Community Renewal are delighted to announce that they will be holding local conversations with the residents of Magdalene and Bingham until April 2016! Why, I hear you ask?
Well, as part of a funding bid placed with the People’s Health Trust, Community Renewal will be conducting these conversations with the residents of both Magdalene & Bingham to find out what they like and don’t like about their communities, with a view to getting first-hand knowledge on how and if the two communities can be improved.
By facilitating this early stage of the project, Community Renewal staff – Sheila McWhirter & Archie Lowe – will be working in both communities to talk and listen to local residents who have ideas on improving the quality of lives of people who live in these two communities.
At the end of the conversations, Community Renewal will write-up a report for the People’s Health Trust, highlighting what the people have said is needed and the project ideas that have come out of listening and talking to the communities.
Sheila McWhirter, Community Development Worker for Community Renewal said “The People’s Health Trust have funded us to connect with local people from Bingham and Magdalene, with the view to possible future investment in the communities and the key element is holding very brief but effective local conversations with as many people as we can, in order to develop a big picture of ideas that might address local issues as well as to link to people who may wish to get actively involved in addressing these issues and ideas.
We would hope that the information gathered and the vision developed for the areas might lead to further links and benefits, in future, as activities and initiatives emerge.”
As part of this process, Community Renewal wishes to speak to anyone who lives in these areas, young & old alike, and also anyone who would be willing to assist as Community Connectors.
Archie Lowe from Community Renewal said, “Community Connectors are an essential part of this project, they are local people who know the area, the issues and, more importantly, the people in the areas we are working in and they can get to them when we can’t.
They are key to us getting access to people who may otherwise feel excluded from the community and not feel able to talk to us. This will give us an insight into the real needs of real people. This project will listen to the views of everyone who wishes to talk to us, not just a select few in the communities.
On completion of this stage, Community Renewal will then report back the findings to the PHT, which will then, hopefully, lead to further investment and the creation of projects that include the whole community over the next 3-7 years.
The projects that come out of peoples’ ideas and visions will be for the people of the communities, run by the people in the communities and facilitated by Community Renewal.
As part of this, Community Renewal staff are keen to speak to residents who would like to be ‘Community Connectors’ and are offering a short two hour training session in mid-February showing how to do this effectively. If anyone is interested in finding out more about this skill-building opportunity, they can call the office number on 0131 629 9858 or Archie on 07738 760 607 or Sheila on 07860 272 924″
This is a great opportunity for everyone in both communities to have their views listened to and to get involved in a dynamic series of new ventures, bringing with it community cohesion and a sense of togetherness, which will, hopefully, improve the lives of and services for everyone in both Magdalene & Bingham. So, watch out for Sheila & Archie knocking on doors in your area, feel free to stop and speak to them and get as many local residents involved in this project as possible to make this a success.
For information on both organisations see http://www.communityrenewal.org.uk & https://www.peopleshealthtrust.org.uk
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