A small grant of £2,500 to Hillingdon Play Association has brought a real boost to parents on the Glebe Estate in West Drayton. The grant aimed to increase free play opportunities for children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The project proved so successful that sessions held at the Com.Cafe had to be increased to twice a week, with further sessions and trips during the school holidays. The sessions were intended to encourage better social skills within families, promoting community cohesion and giving children and adults opportunities to access play for free. The play sessions helped develop friendships between parents and became a meeting place where parents could have fun with their children and support each other. Many of the families attending were single parents and often with very low incomes, so the clubs were important to families in keeping their children entertained.
The sessions also contributed to improved community cohesion. Many children formed friendships with children from different schools and varying ages. The behaviour of the children improved dramatically as they were focused, with age appropriate and new activities to engage in. Much of the feedback from parents centred on the fact that children were not 'hanging around on the streets' but were enjoying themselves with different types of play equipment.
The project is impressive in that once funding ended, HPA had created activities that remained viable and continue to operate with support from the Com.Cafe. Children will have developed within the six areas of learning through play; improving social and emotional skills, language and communication, physical development and intellectual areas.
HPA also ran a very successful project in the summer holidays 'Rock the Park', which was aimed at young people 10-19 years old and families. Rock the Park featured activities and workshops focused on music and children had the opportunity to experiment with different sounds. The day was attended by a wide range of age groups and was a positive way for the local community to come together and enjoy time in Hayes End Park.
The event created a greater awareness of HPA and also raised the profile of the building where HPA is based (Hayes End Community Centre) as many people were unaware that it could be used for events. Parents valued children being able to do something that they would not normally be able to do for free, including sumo suits, soft play, bubble bus, African drumming and learning how to use a drum kit. Around 1,000 people from the Trust area from a range of backgrounds took part so there was an important community cohesion element to the event.
'Fantastic day – my family have had a great day.
Keep Hillingdon Play going.'
'Good events for children. My kids have really enjoyed it and
the fact that it is free means they can enjoy more.'
'Great free activity event, just what young families need in
the school hols, hope many more to come.'
The Trust has recently set up Twitter and Facebook accounts as a way of experimenting in using social media to provide information about what we are doing and some of the activities/projects the Trust funds.
You can now follow us on Twitter @HillCommTrust
Our Facebook page can be accessed here. If you would like us to mention a forthcoming event for your organisation in the Trust area or to let our followers on Facebook and Twitter know about a project you are running, please let us know and we will arrange to do this.
A partnership project between Green Corridor and Jupiter House Foyer in Hayes has given young people a sought after qualification and much improved employment prospects. Small grant funding of £7,497 enabled Green Corridor to deliver a twelve week programme of horticultural activity and training to a group of young residents at Jupiter House. The training enabled the young people to gain a nationally recognised level one qualification in Horticulture.
57% of the participants found employment within 8 weeks of completing the programme. 100% said they felt more confident as a result of participating and 85% were more physically active as a result of the course. Communication skills were also improved with all of the students saying they were better able to communicate with colleagues.
Six of the seven clients registered on the programme successfully attended for the full course and achieved their accredited qualification. For many of the beneficiaries, this was the first formal qualification they had completed.
The Jupiter House raised garden was previously funded by Hillingdon Community Trust and is now being used as an area where residents can relax, undertake additional learning and they are using the growing space to supplement produce in the Foyer kitchen. At the beginning of the programme, the vegetables being grown on the plot would be left and not eaten by the clients. The project has stimulated engagement with the plots.
Following the project, five additional clients have taken part in a four week programme with Green Corridor which will be continued internally at Jupiter House through the AQA system. On the strength of the original programme's success a further 16 week programme has been requested by Jupiter House. This is to be explored further once the current management handover between Foyer and YMCA is completed.
Hillingdon Community Trust has provided funding for the West London Floating Classroom over 5 years, extending a 3 year grant for a further 2 years because of the outstanding performance of the project. Since 2009, WLFC has welcomed well over 8000 students and nearly 2000 teachers and school staff aboard. The grant was intended to enable schools in our area free visits to the classroom, with access to the canal and improved educational opportunities.
The highlight of the two year grant was the popular Quarry Adventure programme, which significantly increased the volume of schools participating in the programme over the winter months. The quarry trips are a whole day experience with the morning spent in the Lea Quarry learning about aggregate extraction and the afternoon aboard the Floating Classroom following the route of the gravel barges from the quarry to the depot in West Drayton.
“Morning Mums” is a Trust-funded Dance Style Aerobics session at Botwell Green Leisure Centre in Hayes on Tuesday mornings after the morning school run. “Morning Mums” attendees have thoroughly acclaimed the scheme as which offers a fun, fresh spin on exercise for £1!
Emperors Basketball Club has received a small grant to deliver a project aimed at boys and girls between the ages of 7 -11 yrs and 12-16 yrs, from beginners to advanced.
The Trust approved a grant of £6,754 to Hillingdon Interfaith Network in September 2010 to deliver inter faith dialogues for schools through local faith communities to improve knowledge and understanding, promoting community cohesion. As a result of the funding, 160 children have taken part in faith activities and developed their understanding of how different faiths deal with issues. Volunteer facilitators take part in these events which have been very popular in schools.
The project aims to expose children to different faiths to help them appreciate the differences, similarities and strengths of each religion and their approach to different issues. Children have also experienced different faiths working together and from taking part in practical exercises, children have a better understanding about the different faiths.
Using a network of volunteers from different faiths willing to facilitate workshops in schools, a training process has been created, along with lesson plans and a process for arranging sessions in schools and co-ordinating appropriate facilitators.
There is now a pool of volunteers who can be called upon to run workshops in schools. Relationships within the faith community will have been strengthened to enable them to work and stand together more easily in the future.
At the group's AGM in July, volunteers spoke about their experiences.
Workshops organised by P3 in secondary schools in the Trust area have helped young people understand the dangers and risks of carrying a knife.
The workshops received funding of £28,884 from the Trust over 2 years. Over this period, almost 1,000 young people attended the workshops which were led by Simon Hibbs, who has received specialist training in delivering the sessions through a Home Office approved programme.
One of the aims of the programme is to prevent young people getting involved in knife crime in the first place. The weapons awareness workshops inform young people about the dangers of carrying a weapon, the consequences of this and explore the facts around knife crime enabling them to make an educated and informed choice not to carry a weapon. The workshops dispel myths about carrying knives including the common response of “I only carry a knife for protection.”
The workshop raises young people's awareness of the serious consequences of carrying a knife and directly aims to reduce the numbers of young people carrying a weapon. It also tackles the “glamour, fear and peer pressure that can motivate young people to carry a knife.”
95% of those who have attended a workshop say that they have fully thought through the consequences of carrying a knife. 99% of those who attend now think it is not ok to carry a weapon and say they would not do so. As part of the evaluation from each workshop every young person who thought they may or would continue to carry a knife was offered further support and mentoring. This allowed a private conversation/mentoring to happen about why the individual would carry a knife and give them further support/knowledge should they need it.
QPR in the Community has completed the first year of a 3 year project to deliver multi-sports sessions aimed at children in years 1 -4 in all primary schools in the Trust area. In year 1, the project has visited Harmondsworth, Heathrow, St. Catherine's, William Byrd and West Drayton primary schools.
The project aims to introduce children to new sports, improve fitness levels and general well-being, including concentration levels, behaviour and discipline whilst in school.
The project also includes volunteers, and helpers and in a number of the schools year six children who have demonstrated good behaviour and a positive attitude during school time are rewarded by assisting the qualified QPR coaches.
The activity is already having a positive impact, with teachers commenting that many children have shown a noticeable improvement in their levels of fitness and general interest in sport. Improvement in diet and nutrition has also been noticeable. Children's behaviour also has been an area where the schools have seen a marked improvement. Through sport, QPR in the Community coaches are looking to promote positive core values such as discipline, respect, and teamwork.
One of the aims of the project is to have more children joining local sports clubs/teams. In the first 6 months of the year, more than ten children have joined a new club, thanks to new sports such as rugby, and Gaelic football being promoted in HCT area schools.
The project has also led to highly talented children having an opportunity to be tested at a higher level. Three boys, and five girls were offered trials at QPR, with one of the girls from West Drayton Primary School recently signing for one of the girls' teams. As well as primary school volunteers, QPR are also working with local volunteers who are looking to make a career out of coaching.
Meadows Community Centre is run by Catalyst Housing Group and is open for both one off events and regular long-term bookings for activities such as children's parties, residents' meetings, training workshops and social gatherings at a competitive rate.
For more information about the centre please contact Chris Bamber on 020 8832 3328 or alternatively you can e-mail communitycentrebookings@chg.org.uk.
Barra Hall
Wood End Green Road
Hayes
UB3 2SA
Telephone: 020 8581 1676
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