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.