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Sneinton Community Organisers Blog
New Listening Skills Workshop for the locals
Sneinton inspires Social Action all over Nottinghamshire
 The Spirit of Community Organising is on tour in Notts Over the last 12 months loads of people have asked me what is Community Organising? There are many definitions, but I sometimes think it’s easier to explain by sharing the journey of a person that has become a Community Organiser. I recently had the pleasure of bumping into a lady called Gina. Gina had suffered various health problems that caused a period of depression. She was shy and anxious about being in public. In her own words she had “become poorly and lost my friendship circle so became isolated and lonely.” 8 months later Gina has set up 2 Good Neighbours Schemes, which offer practical help to older people (whether it's collecting a pension or a repeat prescription, walking the dog or changing a light bulb). She has recruited 18 volunteers and is helping 3 other people to set up a similar group in Lincoln, Mansfield and Derby. She has started to help facilitate networking meet ups across Nottinghamshire and has become a speaker at Community Organising workshops. All this progress in only 8 months? Did the Spirit of Community Organising visit her? Gina had always been passionate about helping others in her community but like most of us, she didn’t know where to start. It all starts with a Listening Community Organising is the work of bringing people together to take action around their common concerns and overcome social injustice. Community Organisers reach out and listen, connect and motivate people to build their collective power.  |
When I met Gina I listened to her and learned about her love, concerns, vision for the future and about her beautiful idea. Gina said she new other friends that shared her idea and agreed to have a conversation with them with the view to bringing them to a meeting with me, which she did. At the meeting Gina and her friends discussed the idea in more detail, and with a bit of encouragement realised that their idea could be done and they all committed to setting up a Good Neighbours Scheme community group and within 1 week they were running a Bingo group at an older peoples independent living complex in Beeston, Nottingham.
 A dream without action is like Gladys Knight without the Pips As the group began to develop, Gina and her friends began to worry that they were out of their depth because they had never run a community group before, now they had a group of older people that had started to depend on them. The group then decided to book onto one of our free 1-day Introduction to Community Organising workshops and learned how to understand the importance of listening to build relationships, explore power and power dynamics in communities, develop their skills to motivate people to take action. Gina’s renewed confidence is infectious, and she has inspired many others to get involved. Her group are now doing home visits for the elderly, organise events and volunteer for many Independent living complexes across Beeston and Chilwell. Gina says “I feel getting involved with the Community Organisers is now having a positive impact on my health. I have developed friendships with social group members who I have been supporting to run activities. This project has given me a sense of purpose and I feel useful again. I am extremely happy that Community Organising has come to Beeston. It's helped to empower me and I'm beginning to take on new challenges.”.  Whats your plan?
Notts Social Action Hub AKA Community Organising
Notts has a range of workshops coming up across Nottinghamshire. Our next few
are in Bulwell, Aspley, Edwinstowe, Mansfield, Sneinton and Beeston. If you would like to find out more about our future training or discuss your idea with a local community organiser send an email to training@sneinton-alchemy.com. Written by S Smith, Senior Community Organiser. |
National Community Organising Team visit Sneinton
On 16 March 2016 the Community Organising Board of Directors come to Sneinton. They met at the Greenway Centre discussing things like the new national membership offer including for volunteers and supporters of community organising and made plans for the community organising Mass Meet Up 2016. Watch this space for updates about what you need to do if you would like to attend.  Next stop was to the public meeting "Meet the Board" at the Growin Spaces Café. The "Meet the  |  CO CEO Nick Gardhem thanks the Nottingham CO's for organising the event which was the busiest one to date. He explained that the session was very informative and some of the questions asked were quite probing.  If you would like to take part in shaping community organising you can attend the next CO event organised by Sneinton Alchemy and the Cabinet Office, called "Growing the movement; where next for Community Organising in England?" on April 7th 2016 at the Antenna. You can learn more and register here but hurry as there are limited places. Watch out for the next Our Sneinton newsletter which will be distributed through letterboxes across Sneinton. It will be packed with loads of useful info. |
Job Opportunities in Sneinton
JOB OPPORTUNITY
Two Part-Time Community Organisers (9 hrs a week)
| We are looking to commission two Community Organisers on a *self employed basis. Working on our intergenerational project candidates will help build bridges between the youth and senior citizens of Sneinton. These are part time positions (beginning September) and candidates must be a qualified Community Organiser or have completed a minimum of six months with the Community Organising Volunteer Training Programme (VTP)Candidates must possess local knowledge, be flexible and have the ability to work on your own initiative. CLOSING DATE: 21 August 2015 |
Charlotte's Story: Community Organising at Street Level
 Charlotte's story: “I have really loved getting involved with Sneinton Community Organisers, Simone, Dave and Steve and learning about Sneinton Alchemy. "I have encountered loads of positive experiences though meeting people from all different cultures in Sneinton, through door-knocking and listening to find out residents concerns and how we can work as a team to make positive changes in our community. "I have been involved in several events, and enjoyed studying on the volunteer training programme, participating and being involved on the 2 day residential, which gave me a deeper insight to community organising.  |  Above: 2015 programme for Restore in the Community Left: Charlotte with business partner Simon Morley who both started out volunteering as Community Organisers. "I have set up a project called Restore – health and well-being in our community with the support of Simone and Dave. We secured funding from Community First to set up a series of free clinics to offer treatments and massages to local people in Sneinton at The Greenway Community Centre. "We had regular clients and helped between 60-100 local people with severe muscle problems, resulting in local people feeling more active and some getting back into employment. "I am still continuing to connect with more people in Sneinton with a vision to heal and help people through holistic therapy. I feel that being part of the community organising team has helped me to develop a platform to continue making connections and has opened my mind to local residents needs.” |
Community Organising: at Street Level
Alchemy's Street Level project brought Community Organiser training to Sneinton throughout 2014, reaching out through door knocking, one-to-one engagement and group meetings to activate, support and encourage people to become active in their communities.
Here are stories from Kyle and Debs, two Street Level volunteers.
Kyle: "I found volunteering as a community organiser really interesting. "I would have liked to pursue further as I started the volunteer training programme, but I started full time employment. "The highlights have been meeting with new people, sharing experiences, helping to organise the volunteer celebration and being part of the community organisers team"   | Deb: "I never believed that I would actually enjoy knocking on people's doors and asking them for their views on the area in which they live. "In the beginning it was quite a difficult thing to do because I felt as though I was interrupting people's lives and I felt that they wouldn't want to speak to me. "I was wrong. All through last summer I spent time training to be a community organiser at TRACs in Sneinton. "I can remember the first time I knocked a door and the people invited me in to talk. It was EID and the family were fasting. Despite this, they invited Dave and I into their home, made us tea and offered us food. "There was a language barrier but this did not stop the mother and father from communicating with us long enough for us to arrange to return with an Urdu speaker. Everybody we spoke to made me feel as though people actually welcomed the chance to talk about their opinions. "In Sneinton most of the people I spoke to were from other countries. This was a challenge and now we are making efforts to reach out and bring people together to speak about their concerns and celebrations through the development of a multi- faith group which we have received funding for. "Through community organising I have developed personally as I have met a lot of people, developed my knowledge and skills through training such as the Action Camp and Residential Training but most of all I have seen evidence that people can use their personal power to make changes in their community." |
Calling ALL CREATIVES in Sneinton! St. George's Day Celebration Special
 The theme of this event will be "Celebrating Multicultulism". We are looking for creatives who are talented and interested in the following: Food Stalls Fashion Designers Live music (all genres) Dance performers Dj's Volunteers on the day Sponsors Date: Thursday 23rd April Venue: Sneinton Market Square If you are interested in knowing more please contact the NoMad team by e.mail NottsNomad@sky.com Thankyou for reading, see you soon! Nomad team: Simone, Steve, Rastarella. |
FREE TRIPS OUT TO ART EXHIBITIONS IN NOTTINGHAM
The Renewal Trust have teamed up with Sustrans and Sneinton Community Organisers for a fantastic opportunity for groups in Sneinton to explore The Lakeside Arts Centre and New Art Exchange. This will be totally FREE including transport and welcome tours. Spaces are limited so bookings are essential. More information will be coming soon with regards to dates for trips. In the mean time take a look at what's currently on view at The Lakeside Arts Centre http://www.lakesidearts.org.uk The New Art Exchange http://www.nae.org.uk If you or your group live in Sneinton and are interested in booking a place please contact Simone Miller simone.miller@sneinton-alchemy.com |
Rest in Peace Deidra (Dee) Odowd
Rest in Peace, Community Organiser Deidra (Dee) Odowd. Gone but never forgotten. So sad, still can't believe it. Dee had experienced a lot in her life, some very difficult and testing moments yet always managed to put on a smile for everyone. We are happy to have known and worked alongside Dee. Our work played such an important role in helping an initially very timid Dee to bloom into a more confident person. She often mentioned this to us herself. She really enjoyed being a part of our team. The last time we saw her she was so full of energy and enthusiasm for life. Walking past her home feels so weird, she'll be missed by so many. On behalf the Community Organising team and Sneinton Alchemy Funeral Service Date Monday 19/1/15 Location, Our Lady & St Edward R C Church, Gordon Rd, St Anns. Time 11 am |  Deidra (Dee) Odowd. Gone but never forgotten |
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