Seventh Blog Update!

What’s going well?

Full Steam Ahead

We’re so proud of the work already been undertaken by our pioneer projects and this month have recorded an estimated total of over 1000 hours and we’re still receiving more updates! This is an enormous achievement and shows to the hard work and commitment the people of Darwen have put in. Proving that together, we really can make a difference.

Booking the Living Room Tour

We’re starting to fill the diary with a bunch of tour dates for our living room and already we’re finding it much easier than the first tour! We’ve been receiving requests for tour dates and positive feedback from the first tour! We’ll keep you informed as the tour gets underway!

Pegasus Fund

The Pegasus fund is a vital part of our sustainability plan, creating a resource that can be used by the community long after the funding ends from the Neighbourhood Challenge. We’ve brought in Lancashire Communities Foundation to manage the fund and have been meeting with them this month to ensure it’s set up just right. We’re keen for the fund to continue to grow from the initial endowment placed in the fund through our NESTA budget and that access to funding is kept open and in line with the core principles of our project.

Alice from NESTAland

This month we we’re delighted to have a chance to catch up with Alice from NESTA. We took a couple of hours to explain exactly what’s been happening since the last time we spoke. It was great getting feedback and suggestions and having the opportunity to share our future plans and hope they enjoyed the visit as much as us!

 

Stand Out in Darwen Together

We’re currently working very closely with the NHS: Healthy Streets Pilot as a means of expanding what we’re currently doing, ensuring sustainability and embedding this way of working at the heart of the town. With this in mind we’re planning a training day for all client facing workers in the town from both private and public sectors.

 

What’s not going so well?

Slowly Slowly…

After presenting our Big Screen idea to the council we’ve started to put together a working group to ensure we do everything possible to ensure this vision comes true. Like any ambitious project however there are processes that need adhering too that lengthen the time it takes. We’re getting there slowly but surely and we’re hoping to have more news on this truly exciting idea shortly!

How have the community been involved?

Living room tour and people coming forward

It’s been an absolute pleasure preparing the launch of our second living room tour. We’d hoped that the living room would be iconic and recognisable and it seems to have paid off. We’re already receiving expressions of interest from a number of organisations interested in hosting the next round of tour dates. Community Champions are also signing their names up to support the tour!

Community Payback team

Having built links in the community it’s really nice to see community groups, individuals and the council pooling assets to get work done. One great example is at the Ashleigh Barrow project where the community payback team offered their support to trim back some of the more overgrown areas of the park. This has really helped the project move much faster and progress on site is obvious.

 

Ward Solution meetings

Jude and Chris have been attending all of the local Ward Solutions Meetings, finding out the ideas that are coming through the more traditional routes established by the council. We’ve been using these to raise awareness of our project and so far has had different levels of success.

Extended Shared Neighbourhood Team Meetings

Each month a collection of service providers come together to host informative meetings about what they’re offering in the area. We’ve been attending these meetings representing all of the projects we’re supporting in the town. This has been a great source of support for many of the projects.

Healthy Streets

Stand Out in Darwen has been approached by the NHS: Healthy Streets pilot, interested in using our methodology for engaging people in the community. This is a great opportunity to work in partnership with those interested in achieving similar goals. We’re hosting an event on the 9th November training members of the community and public service workers in our methodology.

Cyber Café Volunteers

In supporting the Cyber Café projects we’ve been helping conduct interviews for volunteer digital champions. The project has attracted 8 digital champions due to start training in the next fortnight.

Surprising things that have happened

Did you know that the Entrepreneurship Team; made up of the Darwen Creates and Stand Out in Darwen teams has been nominated for the Lancashire Telegraph Social and Community Business Award? We’re already very grateful for the nomination and are very much looking forward to the event!

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