Author: Laura

Dinosaur Walks

Laura/ / In Your Community

By Sam Dixon, Community Organiser

Crème Eggs, Dinosaur costumes and two schools with lots of very excited children!

Dan and Sam had originally planned to do community walks in East Dene and East Herringthorpe with the support of the Canklow Dinosaur group. They were to take place at Easter when the COVID-19 restrictions were supposed to be eased.

The restrictions stayed in place and we ended up with a cupboard full of crème eggs that couldn’t go anywhere. We struggled to effectively work out in our communities and have had to find new ways to engage with people.

One of our latest projects has been to engage with schools on a literacy based project and as a result of this we have discovered from the staff point of view how difficult it has been for schools to engage with children and their families so that young people can achieve their full potential. Young people are struggling to be enthusiastic about attending school, the rules for them are continually changing and for some of the youngest children in school, they haven’t attended school in a non COVID environment.

We proposed to two of the schools that we are working with that we could go into school, as dinosaurs, as a bit of a treat for the youngsters as they have come to the end of this school year. Both schools said that the Key Stage 2 children are “too cool for dinosaurs” but they would appreciate the gift of the eggs.

So in baking heat, we made two visits to lots of excited children. It was so good to be able to provide a fun activity for the schools and we know that it was really enjoyed by the children as they flocked round us and made comments like “You’re my favourite Dinosaur”.

Ferham Bin Amnesty

Laura/ / In Your Community

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.

Continue reading “Ferham Bin Amnesty”

Social Supermarket Engagement

Laura/ / Good News Stories

By Claire Stinson, Community Support Worker & Karen Jay, Community Support Worker

One of the guys has got a job, albeit on agency but the guys from Good Work have contacted him and are going to support him to get a full-time job. He’s worried about buying boots etc. for going back into work so we gave him the contact details for Access to Work to see if they can help. He’s so happy with what we’ve done that he’s told his ex-wife to come and see us, along with her ex-partner. He’s chuffed to bits and said thanks to talking to us, it gave him the kick he needed to get things done.

Unfortunately, his job with the agency didn’t work out, because it didn’t suit him and the barriers he faces daily but he’s still being supported by Good Work and his job hunt is going well. With the support of Good Work, they will ensure the next job will be more suitable to his needs. Until then, he will still be getting the support from Social Supermarket to make sure he can still feed himself and his daughter.

We also had a conversation about his TV license, he’d been paying £25 since 2018. He said he was going to leave it, until I calculated that it would be nearly £500, they owe him. His eyes lit up and he said he’s going to call them back. TV licensing investigated it for him and they’ve agreed he’s paid too much. He’s now got his TV license free until the end of next year and will be getting a cheque for two hundred pounds.

Friendship Call Participant – Susan

Laura/ / Friendship Calls

Susan came to us as a referral in February. Susan is a young Asian lady who had escaped a very abusive marriage. Susan was ostracised by her family and her community because of proceeding with ending the marriage. She lives on her own, does not go out and wishes to keep to herself, although she does work, she does this from home. Susan had suffered a tremendous amount of abuse and found it very hard to trust people.

She was paired with a volunteer and she has started to regain her confidence, and because of the continued friendship calls that have built up her confidence, she has now started studying again. She has now accepted counselling , which she previously refused. Susan now sees the counciling as the way forward for her to be able to deal with what has happened and she has been referred to an Asian counselling service that specialises in cases like Susan. She attributes her ability to move forward from the confidence she has obtained since receiving the friendship calls.

Friendship Call Participant – Leanne

Laura/ / Friendship Calls

Leanne came to us in February from Social Prescribing. She suffers with multiple sclerosis and had refused any help. She was also caring for her poorly mum. Her mum recently passed away and Leanne was unable to attend the funeral as she had to isolate waiting for a hip operation. She has a high risk of falls but still drives. She was out and about one day and her leg froze and she had a small accident and because of this her hip operation was brought forward. Leanne was due to have her second Covid jab and as she was going into hospital she was not be able to attend the jab and was really panicked about it.

The volunteer, who also volunteers as a vaccine clinic got her booked in where she volunteers, arranged transport to get her there and volunteer and participant got to meet face to face and Leanne managed to get her second jab thanks to the extended work her volunteer. Leanne got her hip operation, and is home recovering well and has now also accepted that she needs some care.

Good to Grow Community Allotment

Laura/ / In Your Community

During discussions with various groups and organisations there has been a recurring suggestion for a group to be formed for people who want to grow their own food. Not everyone has a suitable space to do this so a community allotment garden might be what they are looking for. Spaces should be as accessible and inclusive as possible so that there are no barriers for anyone to get involved if they want to. We contacted the Rotherham Allotment Alliance to find out if they have any suitable sites that are accessible for people who may use public transport and who may also have disabilities.
They suggested the Rectory Field site at Rawmarsh East might be suitable for a community plot as they had a vacant plot that, until recently, had been used by a local school.

The plot is a reasonable size, accessible, fully fenced and has a greenhouse and chemical toilet.

Volunteers would be needed to help clear the plot first of any debris, and install raised beds, paths, and a seating area. The greenhouse provides space for indoor growing and shelter so could be adapted too. Another plot there is used by the Salvation Army who are very helpful and interested in helping if a group decides to use the plot.

Sunnyside Supplies

Laura/ / Good News Stories

By Rob Gooding, Community Organiser

I met with Emma about Sunnyside Supplies. So far, the group have delivered over 2000 food parcels over the pandemic to customers in the Bramley and Ravenfield area,

The group are wanting to turn the food bank into a social supermarket with a social café after visiting the Rotherham minister, the group have asked for advice how to do this as well as help with changing the constitution and putting risk assessments in place by the 6/7/2021 as this is the date the group want to make the transition.

 The group already have 22 existing members wanting to access the supermarket when it opens and are planning a big advertising push on Facebook alongside a leaflet drop.

The proposed changes were adopted at the group’s AGM on 29/06/2021 along with a new committee to help run the social supermarket and café. The group have asked to become Rotherfed members and are wanting to run money management sessions in the café.

Thurcroft Community Skips

Laura/ / Good News Stories

By Rachel Cole, Projects Officer

As part of the Community Pride initiative, we have been providing 40-yard roll on roll off skips on a quarterly basis for the past few years. We hold them in different areas of the village and they have always been very well accepted and much needed.

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic and the restrictions in place, we have not been able to have any skips in the village and the last one was in late 2019.

Litter picks have continued throughout the pandemic to help keep the village tidy, however, people have been unable to get rid of the larger items.

On Saturday 26 June we ordered two community skips for the village, one went on the Miners Institute carpark and one at the top of the village on Loxley Road. Also, for the first time we hired a man with a van to collect rubbish from people’s gardens which they were struggling to get rid of.  This proved to be really successful with over 14 houses asking for help. This is something that we definitely do again.

Eight volunteers helped manage the skips and the new local MP Alexander Stafford attended as did both the new local elected members for the Thurcroft and Wickersley South Ward, Zach Collingham and Thomas Singleton, who all got stuck in and helped people to get their items onto the skip.  The Rotherham Advertiser also came along and took a couple of photographs, which will hopefully be in this week’s newspaper.

By 11.30am both skips were full and ready to be collected.  We will look at having another skip in a month or two at the bottom of the village so the whole village has been covered.

All in all, it was a very successful Saturday morning.

Coleridge Primary School Litter Pick

Laura/ / In Your Community

By Dan Barron, Community Organiser

Coleridge Primary School contacting me in May to discuss organising a litter pick for the school pupils. Ian Tankard the head teacher of the school has seen community activities in the area that he lives and has been inspired. Ian wants to teach primary pupils about respecting the community and the positive impacts they can have on it.

After our first official meet, I contacted partners to get involved on the day and I had begun working on the Coleridge Community Hero programme.

The litter pick took place on the 25th June. Wayne from the Love where you live programme has been able to provide equipment to the school for the Litter pick. The kids were able to have dinosaur themed pickers and some hi-vis vests. Ian also attended with 2 Coleridge teachers who had organised the 25 pupils into 3 groups. Wayne, Sam and I joined a group each to help support pupils with the pick and to be safe whilst out on the activity. Both Ruksana Haleem and Wendy Cooksey both attended the activity speaking with pupils and teachers. Although the weather was not the best a little drizzle of rain never hurt anyone. The pupils were enthusiastic and had identified lots of litter around the school grounds despite the weather. The biggest find being an abandoned pair of shoes and they had managed to locate an area on that was heavily littered but could not be accessed. As a result Wayne Munroe Smith has enquired about the area to see if it can be cleaned.

Continue reading “Coleridge Primary School Litter Pick”

East Herringthorpe Women’s Safety

Laura/ / Good News Stories, In Your Community

By Sam Dixon, Community Organiser

Part of a listening that came from a local resident suggested that something needs to be done around how women feel in their community. Do they feel safe? Are there black spots recognized within the neighbourhood that women avoid?

I approached RUCST (Rotherham United Community Sports Trust) as I was aware that they were already working with women in other areas. RUCST were already looking for another opportunity to replicate their current program of work so we were able to quickly turn our ideas around and start our project.

The project consists of 14 weekly walks in and around Herringthorpe Valley Park, some sessions delivered to help women recognize services that can support them and a self defence session.

The first few sessions have been really successful, with different women from different backgrounds attending. Everyone is getting to know each other and we’re slowly building up relationships, the conversations are getting more in depth and I aim to get some more opinions and see how the community could work together to improve going forward.