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Foundation HighlightsQuarter Four - January to March 2015
The Foundation is the Charitable arm of
Town and Country Housing Group and works
towards making a positive difference to individual,
family and community life.
It was established in January 2007 and has a team
of six officers and freelance staff. The team focuses
on identifying and responding to social needs.
Many projects and initiatives are incubated by the
Foundation which has already created a legacy of
sustainable projects across Kent.
Health and Wellbeing
Reducing social isolation and promoting inclusivity, particularly
amongst the older population, vunerable residents and wider
community; building resiliance and new solutions to long standing
social issues.
Learning skills, employment and
enterprise
Improving employability,
progression from welfare benefits into
paid employment and progression from low paid to
economic security for individuals and
families.Social Regeneration
Working with communities and partners over the long term to
transform local areas into vibrant neighbourhoods where residents
are proud to live.
Major Projects
“To make a positive difference to
individual, family and community life by
creating places where people prosper”
The 2015 Winter Lantern Parade lit up
Tunbridge Wells and brought over 1,500
people together. Samba band Bloco Fogo
led the parade, crowds lined the streets
and members of the community carried the
handmade lanterns. The lanterns were
created in over 20 workshops throughout
Tunbridge Wells in the lead up to the event
itself. The parade walked through Tunbridge
Wells Town Centre from Civic Way through
Monson Road, Camden Road then to St
Barnabus School where food stands and
entertainment awaited. The event was
organised by CREATE, sponsored by
the Housing Group and supported by the
Foundation.
Lantern Parade
Lantern Parade
Energy Awareness Pop Ups
For a week in
February, energy
experts were
available for ‘drop in’
advice at Café Bliss,
Southborough. These
‘drop in’ sessions were
free and attendees
could receive a free
hot drink if they
brought their energy
bills with them.
We included a ‘late night’ ‘drop in’ on one of the days, to
ensure the service was accessible to all our residents. A
total of 120 visitors attended the Pop Up and 56 energy
bills were checked. The advisors delivered independent
practical advice on saving money on energy bills,
through switching suppliers or making their home more
energy efficient. Everyone who attended saved money
and the highest amount saved was £470 by one of our
residents. South East Water attended the sessions
who gave money saving advice. Winter Warmth invited
customers who were in need to be assessed for
blankets, hats, gloves and gave advice on heating to
elderly people.
A similar event was run at various locations in East Kent.
The DAVSS ‘Men
Standing Up Against
Domestic Abuse’
Conference took
place in February at
Trinity Arts Centre
in Tunbridge Wells.
The conference was
aimed at heads of
service, agencies
and local businesses
to give a better
understanding of
domestic abuse as a
men’s issue.
DAVSS CONFERENCE
The morning comprised
of a key note speech
from Baroness Newlove,
Victims Commissioner,
presentations from
Nazir Afzal OBE &
Chief Prosecuting
Solicitor NW England,
Dr Suzanne Martin,
interviews with male
survivors of domestic
abuse and panel
discussions with
Chief Constable Alan
Pughsley, Councillor
Nick Chard and Bob
Heapy to name a few.
The morning was hosted
by Jan Berry QPM BA,
Chair of DAVSS.
Two videos were shown,
one was made in
association with ex Dr Who
stars Louise Jameson
and Tom Baker, designed
to help recruit DAVSS
volunteers. The other was
made to raise awareness
and understanding
of domestic abuse
from the male victim’s
perspective and was
conceived and sponsored
by the Foundation. The
filmmaker, Adipat Virdi also
filmed the conference to
create a follow up video.
The conference drew the
media attention of KMFM,
Meridian News, BBC
South East, which featured
at various times during
the day. This resulted in
excess of £4,000 of media
coverage. DAVSS, Town
and Country Foundation,
Town and Country
Housing and Adipat
the filmmaker were live
tweeting throughout the
conference with support
on Twitter from Baroness
Newlove, local businesses,
agencies, supporters and
volunteers. Davina McCall,
TV presenter and charity
fundraiser and Steven Fry
re tweeted DAVSS, helping
us achieve the 6th most
popular hash tag globally
for 3 hours on the day.
Tunbridge Wells Job Centre
Plus hosted a ‘Health
Day’ aimed at supporting
jobseekers to live healthier
lives. This was attended
by local people with
disabilities and mental health
issues. The events were
a success with more than
200 attending. Town and
Country Foundation had a
stand to promote free training
opportunities including
‘Access All Areas’, ‘Work in
Progress’ and the ‘New Year,
New You’ event at Sherwood.
50 people gave their details
information about upcoming
events and activities,
including ICT training,
employability skills and
opportunities to volunteer.
Over 50 people said they
would be interested in
hearing about more training
opportunities. Our partners
the Dover Volunteer Centre
gave a lunchtime seminar on
CV writing, which was also
well attended.
Job fairsDover and Deal, Tunbridge Wells
and expressed an interest in
our training programmes.
Around 750 people attended
the Dover and Deal Job Fair
on 23rd February, which
was held in the Town Hall
in Dover. Charlie Elphicke
MP opened the event, which
saw numerous employers
providing information about
their job opportunities and
support to make applications.
Town and Country
Foundation had a display of
Connect Through our CONNECT project we have
attended two local Dementia Friendly
Communities events to link with agencies and
services users. At the West Kent Dementia
Action Alliance and Dementia Action Awareness
event, we connected with agencies and service
users to promote and enhance the service we
deliver. We work closely with local dementia
friendly community programmes, including the
Work in ProgressLocal people have been getting ‘back to work’ with our
innovative training. ‘Work In Progress’ has been tailor made
for Town and Country Foundation by Working Futures. It is
designed to help long term unemployed people who feel ‘stuck’
in their job searching, or those returning to work after having a child or long term sickness.
The course of workshops help improve confidence, CV building, identifying skills, where to find
‘hidden jobs’ and any other issues as they come up during the course of the year. In February
the last course was run in Showfields and was attended by 9 residents.
‘Jive Party’ event in Dementia Awareness
week which is now running its second event
this year due to the success of our 2014
event. This links to our Dementia Awareness
training, being delivered in June, which aims
to train frontline staff and local businesses
in being more dementia friendly. So far over
200 people have been trained through us
delivering this programme.
Broadwater Urban Garden Giving
Scheme launched in February.
This project helps people
manage their outdoor spaces in
the Broadwater area, including
the Showfields and Ramslye
estates. The scheme is designed
to help local residents maintain
their front gardens and help
those who may have difficultly
moving around or who are
unable to manage the workload.
The butterfly garden at Willow
Tree Road which was created by
residents in 2012 is also being
maintained through this scheme.
The Foundation have
commissioned Kent High Weald
Partnership to deliver this project.
A new initiative has started to try
to gain more users for the Dover
Community Allotment. The allotment
was created by the Foundation and
includes a polytunnel and raised beds.
Local residents have been maintaining
the plot, growing fruit and vegetables
and learning about horticulture. The
allotment is located behind the Old
Park Community Centre, which is at the
heart of one of our housing estates.
Dover Allotment
Introduction to Volunteering Old Park Community Centre in Dover has been host to a course helping residents into
volunteering. They looked at volunteer placements, what skills individuals had and what skills they
could gain. 8 attended the first pilot course, 1 trainee said ”I enjoyed finding out what opportunities
are out there” another trainee told us ”I enjoyed the day, thank you”.
Youth Engagement activities in
February took place in Old Park
with 15-20 young people consulted
on what they would like to see
within Dover. A bid has been
submitted to ensure that young
people are engaged in positive
activities and their voices can be
heard within TCHG.
The Foundation has supported Take Off with their
recent re launch from Canterbury and District
Mental Health Forum. The project will support
The Crisis Café based in Canterbury. This is
a referral only service for people who are in a
mental health crisis. It provides an opportunity
to meet with peer support workers who can help
to manage a current crisis and look at how to
reduce the risk of future crises. The Foundation
will be working with Take Off on a number of
initiatives with residents in the future.
We have also supported “Unravel and
Unwind” based in Medway. Their aim is
to create a friendly open environment,
“A crafting home from home” (comment
from one of our fans), where local crafters
& families can practice, learn, teach and
sell their crafts. A place where skills can
be shared and new ideas encouraging
community engagement, increasing social
well-being, removing isolation and possibly
mentoring transitions into employment.
27 March - Grays Tea Rooms 1st Birthday Party,
Brenchley Memorial Hall.
9 & 16 April - Mini Beast Safari Old Park Centre
16 April - Ramslye Play opening event.
17 April Sherwood Community Herb Garden
Join us at the Spring spruce up event.
4 May - Grosvenor and Hilbert Park – Family Fun
Day Loads of great activities for all the family, learn
about our Doctor Dolittle project, launching on the day.
20 May - During Dementia Awareness Week
The Dementia Friendly Communities Jive Party,
Camden Centre, Tunbridge Wells
Fun and dancing for local people living with dementia,
their carers and the groups involved in co-ordinating
their care, linking services users, groups and projects.
3 June - Val Joy Community Celebration, High
Rocks, Tunbridge Wells
Val Joy is our yearly celebration and thank you to our
volunteers involved in all our projects across Kent.
26 June - Foundation Corporate Partners Breakfast
Launch, Trinity Centre, Tunbridge Wells
What’s coming up next quarter?
Also delivering Town & Country Pop Up events across the county, see www.tchg.org.uk for details.