Verbal update from the Community Representatives
Minutes:
Ben Rosser, of the Pythian Club, provided an overview of the organisation, its achievements to date and plans for the future, as follows:
a) The Pythian Club works with young people and has been running for nearly 5 years, based in the New Basford area but offering outreach work in Bestwood, Bulwell, Wollaton and NG5 and NG7 areas;
b) Free youth activities are offered across these areas every day, three times a day and generally focus on boxing, football or music, whilst providing a positive environment and encouraging development of skills in mentoring and leadership;
c) The Club works alongside other organisations, but does not specifically promote work or education themes. However, promotion of good mental health and a positive mind set is paramount;
d) During COVID-19 lockdown, sessions were obviously stopped, but work continued in a different direction with the production of a 28 page document outlining the services and support available to citizens, including young people, during the pandemic. This was circulated to approximately 500 families and residents. In addition, through partnership working, Pythian Club leaders and many of the young people, volunteered to help support vulnerable citizens by collecting and delivering prescription medicines, liaising with food providers and delivering sports equipment, arts and crafts supplies to families;
e) The City Council has recently provided the Club with a base at a community centre on the Heathfield Estate, where the Club will work with and promote partner organisations to deliver employment projects and workshops to support and encourage young people into work or education.
Responses to questions and comments from the committee were responded to as follows;
f) As Neighbourhood Development Officers working on the front line of the Golden Number to support residents through the COVID-19 lockdown, the support from and dedication of the Pythian Club and its volunteers has been tremendous and very much appreciated by colleagues and recipients. This selfless involvement made a huge difference to people who were in desperate circumstances;
g) Although the Club’s base is on the Heathfield Estate, it is the site of the hub and currently no sessions are currently provided in the Sherwood area as the majority of activities are focused within inner city and deprived communities. Heathfield is considered a neutral area, therefore more attractive and accessible for some young people who are reluctant to travel out of their immediate area;
h) approximately 200 young people are involved in activities every week, and that includes two sessions held within Bestwood and Bulwell;
i) The Pythian Club provides several routes for young people to be involved in the leadership programmes, including via Nottingham College, usually with about 10 young people every month, looking at what makes a good leader the basics of leadership. Courses are held every month along with ‘Street Games’ for resilience training which links into teambuilding, leadership, mentoring, training and coaching, which build confidence and can be used as evidencing multiple skills when seeking employment;
j) There may have been concerns that there are pockets of young people in Top Valley area who are unable to access local programmes offered by the Pythian Club, but sessions have been held in the Southglade, Gainsford and Snapewood areas, but the specific area of Top Valley could be looked at again, depending on the resources available;
k) Positive references from Ward Councillors on the work of the Pythian Club would be appreciated as this would help support funding bids to external organisations, particularly if the mental and physical health benefits are referred to. The offer to provide supporting evidence from Ward Councillors and Portfolio Holder for Health HR and Equalities, Eunice Campbell-Clark, would be valuable and greatly appreciated.
Chris Easton of the Bestwood Park Church, provided an update on the work of the Church during the pandemic:
l) During the last week in March, the luncheon club work of the church refocused to provide delivered hot meals to vulnerable members of the community who were referred from the Golden Number citizen support service, which coordinated City Council services with those of partners and volunteer organisations;
m) Initially there were 40 to 50 meals delivered but these numbers quickly increased as referrals increased and 160 different people received meals twice a week for four months. As restrictions have eased, this has now been reduced to once per week;
n) ‘Fare Share’ provided lots of food, some of which was delivered to struggling local families as food boxes;
o) It is anticipated the support services will be required in the longer term so some level of support will continue, at least until Christmas;
p) To date, 4,596 two or three course meals have been delivered, along with 3,886 bags of food, including 1,685 ready meals provided and delivered by city restaurants;
q) Local business donated 1,200 Easter eggs, 800 bags of popcorn, along with children’s clothing from a high street store, all of which were distributed to vulnerable families in the community;
r) 21.5 tons of food has been delivered over a five and a half month period, with 25 dedicated volunteers supporting the work. This includes the current scheme which provides free meals to children after school on Thursdays;
s) To identify the most vulnerable families, the organisation liaised with local schools, including Robin Hood, Glade Hill, Henry Whipple and Southglade. As an average, each school identified 10-15 vulnerable families which were offered and received family food boxes each week during lockdown, but the highest number of referrals was for families in the Southglade area where 35 family food boxes were delivered weekly.
Comments from the Committee included:
t) The work undertaken by the church and volunteers during lockdown has been very gratefully received by the local and surrounding community;
u) This report has been very humble and hasn’t mentioned the rapid response to citizens calling the Golden Number helpline who hadn’t eaten for 2 to 3 days and had no food in the house. Volunteers swiftly delivered meals or food boxes, which made a huge difference to these vulnerable citizens. Some volunteers even took time for a quick chat with people who were extremely isolated and hadn’t spoken to another person from several days;
v) The church has done a brilliant job in the Area wards, but also beyond, into the County, for those in extreme need, which has been very much appreciated;
w) The organisation of volunteers and overall excellent work has made an amazing difference meet people in and around the Area.
Celia Knight, Neighbourhood Development Officer, informed the Committee that, in the current circumstances, Community Representatives Doreen Carruthers (Forest Park Neighbourhood Watch) and Gillian Slack (Ravensworth Methodist Church) had resigned from the Committee, but their involvement has been appreciated.