News

Keppel and Scholes Heritage

The Keppel and Scholes Heritage group were formed during lockdown to help Chris from the museum with the restoration of Keppel’s Column.

Since its conception the has evolved and now encompasses the surrounding area that contains a Roman encampment, a rare ecological meadow and wet land and is home to rare daytime moths that the group spotted on their bug hunt and flora and fauna events earlier this year where they catalogued the species they found.

This month the group working with Clifton Park Museum the group helped to host the Keppel’s Column open day, this is the first time in around 50 years that the column has been open to the public. During the event members of the group led tours of six people up the column where they held a talk on the rich history of the site and landmarks that are visible from the top one of the members of the group also made a short documentary that visitors were invited to view.

On the run up to the event the group interview people around the area to get their memories of the column and these were incorporated into a land art installation where visitors were invited to listen to the interviews on mp3 players as they explored the different areas of the installation.

Looking to the future the group are looking at becoming part of the Rotherham Heritage Society, this is an umbrella group that showcases Rotherham’s many heritage projects through numerus events over the year the group are planning on using this platform as a means of promoting the group borough wide.

Friendship Call Participant – Barry

Joanne has now been actively supporting on the befriending calls and has a couple of people with who she speaks with regularly, plus other individuals. Barry is one of the people she have been speaking with.

Joanne started speaking with Barry in August, he has become a participant of the Telephone Befriending service due to experiencing loneliness. He has got family but since his wife passed away 5 years, he hasn’t gone out other than food shopping or to see family.

He is very lonely, during conversations Barry told Joanne how he doesn’t have friends, when his wife passed away, he lost himself and attempted suicide and was admitted into hospital for his mental health as he was at risk to himself, he was sectioned and placed on suicide watch. Barry had 1-2-1 support whilst in hospital to ensure he was safe and this whole experience has left him anxious. Barry has a colourful an extensive history, he was a businessman and has a wealth of experience gained from his business and travelling around the world for business. His family business of fruit, veg and flowers remains operational in Rotherham, now managed by his daughter Barry wears his heart on his sleeve and is happy for me to share some of his story. Barry came to the coffee morning, this was a big deal for Barry he had not been out in any social setting for 5 years, he was very nervous an anxious on the day, he was shaking, bless him. When he arrived, I made sure he was ok, he arrived early, and we were still setting up. He was happy to wait outside to have a cigarette and try to calm himself down. He got chatting with another guy who also was a first-time attendee. When Barry came into the room he was still shaking, I got him a cup of tea and he eventually began to feel a bit more comfortable, I reassured him he was a in safe space. Barry really enjoyed getting ready, he is a very proud man and likes to look the part, which he did. I think that in itself was a huge step for Barry and will support his journey to feeling better and more positive about the future. Barry would like to meet a companion to share his time with and make new memories, whilst he continues to grieve his wife.

Barry is very engaging and was chatting with everyone, he was smiling and laughing. Barry said

‘It was the first time he had smiled in a while, he felt very safe and was so pleased he came to the coffee morning. He felt it had given him something to look forward to and life was good’. He also said he felt more confident at the end to start going out more.

When Barry arrived home, he left Joanne a message to say thank you and that he was thrilled he came, he felt he had been given life back, it was a very emotional morning to be a part of this positive step forward for Barry was immense. Barry is really looking forward to coming to the next one in September which is a massive step for him.

The Summer themed coffee morning was a great success

This was Joanne’s first coffee morning to organise for Rotherfed, just 5 weeks into the role. With a great team effort, she pulled it off! The event was well shared and was great that KC café and Mowbray Gardens Community library were happy to pop posters up and are happy to share any future events with posters being dropped off and/or emailed through to them.

Having received great feedback from those who attended including befriending recipients, people from different communities and professional colleagues who came along to find out more about what we are offering, share what they are doing and chat to all those who came alone. We had 38 people attend which was fantastic, Nic had to run out and get some more milk and cakes – which was brilliant.

The kids loved the activities, the shells and fossils went down well, it was nice they took some home with them.

Continue reading “The Summer themed coffee morning was a great success”

New Volunteer at Friends of Dalton, East Herringthorpe and Thrybergh Green Spaces

Friends of Dalton, East Herringthorpe and Thrybergh Green Spaces are always on the look out for new volunteers and for people to attend the coffee morning that the group support.

Pam has attended the coffee morning with a view to engaging with the litter picks. She told us that it was something she was interested in as she likes to take pride in the area. The group at Warreners Drive quickly made Pam feel at home and she was laughing and joking with the group as though she had been attending for months.

Pam has now attended the Keep fit session that the coffee morning group engages and has joined in with a litter picking session. She told other volunteers that “it was just what she needed”, that she will now be attending the coffee morning on a regular basis and wants to visit the Re-Wilding project to see how she can help out there.

To know that a group that we support can have such a positive impact on just one individual really justifies all of our hard work.

Making Our Money Go Further

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.

Friendship Call Participant – Nora

Nora was referred to the befriending calls in May 2022. Nora’s husband sadly passed away 4 years ago but Nora hasn’t let this stop her enjoying and living life to the fullest. She loves to have a good chat with her volunteer.

Nora is a very active lady and aims to walk 10 miles a day on her treadmill, which amazed our volunteer whose attitude to exercise was not quite on the same page as Nora’s. Nora has now been able to convince her volunteer to try and get more active and has been constant support with how many steps they have both done a week, they now encourage each other to beat the last week’s step count. The record in one day for our volunteer was 27,462 steps!

Nora and her volunteer have talked about such a wide and varied number of topics, everything from the war in Ukraine and the weather, to how much Nora dislikes films (especially action films). They both also share a passion for motorbikes, Nora was a dedicated rider until her husband passed away. The anecdotes Nora has from her biking days are amazing and hilarious, for instance, trying to go for a wee when wearing leathers! They both share favourite routes, places to go and things to see. Their latest topic of conversation has been about the government and how they both should run for the government and put the UK back in order. Some of Nora’s ideas are a bit wild and crazy but it is amazing for her and her volunteer to be able to chat as they do.

Friendship Call Volunteer – Marie

Marie is one of our newer volunteers and she has been with us for about three months now. She does four or five calls a week on average, which she fits in around her family and home life.

Recently Marie lost one of her best friends and asked if she could take a break from making the calls. When we rang to check in and make sure Marie was doing ok, she said how grateful she was that we had bothered to keep in touch and asked if it would be possible for her to resume making the calls and to do extras because she felt that she needed to keep herself busy and fully occupied so she wasn’t sat dwelling on things. During the last few weeks, she has done up to ten calls a week. She has said the calls are keeping her in a good place with her mental health as she is keeping busy focusing on others. Speaking to such a wide range of people has made her feel less isolated in her grief. 

As a result of this we are now aware of how much the befriending calls help not just the participants but the volunteers making the calls as they have a raised sense of self belief and achievement in helping others. She feels like she can always call Ffion or Nicola for a chat if things get too much for her. Marie has said RotherFed does outstanding work and she is proud to volunteer with us.

Swinton Community Focus Group

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. 

Ferham Festival

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.

Continue reading “Ferham Festival”

Tenants Open Day

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.

Congratulations to the winners.