Last week I attended the 'What we are proud of awards' organised by the National Housing Federation. The Abbey Estate, and Abbey Neighbourhood Centre had been nominated in recognition for the huge amount of work that has taken place to improve the community, and for the way which the estate has changed over the years. We work closely with Peddars Way and other agencies on the Abbey Estate. I went with four volunteers from the Abbey community, and the PCSO for the Estate - Gavin Tampin. We were all delighted to have been shortlisted in the top 3 out of the 24 projects submitted. We had to give a 15 minute presentation outlining 'what we are proud of' and focus on what examples of partnership work had taken place and how the project helps housing association tenants. All of us attending gave short speeches as part of our presentation, followed by a brief video of some of the activities taking place. Giving a speech in front of so many people is no easy undertaking, luckily I have a little bit of experience of it now, but I was still very nervous, but those not used to doing it were very brave, and did a fantastic job and were clearly determined to make sure they got their good news story across. Despite the other two projects being of a very high standard, I am delighted to say that our project won, and will now represent the whole Eastern Region at the national awards ceremony in London. The victory was even more poignant given that the winner was chosen by votes cast from those attending on the evening, including attendees for the other projects. Here is the text from my speech on the night: Good evening, my name is Terry Jermy and I am a Community Worker with Keystone Development Trust and Manager of the Abbey Neighbourhood Centre. A community workers’ role is to work with, engage and empower local residents to address issues themselves and work together to improve their community.
Therefore, you need a community, to have a community worker. And ultimately, the reason why the Abbey Estate has improved is not because of the money spent on it, or the greater attention from whichever agency, it is because the community, the people that live there, have wanted it to improve, and improve it has.
The community centre now boasts a fantastic community café, open from Tuesday – Saturday, it really has become the hub for the community, the café is providing employment for people from the local area, and is providing training and support to a whole number of volunteers.
We have a weekly youth group on a Tuesday, providing an activity for 5-9 years and then 10-15 years, over 60 children walk through the door every Tuesday for this. We have at least 6 volunteers assisting this project and all are completing child protection and first aid courses, and will soon complete basic youth work training, this will hopefully get them a foot in the door to paid youth work.
We have two weekly bingo sessions, Wednesday afternoons and Thursday evenings. This is greatly appreciated by the older members of our community – for some it is the only thing they do each week. We’ve just launched weekly senior citizen lunches on Fridays, a home-cooked meal such as shepeherds pie, for just £2.50 per person. We also have a table tennis club on a Monday night for those aged 16-24 years and this is helping us to develop links with this age group, many of which have a chequered past having been in prison and experienced drug and alcohol misuse. Hopefully through something as simple as table tennis, we can start to help improve the lives of these young people as well.
It is truly a community centre for the whole community, and I think symbolizes that this community has improved.
For me, the most striking thing about the people you see here tonight, and others involved with activities in this community, is their commitment and dedication through adversity. They all have a whole variety of issues going on in their own lives, they could easily let these issues consume them, and have resentment against society, but they do not, they all muck in, do their bit, and through it, support each other, and are stronger for it. Brenda touched upon an issue sensitive to her just now, and many of the people involved with activities at the Abbey have their own personal situations which they strive to overcome. But they don’t let that prevent them from doing their bit in their community, and I like to think in return, they support each other, and I like to think that their community supports them.
So to summarise, We know our community has improved, the people on the Abbey Estate know their community has improved, YOU here, have the power this evening, to help us send a message to everyone else that this community has improved. Vote for the Abbey.Here's the link to an article about it in the Bury Free Press; http://www.buryfreepress.co.uk/thetford/Neighbourhood-centre-wins-community-award.5445820.jp
Last week I attended the 'What we are proud of awards' organised by the National Housing Federation. The Abbey Estate, and Abbey Neighbourhood Centre had been nominated in recognition for the huge amount of work that has taken place to improve the community, and for the way which the estate has changed over the years. We work closely with Peddars Way and other agencies on the Abbey Estate. I went with four volunteers from the Abbey community, and the PCSO for the Estate - Gavin Tampin. We were all delighted to have been shortlisted in the top 3 out of the 24 projects submitted. We had to give a 15 minute presentation outlining 'what we are proud of' and focus on what examples of partnership work had taken place and how the project helps housing association tenants. All of us attending gave short speeches as part of our presentation, followed by a brief video of some of the activities taking place. Giving a speech in front of so many people is no easy undertaking, luckily I have a little bit of experience of it now, but I was still very nervous, but those not used to doing it were very brave, and did a fantastic job and were clearly determined to make sure they got their good news story across. Despite the other two projects being of a very high standard, I am delighted to say that our project won, and will now represent the whole Eastern Region at the national awards ceremony in London. The victory was even more poignant given that the winner was chosen by votes cast from those attending on the evening, including attendees for the other projects. Here is the text from my speech on the night: Good evening, my name is Terry Jermy and I am a Community Worker with Keystone Development Trust and Manager of the Abbey Neighbourhood Centre. A community workers’ role is to work with, engage and empower local residents to address issues themselves and work together to improve their community.
Therefore, you need a community, to have a community worker. And ultimately, the reason why the Abbey Estate has improved is not because of the money spent on it, or the greater attention from whichever agency, it is because the community, the people that live there, have wanted it to improve, and improve it has.
The community centre now boasts a fantastic community café, open from Tuesday – Saturday, it really has become the hub for the community, the café is providing employment for people from the local area, and is providing training and support to a whole number of volunteers.
We have a weekly youth group on a Tuesday, providing an activity for 5-9 years and then 10-15 years, over 60 children walk through the door every Tuesday for this. We have at least 6 volunteers assisting this project and all are completing child protection and first aid courses, and will soon complete basic youth work training, this will hopefully get them a foot in the door to paid youth work.
We have two weekly bingo sessions, Wednesday afternoons and Thursday evenings. This is greatly appreciated by the older members of our community – for some it is the only thing they do each week. We’ve just launched weekly senior citizen lunches on Fridays, a home-cooked meal such as shepeherds pie, for just £2.50 per person. We also have a table tennis club on a Monday night for those aged 16-24 years and this is helping us to develop links with this age group, many of which have a chequered past having been in prison and experienced drug and alcohol misuse. Hopefully through something as simple as table tennis, we can start to help improve the lives of these young people as well.
It is truly a community centre for the whole community, and I think symbolizes that this community has improved.
For me, the most striking thing about the people you see here tonight, and others involved with activities in this community, is their commitment and dedication through adversity. They all have a whole variety of issues going on in their own lives, they could easily let these issues consume them, and have resentment against society, but they do not, they all muck in, do their bit, and through it, support each other, and are stronger for it. Brenda touched upon an issue sensitive to her just now, and many of the people involved with activities at the Abbey have their own personal situations which they strive to overcome. But they don’t let that prevent them from doing their bit in their community, and I like to think in return, they support each other, and I like to think that their community supports them.
So to summarise, We know our community has improved, the people on the Abbey Estate know their community has improved, YOU here, have the power this evening, to help us send a message to everyone else that this community has improved. Vote for the Abbey.Here's the link to an article about it in the Bury Free Press; http://www.buryfreepress.co.uk/thetford/Neighbourhood-centre-wins-community-award.5445820.jp
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