Category: Good News Stories

By Sam Dixon, Community Organiser

Groups of individuals from all over the Dalton Thrybergh ward have been litter picking and participating in other Green Spaces projects for a number of years. As all of these groups have the same aims it was suggested by Cllr Michael Bennett-Sylvester that they all come together, formalize and then the group can start applying for funding and ensuring sustainability for the future.

The East Herringthorpe Pickers: A project run by Michael and Natalie, a local resident who has been engaged with RotherFed for more than 3 years. No matter the weather, Natalie and Michael meet in East Herringthorpe every single Thursday and pick litter from the streets where its agreed need the most attention that particular week. The group has had coverage in various local publications including the Advertiser.

By Dan Barron, Community Organiser

Rother Phoenix FC has progressed incredibly well over the last few months from non-existent to an ambitious footballing community group. Dan had first spoken to Natasha about a football project for children currently out of education. Tasha was then assistant coach in Kiveton. Due to circumstances could no longer work with the club. Natasha started looking into a community football group for Ferham. In doing so parents and children have followed Tasha’s football sessions to Ferham Park as well as engaging residents.

Natasha had spoken to parents who have said they would follow the project to Ferham because of Natasha’s reputation of putting the welfare of the children first. It only took a week for parents to come forward for potential community leadership roles as well as some volunteers who want to help the project with less responsibility. That is a massive credit to Natasha and her passion to become a coach in football and engage with children in sport. Natasha brings previous footballing and coaching experience enabling the project to begin immediately.

By Sam Dixon, Community Organiser

“In 1880 John Brown & co were listed as being the owners of Aldwarke Main Colliery. The name Aldwarke refers to an area in the Don Valley two miles north of Rotherham South Yorkshire. To the west of Aldwarke is Parkgate and to its East the villages of Dalton and Thrybergh.

By Dan Barron, Community Organiser

Back in August 2021 Cllr Ian jones was promoting a community meeting for those interested in in a community project at Masbrough Cemetery. Attending the meet was Cllr Ian jones, Chris Willis and 5 Masbrough residents. Cllr Ian jones started the introductions and we all spoke about our reasons for attending. Some residents were interested in the meeting because they have family members buried on the site and others have identified their ancestors buried on the site as well as having local connections.

Chris Willis the bereavement officer for RMBC spoke to us all and answered our questions about the cemetery, gave us a tour of the site and was able to talk to us about the current usage of the cemetery. Whilst we were walking around Chris highlighted areas of the grounds that had succumbed to the green overgrowth as we saw grave sites overrun with ivy, shrubbery due to the lack of maintenance. We also spoke about the 2 chapels being 1 of 3 sites in the UK to have both an Anglican and catholic chapel built as a mirror image that also separated the burial land by religion. Chris was very informative and spoke about the current situation of the site, services involved and other Friends of projects that the bereavement services are operating in other areas. Whilst at the site we decided on another meeting but this time we want to get stuck in with a community day of action to start working on the overgrowth of green mass currently residing in the grounds. So we have set up an official Friends of Masbrough Cemetery Group as a page to communicate future activities, events and relevant topics. The group is just over 6 weeks old now and already has 98 members who have joined the group. The page has seen over 1000 photos uploaded to the page as well as interactions asking about relatives, events.

By Rachel Cole, Projects Officer

The Centres reopened on Monday 19 July and the following week I popped to see Peter at the Dorothy Taylor Centre on Leverton Way, Dalton.  It was lovely to meet Peter and the other members of the group.  I have been speaking to Peter on a regular basis for the past 8 months so it was lovely to put a face to his name. The group currently has 6 very active members, however, they are hoping the numbers will grow now that restrictions are being lifted. Peter has been doing a fish and chip run every Friday for the local residents, this will continue but the residents will now enjoy them in the Centre. The group meet every Tuesday and Friday and do various activities. From my budget I purchased a slow cooker for this group as theirs has recently failed its PAT test. They were so grateful as it will enable them to do their monthly cooking sessions. I look forward to working with Leverton Way Tara and all the other groups in my area.

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.