Category: Tenant Involvement

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

One of the group’s core activities involves hosting weekly community events. The group offers three weekly exercise sessions, all the sessions are inclusive and open to all including families. These gatherings serve as platforms for open dialogue, information sharing, and relationship building. By providing a space for residents to connect the Talk and Train Group has played a positive role in strengthening community bonds and fostering a sense of belonging.

The group has actively participated in significant industry events, such as the Association of Retained Council Housing (ARCH) conference. This engagement has allowed the Talk and Train Group to network with other organisations.

The group have been recognised for the importance of physical and mental health community group. The sessions provide opportunities for individuals of all ages and fitness levels to participate in enjoyable and beneficial physical activities. By promoting a healthy lifestyle and encouraging regular exercise, the Talk and Train Group is contributing to the overall well-being of the community.

Building on their successes, the Talk and Train Group is actively pursuing funding opportunities to expand their programs and services. By securing additional resources, the group aims to increase their reach, enhance their offerings, and make a greater impact on the community. The group’s commitment to continuous improvement and its vision for a thriving community are evident in its ongoing efforts to secure funding and expand its initiatives.

Talk and Train have been working with the Sanctuary Gardens community hub over the last 6 months and have now merged into one group. The volunteers at Sanctuary gardens will still run their activity as normal, whilst talk and train will be the over-arching umbrella that will support the financial side of all of the activity.

The Talk and Train Group has established itself as an asset to the community, providing essential services, fostering engagement, and promoting health and well-being. Through their community events, advocacy efforts, and exercise programs, the group has made a positive difference in the lives of residents. As they continue to grow and expand their initiatives, the Talk and Train Group is poised to play an even more significant role in shaping the future of the community.

By Debra Gill, Tenant Involvement Innovation Officer

Ann had previously had support from volunteers in her digital journey but felt that she needed more confidence to be able to put into practice what she had previously learned. Ann was paired with David, who has worked wonders for Ann’s confidence and skills.

Together they have worked on the areas where Ann felt she needed more confidence, and they have gone above and beyond what they first envisaged. Initially Ann wanted to feel more relaxed with emails and with her ultimate goal of joining online meetings, she is now doing this with confidence and even opting to fill in online forms herself, a task she would have never undertaken previously.

With Ann’s confidence level so improved, David has been working through the learn my way course with Ann and she is now feeling more confident with the things that she never expected to be learning. Ann says, ‘David has the patience of a saint’, and that nothing has been too much trouble for him.

By Rob Gooding and Rachel Cole, the Tenant Involvement team

Following on from the highly successful Tenant Connectors Pool event in July, this month RotherFed staff hosted a taster session for the interested tenants to join the HIP (Housing Involvement Panel) and Scrutiny panels on a watching brief to see if the panels were suited to them and gain a better understanding of what the panels do.

The first of these were the Scrutiny panel held at Springwell Gardens, this saw four excited new tenants join the panel for the first time, supported by RotherFed staff these tenants sat an observed the meeting until they felt comfortable enough to join in the session, this gave the cohort of new tenants a valuable insight into what the panels do at their monthly meetings, after the watching brief three of those tenants said they would like to join the panel on a more permanent basis not adding more tenants voices to the diverse mix of tenants already attending the panel.

The second event was a watching brief for the HIP meeting, this was held at Springwell gardens over teams, so the four new tenants could be supported by RotherFed staff and ask questions that they might not have asked in the more formal settings of Riverside House, the tenants were all excited to see how these meetings run and what information they find out in them. At the end of the meeting, I’m happy to say that all four of them would like to join the panel moving forward, these tenants have now been paired with a tenant mentor to support them in future meetings.

Moving forward to build on the success of these sessions we would like to host more of these events to open this offer up to as many tenants of Rotherham as we can.

By Debra Gill, Tenant Involvement Innovation Officer

I recently met a lady in a neighbourhood centre during a group session, who told me that she uses her iPad for her hobbies such as crafting, but she was finding it increasingly difficult, due to her having Parkinsons Disease. I told her about the built in accessibility features on iPads, and we arranged to meet in the library the following week, where it would be quieter.

We spent two sessions going through the built in touch accommodations on the ladies iPad and phone. Customising her devices to recognise her personal tap which is not quite concise or on-target as a single tap.

Resources were produced with instructions on how change the settings to ignore repeat taps in case she wants to change more of the accessibility features going forward.

We also worked on Using Pages on iPad, to create documents and importing graphics. We worked on changing font colours and sizes, and the different templates available.

By setting the accessibility features on this lady’s device, she is now able to continue with her hobbies and has found it much easier to be able to use.

Bt Debra Gill, Tenant Engagement Innovation Officer, Tenant Involvement Team

Individual Digital Support Session

We are receiving individual support session requests from council departments. The first sessions taking place in the libraries across the borough.

Our Digital volunteers have been helping Ann with her emails, as well as showing her some of the benefits of being on the internet for entertainment. As well as practicing sending and receiving emails, our volunteers have been showing Ann how to search YouTube for her favourite artists, and how to subscribe to channels.

Anns goal is to be able to join meetings online. Resources have been produced to support this, and our volunteers will continue to support her learning, to be able to achieve this goal.

Group Sessions

Our Digital Volunteer David will now be attending the Open Arm Session in Greasbrough Library every two weeks. The sessions will be advertised and hopefully we can start directing anyone looking for support in the area to him.

Deb visited a coffee morning at Rawmarsh Library for a wellbeing group. The group of 15 people were very welcoming and happy to talk about digital safety, which lead onto lots of other discussions such as receiving the internet speeds that you are paying for. Advice was given as to how you can check this, and a lady was given advice on how to complete an online form.

Deb and Rob visited Aston TARA for a digital support session on the 17th of July. The coffee morning was well attended with 17 people at the session. We spoke about safety online as most people said this was a concern for them. Individual support took place in the shape of showing a lady how to copy and paste, and how to complete an online form.

By Rob Gooding and Rachel Cole, The Tenant Involvement Team

Back in June, text messages were sent out to several council tenants under the age of 40 asking if they would like to be part of the new tenants’ connectors pool. Tenants that expressed an interest, were then contact by telephone to enable us to obtain their details for the pool. One of the questions on the form was if they would be interested in getting involved in one of our main panels, Scrutiny, Housing Involvement Panel and Screen Team.

Following on from this, Rotherfed’s Tenant Involvement team, in collaboration with RMBC, held an event for engaged residents on Wednesday 24 July at Springwell Gardens. 

Fifteen enthusiastic tenants who had expressed their desire to actively participate in shaping the future of Rotherham’s housing services attended the event. The event provided them with the perfect platform to learn more about RMBC services, the main panels and explore various ways to get involved.

The event featured 14 existing panel members who shared their experiences, motivations and reasons for contributing to housing services and being part of the panels. The firsthand perspective from existing tenants will be invaluable for new potential tenants seeking to make a difference in their communities. We had three separate tables, one for each of the main panels, where existing panel members sat and spoke about their involvement and experiences. The new tenants spent time at each table listening and getting an understanding of what each panel involved, this gave them the opportunity to decide which panel, if any, was best suited to them and their situation. For tenants that wish to go further, it marks the start a very important process of peer mentoring and support for the new members of the panels.

The Rotherfed Tenant Involvement Team and RMBC are committed to empowering tenants and ensuring their voices are heard in matters concerning their housing environment. This was the first session held, additional sessions will be held for tenants who couldn’t attend this one. For the residents who could attend and are interesting in becoming future panel members, they will now be contacted to organise the next step. 

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 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 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.