Local Rep Report – April – June 2022
As your Big Local Rep, every three months I share my thoughts on local area progress with you as residents and with the central team managing the national programme. Your comments and thoughts are always welcome.
The big picture
Despite still much uncertainty home and abroad, this has been perhaps the most settled, or, can we say normal three months for over two years. Many aspects of our lives have opened up further and most of us are getting about more and re-joining activities in our communities. For Big Local, this has meant continuing new ways of doing things, especially online, but also returning to more and more face to face meetings and events.
Resident-led investment in the area has continued to support those particularly hard pressed, while picking up and giving a welcome push to things happening out and about.
For all the heartache, loss and grief experienced in these last two years, Big Local has been at the heart of something good, very good: residents showing compassion and concern through practical action backed by dedicated resources, investment and volunteer time. When the 150 Big Local areas come to share and update our stories at Big Local Connects in September 2022, again in Nottingham, there will be many and varied stories to celebrate and to inspire.
Looking back
Allenton Big Local’s final plan was approved by Local Trust and launched in April. Headlines were shared with all residents in the Allenton Big Local newsletter and via the website. Feedback from the assessor Sian Jay was heartening: “I was particularly impressed by your legacy; your emphasis on communication and relationship building in your final year is your route to continuing influence. Your legacy is the increased skills and capacity amongst young people and families, building a solid foundation for the future of your community.”
The plan focuses on the coming year, continuing work with young people through Enthusiasm, supporting children and families through St Martin’s and people looking to develop skills for the workplace through Derby Adult Learning. Quarterly reports linked to the last plan were reviewed and signed off by the partnership. And the wonderful book arising from Project Lockdown nears completion and will be ready soon. The partnership has also put in place a comms plan for the final year, looking to draw out the wider impact of the community investment through Allenton Big Local over the last ten years. And Mairi Radcliffe and Haydn Brady have completed what’s being called an asset register to summarise the involvement and funding contributed by Allenton Big Local to St Martin’s community hall.
Looking ahead
Focusing on Project Lockdown, a further newsletter is ready to go out in July. Work with young people especially is gearing up for a busy summer, supported in part by Allenton Big Local. Work with children and families through St Martin’s is going from strength to strength, demonstrating the value of a community based approach to supporting families in need and in difficulty. A range of events are being explored as means to share learning and celebrate success as we approach the final stages of Big Local. Members of the partnership will also join a specific workshop run by Local Trust in September to review and share learning. And the partnership is looking forward to sending its delegates to Big Local Connects.
