Archive for category: News

Wigan Athletic Community Trust have launched a brand new initiative to tackle loneliness across the Wigan Borough this Christmas.

During the festive period, the club’s official charity will be delivering Christmas support packages to people at risk of isolation as part of the Tackling Loneliness Together programme and a £5 donation from Latics supporters will significantly help the cause and ensure we can deliver to more people over the festive period.

Contributions from supporters will assist the Community Trust in providing a number of items within the bags including Christmas puddings, crafts and other festive gifts.

Tom Flower, Head of Community at Wigan Athletic, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has had such an impact on the lives of many older people in our community; it has meant they have become even more isolated, which has had an adverse effect on their mental health.

“For people living on their own, Christmas can be a very difficult time and one made even harder during these uncertain times.

“Through the delivery of our festive bags we aim to make what may be a challenging time, a much more joyful occasion and any donations from supporters will certainly help us to do this.”

Latics are one of 31 EFL clubs involved in the programme launched by the EFL Trust and supported by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) during the summer to tackle loneliness among older people.

Christine Blundell, who has been working on the nprogramme for the Community Trust says the packages will provide much needed festive spirit for those that receive them.

“The packages will contain plenty of festive gifts including a Christmas pudding, tree decorations, crafts and also letters and pictures from local primary school pupils,” Christine said.

“We have seen through the programme how much of an impact a phone call or chat over the fence can have, so to provide these packages at a crucial time of the year will make a real difference.”

As part of the programme, staff have been providing a number of services to ensure those most vulnerable continue to feel connected to their local community, including virtual coffee mornings, walking groups, phone calls and socially distanced garden gate visits.

So far over 1,000 phone calls have been made to residents and supporters to check in and offer any further support whilst over 70 socially distanced garden gate visits have taken place.

Teresa Dexter, who has benefitted from both phone calls and visits from staff, said: “The support during lockdown has been very, very welcome with the visits and the phone calls.

“It’s been nice as I live alone and we haven’t been able to see much of our families. It was nice to know someone was coming and that someone cared enough to come and chat or phone just for ten minutes. It gave me something to look forward to.”

Visit Wigan Athletic Community Trust’s website for more information.

Derby County Community Trust were delighted to host Oliver Dowden, Secretary of State for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, on a virtual visit to their ‘Stay Safe. Stay Fit. Stay Connected.’ project on Wednesday evening. The MP was interested in finding out more about the initiative which has adapted a city-wide approach to tackling the issues which have been exemplified by the Covid-19 pandemic.

On the call were members of staff from the Derby County Community Trust, Leon Taylor – a trustee and volunteer at the Trust, Paul Brookhouse – Project Manager, Derby Food 4 Thought Alliance and Caroline Spalding – Assistant Headteacher at The Bemrose School.

The project was initiated by Derby County Football Club’s players and manager, who recognised the role that a football has to support its community, particularly during a crisis. The expertise of staff at the Community Trust, who have long-established links with a raft of organisations in Derby, were used to establish the demand for services in the city.

The obvious need for increased supply to the food network became the starting point of the project, which has operated a donation hub at Pride Park Stadium since April. This partnership attracted further investment from The National Lottery Community Fund, through which the Secretary of State found out more about the initiative.

The visit involved a tour of the food network hub in Derby to show how organisations have come together to source and supply food packages to those in need.  m supermarkets donating surplus stock to places of worship providing premises to store goods, to the volunteer network who were recruited through the Stay Safe, Stay Fit, Stay Connected project to deliver the parcels, every part of the initiative has exemplified how effective partnership work is.

Leon Taylor, who volunteered every week during lockdown, said:

“Throughout the initial lockdown I volunteered at the food hub and delivered food parcels. It was amazing to see how many people the project and the Trust were helping.”

Another element of the project which the Secretary of State was keen to learn more about was its youth mental health support, a particular concern for vulnerable pupils.

Caroline Spalding outlined some of the work that the Trust were able to deliver within her school, which is situated within a high area of social deprivation. She said:

“Derby County were able to come in and deliver very tailored, specific wellbeing sessions alongside our academic approach. 100% of pupils said it helped them get back into routine, and their grades and attendance have continued to rise as a result of the programme. I genuinely think the impact of Derby County coming in has been totally different to us delivering these projects ourselves.”

The visit culminated with some discussion on future plans and the project’s legacy beyond the pandemic. In response to the second lockdown, the weekly food donation hub at Pride Park Stadium has been reinstated and will be open every Thursday from 11.00am-2.00pm.  Donations will continue to support the project’s vital work in keeping the city safe, fit and connected.

Alongside increased provision in schools around wellbeing and a full virtual timetable with activities for all ages, the Derby County Community Trust were proud to highlight the vital work that has come to fruition as a result of the pandemic.

The Secretary of State visit highlighted that the unique approach to the work undertaken by the Trust across Derby has not gone unnoticed and the initiative will strive to address issues which arise during the second lockdown and beyond.

11 young people from Club Doncaster Sports College have transformed a local park whilst on NCS (National Citizen Service) this autumn.

As part of the NCS programme, participants plan and deliver a social action project to make a positive change in their local community. The group were keen to refresh Sandall Park, a popular park for local residents, and they got to work by repairing benches, creating hedgehog habitats, and cleaning footpaths and signposts. The volunteering undertaken by the group has come at a good time when local residents may use the park for some escape our exercise during the second national lockdown.

One member of the group, Dylan, said:

“We really enjoyed getting out in the park and working as a team to help clean up, especially with the problems that people are facing with COVID-19 and lack of funds and resources. 

I’ve not really done much gardening before but we were given plenty of guidance, and the NCS staff made the experience really enjoyable. 

It’s definitely something I would want to do again, seeing the park transform after our hard work was a really nice feeling”

The group of teens were able to volunteer having signed up to doing NCS this autumn. NCS provides young people aged 16-17 the chance to take on new challenges, experience exciting activities, make long-lasting friendships and develop vital skills that will support them later in life.

Callum Grice, Team Leader at Club Doncaster Foundation worked closely with young people on NCS said;

“It’s fantastic to see young people supporting and helping their community during this challenging time. They have done a great and the park is hopefully more appealing for local residents to visit.

We would like to thank Friends of Sandall Park for partnering with us and allowing our young people to come and help out with this project. Hopefully this will motivate the young people to carry on helping their local community and inspire others to help their communities during this time.”

Sandra Crabtree, Chair of Friends of Sandall Park, said:

“The NCS participants have done an amazing amount of work in the two days they spent in the park.

It was a pleasure to work with them. They were committed, hardworking, all there earlier than requested and didn’t even want a full dinner break, they were so keen were they to get on with the jobs.

The team dynamics were excellent and it showed in the way they performed the tasks. A sense of responsibility was displayed in relation to COVID-19 restrictions, and all had masks at the ready.

 The participants all showed professionalism and were a credit to Club Doncaster Foundation, and to their parents. Thank you for choosing Sandall Park to volunteer.”

Club Doncaster Foundation are part of EFL Trust’s network of NCS delivery partners who, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, are supporting thousands of young people this Autumn through NCS. To find out more about NCS this autumn visit wearencs.com.

Here is another park that another team from Doncaster has been working on!

https://twitter.com/ClubDFoundation/status/1323663977226948610

Tracy Brabin, local MP for Batley and Spen, visited young people on Huddersfield Town Foundation’s NCS (National Citizen Service) Autumn programme and was ‘uplifted’ and ‘inspired’ by what she saw.

NCS is a government funded programme that provides young people aged 16-17 with the opportunity to take on new challenges, experience exciting activities, make long-lasting friendships and develop vital skills that will support them later in life.

During the October Half Term, Tracy Brabin was invited to support the programme and speak to young people about her work and life as an MP. Tracy spoke about her previous career in acting and the barriers and positives she took from her previous occupation prior to becoming an MP. Tracy went on to discuss the importance of women in leadership and encouraged the female participants on our NCS Autumn programme to push themselves out of their comfort zones and believe in the power of using their voices.

The young people also had a talk about the importance of stronger communities and galvanising positive change at local, national and international levels. The session concluded with young people exchanging ideas for social change and asking questions to Tracy who was amazed at the young people’s ideas:

“It was enormously uplifting to spend time with such engaged young people and hear all their wonderful questions and ideas.

Their commitment to coming together to exchange ideas around social change was inspirational, and it shows what can be achieved when we come together and work towards a common goal”

Danish, a participant of the programme was inspired by the talk from Tracy:

“Tracy showed us how if you follow a dream and have a will to succeed in life you can go far. She’s inspired me to raise my voice to support my community and stand up for my family and what I believe in.”

Evan Hall, NCS Coordinator at Huddersfield Town Foundation was delighted at the insight got into the life as an MP and the discussions that young people had:

 “We had a fantastic morning in the company of Tracy on our autumn 2020 NCS programme. We were pleased we could not only increase our participants’ awareness of their local MP and ways they can influence change, but also allow them to speak directly with Tracy and offer their opinions on issues in their local area.

We are happy we could showcase to Tracy the positive work we are doing with NCS in North Kirklees to create the next generation of local leaders through the programme.”

Huddersfield Town Foundation are part of EFL Trust’s network of NCS delivery partners who, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, are supporting thousands of young people this Autumn through NCS. To find out more about NCS this autumn visit wearencs.com.

Preston North End Community and Education Trust is launching ‘Together As One’ in partnership with Windrush Initiatives founder Adrian Murrell, a racism education programme forming part of its schools and community provision. Read more