Welcome - looking back and forward
Welcome to the 5th edition of Ey Up It’s Wigan West Community News. If you’re new to the area, we’d like to offer you a warm welcome.
We hope this magazine provides you with a snippet of all the great stuff that’s happening in this community, along with invitations to get involved.
The production of the magazine and the delivery of it to every letterbox in the community is a real community effort.
As is customary, we start the magazine with a round-up of all that’s been happening in the local area since the last edition, and then we look forward.
The autumn edition took us to the end of September 2024, so we’ll continue from there.
Our Story - Continued
OCTOBER
Milliken finished the carpeting at CommUnity Corner - such a great offer from a communityminded local business.
We saw great ideas like the Women's Wellbeing group, Christmas crafts at St Andrew's and the costumes for the wonderful characters that visited children at school at Christmas time invested in at Community Cash.
There was a great display of community spirit at Halloween, with many homes decorating and inviting families and children to visit and lots of costumes shared on Facebook.
The Family Craft Club hosted their annual Halloween spooky
walk and party and Abbie started the Lego Club on Mondays as a calm space for families to play together.
NOVEMBER
We held a photo voice exhibition at CommUnity Corner, exploring the themes of place, community and connection.
A peer support weight loss group started on Friday mornings. We used the community lottery funds to offer solidarity cash gifts of up to £50 as we know how tight finances are for many and the extra stress Christmas brings.
DECEMBER
December is always a busy
month! We held a Christmas market at CommUnity Corner. A coach trip to Chester Christmas markets. St Andrew's hosted a Crafty Christmas event.
VISITING SNOWMAN & THE GRINCH!
We enjoyed Christmas afternoon tea and Margaret's homemade cakes. St Andrew's Church and the wider community worked together to offer community members carols on the doorstep.
SPOOKY HALLOWEEN WALK
CHRISTMAS CAROLS
CREATIVE WRITING GROUP
The Creative Writing group meet on the first Wednesday of every month at 6pm at CommUnity Corner.
The group is just people who live locally who are curious or passionate about creativity, writing and friendship. We're all amateur writers who meet to encourage each other's writing ability, passion and individual flair.
It can be poetry, short or long stories, comedy sketches, song lyrics or screenplays. We use a wide range of topics and writing techniques to create a workshop to bounce and encourage ideas, feelings, and imagery and mostly help each other grow as creative writers.
Here's some of our work on the theme of 'Community'. It's a friendly informal group with no judgement, expectations and no experience needed. Just come along and give it a try.
Dog shows, bingo, Learn to sew, give it a grow.
Benches for parks,
Spooky walks in the dark
Plenty of ways to make your mark
Crafters, chatters and community cashers
Litter pickers, nattering knitter's Food sharers and Wednesday carers
Bakers, makers and passionate creators
Lego building, carol singing afternoon teas, ey up magazine
Face book swaps and street whatsapps
Play box fun for everyone
Mainly men, the older gen
Women's spaces
Old and new faces
Friends, neighbours and passers by
All play a part, brighten our lives
A purpose we need to keep us strong
RESOLUTION REVOLUTION
Pour that Stella down the drain
Climb onboard the fitness train. Witness the fitness full steam ahead
6am jump out of bed.
Chuck those Lamberts in the bin
Time to jack the caffeine in.
Day one reset with porridge and water
Make a connection with a long lost daughter.
Be more patient. Learn to wait.
Don't take the bait. Never rise but see the sunrise. Turn the page. Lose the rage. Read a book.
Learn to cook.
Finally start that plant based diet 2025 MORE PEACE less riot.
David Taulty
In the silence of the gloom, Where we feel nothing but the depths of doom.
If you look close enough, you will see, Glimmers of light breaking free. They guide us through the deep, dark night, The beautiful glow, so soft and bright.
When you feel like you're consumed, The weight of the world can feel assumed.
But within these moments, we need to know, There's a light out there that will always show.
Let's lift each other, make a stand, We won't face the darkness alone when we are hand in hand
Emma
SOUL PLEASE
Advertisements try to fry us; buy us, buy us, buy us. At least try us. Spend money on this, spend money on that. With a digital overload no wonder your mental health is shot at.
Buy us, buy us, buy us and lie to us. Let us discuss why we make no fuss over the murder of the soul and the living crisis caused from higher ups. Why us?
From our screens pry us. You cannot buy us. We are us. We are alive thus human connection is the antidote to the virus.
John G - Gordon Bennett
That and, of course, a place to belong Gill
AN INFECTIOUS SMILE
Having passion for your home-town Football Club is one thing
At home or away, with your family, the joy it can bring.
Singing until your voice breaks, Clapping until your hands ache. The chants, the excitement, the drama, not red for goodness sake. The thrill of a goal, a tackle, a Community Shield, a FA cup final Every latics jersey, the highs and lows, a goal as you were at the urinal. Promotion or relegation, Premiership, even playing non league football Blue and white army, Once a tic, you were there through it all. It won't be the same, supporting Wigan and not seeing you there. Your infectious smile, will be watching from heaven with a hope, a prayer
RIP Darren Orme
Ozzy Wood
WHAT'S ON at CommUnity Corner
55a Park Road
OPENING HOURS:
CommUnity Corner is a public living room. During opening hours, If you want to come in and paint, sew, knit, do puzzles, chat, play board games, or just have a brew and watch the world go by, then you're very welcome. All the below events are also free.
Monday 11am-3pm Tues - 9.30am-3pm, Wednesday 11am-3pm, Thursday 6-8pm, Friday 11am-3pm
MONDAY is Mainly Men. Between 11am-3pm, there's a space in CommUnity Corner where men can be together, have a chat, eat and make plans.
We also host Knit and Natter in the yellow room from 12.30-2.30pm. There's Family Lego Club after school fortnightly (26th May) from 4:30-5:30pm (term time)
TUESDAY In the yellow room (during term time) we have Conversational English classes between 10-11.30am.
WEDNESDAY Carers Connect - is 1pm-3pm fortnightly (21st May) - meet other carers for peer support, information and some time for you.
The third Wednesday of every month,(7-9pm) is a Women and Young Girls Food Social
On the last Wednesday of the month there's a Councillor Surgery - where you can speak to Cllrs Ramsdale & Wood - 11.30-12.30pm
On the 1st Wednesday the Creative Writing Group meets from 6:30 - 8pm for informal friendly poetry sessions.
THURSDAY Evening is the Craft Group (6-8pm) - all skills, projects and ideas are welcome.
You can come down for career advice with Fiona between 6pm - 7pm
FRIDAY Morning from 10am - 12pm sees Sue and Val hosting Chill, Chat, Colour & Craft. It's a welcoming space and often well supplied with home baked goodies!
Peer Support Weight Loss is from 9am - 11 with health and wellbeing workshops, a private weigh in and friendly support followed by an optional walk.
From 12:30pm in the Yellow room there is Helps 2 Talk, a group led by Ros, to provide support and understanding to anyone living with addiction.
WEEKENDS Saturdays & Sundays are used by many groups, for many different reasons like pop up markets and clothes swaps. Keep an eye out for events coming up.
START SOMETHING NEW
We're always open to sharing the space with community peer led groups. If you would like to start a group at CommUnity Corner, please pop in for a chat. We'd love to accommodate you.
Tool Library
Yay, it looks like Spring has arrived, and Summer is on its way! Did you know that at CommUnity Corner, we now have a garden Tool Library that members can use?
It’s open to all of the community, but you need to be a member of SBHG (Springfield, Beech Hill, Gidow CommUnity).
We have battery-operated tools such as lawnmowers, hedge trimmers and strimmers, which can be borrowed for a few days to make your gardens look amazing and ready for summer. We also have many hand toolstrowels, spades etc.
The tool library is just £5 to nonlottery playing members for 6 months and free if you play the SBHG lottery.
If you’d like to use the Tool Library, call into CommUnity Corner and get signed up. All you need to bring is proof of address and £5 (if you aren’t a lottery member).
CHECKLIST
. Be a member of SBHG (call in to CC or sbhcommunity.co.uk)
. Collect a Tool Library Application Form from CommUnity Corner
. Pay your £5 if you don’t play our community lottery (half the money raised from the lottery is given as a prize and the other half goes back into the community)
. You’ll receive a welcome email and a link to request tools
. Complete the request, and then we’ll get in touch with you to arrange for the collection of tools.
Happy Gardening!
Written by Maureen Taulty
St Andrew's Parish Centre
MONDAY
BINGO FOREVER from 1pm Starts at 1.30pm. £1 to play. Raffles £1. Refreshments.
RAINBOWS (term time) 5.30-6.30pm. Suzy 9thwigantownrainbows@gmail. com
ZUMBA 7.15-8.15 pm Zumba with Steph Tel: 07944 673615
TUESDAY TRIMFORM 7-8pm Exercise class by Petra.
WEDNESDAY
YOGA WITH ALI
Yoga [mat] 10.30-11.30am £5 Chair Yoga 11.45-12.45pm £4 Ali 07368 286224
ZUMBA 7-8pm with Lizzy £5 Tel: 07734 712304
THURSDAY
FILM CLUB 12.30pm
First Thursday of the month£2.50 pp. Refreshments. Film at 1pm
TRIMFORM 7-8pm
Exercise class by Petra.
FRIDAY BROWNIES (term time)
5.30-7pm - Tracy Sinck, Carol Hilton
GUIDES (term time)
7.30-9pm Joan James, Carol Hilton
The Parish Centre is available to book for parties and other events. Contact details are on the last page.
Diggle Street Park - Progress Update
We’ll start with the good news - Diggle Street Park now has a public square!
In the centre of the park are three brand new park benches on a paved area for people to sit and enjoy the space together.
It all started a few years ago when local neighbour Victoria (me) noticed that the park seemed to attract some antisocial behaviour and lacked basics such as seating and flowers. The more I spoke about it and asked other people their thoughts and ideas, the more it seemed quite a few agreed.
So, Give it a Grow Wigan, working together with Springfield Beech Hill Gidlow CommUnity group, started looking for funding to improve this park for everyone.
We were permitted to undertake the work but were denied funding a few times. However, we remained resourceful and persevered. And we decided to approach the changes gradually by smallying for smaller grants.
In 2023, Give it a Grow donated 350 bulbs to be planted around the trees, these are vital for early pollinators each year and we had such fun planting these with local children and families.
Book-Cycle Beech Hill
MON
CRAFTY AFTERNOON 1 - 4pm
Bring your own knitting, crochet or craft projects, have a brew and a chat.
Suggested donation £2
TUES
SEW AND SEW 2-4pm
Friendly and Informal chat and a bit of sewing .
Suggested donation £2
CRAFT IN THE CABIN 1pm -4.30 Arts and Craft group. Suggested donation £2
THURS
KAY’S CANCER CARE 10.30am - 12.00
Friendly support group for cancer patients and their carers. Contact Kay on 07853 852422 £2 per person
THE THURSDAY COFFEE CLUB 1-4pm
Friendly chat and refreshments. Suggested donation £2
Then we were funded by The Tree Council in 2024 to plant a native hedgerow along the wall, and loads of local people joined in over a cold February weekend for digging days. These hedge plants are growing well now and will soon be established and in full bloom in summer.
Finally, the stars aligned last year, and we got the funding from Brighter Boroughs for the trickiest part - the seating, and we found a local landscaper to do the work.
April this year, we’re proud to say the seating is in place, and every time I nip down, it’s being used!
The next stage is some more flowers; we’d love to include some raised beds by the seating area and then some more formal-looking flower beds by the entrances/centre. Then who knows, perhaps a bowls court? An orchard? Picnic benches? Chess tables? What else?
We’d love to hear your ideas - this is our park. Please join our friendly Facebook group "Friends of Diggle Street Park" to chat and get updates.
NEW PUBLIC SQUARE
Craft and Creation
Every week, local groups gather to craft, chat, and share skills. Everyone has something to pass on, helping to strengthen community bonds and create a sense of belonging.
Some groups are organised, like the Monday afternoon Knit and Natter, while others simply drop in when the building is open to knit, sew, or make. Crafters and creators are always welcome.
There are two crafting groups at Community Corner. One runs itself on Thursday evenings, with members bringing fresh ideas each week.
Describing the group, they say, “Through these sessions, we’ve noticed how people flourish and grow, gaining confidence to be themselves.
There are no ‘leaders’, just a great hive of minds working together for the greater good. Whether it be through writing, sewing, knitting, gardening or crafting, all are welcome and if you just want to attend for a cuppa and a chat that’s fine too."
On Friday mornings, the Chill, Chat, Colour and Craft group meets at Community Corner.
It brings together both experienced crafters and those who are interested and new to all sorts of crafting.
Val and Sue, who host the group, say, “Our uplifting sessions so far have involved us enjoying a wide range of crafts, whilst making friends, having fun, enjoying a cuppa and often homemade cake! So far, we have tackled decoupage, glass painting, diamond art, gift boxes,
Pop-Ins
Pop-Ins are offered from CommUnity Corner. Their aim is to maintain links with community life by either visiting someone for a weekly friendly chat or connecting with a phone call.
Pop-Ins is open to everyone 18 and over who would like a weekly visit or just a quick call to check in and find ways they can contribute to community life from sharing recipes, finding friends experiencing similar circumstances, joining in with
crafting from a distance and sharing stories that we must take care not to lose.
Pop-Ins is not a carer service; it’s a friendly face or ear should anyone ever need it. Some people who use Pop-Ins are regulars at CommUnity Corner who call in for a brew and a chat.
Sometimes, they are unable to call in for many different reasons, so we take community to them.
Maybe you’d like to join a circle of new friends that want to offer mutual support to each other? We hope to connect people
beadwork, buttonwork, mood boards, watercolour painting, pipe cleaner flowers, Christmas reindeer, tree decorations and Lunar New Year decorations. ”
While most attendees are women, men are always welcome.
to others in the community through Pop-Ins.
If you are interested or know of someone who may benefit from a weekly short visit, or you might want to offer mutual friendship, call in to CommUnity Corner and speak to either Lisa or Meryl.
Alternatively, you can contact us through the Facebook pages SBHG or CommUnity Corner or leave a message on 07763640817 and we’ll be in touch to see how we can help.
Community Lottery
We launched the community lottery in May last year, and it's growing with 90 to 100 players each month.
It's a private members lottery, so you need to be a member to play. It costs just £5 per month, and the monthly pot is shared between a lucky winner and the community.
The idea behind it is simple. When we opened CommUnity Corner, we wanted to keep everything free. We found that many people wanted to contribute to the running costs, so we created a monthly lottery draw. Pay £5 per month and be in with a chance to win.
If you play the lottery, you can also help decide how the money
is spent. You don't have to come to CommUnity Corner to play the lottery. It's open to anyone who lives, works or spends time in the area.
So, how have we used the money we've raised together so far?
Since its launch last May, we've raised £4770, with £2385 in the pockets of community members and the same amount contributing to community life. So far, it's helped with the costs of the annual Party in the Park, the community awards, subsidising coach trips, and setting up a solidarity fund with cash gifts of up to £50 in the runup to Christmas.
We've reduced coach costs for Bury Market, Chester Christmas Market and the pantomime trip through the funds.
We provided nine cash gifts to local community members. We helped people who had become poorly / had accidents and were unable to work, people whose caring responsibilities meant they had less cash in their pockets, people who were generally struggling to make ends meet and someone who'd found themselves without a home to live in.
To play, you need to become a member of Springfield Beech Hill Gidlow CommUnity. That's so we can run it as a private
CHRISTMAS PANTO PART FUNDED BY THE LOTTERY
members lottery without overcomplicating it with lots of rules. We know lotteries are not everyone's cup of tea, and you don't need to play the lottery to become a member.
We encourage everyone to become a member. Members get early bird notifications of events, trips, parties and news directly to their email / phone rather than having to keep a watchful eye on social media.
To join the lottery, call into CommUnity Corner or join through the website. You'll find the details on page 19.
Mainly Men at CommUnity Corner
Monday afternoon is mainly for men at CommUnity Corner. For some, it's an opportunity to plan what they might get up to in the community together, as there's always something to fix, repair or renovate.
Men have been meeting on a Monday since the end of Covid, first at the pantry at the Scout Hut, then the Hen Hole and now at CommUnity Corner.
All types of men from all kinds of backgrounds come for all kinds of reasons.
Dylan says, "It's good for getting out of the house and having a chat". Paul says, "I come to meet friends and catch up."
Frank thinks it's, "Somewhere to come chat and have a joke," and Mike thinks it's "A chance to talk and set the world to rights". Phil thinks, "Its a place to support and be there for people"
MAINLY MEN
Doug says "I'm able to come and have a good chat for a few hours" and Hadi adds, I enjoy coming, helping and listening. It's really beneficial for me learning the English language."
Spaces for Women
It's important to have places in the community where women and young girls can enjoy each other's company. In this community, there are at least two.
On Tuesday mornings at St Anne's Community Hall, women gather in a women only space to relax, connect, create and inspire.
SPACES FOR WOMEN
It's a relaxing space, and the kettle is on from 9am. It's a perfect time for women who
take children to school. Babes in arms are more than welcome. The group get up to all kinds of things, like crafting and breadmaking. Mutual support with no judgment is always on offer. All women are welcome.
On the third Wednesday of each month women and young girls enjoy a social evening at CommUnity Corner. This group started three years ago as a food share and, over time, recognised not everyone wants to eat together.
You can bring food if you want to eat, bring extra if you want to share, or don't eat at all, play games, create and have a natter. It's a friendly place that welcomes all women and young girls.
Sometimes, women and young girls gather together across the borough. The last gathering
WOMEN'S WELLBEING
was in March to celebrate International Women's Day. It took place at Fur Clemt and was organised by Alice of ReMade Wigan. On the day, women enjoyed drumming, afternoon tea, relaxation, crafting, and shoopery and spent some time exploring what a good Wigan for women looks like.
If you'd like to join more groups for women, you can follow ReMade Wigan on Facebook or check out their website, remadewomen.co.uk, where you'll find a map of women's groups across the town.
Local families organise a trip to Gulliver's World
Members of the Family Activities Club decided they'd like a day out together in the Easter holidays and came up with a plan to make it happen.
Together, the kids and their Mums raised a massive £437, enough to pay for a coach to Gulliver's World and drinks for the way there and home.
Joanne took on an organising role, Irene agreed to collect the cash, and the kids got busy fundraising.
While the parents organised football cards and raffles, the kids rolled up their sleeves and made cakes to sell at a stall at Beech Hill Community Primary School. Ava and Bonnie, sold loom bands on a street stall and raised £37.
Ava says, "I liked that we got to brainstorm and come up with all the ideas and that we made it happen. My favourite part was dressing up as a bunny at school and selling cream eggs and making loom bands with Bonnie to sell."
They also prepared a pitch and presented it to community members at a Community Cash event.
They asked for funds to buy some bunny costumes and creme eggs. They sold the eggs dressed as bunnies bringing joy to the community and helping to reach the final target.
Lisa, one of the organisers, said, "Thank you to everyone who donated or bought a raffle ticket and a great big shout out to all the kids and the mums who made it happen".
The Family Activities Club meets every other Tuesday at St Anne's Community Hall after school. Everyone is welcome to come along, pitch in, help, and have fun together.
Conversational English
Dondu and Cathy are members of the community who attend the Tuesday morning Conversational English class at CommUnity Corner.
They met two years ago whilst learning English at Wigan & Leigh College. They soon became friends as they share a similar sense of humour, love to chat and also help each other practice English.
DONDU & CATHY
March saw another brilliant evening of new ideas and familiar faces supported at Community Cash.
First to pitch was Dave, wanting to publish a book of his creative writing. He needed £200 for print and design and he will sell the books at £3 and has offered profit from the first 100 copies to creative spaces at CommUnity Corner.
The Creative Writing Group, planning their first spoken word night in May, wanted £200 for new equipment and resources for the event. They hope to have enough left over to invite a professional writer to host a workshop at their monthly gatherings.
Cathy loves crafting and comes to the Chill, Chat, Colour and Craft at CommUnity Corner on Friday mornings. Dondu has lived in Wigan for almost ten years. She moved from Turkey to marry.
Dondu found it difficult when she first arrived. "10 years ago it was a scary place, as I couldn't speak English and people were put off by my scarf. Some people can be cruel. Now it's much better, as I can speak English, although there are scary things too, like when the stranger went into my children's school." Like many people living in Wigan Dondu and her family find life in a third floor flat difficult.
Cathy has been living in Wigan for three years. She moved with her husband and daughter from Hong Kong because of the political situation there, and decided on Wigan as it was close to Liverpool and Manchester for her husband's work.
Community Cash
Erika, a young person pitched for £40 sponsorship for her rugby season with Shevington Sharks. Ava and Bonnie, two young Family Craft Club members, wanted to bring a creme egg-laden Easter Bunny to the community with donations contributing to a family Easter trip. They'd already raised enough to fund the coach with bake sales and raffles. They wanted £140 for eggs and costumes.
Phil pitched for £84 to replace the pads on the defibrillator outside CommUnity Corner.
Emma was last and pitched for £186 towards a photography project focusing on the scars we all carry.
Community members anonymously voted, and all pitches received the thumbs up.
She's noticing more and more Hong Kongians in Wigan and enjoys meeting up with people who share her cultural heritage and culinary tastes at the food stall in Wigan Market.
The Conversational English class is a really diverse and friendly group of people eager to learn and practice the English language. It's a real treat when they decide to eat lunch together and bring in food to share, with tasty treats from Turkey, Iran, Ukraine, Libya, Morocco, Lithuania, Yemen, Hong Kong and Mauritius to name but a few.
We are grateful to Cllr David Wood, who has used his Brighter Borough funding to pay for the tutor.
Laskavo prosymo! Sveiki atvykę! Hoş geldin! Bienvenue!
ًﻼﻫﺃ (ahlan)
We can't wait to see them come to life.
Community Cash is made possible through support from the private member's community lottery, donations from those who pitch and funding applications. We welcome community-minded businesses wanting to invest in supporting great local ideas.
The next Community Cash is on Tuesday 17th June at CommUnity Corner from 6-8pm. Aside from your ideas, we'd love to invest in summer growing, contribute to street parties and play streets.
Let's make this a summer of connection!
SEASONAL GARDENING TIPS
Plant pollinator-friendly summer flowering plants such such as sunflowers, pansies, cosmos and marigolds.
Consider pulling up a flag or two and starting something new at home. In Holland, they have a fun annual competition - who can pull up the most at home!
Check carefully for nesting birds before triming hedges or trees.
Keep on watering! And consider a water butt to save money, they're often free / very cheap 2nd hand.
It's hedgehog mating season, you can help these endangered animals leaving out little bowls of water and cat food for them.
If mowing the lawn, maybe leave a section to allow 'weeds' such as daisies and dandelions to flower - they're a great source of nectar and pollen.
If you'd like free veg, plants or flowers, check the SBHG facebook group for updates from Victoria at the community garden.
Community Food Share Festival
We are super excited to be planning our first community-wide Food Share & Festival thanks to funding from Down to Earth.
Not only are we having an amazing afternoon trying delicious food inspired from around the world but we’re going to have a locally produced recipe book containing recipes and pictures from the event.
We will have poetry readings from our Creative Writing Group, an artist helping us create a community piece of art and hopefully, some singers and music to really make the atmosphere.
If you’ve popped into CommUnity Corner before you may have been lucky enough to sample food made by local people such as Margaret’s amazing Lemon Drizzle, Frank's Christmas Cake or Kevina’s Pufka.
We’re no strangers to the concept of people bringing food to celebrate together and the impact it can have on feeling connected and safe. We are a very diverse community with many cultures and nationalities, and we’d like our Food Share Festival to represent that.
Do you have a traditional recipe special to you or your culture and would like to share it with the community?
We can provide ingredients, cooking equipment, somewhere to cook it and help (if required). You may have a talent such as singing, dancing, drumming, etc., you’d like to perform on the day.
The Festival is on 29th June on Park Road outside CommUnity Corner from 1pm.
We have two supporting meet up events (21st & 24th May 10am - 11am) for anyone who is thinking about cooking, where you can get advice, support and find out more.
As always, we will be grateful for offers of help and support in the build-up to and on the day, so if you’d like to get involved in any way, please call CommUnity Corner or message us on social media.
Elected councillors for Wigan West
Cllr Sheila Ramsdale (Labour & Co-op) 07596 595552 Sheila.Ramsdale@wigan.gov.uk
Cllr David Wood (Labour & Co-op) 07855 002583 David.Wood@wigan.gov.uk
Cllr Phyll Cullen (Labour) 01942 736257 P.Cullen@wigan.gov.uk
Gallery
See if you can spot yourself or your friends and family in our bumper gallery of all things good these past few seasons!
PLAYBOX FEB HALF TERM
Community Survey
This year's community survey says CommUnity Corner opening, the Playbox, Family and Community trips, Afternoon tea and the Dog Show are local highlights of the year.
The general view is that we are becoming more connected as a community.
We’ve run an annual survey in November for the last three years.
It’s quite long as we want people to really think, so we offer a prize draw of £50 worth of vouchers. Thank you to all who take the time to complete it. We have talking groups, too, for people who prefer. 106 people completed the survey this time, and 36 joined the talking groups.
We also went out to talk to young people and people new to the area to listen to and understand how they feel about the place we call home.
Here are some of the survey headlines
The best thing about living here is the people and the community spirit
98% of people think the community is becoming more connected, at least in parts.
People gave reasons like there’s more to do together, they have more friends, they are seeing change, information and local news have improved, and there’s more community spirit.
What about
problems?
People thought the main problems are poverty and its impact, crime and grime, not enough opportunities for children and young people, people not getting involved enough or spending enough time getting to know different types of people and the impact of Government cuts.
Spending more time caring for each other, and the local area was something that many people thought we could do together as a community.
Making life better for young people and reducing crime were things that we felt we could do if we had more help, with lots of people wanting a better response and more increased presence from the police. 67% feel they have neighbours they can count on, while 24% say they can sometimes count on them.
Socialising with neighbours has decreased since the pandemic, so maybe it’s time to organise a street party? 60% feel this community is welcoming and friendly.
Perhaps you think the same as the people who completed the survey. Maybe you have a different view?
Why not come along to one of the groups and clubs and share how you feel about community life? Or take action? You could organise a street party or a play street, visit a neighbour and have a brew, take care of a piece of land, or start a group.
Anything is possible!
Get Involved
Here are just a few ways you can get involved in the community. Just scan the QR codes below. And If you have other ideas, we'd love to hear them, just drop into CommUnity Corner to say hi.
To become a member of SBHG and to take part in the private lottery, please go to the website and fill out the form.
Scan this QR code to join our positive, friendly facebook group. Full of good news, ideas and community spirit.
This magazine has been made possible due to financial support from Awards for All, Northern Heart and Soul CiC, a local business that wants to see this neighbourhood grow, and local businesses who have paid for adverts.
This edition has been brought to you by Gill, Angela and Victoria, with contributions from Meryl, Jo, Maureen, Dave and the poetry group. You can see some of the other members of the organising group below.
If you’d like to write an article or share a story in future editions, do get in touch
Stay in Touch
We hope you've enjoyed this edition of Ey Up!
There are a number of ways that you can keep in touch.
Join the Facebook GroupSpringfield, Beech Hill and Gidlow CommUnity
Join the community association through the website sbhcommunity.co.uk
Keep an eye on the community notice boards for events.
Pop into CommUnity Corner
Email us at sbhg.community@gmail.com
Text or phone 07703574387
Join our WhatsApp community, just scan the QR code below
JO ANGELA
VICKY
MAUREEN GILL
VICTORIA DAVE LISA
PHIL SANDRA MERYL BEN