Our Stories
Sharing our stories
Move Together
Move Together focuses on supporting people who have been shielding as a result of COVID-19 and those with a long-term health condition whose physical or mental health and wellbeing have been impacted by the pandemic and people affected by isolation and loneliness. There are currently 550 people on the programme with each participant doing an average of 99 extra minutes a week as a result of being on Move Together.
One of the participants told her story
“When lockdown came, I found it quite hard to cope with not meeting people, not seeing my neighbours. I have a close family who would visit and use face time, but the reality is that you are completely isolated. For months and months, I didn't go outside the door. I began to notice that my balance was becoming extremely wobbly and the muscle tone in my legs was diminishing. I really was quite worried that I would have a fall.
I received a leaflet through the post about Move Together. I was contacted by Claire and she was just amazing – so sweet and so enthusiastic…really kind and supportive and encouraging. When I spoke to Claire, she was so friendly and really just cheered me up. She made me feel that actually I didn't have to do very much to get myself going again, and that my ability to move easily would gradually return. She sent me a pack with exercises I could do at home and even from my armchair, as well as bands to help me with resistance.
I began to go out again and my daughters would come and just link arms with me to help me walk along, before I got my confidence back. Just to have somebody link arms with you is a really reassuring thing. You begin to use your muscles and your muscle tone comes back a bit. Things moved on and I did get my confidence back. My balance is back pretty much to normal. If you can't do anything else, walking is so good – it helps your balance and the tone of your muscles all over. That's really important because it makes it less likely that you will have a fall.
So, all in all, Move Together really has made things better for me. I think it is brilliant. Thank you very much to the Move Together team you've really helped me."
Bradley Arcade anti social behaviour reduction
Up to 30 young people could regularly be found gathering outside the local shops when local CIC BYCE (Banbury Youth and Community Enterprise) began working to tackle anti-social behaviour there. Shop keepers and residents felt unhappy about it, and were sometimes abused by the young people. Potential customers were put off by young people riding motorbikes and electric scooters. There was often fighting. BYCE used a lot of strategies to work with the young people involved, including supporting them to attend technical music sessions at the Hill, football in the park and offering social and educational activities.
Selma Wakeman at BYCE shows great respect for young people, describing them as having “impressive problem solving and practical skills.” She comments that they are shaped by their experience into “skilled critical thinkers and can link their situations to their behaviour, family, and reputations, which are often very stressful and related to the impact of poverty and lack of what they perceive as, meaningful education and opportunities.”
As part of their work, BYCE was involved in co-ordinating the community-led response to providing food and activities for young people in the area, and used this as a way of engaging Elliott, one of the young people regularly to be found in this group. She used this empathy and understanding to engage Elliott on the holiday programme. He began by making sandwiches and his confidence grew to the extent that he undertook food hygiene training. Following on from the temporary work in the summer, Elliott has since found work in the hospitality sector.
Cooking with Lucy
Many of the families who regularly use the Sunshine Centre had a massive change in circumstances during the pandemic. A variety of reasons – from the need to isolate to unexpected financial problems meant that we were able to reach out to many of them by supplying food parcels and children’s activity packs.
One of these parents, Lucy, established a love of cooking along with her 3 children. They had fun devising recipes and cooking together, coming up with tasty and imaginative ways to use the food provided. Lucy wanted to share this enjoyment with other parents and children and so she came up with the idea of making recipe cards. Once she shared these with the Sunshine Centre along with photos of their cooking creations, we could see she was on to a winner and we printed them up. This soon grew into the “COVID-19 cooking creations” recipe book.
Lucy’s love of cooking and sharing didn’t end there. She launched into making video tutorials at The Sunshine Centre which support the book and can be found on a private YouTube thread. Now the Sunshine Centre is offering a course – “Cooking with Lucy” – where parents are provided with the ingredients to cook Lucy’s delicious family recipes. “This works so well for our families” said Centre Manager Jill Edge. “Families can cook together at a time that suits them, and know that the recipes have been tried and tested in a home kitchen.”
Children and Families Community Worker, Katie added “we have delivered a ‘Cooking with Lucy’ pilot programme with 6 families, the feedback has been so positive. We plan to deliver ‘Cooking with Lucy’ on a rolling programme and are halfway through at the moment. Families have commented that the recipes are easy to follow, and it has allowed their children to try new foods. We are also planning on providing ‘one off’ sessions of cooking with Lucy for celebrations such as Easter and Eid.”
Lucy’s confidence has grown over the months and has secured a job working in the kitchen of a local school Lucy added “I recently took on a new creation and made a rainbow cake for a friend it was a bit of work and outside my comfort zone, but the outcome was amazing, and I really do feel all this cooking and just having a go has really boosted my confidence to just try. Many thanks Katie and to all of you at the Sunshine Centre for supporting me when I needed it and including me to help others.”
Men's Breakfast Club
Charlie is a senior user of The Hill who regularly attends Men’s breakfast club. He owns his own home, but has shared with the team that he struggles financially at times. Charlie told the team that since his wife died some years ago, he hadn’t been anywhere to socialise for some time before accessing The Hill.
“We were able to refer Charlie to the Winter Warmers soup project (set up to provide a hot, nutritious meal for older residents during lockdown). We were also able to assist him on the phone after he had struggled for 10 days trying to get a GP appointment” the Hill team explained.
“Charlie has made friendships at the men’s breakfast and the difference in the way the group converse with each other now in comparison to when it started is remarkable and wonderful to witness. We regularly support C with food items donated by Banbury Food for Charities.”
Building skills for life - Warriner School Farm summer initiative
Warriner School in Bloxham is unusual in having a 47-hectare farm on the school campus. Each year, the Sunshine Centre works with local primary schools find 20 young people who would benefit from spending a week at the Warriner School Farm during their summer holidays. This project highlights the great partnerships in place to help give young people that extra opportunity which they would not normally have the chance to have, a week’s holiday on a farm, making new friends, trying new activities and learning essential life skills for the future. The children’s confidence grows massively even during the week.
During this summer’s week the young people built outdoor clay pizza ovens, and learnt about foraging for food in the countryside.
They helped to set up growing spaces, and learned some horticultural skills. Every day the young people are encouraged to get involved in farm life, feeding the livestock and moving them around the farm, collecting the eggs (which are sold in the village), and farm yard maintenance. They got to meet a local bee keeper to learn about the importance of bees to our natural environment as well as stepping into a bee keeper’s suit to have a hands-on experience dealing with the hives and the bees themselves. The week ended with a celebration and a homemade pizza cook off, with fresh salad from the farm’s garden, hedgerows and greenhouses.
All the young people keep journals of their week’s adventures. All the young people take these journals back into their school, for ideas of what they can do in the new term ahead and to tell teachers and friends what they got up to in their summer holidays. The Warriner Farm return to visit these young people in their local communities throughout the year, bringing activities to where they live to leave a legacy, these include building giant bug hotels to support the natural environment and creating bird boxes to encourage wildlife to thrive in their back gardens.
Cherwell District Council Community Development Manager, Jon Wild loves the Warriner farm week, for itself and the fun it brings to local children, saying “it’s amazing how the children’s confidence grows and I love to hear their stories of what skills they have learnt and the memories they have made.” He loves it even more for its legacy with those children, commenting “This really is an example of preparing young people to be life ready, inspiring them to explore new opportunities and to have positive aspirations of what they can do in the future!”
Seaside trip - making memories
After lockdown and other restrictions began to lift, the Hill Community Centre organised a trip to the seaside.
Bhumika* has a long-term illness which restricts mobility and has 3 children, one who suffers with extreme anxiety and is a school refuser. The family are also on a low income and the children are eligible for free school meals. The Hill has enabled the family to access days out and activities during the holidays which they would not normally be able to afford including The Hills seaside trip last summer.
For the youngest child it was the first time she had ever been to a beach, and it was only the second time for the middle child aged 11. “We have regular contact with the family and are able to support Bhumika by being a trusted organisation willing to listen and support where possible” said centre manager, Lorraine Squire.
One of the most excited people on the trip was 16-year-old Sara*, who had never seen the sea before. As well as their unforgettable day, some of the travellers also received a sketch as an unusual memento.
“The trip didn’t just give families a chance to take a break from everyday life” explained Lorraine, “experiences like this really bring a family together and give them a chance to build their relationships”
*name changed
Health Walks - "the gift that keeps on giving"
Across the Cherwell District, people’s preferred activity is walking, with a recent survey showing 63% of residents walking at least twice in the last 28 days.
3 new health walks have been designed and opened to make it easier for families and individuals to get walking for their health and to build walking into their lives as means of travel. In Grimsbury, the 5K health walk connects St Leonard’s School and the Dashwood Academy to Moorfield Park. There is also a ‘cut through’ enabling people to take in the local shops and doctor’s surgery.
A further two routes in Banbury form a figure-of-eight, running through Ruscote, Bretch Hill, and Neithrop. The northern 5K loop includes William Morris Primary School and Hill View Primary School. The southern 3K circuit connects Princess Diana Park with Stanbridge Park.
The Sunshine Centre are always open to opportunities to promote physical and mental health and are particularly excited with activities which will improve both. Being outdoors, walking and being next to nature has been proven to maintain and increase our health.
Funded by Sport England our walking challenge was launched in 2021 along with our walking map. We threw down the gauntlet to the community to collectively walk the distance from Land’s End to John O’Groats using footpaths around the estate and from the estate into the countryside.
The challenge was embraced and exceeded our expectations when 2265 miles was achieved. This took our walkers from Land’s End to John O Groats and back and then from Banbury to Hennef, Ermont and back to Banbury (Hennef and Ermont being our twinned towns in Germany and France).
The types of participants ranged from families with small children to older people and included a teenager with learning difficulties, a pensioner with Alzheimer's, a homeless mother, a woman with severe anxiety and a young person working towards their Duke of Edinburgh’s award.
As a sequel to this amazing achievement, we decided to promote the Banbury Healthy Spaces map. Our Easter family fun day saw families being led by a monkey a teddy bear and an elephant around the new Healthy Spaces walking route, stopping to play on the painted pavement games before arriving at Stanbridge Park where the Easter Bunny was waiting to greet the children and an Easter egg roll then
ensued.
Participants commented that the incentives had “encouraged them to go outside and just begin walking”,
“Encouraged them to leave their home at a very difficult time”,
“Made them realise they are able to walk further than they thought”.
“Walking routes/maps are a gift which just keeps on giving” commented centre manager, Jill Edge, “and we will continue to promote their use”.
Youth Activators in Grimsbury
Cherwell District Council’s Youth Activators work with 8 to 16-year-olds across the district of Cherwell to engage with them through the use of physical activity, delivering fun alternative sports. Free sessions are put on by the activators in three main areas, recreational spaces, multi-use games areas, and voluntary youth clubs, where the Activators work on engaging with the young people, trying to eradicate any of the barriers restricting their participation in sport.
This year activators Hayley and Laura have been working in partnership with the charity Women in Sport to carry out research with teenagers in Banbury, including the Brighter Futures area of Grimsbury. The aim of the project is to understand how teenage girls use parks in their local area and why, so we can influence the development of these spaces and ensure every teenager feels welcome within them and has opportunities to use these spaces in a way that works for
them.
At this stage in the project, we have completed an initial workshop with stakeholders including members of the council, representatives from local community groups such as the Mosque and police community support officers to introduce them to our project and get their thoughts on how local parks are used. We then sent out surveys to teenagers in Banbury secondary schools to gather research.
We have also completed two walk arounds with a small group of teenage girls in Banbury parks to really delve deeper into their views and see it through their eyes. Next steps will be to carry out further research with focus groups and try to establish a plan for making improvements to three park spaces in Banbury. “We are really proud to be working on this project with Women in Sport and can’t wait to share the results later in the year” said the Activators’ manager Tom Gubbins.
The activators have run cycling sessions at Banbury Mosque to help children enhance their cycling skills or teaching them how to ride a bike. A range of bikes was donated to the mosque for the children were to use. Children who could already ride a bike completed fun games and activities focusing on different cycling skills. By the end of the four weeks, six children had successfully learnt how to ride their bike and progress into the other group.
Tom Gubbins commented “It was really rewarding for the activators to see the children progress and learn how to cycle on their own. A fantastic additional benefit is that a bike library has been set up at the mosque. The children are able to use the bikes in their own time and practice the skills which the youth activators taught them.”
Supporting residents' mental health
“The support and care I received from staff at the Sunshine centre has been second to none. Ella* has been my biggest supporter, my cheer when I was up and my shoulder when I was down. She has been my anker who kept me grounded through one of the darkest places I’ve ever found myself. I am beyond grateful for the team at the sunshine centre, I know the door is always open and no words can express my gratitude for this. Thank you, ladies for being my backbone when I was falling. X”
*Name changed
The wider benefits of music technology
The Hill youth and community centre has been hosting a Technology led music project a project for young people at risk of exploitation which covered topics such as drug exploitation, consent, safe relationships and various other topics over a 12-week period. The project aims to develop new skills and raise expectations, leading to changes in lifestyles for participants. This project run in partnership with The Hill, Community Albums, Step Out and Banbury Youth and Community Enterprise also allowed for some small group mentoring.
The sessions are attractive to young people who wanted to learn about the technical aspects of music making, but in fact they offered much more.
Cyrus (name changed) was initially referred to The Hill by Oxfordshire County Council Early Help team. Cyrus suffers with poor mental health and was finding it difficult to maintain good attendance at school for various reason. They had been struggling to maintain both education and a stable home life. In addition, Cyrus had low self-esteem and had difficulty understanding how to keep safe boundaries, leaving them vulnerable to exploitation and had also been exploring issues around their identity.
Cyrus had an interest in music, so Community Albums began to work with on a 1:1 basis to their build self-esteem and confidence. Cyrus was into drill music and enjoyed engaging with debate about culture and influence when he was challenged about the use of language and the attitudes associated with his preferred style of music.
As a result of attending the music sessions, Cyrus has remained engaged with The Hill, and begun to show an interest in other activities. Cyrus has joined The Vocal Band – the Hill’s community choir, and Cherwell Theatre Company have offered a 12-month scholarship, which will support Cyrus to develop their interest in both singing and drama.
Lorraine Squire commented “Cyrus has been a regular attender at the Hill for 8 months now. They accessed a 6-week cooking project and gained their food safety hygiene certificate, which will open up employment opportunities. We are thrilled by Cyrus’s great steps in self-confidence and self-esteem”.
Building relationships
Abi first came to the Hill for a family day, and since then has been coming to a regular weekly drop in for about 8 months. She is a mother of 3 children, who she looks after by herself. She has significant mental health issues, and centre staff realised that she was really struggling with money. Coming to the regular drop-in sessions had built enough trust for her to share her circumstances with a staff member.
It became clear that Abi wasn’t claiming the correct benefits, and hadn’t been doing so for the last 12 months. She didn’t feel able to tackle this problem until the Hill team offered to support her by travelling with her to Citizens Advice. Over a series of three appointments, Abi was assisted in transferring her claim to Universal Credit, which increased the household income by £40 per week. This had a significant positive effect on the whole family. Citizens Advice also helped Abi claim a household support grant.
The Hill team suggested Abi would find it helpful to get online at home, and sourced a reconditioned device from Get Oxfordshire Online, free of charge.
Lorraine Squire, the centre manager is delighted that the way her team work to build relationships with people who use the centre has paid off.
“It’s great to see the positive changes that Abi has felt able to make,” said Lorraine “The family now regularly attend sessions at The Hill and family days / outings. We hope Abi no longer feels she has to cope with everything on her own.”
Job opportunities for young people
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) through local Jobcentre Plus (JCP) service, promoted local employment opportunities for young people through the Kick Start employment scheme. There were 153 Kickstart starts, of which 109 completed, with 474 Kickstart vacancies advertised. The referral are made from the following sectors
- Retail and sales
- Administration
- Construction and trades
- Hospitality and food
- Creative and media
- Delivery and storage
- Computing technology and digital
- Engineering and maintenance
- Manufacturing
- Others
The number of people claiming UC in the BFiB wards is greater than the other wards within Cherwell. This means that the employment opportunities offered to people claiming UC are supporting those in these areas access work to improve their lives. As the number and proportion of people of people claiming UC is higher in these areas it shows that there is a greater need for these initiatives in the BFiB wards.