'Celebration of Unity' East Durham Trust Annual Report 2019-2020

CELEBRATION of

UNITY

Annual Report

2019 - 2020

Introduction

MESSAGE FROM the

CHAIR

Alan Miller

MESSAGE FROM

It gives me great pride to present to you our Annual Report for 2019 – 2020. The 12 months of exceptional activity highlighted

the

in this report holds even greater significance as it covers a period not yet effected by the

CE0

Graham Easterlow

Coronavirus and the global pandemic this would bring. As you will read there have

I am honoured to have come into post at

been many truly inspirational projects and

such a critical and challenging time. Since

services delivered over this year each of

my arrival I have been blown away by the

which has had profound and positive effect

dedication and commitment shown by the

for our communities. Projects such as our

staff of the Trust, the partners who support

ongoing poverty reduction programme

our work, the many community centres we

SPIED, our health and wellbeing project

work with and the numerous community

‘Friends on Prescription’ and our landmark

member groups who all help to deliver the

arts engagement project East Durham

projects and services of the Trust.

Creates, now entering its seventh year, to highlight but a few.

At time of writing we remain in the grips of the Coronavirus global pandemic. This

It has also been a year of great change for

situation has presented unprecedented

the Trust as we have seen the retirement of

crises for our many in our communities.

Malcolm Fallow as CEO, a post he has held

This is a crisis that is just unfolding and the

for thirteen years since the Trust’s inception

true impact on our communities is yet to be

in 2007. We thank Malcolm for his hard

seen. The work of East Durham Trust and our

work and dedication to the Trust and wish

partners will be needed now more than ever

him all the best in his retirement. This year’s

and the Trust stands ready to work together

report is a ‘Celebration of Unity’ and aims to

with our members and communities. United

honour and uphold the founding principles

in meeting the needs of the people of East

that the Trust is built on. The principle that

Durham as we start to recover and rebuild

by working together in partnership with

in a post Covid world. Collaboration will be

our communities and empowering them to

key to success in East Durham. This report a

deliver the services they need can we truly

‘Celebration of Unity’ shows clearly that by

bring about positive growth for the people of

working together we can achieve truly

East Durham.

great things.

P r o j e c t s AND A c t i v i t i e s

Stop Poverty in East Durham

Stop Poverty in East Durham is a project funded by The National Lottery Community Fund. In 2020 it was successful in receiving a three year extension with a shift in focus towards providing mental health resilience training and peer support as well as debt and benefit advice and community based activities with food during holidays.

Working with a team of volunteers in over 20 community centres the project has supported 1000’s of people across East Durham.

The SPIED Debt Centre is currently supporting individuals with over £500,000 worth of debt. The project has also supported local people to recover over £1 Million in unclaimed benefits and appeals since it began in 2016.

Artof the Matter

The project provided weekly after school art sessions for families at Community House including freshly prepared food. Over 70 adults

and children attended the sessions. This project also supported the purchase of additional equipment for the Peoples Takeaway. It was funded by Awards for All.

People’s Chit Chat Telephone Takeaway Befriending

Service Originally set up with support from Comic Relief via a crowdfunding

campaign, this project supports a

weekly hot food delivery service to

The volunteer-led Chit Chat

telephone befriending service makes over 7,000 calls a year to isolated and vulnerable people in the local area.

The project receives a wide variety of referrals such as GP surgeries and other support agencies.

The project also works in partnership with MacMillan to provide additional befriending to people experiencing cancer.

people living in financial crisis. Made

possible by a team of volunteers, hot meals are prepared at Community

House and delivered direct to the door of beneficiaries. During 2019/20 over 700 adults and 600 children were supported by the People’s Takeaway. In addition the project has provided food for community activities attended by families and support provided to isolated people through the Cold Comfort project.

Community Coaches

The Financial Wellbeing Champions provided a

number of additional benefits to individuals

with Debt, Budgeting, Housing and Welfare support. This project works directly with centres as well as other voluntary statutory organisations to provide a full range of crisis solutions for people facing hardship. The project is funded by East Durham Area Action Partnership.

Working in 6 community centres a team of 15 volunteers have provided over 300 local families

with information advice and guidance on issues such and finance, debt, welfare assistance and signposting to services.

P r o j e c t s AND A c t i v i t i e s

Console to

5k

The project was funded

by Wellesey Trust via the Community Foundation. It aimed to improve physical activity amongst young people through the establishment of three new community running

Hub House This three year project was funded by Coalfields Regeneration Trust. It saw the development of a community asset in Horden which offered local people a one stop shop for support and signposting around benefits, debt, housing and food insecurity. It also ran a range of sessions.

The Hub House worked in close partnership with other larger facilities in Horden, to increase their activity, developing new projects and improving opportunities for local people.

In 2019/202, over 700 people engaged in activity at Horden Hub House.

groups, based on the wellestablished couch to 5k model.

Active Minds The Active Minds project provides weekly

social inclusion sessions held at Community House for people living with dementia facilitated by a trained dementia friendly tutor. The project is funded by Durham County Council Adult Social Care.

3 young people completed an accredited Run leader course, supporting sustainability of the running groups beyond the funded period. The project culminated in a 5k race event, with 65 young people taking part alongside other runners.

Save Energy East Durham A project funded by Leeds Community Foundation and involved the delivery of 30 energy efficiency workshops in community venues across East Durham. Almost 250 people participated in these workshops with 22% beneficiaries changing energy suppliers for significant savings and over 30 receiving Warm Home Discount.

Durham County Council

Adult Learning

This project was supported by Durham County Council and provided a programme of free learning activities delivered in local community venues during school holidays. The aim was to provide families with an opportunity to learn new skills in a friendly environment whilst also alleviating food poverty during school holidays with the provision of a meal at each session.

Between April 2019 and February 2020, almost 700 adults and over 1250 children participated in sessions which included music, art and gardening.

Achievements

ÂŁ 511,819

5,239

local residents received an emergency food parcel

amount of debt written off for people living in East Durham

7,176

63

activities supporting people living with dementia

calls made to people who are socially isolated

480

volunteers have supported the

delivery of projects

468

65

people benefitted from receiving energy advice

young people increased their levels of physical activity

ÂŁ220,944

1,441

amount of benefits

secured for people living in East Durham

1,399 2,952 34,500

hot meals delivered

advice sessions supporting people with financial wellbeing

adults and children

attended activities with the provision of food

people engaged with arts and culture

P r o j e c t s AND A c t i v i t i e s

Food Emergency East Durham

This crisis intervention project provides local people in financial crisis with an emergency food parcel containing sufficient food for three days. The project is referral based and is accessed by various professional support services. The project also works with MacMillan to provide Wellcome Home packs to more than 220 people affected by cancer.

During 2019/20 almost 3000 adults and over 1700 children were supported by FEED. The project is supported through a variety of funding streams but is largely made possible thanks to public donations both financial and food.

on Three Friends Villages Prescription Project This health and wellbeing

Funded through Believe Housing

and working in the three distinct communities of Wingate, Wheatley Hill and Shotton, the Three Villages project provides family activities with food in local community venues. During 2019/2020, 75 sessions were delivered engaging almost 700 unique beneficiaries and providing over 1800 meals to local residents.

project supports the

development of sessions in the community to improve mental health and reduce social isolation.

Activities offered include upcycling classes, walking groups and local history sessions. A number of local community groups were engaged in delivery, however unfortunately due to the impact of Covid-19 sessions were put on hold in early March 2020.

Supporting Social Inclusion and

diversity

In mid-2019 East Durham Trust worked with Durham County Council’s Humanitarian Aid team to support the first ever cohort of resettled families from Syria and Iraq to Peterlee and Seaham. This included arranging welcome packages but also hosting arts sessions via our East Durham Creates project working with the young adults to improve their language skills prior to starting College. This culminated in September 2019 with an event which brought all of the families together with local people to view the art, share music and food created by the families. Abdul, originally from Syria, is now a regular FEED volunteer for East Durham Trust.

A major arts engagement project funded through Arts Council England’s Creative People and Places scheme. East Durham Creates seeks to engage local people in creative activities and grow arts provision in ways that are sustainable and can last.

The project aims to attract more people to choose, create and take part in brilliant art experiences in the places where they live.

During it’s second Phase of delivery (201720) the project engaged over 77,000 people with arts and cultural opportunities with almost 80% of them coming from areas where arts engagement is lower than the national average.

East Durham Creates

Working Together in Unity

T o g e t h e r in U n i t y

Working in unity with our communities is at the heart of how East Durham Trust works. An extensive ‘membership’ of frontline local community groups and the ongoing engagement of local volunteers is central to the business model of the Trust. This ‘Hub and Spoke’

operation enables us all to utilise the strengths in our membership and the wider community. Working through a place-based approach we provide a voice for the VCS of East Durham locally, regionally and nationally. We work to secure resources that directly supports our communities and provides member organisations opportunities to directly meet needs within their own locality. Founded by local people, governed by local people and working with local people we support our communities to directly deliver exciting projects and vital services.

Together we help bring people who are hard to reach within reach of the support they need.

During 2019/2020 we have connected to and worked directly with 29 community venues and 150 Community groups in supporting local residents. We have worked in partnership with over 100 organisations from the private, public and voluntary sector in delivering exciting projects and vital service to the people of East Durham.

The Trust is supported by individuals from across our communities. This year 87 people donated to our Crowdfunding campaign and raised nearly £4,000 towards the creation of the new Arts Café at Community House, a further 658 People donated items directly to the Trust in support of the local community and our team of nearly 500 volunteers helped to make all of our work a reality.

Our community volunteers truly are an essential part of our team and we really could not do what we do without them.

Between 23rd March 2020 Covid-19 Crisis and 31st July 2020: Unity in Action 3,087

people were supported with the provision

On the 23rd March 2020, the nation faced

of an emergency food parcel

an unprecedented crisis. As the Covid-19

1,544

pandemic swept the country and infection rates surged, the UK was put into a

packed lunches were distributed to

families struggling financially, including those with

national lockdown. Overnight most things

no access to free school meals

ground to a halt. Schools, colleges and

434 1,575 4,230 1,000 22,500 300 3,500 60

universities were closed. Workers were furloughed. Services ceased. The vulnerable were instructed to stay indoors and shield.

The streets were empty and anxiety was high.

At this crucial time, the Trusts role in supporting the community became more vital than ever. Instead of closing our doors, we rose to the new challenges presented.

Staff pulled together with the community and a team of over 100 volunteers were gathered to ensure that the needs of the most vulnerable in our community were met at this critical time.

Many of the most vulnerable in our communities who were helped at this time have told us the support they received from East Durham Trust literally saved their lives.

It was only by working together as one team across East Durham that this incredible response to the crisis was possible.

shopping trips and prescription collections

calls made to East Durham residents

isolated due to Covid-19

people received food from large scale

food distribution

people with Arty Packs

people safely engaged with

arts and culture during the pandemic

adults were engaged in family

learning at home with 742 meals provided

facemasks

distributed to community

additional volunteers

recruited to support the community

The work of East Durham Trust

County Durham

would not have been possible

Community Foundation

without the hard work, dedication and support of our funders, partners, community

Coalfields Regeneration Trust National Lottery

members, community groups,

Community Fund

the many volunteers who give

Believe Housing

their time and the hundreds of people in our community who support the vital services and exciting projects we deliver.

East Durham Area Action Partnership Durham County Council Adult Learning and Skills Service Arts Council England

Th a n k

you

Wellesey Trust

The Clothmakers Foundation MacMillan Bernicia Foundation Leeds Community Foundation Durham Dales, Easington and Sedgefield Clinical Commission Group Film Hub North 29 community centres 150 member groups 1,039 people who donated to the Trust And many more‌

Working together we make a difference. From our major funders to the person who gave what they could we say‌

THANK YOU!

Trustees: Alan Miller (Chair)

Alison Nutter

Sanjee Ratnatunga

Rona Hardy (Vice Chair)

Andrea Johnson

Tony Walsh

Wendy Kennedy

Terry Murray

Peter Coe

Edna Connor

East Durham Trust, Community House, Yoden Road, Peterlee, ​SR8 5DP 0191 5693511

eastdurhamtrust

@EastDurhamTrust

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