheeky jokes and playful behaviour. Together, they create an exciting and memorable experience for the children. The show includes a variety of comedy magic tricks that allow the children to join in, making everyone feel involved. Henry often interrupts the show with funny comments and silly antics creating laughter. Barney organises exciting party games that encourage teamwork and participation. Children have the chance to win fun prizes, making games more enjoyable. Every child is made to feel included throughout the activity. Barney plays music that keeps the atmosphere fun and energetic and at the end of the show creates colourful balloon models, including animals, swords, flowers, and hats, which the children enjoy taking home as souvenirs. During the performance parents were provided with hot drinks and during the interval free snacks and drinks were provided for the children.
Quotes
“Very enjoyable experience for the kids – fun”.
“Fun experience – Main part children loved it”.
“First time accessing Rotherham Federation. Good communication great event. The kids loved it and it was wonderful to see kid interacting with others. Even better that it was free”.
“Really enjoyed the show. Kids had fun from start to finish, funny and entertaining 10/10 for a kid’s party”.
“Brilliant afternoon. Took my 18-month granddaughter. She loved it.”
“Brilliant, funny had lots of fun- was nice to have something to do during the holidays. It was my sons first magic show and he was mesmerised. I enjoyed it just as much as the kids. The party food was fantastic. Highlight of the week. Thank you”.
“Absolutely brilliant! The show was funny, interactive and Barney kept all of the children (and adults) interested the whole time. The fruit snack was also a lovely little touch. We went to a similar show last year which wasn’t as good but cost us money. Cannot believe this was free! Highly recommend!”
“Fantastic kids have loved every minute of it. Definitely come again. Kids best bit was the monkey saying chicken nugget.”
“My granddaughter was chuckling the whole time and enjoyed the healthy fruit treats too!”
Reptile Rendevouz and Furry Friends
//By The Open Arms Team
During the summer holidays we held one of our free events. At this session the parents and children had the opportunity to meet a variety of fascinating animals. The experience was both enjoyable and educational which allowed them to learn about reptiles, mammals and how to care for them safely and responsibly. During the encounter, they met several reptiles including snakes, lizards and tortoises. The people that attended learned about their habitats, diets and unique adaptations that help them survive in the wild. They also met a range of furry animals, such as rabbits, guinea pigs and other small mammals. The handlers explained how each animal behaves and what they need to stay healthy and the people who attended was given the chance to gently handle some of the animals under the supervision of the trained staff.
Quotes
“Fantastic – Brilliant range of animals. All ages enjoyed it”.
“It was amazing! The children loved seeing all the types of animals and handling them. Staff were really friendly”.
“Absolutely loved the session!”.
“Great experience, kind and friendly. Would definitely come again”.
“I found this really fun because I leaned facts about the animals and I also go to touch them”.
“Lovely, friendly, hands-on experience. Amazing opportunity for the children. Thank you”.
“Amazing Session – Thanks!”.
“Amazing experiences for the children to experience so many animals, especially the snake. Loved every moment. Can’t wait for next time. Thank you.”
“I liked it. Liked our chance to hold spider. Was very good. Thank you. Very welcoming and different. Enjoyed it”.
Reptile Rendezvous shared our poster on Facebook, and someone posted “had a great day yesterday even cracked the fear of spiders.”
Open Arms
//By The Open Arms Team
Lee met a lovely lady at one of our outreach sessions this month. She came to see how Rotherfed and Citizen’s Advice by working together could help her and help others under her wing. She was very appreciative of the service we offered on the day and followed this up with the following email:
Dear Lee,
I just wanted to take a moment to sincerely thank you for taking the time to speak with me and for sharing such valuable information and contacts.
Your guidance has already made a significant difference. I’ve begun making referrals today, and I genuinely believe that the support you’ve signposted us towards has the potential to have a profound and positive impact on this participant’s life. Knowing where to turn for the right help can make all the difference, and I really appreciate your willingness to share your knowledge.
Thank you once again for your kindness, generosity, and commitment to supporting people within our community. I hope we’ll have the opportunity to work together more closely in the future.
I look forward to welcoming you soon.
Warm regards,
Dinnington Creative
//By The Tenant Involvement Team
Dinnington Creative meet every Friday afternoon in the Dinnington Library which is inside the Resource Centre. It is a small group of people who enjoy getting together to share their ideas on crafts and try making different craft items. As well as meeting at the library the group also enjoy going out for meals for special occasions and the members birthdays.
We first met this group back in March when we went to visit them to see if Rotherfed could offer any support. Sam had previously been supporting this group and had recently done all the necessary paperwork with them that Rotherfed requires. The group were busy making craft items which they are hoping to sell at a craft fair, we discussed the possibility of them having a stall at the Dinnington Reindeer Event at the Resource Centre in November.
The group asked if there was any funding available as unfortunately, they had just previously missed out on some. We had a chat about some CLF funding, and we agreed to support the group with this if they could make a list of the items they would like. A CLF funding bid was submitted in April for £695.98 which including aprons, a guillotine, printer ink, several different crafts items and an additional storage unit for the library.
This month we found out that the bid had been successful and the monies were deposited into the group’s bank account. They are very grateful for the funding, and they were discussing what craft items to buy and what they would like to make.
Volunteer Get Togethers
//By The Tenant Involvement Team
We have been holding our Volunteer Get Togethers every 3 months for over a year now. The main panels are the Housing Involvement Panel, Screen Team, Tenant Scrutiny and the newest panel, Learning from Complaints Panel. The get togethers are an opportunity for volunteers from each panel to meet each other, find out what each panel consists of and are an appreciation from us for the work they do for us on a voluntary basis.
Our volunteer numbers continue to grow, and we now have more than 40 tenants who are actively involved with either one or two of the panels or trialing the panels. This number has grown significantly over the past year which has been amazing to see. Our last get together was held at the Rotherham Hospice Café on the Parkgate Retail Park. We had 14 tenants who were able to join us, and everyone enjoyed catching up and having some lunch together, some even had a browse around the store before they left. These get togethers are important to our volunteers as they get to find out about other panels, meet other volunteers and they all look forward to them. They also look forward to the social side of just general chatting too to new people. Our next one is booked for September at Springwell Gardens, where we will be serving pie and peas and having a Rotherham based quiz.
As the Learning from Complaints panel only meets quarterly, we decided to get together with the panel members separately in between the meetings as this will enable the panel members to see each other more frequently and to get to know each other. We held our first panel get together in April at the Coffee Pot in Rawmarsh. At this session we discussed the changes to the meeting structure which started from May’s meeting. Existing panel members completed some surveys about the proposed changes, and we spoke to new panel members who haven’t yet attended a meeting, about the format of the meetings and what to expect.
Energy Know How
//By The Energy Know How Team
We recently supported a client who is a single mother of two children living in a rented two-bedroom flat. She contacted our service because she was struggling to manage her energy bills and had fallen into debt with Octopus Energy. She explained that her monthly payments had increased significantly over the winter, and because she was already balancing rent, food costs, and childcare expenses, she had missed several payments. As a result, she owed over £900 and was extremely worried about disconnection and how she would cope financially.
During our conversation, she also mentioned that her home had developed severe damp and mould, particularly in the children’s bedroom and around the windows. She told me she often avoided using the heating because she was frightened of increasing her debt further. She was unsure what was causing the mould or what steps she could take to stop it. The situation was affecting both her mental wellbeing and her children’s health, as one child had begun experiencing coughing and asthma flare-ups.
We first reassured her that she was not alone and that support was available. We helped her contact her energy supplier to discuss an affordable repayment plan based on what she could realistically afford each month. We also checked whether she was eligible for any support schemes and advised her about the Warm Home Discount, fuel vouchers through local support services, and possible charitable grants available for energy debt.
To help reduce her ongoing energy costs, she was given practical energy-saving advice tailored to her home. We discussed using the heating more efficiently rather than turning it off completely, as keeping the property at a steady temperature can help prevent damp and mould from worsening. The importance of ventilation was explained, such as opening windows for short periods each day, using extractor fans while cooking or showering, and drying clothes in a well-ventilated area where possible.
We also advised her on steps she could take to manage the mould safely, including wiping away condensation from windows each morning, avoiding blocking air vents, and reporting the damp and mould issue to her landlord in writing. Since the property was rented, we explained that the landlord had a responsibility to investigate and address issues contributing to damp and mould, especially where it could affect health. we encouraged her to keep photographs and records of communication in case further action was needed.
Over the following weeks the team will stay in touch with her to see if she’s been able to agree on a manageable repayment plan and if she’s managed the mould in her property. After this conversation that we had, she felt less anxious knowing she had support and a plan in place