Village Halls – the unsung heroes

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To celebrate Village Halls Week 2021, our Chair of Trustees, David Sharp, tells us about the importance and relevance of village halls and why they deserve such celebration.

So we all know where our local village hall or community building is don’t we!

For those of you that do and use them on a regular basis, you know their importance, the value they bring and the sense of community they create.

For those of you that don’t, perhaps by reading this you will go out, when lockdown allows, and find out what’s going on and hopefully get involved.

Village halls have been providing amazing community based services and support for over 100 years. The diversity of activities that take part in village halls is astounding, from Scouts and Guides, WI, lunch clubs, Weight Watchers, bridge clubs, parties, national celebrations and the list goes on. They provide the location for the weird, wonderful and exceptional as well as the essential to take place in rural localities.

The lifeline that the different activities create for the vulnerable, lonely and isolated, as well as the community spirt generated through regularly meeting up to participate in your favourite activity, cannot be underestimated.

Clearly the government 100 years ago saw the benefits and as such created an initiative to support the rural communities following the Great War. This helped set up the first Rural Community Council in Oxfordshire. Yorkshire wasn’t slow to take this initiative up and created its own in 1928. During the next few years, hundreds of village halls were built, refurbished and brought back to life. Today there are over 600 that are over 100 years old. How many other local businesses can say they are over 100 years old – not that many!

They have been tested, the War to follow the Great War, apparently there was a 60’s if anyone can remember it, oil crisis in the 70’s, Yuppies in the 80’s, Brit pop in the 90’s, War on Terror in the 00’s and now Brexit and a global pandemic.

So that tells me that not only are they really needed but also incredibly resilient. That is down to the amazing volunteers involved in village halls, giving thousands of hours of time to make sure that Granny Sharp has everything she needs for her 90th birthday party to sweeping the floor so the ballroom dancing class can glide effortlessly across the polished floor.

In Yorkshire we have over 900 village halls which are being looked after by volunteers and Village Hall Week is all about celebrating them. So my thanks to each and every one of you involved in village halls, be that staff, volunteers or patrons. Your commitment, passion and enthusiasm for making your village hall the hub of your community is greatly appreciated and although we only have Village Hall Week once a year, every time the doors open should be celebrated because of the work needed to do just that.

To find out what’s happening during Village Halls Week 2021 visit the ACRE website.

If you would like to write a blog about your village hall, please get in touch, we’d love to hear from you!

Find out what support we can offer village halls and community buildings here.

 

A magical Christmas evening organised

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By Becci Barker

A Facebook message for help brought this wonderful idea to my attention.

The thought of offering a little help to make Becci achieve her goal to provide the best Christmas for the residents that she works with after a really tough year was so inspiring. Becci is one of the world’s biggest givers, she does so much for others without thinking of the hard work that it entails, she goes ahead and makes the time to achieve the best for all.

Becci is one of Rothwell’s superstars.

Can you tell us about you and the place where you work?

I work in Day services for Aspire Community Benefit Society (CBS) but I have been based in the supported living across the road, which is also an Aspire CBS building. I have been delivering activities three days a week in the supported living and then two days a week from home, working behind the scenes on the online timetable.

I provide one musical theatre class a week and one music and exercise class, both lasting around 40-50 minutes. The musical theatre class is learning a song, dance or a song and dance routine. I also host Rock and Roll bingo once a week via Zoom. We have 3 different sets, musicals, Disney and TV we also have a Christmas one which we play throughout the whole of December. This and lots more are available on our online timetable on the website, www.aspirecbs.org.uk.

What made you decide to do this magical Christmas evening?

Due to Covid and lockdown, the residents who live at Holmsley, or in any of our supported living services are not allowed to go to their family to visit at Christmas. This is due to people being high risk and we’re following the government guidelines to ensure everyone keeps safe and well. The guys who live here have been very resilient during the pandemic and have only been allowed to go out for local walks apart from the socially distanced, Covid safe activities that I have been providing throughout.

I decided I wanted to bring a little bit of Christmas magic to them, by lighting up their communal garden. I thought, let’s make this Christmas the best one they have ever had due to the fact that they can’t go and see their families.

Throughout the pandemic, the guys who live here don’t usually spend a lot of time together as they all do different things in their ‘normal weeks’ and they have become a proper family and we have all learned new things about each other that we didn’t know.

You put a post out for the people in Rothwell to help, did they respond and in what way?

I decided to put a post on my personal Facebook (I run one for work and I run the main Aspire CBS Facebook page along with other staff). This was just to see if anyone local could help me out and very kindly lend us any kind of Christmas lights for one evening. The response blew me away. Many people shared the post for me to try to see what they could do to help. We had light-up reindeers, trains, presents and even an 8ft light up inflatable Homer Simpson Santa! We also had donated to us a Santa’s sleigh rope light, and lots of other rope lights from some friends, which we used to decorate our homemade Santa’s grotto! Then of course the gift card from you for The Range, with which we purchased three light up trees and the two snowmen and the slow cooker for hot chocolate on the night.

How did you manage to organise the evening and keep it a surprise?

I explained to the residents that we were going to have socially distanced music, food and drink in the garden on 11 December but there were some added surprises. I explained that they were not to come outside until a member of the team who was on shift that night came to get them otherwise it would spoil the surprise for them. I hoped that they would listen and they did it worked! We all had hotdogs and chips indoors for tea and then everyone sat out socially distanced and we did a 3,2,1 and switched the lights on and music. We had cake, snowballs and slow cooker hot chocolate!

What did the residents think of the evening? Do you have any quotes from them?

Everyone loved it! We had people who don’t usually join in with activities who came and stayed out for the whole 2 & ½ hours that we were outside, dancing, cake, snowballs, Santa.

 

Sara: “Thank you for tonight it was fabulous”
Simon: “We have Christmas lights, I love it!”
Daryl: “It’s Santa!”
Kev: “I’m Happy now!”

The pictures and video say it all I think. Everyone was so happy and full of joy and they all felt the Christmas Spirit.

I know when I watched the video and looked at the pictures it put a smile on my face. How did you feel before the event, during and after? Would you do it again?

Incredible. It took a lot of organising as I did all the food and drink, the music, the lights, collecting the lights, sorting out costumes for some of the residents (the Christmas Tree outfit Heather is wearing I made myself by hand!) getting staffs costumes sorted, slow cookers and the rest!

I am incredibly thankful to Steph and Lisa from the team as they were Santa and his Elf and I was the Christmas Fairy all in our PPE of course, even Santa had his mask on under his beard! Also, a thank you to Jane and Margaret who were on that night and cooked all the food! Lauren for baking brownies and flapjacks and Ian for supporting all the customers making sure they were seated safely and separately.

Due to good organisational skills, the night went as smoothly as it could’ve done and the answer is YES 100% I would do it again! To see the smiles and joy it brought to people was worth every single second of organising. Same time next year?

Contact:

To get in touch, please email Sarah Hart, our Rothwell Assets Based Community Development Officer / Nidderdale Community Led Housing Officer on: sarah.hart@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk.

Stand up to Youth Loneliness

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Stereotypically, when we are asked to consider loneliness we picture someone who is elderly, perhaps frail, trapped in their home and struggling to connect with others in the wider world. But loneliness is not just something which affects the elderly. Recent research by the Red Cross and Co-Op Foundation has shown that young people are feeling increasingly lonely and socially isolated in society.

Youth loneliness can be stigmatising, hidden and disregarded; after all, young people are often thought to be constantly in contact with their peers on their phones and through social media. But loneliness is not about how many people we have around us. Loneliness occurs when there is a gap between our actual and desired social relationships; when the quality or quantity of these relationships does not meet our expectations. For young people, this might occur for a variety of reasons including poor self-image, bullying, disability or caring responsibilities and can leave a lasting impact well into adulthood.

We have developed a youth campaign – Stand up to Youth Loneliness – to tackle the stigma around loneliness in young people across North Yorkshire and gives them a voice to talk about it.

As part of the campaign development, we held workshops with young people across North Yorkshire. We asked them what causes their feelings of loneliness. They gave us a range of responses including:

  • ‘The lack of public transport in my area means that I’m physically not able to go anywhere or do anything’
  • ‘Social media can also make you feel lonely, especially if people don’t answer straight away and you can see that they have read your message. Some people also don’t have social media and this is harder because you can’t get in touch with people.’
  • ‘I don’t feel like I fit in. Sometimes if I‘m by myself people will make comments. It’s hard not being understood by people your age or by older people like your parents’

Our youth loneliness campaign contains a range of resources including:

  • Posters for schools, organisations and youth groups,
  • A leaflet for young people
  • Resources for professionals
  • A page on The Go-To, a website dedicated to supporting young people with mental health and other issues

All our resources are available to download online or as hard copies here. Please get in touch via info@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk to ask for hard copies to be sent to you.

 

Laura Thomas, Project Manager at Community First Yorkshire

Ways for men to improve mental well-being in the countryside

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For men, keeping mentally healthy is not always easy, wherever we live. However, living remotely in a rural area can make things more difficult.

This note is based on the five ways to well-being and CHIME aims to give some ideas about keeping mentally fit and healthy.

Conversations

Engaging in conversation with people in a rural area is not always easy but spend time to speak to and listen to what others have to say.

  • Have a conversation with a delivery or tradesperson ask them about their work.
  • Start a conversation with people when you fill up with fuel or visit a shop.
  • Engage walkers in a conversation and ask them about what they enjoy about your area.
  • Tell your family something about your day and ask them about theirs.
  • Connect with others at community events for example at the village hall, cricket club, or church.
Be active

Being active helps us all feel good about ourselves but it doesn’t have to be a sweaty session at a gym discover a physical activity that you enjoy and suits your level of fitness perhaps:

  • Regularly walking a short distance in the open air.
  • Gardening.
  • Getting a bike for short or long rides.
  • Joining a fitness class, a village sports club, or a team.
Take notice of things around you

Being aware of the world around us and noting what we feel, helps us appreciate what matters to us, savour the moment when:

  • Eating a meal.
  • Enjoying the view and signs of activity in the countryside.
  • Listening to the birds sing, sheep bleat, or the noises made by other animals.
  • Noticing the colours and smells of autumn, the frost and snow of winter, the green shoots of spring, lambs in the field and sent of blossom, the warm summer sun, and the smell of new-mown hay.
Keep learning

Learning new things helps our confidence and is fun, be aspirational have some goals of what you want to achieve perhaps:

  • Find out about plants for a garden or crops to grow.
  • Learn about different pets or animals to keep.
  • Try cooking a new recipe.
  • Set a challenge you will enjoy achieving.
  • Attend an evening class or follow an online course.
Giving

Giving to others need not be hard it can be as simple as:

  • Think of complimenting someone for what they have done.
  • Smiling at a stranger or purposely saying ‘have a nice day’.
  • Carry out small acts of kindness for neighbours.
  • Helping at a village event or looking after a community building or area.

Above all as men we should try to connect with others, dream, find our identity and meaning from what we see and do. Take control and make a difference in some small way for yourself others or the place and community where you live.

Based on the Five Ways to Wellbeing and CHIME.