Martin first encountered a person at a foodbank who was having difficulty with money issues and referred them into Citizens Advice. The referral was closed because Citizens Advice, despite three attempts, could not contact them. A few weeks later I saw the person, with their partner, at a social supermarket. They still had money issues but were mistrustful of ‘official’ organisations and feared they would lose their existing benefits.
I emphasised that Citizens Advice were an independent organisation with no connection to the DWP. I also stressed that any advice they gave would include an assessment of the effects of different benefits upon each other and the choice to apply for other benefits was entirely up to the clients. They agreed to another referral to Citizens Advice.
I heard the other day that they are absolutely delighted at the outcome of the referral. They are eligible for three extra benefits which do not affect their existing benefits.
It illustrates how trust building, awareness raising, and patience can have a dramatic positive effect on people’s lives.
I have been working with this group now since November 2020 when I took over supporting the North of the Borough. This is a really pro-active group who have been running now for nearly 5 years and have 10 active members, they also have volunteers who help at events, with the planting of flowers around the village etc.
On Thursday 18 August, the group held a ‘Out of Covid’ event at the Civic Hall. This event was funded through the COMF funding from RMBC. The event was held from 12pm until 3pm and over 50 local residents, including residents from local care homes, enjoyed a pie and pea lunch supplied by the Honey Pot Cafe, a few games of bingo, some fantastic singing from Chantelle and Chloe and Sarah played the violin for them. It was a lovely afternoon, and it was so nice to see people enjoying themselves singing and dancing, the residents said how much they had enjoyed it. John Healey MP attended the event and joined in with the signing. The group are holding another similar event on Thursday 1 September to make use of the remainder of their COMF funding which need to be spend by 31 August. I will also support at this event.
As well as holding monthly meetings, many different events, the group also holds regular litter picks around the village, at their latest litter pick this week, there were 12 volunteers and they collected 17 bags of rubbish. The group had a stall at the Swinton ‘Party in the Park’ on Sunday 29 August to raise some funds for the group. They are great group who I enjoy working with.
Heart of The Community attended the Annual event Ferham Festival 2022 on 11th August this month. The festival always draws in a big diverse crowd from the residents and this year was no exception. A welcomed change was this year the festival was also supporting South Asian culture as to support the south Asian heritage month.
The Roadshow kicked off by setting up the stall ready for engaging with the community on a beautiful sunny day. The day started off slow but 30 minutes in and the festival was in full swing. It was an amazing day filled with cultural activities, colour, and good food.
At the Tenants Open Day all Rotherham Federation member groups were put in a draw to win £500 for their group. 3 Winners were drawn by the Mayor of Rotherham, which were:
Aston TARA
Rotherham Sanjeet Choir
The Lings Monday Club
All the lucky winners will have the money paid into their groups accounts.
Dayle Hill is the lead of the newly formed Canklow based group The Community Tree. In only our second meeting she came to us with the idea of creating a community picnic, a “world picnic”, where residents come together to share food that is important to them. The idea is that no matter who you are we all have a connection to food. Dayle wanted to work with this idea to help people recognize that we are all connected. We talked about how people could bring food that they could have a cultural connection to, their favourite dish, or even their signature dish, the one that must be at every family get together.
During further discussions Dayle said she would like the picnic to be the start of a whole week of events to improve and bring together the whole community in Canklow. Her aims were to Celebrate the diversity of the area, support families and help people to feel safer. The idea of having a community clean-up day and an event to round things off were also brought up. May quickly arrived and Dayle had formed a plan of exactly what she wanted to see from the week. Monday to open the week with the World Picnic. Dayle also had the idea to create Acts of Kindness bingo cards for residents and young people. Those wanting to be involved would fill out the card over the week and return at the final event to be entered into a prize draw.
Wednesday was to be a crafting day working with local social enterprise Casting Innovations. Residents could create their own heart out of Fimo that would then be cast into aluminium and then added to a giant heart, that will be displayed in Canklow. Residents also can work with Castings to make the heart themselves.
The community clean-up day was going to be on Thursday. This is planned to be a Litter Pick by the Friends of Canklow Open Spaces, a group that is part of the community tree, and a community skip that will be provided by RMBC housing.
Finally, the week would be rounded off with a community sports day. Delivered by partner organization Rotherham United Community Sports Trust, they will be delivering football-based activities as well as health and fitness advise in a fun event for everyone to get involved with.
During the planning for the event the local school were also engaged with. They not only promoted the event within their school but also had the young people create flags for bunting that will be displayed for the whole week of the events. The hope is then the young people will feel some ownership towards the event and encourage their family to attend.
The week came, AND WHAT A WEEK IT WAS!!! Every event had engagement from different aspects of the community. From a community that is known locally to struggle with anti-social behavior and has little engagement with services, everyone involved commented on how well they felt it went. The picnic was a mix of curry, sandwiches, pasta and sunshine, everyone who attended got the opportunity to sit, relax and engage with other residents.
On Wednesday we saw a dozen people drop into Casting Innovations to create the FIMO hearts.
On Thursday a skip was delivered for the community to be able to get rid of their excess waste thanks to funding from the local housing authority. Alongside that Friends of Canklow Open Spaces went out on a litter pick around with other volunteers from the area, more than 10 bags were collected, and several piles of fly-tipping were also removed.
A typical wet summer Sunday was the day for the Sports day. Despite the weather, plenty of people came down to the event. With an inflatable penalty shoot-out, small football pitches set up and skipping ropes, families had the chance turn burn off energy whilst being out in the open spaces the area has to offer.
Over the week we all took the opportunity to build up new relationships with residents and reconnect with those who are already aware of what we are trying to achieve for the community. Planning will be starting soon for next year, and no doubt Dayle already has in mind what she wants to achieve and will work hard to make it bigger and better.
One of the wonderful things about working at RotherFed is that it has ignited my passion for personal volunteering, I like nothing more than getting involved where I can. July saw a fantastic opportunity presented to me with the Women’s Euros. Four matches were to be hosted by the New York Stadium, home of Rotherham United. I saw an advert and volunteered my time, not truly sure of what I was letting myself in for.
After lots of training, the first match day came and I found myself in one of the amazing fan zones being hosted by RMBC, this continued through the four days of the tournament. It was truly wonderful, over 40 volunteers coming together to help highlight the best of Rotherham and oh, did we know how to put on a party! One shift was done in the heatwave, temperatures reaching 36 degrees, which was very hot. We were well looked after, and we ensured the Rotherham public was too.
By the end of match day four and over 40 hours of volunteering we all retired tired but happy to have been part of this momentous occasion for Rotherham. One memory that will stick with me is meeting a lovely Rotherham resident, who pops into town just for some company as he was lonely. I had a lovely conversation with him, and we chatted about all sorts, he kept popping back throughout the day to say hello and let me know what a lovely day it was.
Sally has been walking with the S62 group from Greasbrough Dam since the start, a popular member of the group who has a fascinating knowledge of nature (especially trees) she really opens up your eyes to things you do not usually take notice of. Recently she disclosed that she might not be able to continue with the walks as her trainers which were 5 years old were causing her issues. She could not really afford a new pair due to her hours being reduced due to covid and due to the rising cost of transport to get her to events. To remove this barrier and to enable her to continue we have provided a new pair of walking trainers for her to use with the caveat that if she continues to attend the trainers will be hers. Sally was overwhelmed as she really did not want to stop walking as it had an impact on her mental and physical health, this has removed a barrier and will enable her to continue.
David, one of the group volunteers, arranged for his team at HSBC to do a volunteering day at the Rawmarsh Community Allotment. Ten people in total took part. For some of them it was their first time on an allotment and while they were impressed with the plot, they did feel a bit overwhelmed by the work needing to be done! They split into groups to work on various jobs, put on some music and began to enjoy being outside for the day.
Emilio, who has a nearby plot for the Salvation Army, provided lunch and refreshments for the group of bacon and egg rolls and tea & coffee, which he cooked on his stove.
We provided water for them all and the gravel boards to build some of the vegetable beds.
By the end of the day the group had cleared and area and installed a vegetable bed which is already showing signs of a good crop.
Talking to some of the team about the experience these were some of the comments received:
“The day went so fast, and was so much fun”
“Great to see how much we actually managed to do in a few hours”
“Beats sitting inside at a desk on a day like this”
Thank you to David for organising the event and for everyone who took part on the day.
Mrs S came to the Eid party, she was feeling anxious as she hadn’t been out since covid. She lives at home with her children, but she was excited to be at the party. She was happy to meet the guests from other organisations and asked them for information regarding what they do. She also spoke to the Rotherfed staff, and she commented by saying “I feel privileged to be invited to the party I haven’t been out for over three years, and I don’t attend any groups or sessions as my daughter is very strict and says that I might get covid. Therefore, she doesn’t allow me to go out. But after coming to the Eid party, I will be joining in more community events. I want to thank Yasmeen for checking on me at the party and for her inviting me. I am so happy I got the opportunity to make new friends and, I feel more comfortable in a public setting”.
I first visited this Centre in April 2022; it was one of the Centres selected by RMBC to look at the usage. This Centre is used every single day by a group of lovely residents who hold and run regular activities and events. They see the Centre as an extension of their homes and say they would be lost without it; this is apparent in the Centre too as it has a lot of homemade furnishings around making it feel homely. As a lot of the residents live alone, the Centre gives them the opportunity to get together and have a chat, without having to go far.
Since then, I have visited the Centre on several occasions. On a weekly basis they hold coffee mornings, craft sessions, book club, film afternoons etc they also hold afternoon teas or parties for special events i.e. Christmas, Easter, Queens Jubilee etc. They are now looking at day trips for the group starting with an afternoon tea and a barge trip. The group are not a constituted group so all the money they have is raised by themselves. I am talking to them about becoming a constituted group to enable them to get and apply for funding. They do seem a little nervous about taking this step but are slowly coming around to the idea. I have passed their contact details onto John Heeley MP who has offered to support this group where he can too, as it falls in his area.
I have also submitted two ward housing hubs proposals with this group for extra lighting around the bungalows and a dropped kerb, this will make things easier for the residents on scooters and in wheelchairs.
Making Our Money Go Further and Energy Know How recently attended the Centre to speak to the residents and they all said afterwards how beneficial they had found the session. This was followed by a fish and chip lunch, which they loved. The residents have also been taking part in some gentle exercise classes.
This is a lovely active group of residents who I am really enjoying working with. I will continue to support the group where required.