Category: In Your Community

By Neelam Rhuksar, Activities Coordinator

Rob Mellors, a man who has suffered 3 strokes in Dawsons Croft thought his life was over. He rarely met anyone and had absolute no social life.  He was often depressed and really suffered mentally as well as physically trying to manage the aftermath of his strokes.  When another resident mentioned to me how much Rob loved the coffee afternoons, I didn’t realise how much exactly. The coffee afternoons have changed his life.  When I was having discussions with the residents as to how often they thought they can genuinely commit to the coffee afternoons. Some said bi-weekly, a couple mentioned monthly, and Rob was amongst the ones that said he wanted them weekly. He now has social interaction at least once a week at the coffee afternoons if not more as a result of the coffee afternoons. Once he was going to miss a coffee afternoon due to feeling down but then came and said he would never miss one. His mental health nurse has said he has improved in leaps and bounds and the major reason for it is the coffee afternoons.  His health is also getting better because other people in the group are looking out for him. He is now being loved within his community and feels cared for. A specific resident knocks on every day to check in on him. Tuesday is essential for him. If it stopped, his health would go downhill.  This is the outcome of the difference the coffee afternoons have made to this individuals life. The residents involved in the coffee sessions have started to form stronger bonds and it’s started to feel a bit like a big family. Rob also won bingo 3 times in a row on the pyjama bingo night.  The group also organised a day out to Wentworth Gardens which Rob went too. This was the first time he went out in a long time to socialise.

The Volunteer Walk is an annual celebration of Rotherham’s Volunteering community hosted by Voluntary Action Rotherham. This year Heart of the Community was asked to support the event.

The event was to be a combination of hearing from speakers sharing their stories of how and why they give up their time for volunteering, followed by a walk through the town centre being led by the African Drummers. Refreshments were available for all taking part at the end of the walk.

On the day of the VAR volunteer walk we arrived at 10am to begin setting up the event as well as our own Heart of the Community stand. We themed our stall a with Luau vibe and gave a flower garland to everyone who filled out our Little Acts of Kindness pledge cards. The Luau theme stall and garlands was a big hit amongst everyone who attended, we collected 50 pledge cards, even the mayor of Rotherham himself wore a garland and shared his own little act of kindness.

The African Drummers led the crowd through the streets of central Rotherham. Shoppers, shop owners, business leaders all came out to applaud the group which added a massive sense of pride for those taking part.

We really enjoyed this event and understand how important it is recognizing the importance of volunteers working within our sector. Personally, we received some great partner feedback from Voluntary Action Rotherham. “It was a great day. Sam and Dan were awesome! I really appreciated their help from start to finish. Absolutely brill… “

We both hope to be involved in the Volunteer Walk over the remaining years of our project.

By Dan Barron, Project Worker

Sam and I first met the residents of Warreners drive in February to introduce the Heart of the Community (HotC) project on a night meeting. Back then the residents were forming to become a constituted community entity named the UNIT group. Unfortunately, some of the community leaders were unhappy about the guidelines they would have to operate in, and the group stalled in progress.

A few weeks later residents were engaging with the flowering arranging sessions arranged by Neelam. Meanwhile the coffee morning was running on alternative sessions that were supported by HotC and HRA. Residents were loving the flower arranging sessions and the coffee mornings were only seeing small number of members attend. Nicola Jackson from the Friends of Dalton East Herringthorpe and Thrybergh greenspaces group had been speaking with the group for since 2021. She suggested the residents receive support from the DEHT umbrella, so they did not have to become a community group themselves due to the lack of residents wanting to lead. Since then, Nicola has attended most coffee mornings and the now have reached a peak attendance of 15 not including partners. The group are in high spirits and have really created amazing relationships. Every week we are seeing the group sitting in a circle nattering away and creating a positive social atmosphere.

The residents hosted their first community event which was a celebration of the Queens jubilee on the 3^{rd of} June. Residents collaborated with us to plan the event. The residents and RotherFed decorated the centre from funding that Nicola Jackson has applied for and successfully achieved through RMBCs jubilee grant herself. The Jubilee was attended by a mixture of immediate residents to the centre and some from further away. A total of 44 people attended the event in total which was fantastic for their first event. Residents organising the event all took responsibilities on the day and delegated that amongst themselves.

The resident’s confidence has grown through consistent support from RotherFed over the last few months. They are regularly attending fitness sessions, have taken part in some digital support sessions, and are currently undertaking food hygiene level 2 training of which 4 have already passed out of the 8 residents taking part. Overall, the change in community activity and the residents has been amazing and we hope to continue to support a fantastic group.

By Nicola Evans, Volunteers Coordinator

Five of our befriending volunteers joined me, Ffion, Yasmeen and Rob on the annual volunteer walk in Rotherham, this was the first one in 2 years following covid. It was arranged by Voluntary Action Rotherham and supported by Dan and Sam from RotherFed’s Heart of the Community Project. It was an amazing celebration of volunteering across the Rotherham borough. We were proud to represent Rotherham Federation and had many positive conversations with other organisations and their volunteers.

One of the volunteers said “thank you so much for all the efforts you and the RotherFed team put into everything to make what you do a success; you really do go above and beyond. I am truly thankful to have found and taken the opportunity to be a part of it all. You always thank us for what we do but without your guidance and support I certainly couldn’t have done the role, you built me up and really helped me to develop confidence, I have grown as a person and gain so much personally from volunteering you are an inspiration.”

Following discussions with Hilltop School a young lady was identified who was interested in doing some community volunteer work. The young lady is due to leave school in July to go to Doncaster College in September, she has done some basic volunteering and is wanting to do something on her days off from college. Kirsty has down syndrome. It was agreed that Kirsty and her tutors would be introduced to a community group based at Bevan Crescent Neighbourhood Centre, having spoken to the residents in advance we arranged a visit. On the day Kirsty was joined by her tutors plus 2 other pupils. To be honest nobody knew how this visit was going to pan out, each of the girls has different needs and all find communication a challenge especially in new surroundings. What can I say though! from walking in the door the residents were so accommodating, instantly making the girls feel at ease, offering homemade cake was a deal breaker. It was obvious that they were nervous but as anxieties eased the girls relaxed, one of the tutors stated how amazing it was to see the interactions happening so quick and how nice it was to see the girls having two-way conversations with a variety of residents. The residents who are aged between early 50s to late 90s were in their element, Keith who is instrumental in the group even took the girls outside to see the garden and the things they were growing, with patience and a big smile he spoke to the girls, the girls responded by asking questions, again the tutors were amazed and one even had a tear in her eyes she said she had never seen anything so remarkable. As Kirsty and the girls made their plans to leave there was talk of a team from Hilltop versus the residents at indoor curling which really excited all involved. Kirsty is considering her options and we hope this is the start of something amazing for all.

The tutor commented, “The group were very warm and couldn’t do enough to make our students feel at ease. We felt incredibly welcome. It gave our students opportunity to practice their communication skills. Long term there are lots of opportunities for our students to develop their life skills and confidence.”

This month we have made links with 6th form pupils at Hilltop School at Maltby. Discussions have started to see if we can offer volunteering opportunities for the pupils to gain experience in the community, to build confidence. The pupils at the school have additional needs and the offers have to be carefully selected to meet individual needs. Talking with the 6th form tutor we are starting to put together an offer for the school to implement in September when the school returns for the new school year. We did want to try and do a test case before the start of the holidays if possible, so in the quickest turnaround (just 2 days) we matched an amazing young lady with a community group, with the possibility of the pupil volunteering on a regular basis in the future.

Ray came along to the S62 wellbeing walks this month. Ray is a gentleman in his 50s who suffered a stroke last year and has been living with mental health. Ray was a keen walker prior to the stroke and had become quite inactive. Ray reached out to the walking group as a way back to activities but needed to know that it was accessible and understanding off his needs. Sarah (the walk leader and S62 lead volunteer) spoke with him prior to the walk to ensure this was manageable to him, we adjusted the route to ensure his first walk with us was accessible and inclusive. Ray had a fantastic time; the group chatted the whole way round about anything and everything. Ray joined the group after for a cuppa, a biscuit, and another chat at the local library after the walk. Ray said “I’ve had a lovely time, I wasn’t sure I would be able to get back to activities following my stroke, but the compassion shown and the small changes that were made to enable me to participate really helped. I already feel part of something which is a feeling I haven’t had in a long time, just chatting and looking around at the beautiful surroundings made me feel 100% happier than I have in a long time.” Ray also spoke about tenancy problems he was having, which was picked up by Sarah and a referral was made into RotherFed to help him sort this, this was something he certainly wasn’t expecting as an outcome and he is very happy to receive the support to hopefully alleviate his concerns.