Top Tips : how to stay productive and focussed at work
Stand up to Racism: making refugees feel welcome in Derbyshire
The Good Times Celebrating the organisations and projects making a difference across Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire
March 2019
Welcome Hello lovely reader Putting together The Good Times often gives me a wake up call to count my blessings, but I can honestly say I have never been so moved on a reporting assignment as I was at a recent meeting of Stand up to Racism in Chesterfield. During the meeting Brendan Woodhouse, a Nottingham firefighter, talked about the devastating experiences of refugees rescued by himself and fellow crew on board the Sea Watch 3. It was gut wrenching to hear about the suffering these poor souls have endured before they even embark on their perilous journey across the Mediterranean. Brendan’s heroism is beyond most of us, but as he made clear on the evening, speaking the truth about refugees, defending their right to a safe passage and treating them with humanity when they arrive is the least anyone can do. One of the services I offer is providing communications support to heritage projects so it was with a keen interest that I interviewed representatives of the The Story Mine and Walking Together projects. They tell the story of the former mining community around Markham Vale, Chesterfield and pay tribute to the 106 men who died in the three disasters at the collieries. As usual I amassed too much information to fit into the article, but hopefully it will whet your appetite enough to visit the project website and show your support. I am indebted to the variously talented leadership coach and magician Steve Faulkner for his Top Tips on productivity at work and the formidable Beth Crackles for her thoughtprovoking commentary on Stacey Dooley’s questionable whipping by MP David Lammy. Thanks too to Kim Harper, Community Action Derby's Chief Executive, for agreeing to go under the Spotlight: great to find out how her organisations supports charities in Derby. As ever, I’d welcome any feedback or suggestions for future editions. Be good.
Kate Dawson, Editor
Contents p 4-5 Stand up to Racism: A shared belief in humanity
P6 Spotlight on: Community Action Derby 2
P7 Hot Topic: commentary on the criticism levied at Stacey Dooley for posting a photo of herself on Instagram with a black child during a filmmaking trip to Uganda on behalf of Comic Relief p8 -9 The Story Mine / Walking Together projects: Remembering Markham Vale's mining heritage and commemorating those who died in the mining disasters over the years
p10 Top Tips for maintaining productivity and focus at work
Contributors Steve Faulkner is a leadership trainer and coach, providing ILM level 3 and 5 courses in leadership and management, as well as unaccredited courses and seminars. He also happens to be an award-winning magician.
Beth is a charity consultant specialising in strategy and fundraising. She also produces the Cracking Charity Chat podcast which features conversations with charity leaders.
THE GOOD TIMES is produced by Kate Dawson, a freelance communications consultant working as Well Read PR. The opinions, views and values expressed by contributors to THE GOOD TIMES are those of the authors of that content and do not necessarily represent my opinions, views or values. Nothing in the magazine constitutes advice on which you should rely. It is provided for general information purposes only. I do not accept liability for products or services offered by third parties. Links to third party websites are provided solely for your convenience. THE GOOD TIMES has not reviewed these third party websites and does not control and is not responsible for these websites or their content or availability. We therefore do not endorse or make any representations about them, or any material found on them, or any results that may be obtained from using them. If you decide to access any of the third party websites linked to THE GOOD TIMES, you do so entirely at your own risk.
3
Stand up to Racism: A shared belief in humanity
by Kate Dawson
Imagine you’re in a restaurant on the banks of the Thames in London. You see a young boy running out of the restaurant being chased by a group of men. The boy has been injured and is heading for the water. You follow the commotion and watch him plunge into the River, his head bobbing to the surface as he gasps for air. There is a dinghy moored to the bank…how many of you would get in and row out to rescue him? Now imagine he’s 14 years old…black…in the ocean …would you still save him? So goes the rhetoric of Brendan Woodhouse, the Nottingham firefighter recently returned from Sea Watch 3, the last remaining refugee rescue ship in the Mediterranean. Sea-Watch 3 patrols the Libyan 24 nautical mile zone and actively searches for boats in distress. You can read Sea Watch's manifesto here.
©James Lane and Huw Nicholls 2018
Above: Doro photographed on board Sea Watch 3. © Brendan Woodhouse
Brendan described a young man, Doro, who had been beaten and tortured by his Libyan captors, who live-video messaged the brutal act to his mother to extort funds. He was then sold into slavery. He eventually escaped and made it to the sea and was rescued by Sea Watch 3. Read Brendan's full account here.
Brendan was speaking at a meeting of Stand up to Racism, Chesterfield and North Derbyshire. A former Army medic, Brendan’s volunteering began with a trip to the Calais ‘jungle’ in 2015. He then joined the Sea Watch crew based at Lesvos, Greece, helping to rescue 6-8 people a day. According to the UN, one in 18 refugees dies attempting to cross the Mediterranean (Source: The Telegraph). Brendan describes giving mouth to mouth resuscitation to a small baby who had been thrown into the sea. She survived. Many others didn’t.
4
The Chesterfield branch of Stand up to Racism was formed in 2017 in order to support refugees holed up in the Calais ‘jungle’. They have continued to raise awareness and funds through events such as Rock for Refugees in Chesterfield, Love Music, Hate Racism in Matlock and the YNot festival.
Jane Bulko, a Stand up to Racism member, recently joined a mission led by Care4Calais . She recalls a competition amongst the male refugees using a barbering station they’d set up.
"On the whole the local community has been really supportive. A refugee family in a former mining village was donated a greenhouse by a neighbour. There have been some really wonderful acts of human kindness." Shaun w tumble
“These men with nothing but the clothes on their backs, competing to have the fanciest haircut: a poignant reminder of their humanity and dignity,” Jane reflected.
Stand up to Racism, which meets on the 2nd Monday of the month at the Monkey Park café on Chester Street, works closely with the Mosques and Christians Together in Chesterfield to look at ways to combat racism locally and support the refugees living in Chesterfield and the surrounding area.
Above: Stand up to Racism at YNot Festival ©SutR
Jeannie Robinson describes what she’s learnt since setting up the Stand up to Racism branch:
Florence, 10 years with xxxxx
Hassan Hajat, a member of the Chesterfield Muslim Association is a volunteer for Stand up to Racism, providing volunteer support to refugee families, for example attending school meetings with them. He has also introduced them to other Syrian communities and taken them shopping for authentic foods in Sheffield and Derby.
Work in partnership with as many other statutory organisations and support organisations as possible. We have a good relationship with Derbyshire County Council who really value the support we can offer refugee families. Tap into the resources and support provided by your local CVS. Links CVS Chesterfield has really helped us with advice on funding available. As well as connecting with the local faith groups, you need to engage people from as many other different cultures as possible, and don’t forget your local MP.
“One of the main facets of the Muslim faith is that you look after your neighbour. The Stand up to Racism group has a shared belief in caring for humanity – we want to help refugees and the wider community,” he said. Jeannie added: “Our volunteers visit the refugee families regularly. All the families have come from camps in Lebanon or Jordan. They are here under the Vulnerable Persons Resettlement scheme. We give practical support, help them practice their English, but our main role is just to be their friends; to be on their side.
5
To find out more about Stand up to Racism visit standuptoracism.org.uk. The Chesterfield group is organising a coach to join the anti-racism protest in London on 16 March. Email Jeannie.rob48@gmail.com
Spotlight on... Kim Harper, Community Action Derby Community Action Derby is a registered charity providing support and guidance for voluntary and community groups. We interviewed Chief Executive Officer Kim Harper to find out more.
1. What support does Community Action Derby provide and to whom? Community Action Derby is an infrastructure organisation - we provide support and advice to voluntary and community organisations in Derby on everything from starting a new group (constitutions, opening bank accounts etc.), to training workshops, bid writing and promoting voluntary sector events.
3. How do you help not for profits access grants and other funding? We produce a monthly Funding Bulletin for voluntary and community organisations listing the latest grants and funding available. We run workshops and surgeries with specific funders to give organisations the best possible chance in successfully applying for funding. We also offer a paid for bid writing service.
2. Is there a stand out example of a charity or voluntary sector organisation that you’ve helped get off the ground or helped survive and thrive? Our Development Team works directly with organisations and supported Ashbourne Road Allotments Association (ARAA) to successfully apply for Big Lottery funding for eco-toilets at the allotments site. This made it possible for people to spend more time there and so increased well-being.
4. Crowdfund Derby sounds like an exciting initiative. Explain how this has helped kick-start some valuable community projects? Community Action works in partnership with Derby City Council on the Crowdfund Derby project. We support organisations through the process to help give them the best chance of success. Crowdfund Derby has helped lots of local organisations, including restoring part of the Derby and Sandiacre canal and providing food hampers for older people.
ARAA also took part in a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style event - organised by Community Action and BITC (Business in the Community) which resulted in a great relationship with local building firm G F Tomlinson. And the story doesn’t end there! In May ARAA is launching a Growing Academy to teach anyone and everyone how to grow vegetables and new 'starter plots' that will include support and all the tools needed to grow your own!
5. Is there a particular book, person or philosophy that inspires you? I love the books of J R Tolkien, whose imagination showed no limits in providing vivid explorations of the natural world, the environment and a totally different universe!
6
For more information about Community Action Derby visit the website www.communityactionderby.org.uk
Hot topic
No more white saviours
Unless you’ve been under a rock, you’ll know that David Lammy (and in fact many people) have accused Comic Relief of peddling the same, tired, offensive model of publicity and fundraising by using a picture of a famous, smiling white woman holding a black baby. They are referencing reporter Stacey Dooley sharing a picture of herself on location recording a documentary for the charity. People have criticised Dooley and Comic Relief, raising various points, including: · “We don’t need any more white saviours” · The tone and approach of the picture is outdated: people should be enabled to tell their own story · Comic Relief’s executive team is all white; it should be more diverse and include people with lived experience · The international aid sector has a high proportion of white people; this needs to change · There is underlying discrimination between white and black people within the international aid sector and its model of delivery
Of course, I understand that by using a high profile celebrity their social media will by virtue support the fundraising effort. My point is that many people have conflated various issues here – all important and all requiring open discussion and resolution but using this picture to raise all of these issues is, I feel, unfair. Celebrity engagement with a cause can raise its profile and encourage funding. Stacey Dooley’s Instagram account alone has over 693,000 followers. As a credible documentary maker and mainstream celebrity, Comic Relief were spot on to have her front part of their appeal. There’s rightly a big push for more diversity in the sector, for example with the Institute of Fundraising’s Change Collective. We do also need to up our game with regard to a more diverse workforce: and by that I mean people with real lived experience, in order to inform how we work internally and with the people our organisations are there to support.
Admittedly we don’t need any more “white saviours”, what we do need, however, is for people of all ethnicities and from all backgrounds to work together to tackle social and environmental issues. Whilst I agree that Comic Relief ought to improve the diversity of its executive team and board and the international aid sector needs to empower people to tell their own stories, we should be mindful of the fact that the picture was posted on Dooley’s personal Instagram account. It wasn’t promotional material from Comic Relief or fundraising.
Above all, I hope that when the documentary that Dooley has made with Comic Relief airs, it shows people telling their own stories in their own way.
7
Beth Crackles is a charity strategy and fundraising consultant . She also produces the Cracking Charity Chat podcast. Visit her website bethcrackles.com
Mining the stories of Markham Vale’s past
by Kate Dawson
Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Economic Matt Parfitt, founder Radiant Cleaners Development and Regeneration, Councillor Tony King (centre) holds a photograph of Markham miner Wilfred Haywood with Wilfred’s granddaughter Janet Wilkins and his second cousin Alan Perry
Derbyshire’s Markham Vale business park, located off junction 29a on the M1, became a UK Enterprise Zone in 2012, subsequently attracting over 50 businesses to ‘set up shop’ there to benefit from the high quality of support to businesses, the attractive landscape and accessibility to the major highway network. Whilst the area has undergone significant regeneration, creating over 1,600 jobs, with plans to create a further 2,500 across the Florence, years with xxxxx Henry industrial estate10 the developers, Boots Developments together with Derbyshire County Council, have not lost sight of the fact that the area was a closeknit mining community before the closure of Markham Colliery in 1994. In 2009 they brought in Beam consultants to design a programme of community-led activities to celebrate the area’s coal-mining heritage and remember the men who died in the three major pit disasters of 1937, 1938 and 1973.
Animal care is integral to learning at Turner Farm
The Story Mine website features the stories of the men who died in the three major disasters at Markham. It also hosts a variety of written recollections, oral histories, photographs, poetry and songs which provide a vivid portrayal of the lives of colliery workers from across Duckmanton, Staveley, Bolsover and Poolsbrook. Lynn Ludditt explained: “It is vital to capture people’s stories while we can. There are still people living who lost loved ones in the ’37 and ‘38 disasters, as well as people who vividly remember the ’73 disaster – their stories are a valuable part of our local history.”
The Story Mine was one of the projects that was conceived by Beam. The project has been supported with £35,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund which helped fund a Community Co-ordinator, Lynn Ludditt, to engage local people in researching their mining heritage, as well as funding a website on which the history and recordings of memories of the lives of the workers and their families can be heard.
8
Roy Moreton’s account of his family life following the death of his father in the 1937 disaster, brings home the stoicism of the communities that banded together in the wake of their personal loss and facing the hardship of life during World War II.
LocalThe historian Sandra Struggles, whose feedback father was a young miner, was heavily involved in from this person says it all as well as helping to find the research effort (and reunite) relatives of the miners commemorated by the statues. Sandra’s interest in local history goes back many years, and she accompanied her Dad underground on his last shift.
So far 45 figures have been created with sponsorship from local businesses, funders and contributions from local families who are proud to see their relatives commemorated in this way.
Derbyshire County Council Cabinet Member for Economic Development and Regeneration, Councillor Tony King, said: “As we continue to regenerate the Markham Vale site, it’s really important that we don’t forget about its past, the challenging jobs the pit workers had and the sacrifices they made. Our Walking Together memorial and Story Mine projects are helping to tell the site’s mining history and we can continue to share this story with future generations for years to come.”
“I’ll never forget the fear of being under a very low roof as the coal cutting machine passed by the side of us. Luckily my Dad survived 46 years underground but could always remember feeling the earth shake the day of the Markham disaster of 1938. He was aged 14 and underground at Ireland Colliery.” The community has also helped provide information for the county council’s Walking Florence, 10 years with xxxxx Together project which is a trail of steel Florence, 10 , shows Sandra, 91 some wild flowers sculptures representing the 106 men who Lowe, starting Radiant at Cleaners died inAndrew the disasters, Duckmanton employee and leading into the Markham Vale business park. Each figure has a name tag attached to it on which is inscribed their name, occupation and age when they died.
Animal care is integral to learning at Turner Farm
Lynn Ludditt, Community Engagement Officer provides her insights into how to deliver a successful local heritage project:
Animal care is integral to learning at Turner Farm
Harness the interest of people who already have a wealth of knowledge about their local history.
The artwork created by Stephen Broadbent cuts through the dramatic industrial landscape enabling walkers to re-imagine and remember the lives of all the miners, and in particular those who lost their lives for their work.
Invite a local school to get involved with the research to help them learn about their local history and create education resources which can be used by other schools. Animal care is integral to learning at Turner Farm
Pupils from Duckmanton Primary School have been involved in both projects and performed a song, Workers in Coal, written by local musician Steve Haywood, (himself a former miner and from mining stock), which they performed at a commemoration event of Walking Together statues in September 2018.
Derbyshire Records Office has helped us navigate their records and provided training to our volunteer researchers. We couldn't have done it without them.
9
To find out more and make a donation to support Walking Together please visit: www.markhamstorymine.org
Top tips for staying productive & focussed at work People often comment on how ‘naturally’ focused I am, but this is not the case. Productivity doesn’t come naturally to me, so I have to have a lot of ‘hacks’ in place. I currently run my training business, my magic business, an online card magic course, and a YouTube channel! all whilst having my kids three nights a week. So these tips are essential to my productivity and focus. 1. Get your tasks out of your head and onto paper. When the sheer number of tasks I need to do overwhelms me, I write everything I have to do onto paper. That’s everything from work projects to fixing the squeaky door in my kitchen. Even small tasks will niggle you until they’re done, and the cumulative effect of this will slow you down and add to your stress.
2. Prioritise and remember: "You can do anything you want in this life, but you can’t do everything’. Be realistic, you can come back to some things later, but you can only do so much. Your priorities should be in line with your goals and values. Which leads on to… 3. Learn to (politely) say no. You can’t please all the people all the time, and you’re still a good person if you don’t. You need to make time for yourself, to recharge. Those that matter, will understand.
4. Exercise. This doesn’t have to be the gym or a ten-mile run. Find what works for you, but research shows that exercise and activity reduces stress and leads to increased happiness. You may feel too busy, but being busy is different to being productive. You’ll get more done in less time if you make time for exercise. It sometimes feels counterproductive, but try it and you’ll know what I mean.
5 Use a coach, a friend or a journal Good coaching can make a huge difference and help you gain clarity. Similar to #1, it helps get it all out, so you have something to work with. But if the budget isn’t there, a friend who will listen can also be helpful. And try journaling - free-writing at the end of every day can help release pressure and put things into perspective.
Steve Faulkner is a leadership trainer and coach, providing ILM level 3 and 5 courses in leadership and management, as well as unaccredited courses and seminars. He also happens to be an award-winning magician. Visit his website at leadwithsteve.com 10
"When you wake up in the morning, wake your forgotten and forsaken dreams up as well, wake them up like an insisting rooster!� - Mehmet Murat ildandd
11
Manjit Sahota of the Poets Against Racism movement
"When you wake up in the morning, wake your forgotten and forsaken dreams up as well, wake them up like an insisting rooster!” Mehmet Murat ildandd "My flag is an open heart...there's room-for everyone" - a line from a poem by Manjit Sahota, above.
We hope you have enjoyed reading The Good Times. Please share and subscribe below.
Copyright © 2019 THE GOOD TIMES, All rights reserved. Address: 52 Ennerdale Crescent, Newbold, Chesterfield, S41 8HL All photographs copyright © www.wellreadpr.com unless specified otherwise
Subscribe
