SUMMARY REPORT: COMMUNITY LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITY IN OLDMACHAR – a ‘snapshot in time’ impact assessment of informal learning in the community (August 2016) This report presents the findings of an enquiry carried out in the Oldmachar ASG area during May June 2016. The enquiry used outreach community engagement work to assess the learning impact on people’s lives as a result of participating in Community Learning and Development (‘CLD’) activities taking place in community centres, libraries, sport centres, churches etc, such as sport, adult education, arts & crafts, parent & baby groups, etc. Key factors and findings 1. Current ‘picture’ – a community making things happen •
This is a community with drive, good at getting activities off the ground themselves e.g. discussion and knitting groups, and good at making a success of initiatives driven by others e.g. Learning Partnership health walks.
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Word of mouth and local connections are very successful in promoting activities e.g. mums meeting at baby groups encouraging each other to try new things such as buggy walks.
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The ‘What’s on in Bridge of Don’ booklet is welcomed by people as there is otherwise no single information point; however, the community is good at creating their own tailored ‘whats on/where’ information e.g. Bridge of Don mum and baby Facebook page, and there is much going on when you start looking and asking around.
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GP involvement is proving effective in promoting and encouraging CLD e.g. signposting and referring people to lunch clubs, pilates and other exercise classes.
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Local people in the Oldmachar area primarily attach a sense of belonging to ‘Bridge of Don’ and/or their local neighbourhood e.g. Danestone, or ‘the Ashwoods’, but do not strongly identify with ‘Oldmachar’ as a distinct community of its own: it is therefore more relevant to consider learning impact in terms of the wider Bridge of Don learning offer (ref. Appendix A).
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The local Church community plays a significant role in facilitating CLD activity (including training volunteers) through activities ranging from informal parent/toddler groups to lunch clubs for older people, and providing venues more formal CPD/conferencing events.
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People travel into this community from Aberdeen City/Aberdeenshire for certain activities not readily available in their own area e.g. short mat bowling in Bridge of Don, or because people have a local connection. Likewise people from Oldmachar attend activities elsewhere.
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Spin-off effects of larger city wide events people attend such as the Golden Games have an impact as people are inspired to try new activities locally e.g. Active Ageing’s ‘pickle ball’.
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In addition to more publicly available activities, there is CLD activity going on ‘behind the scenes’ e.g. British Legion; and there is a residents sport and social club at Lochside. Also, uniformed groups in the area are well attended e.g. Boys Brigade, Sea Scouts, Girl Guiding.
2. ‘Enablers’ to community learning & development •
Key factors for success highlighted by local people are: fun, informal, friendly and flexible e.g. table tennis encourages all levels of ability, this helps foster new friendships, and as circles of friendships grow this in turn increases popularity and numbers attending.
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‘Community hubs’ are important for fostering sense of community, in turn impacting on informal learning (ref. Appendix B - impact map 1): notable examples are Danestone i