A summary of all the speakers from the last COP meeting of the year, with external links included
Last week, we attended this month's COP at Wirral Change, which we'd like to thank for hosting.
Public Health Wirral
Nikki firstly commented on how great is to see so many people still actively engaged with the COP and that she was looking forward to the anniversary in May. She then went on to highlight some of the work Public health was doing. She mentioned the step up small grants program which will be launching shortly. She also highlighted 135k that they had brought in to support volunteering and also are working towards a volunteer passport.
Public health are realising their annual report, with a focus this time around on addiction.
They are doing a lot of work around fuel poverty comms to make sure people in need of support can easily find out what is available to them.
They are doing a piece of work around digital inclusion looking at ways in which they can provide training and equipment for people to keep.
There will soon be a child and family poverty workshop that will be open to all who are interested. With HAF (Holiday Activity Fund) ending in October there is an interest of compiling the impact the HAF has had to put a case forward to continuing to support such work.
They are also interested in increasing and supporting the conversation around Social Value.
Wirral Food Bank
Beth wanted to highlight a campaign she is running with about the shortfall that has been created in social security. 86% of foodbank users are on some form of benefit. They are entitled £92 a week but they should be on about £120 to cover all costs this creates a shortfall of £28. This shortfall has been created across the rise in energy, water, council take and service charges which will all continue to rise. Foodbank is lobbying the government with open letters and postcards to draw attention to this issue. They encourage people to put their name to it and support them.
Wirral Foodbank | Helping Local People in Crisis
Age UK Wirral's Out of Hospital Service
Rich from Age UK Wirral came to remind us of the services they have been offering, specifically their Out of Hospital services and Transfer of Care hubs in both Arrowe Park and Clatterbridge.
They have facilitators who ask social questions to help address any barriers which might stop someone leaving the hospital and also offer wellbeing visits and support with confidence in going out. As part of this, they would like to link in with other VCF organisations to provide welcoming spaces for those returning from hospital to ensure they maintain social activity.
Open Door Charity
Lee from the Open Door Centre came to discuss his involvement with the Primary Care Group as a VCF Rep. He discussed the upcoming NHS 10 year plan and how we could contribute as well as discussing the Financial recovery plan for the ICB. He explained about how we can, through his representative seat, send questions to him about these things and offered everyone the opportunity to send questions to himself or Chris Shaw.
UK Unplugged CIC
Diana from unplugged came to talk about 2 of their current projects. They have a Titanic event coming up on 19th March centred around the story of a cuddly toy polar bear that was on the titanic.
They also have a Technology live event coming up in April that is looking at how AI can work with doctors to diagnose illness. This is a free event at the Bloom Building and is aimed at families.
Delamere Centre
Lewis came to talk about his work with the Delamere Centre in Eastham and talked about some of the community support they offer.
He talked about their food pantry, creative café, chair based exercise and welfare advisors to name but a few things they offer.
Delamere Community Centre
Pensby Library & Spire Café
Mark came to talk about the organisations he supports. The first Pioneer People secured a local community asset transfer where they took over Pensby Library which now operates as a library, café and vintage shop. The library has attracted over 30 volunteers and the library element of the project is still very often used. Pioneer People also support people internationally, having a variety of projects in places like The Gambia and Angola.
The other project Aspiration Trust runs is the Spire Café in Wallasey. They have recently secure planning permission to build 33 apartments on land behind the church where they are based and are looking for support with social housing providers to be able to operate and run social housing for their community.
Callister Trust
Cathy from Callister Trust spoke about how the Trust is celebrating their Centenary anniversary, operating on Slatey Road with the Callister Garden for 100 years. They are a community garden project who are supporting local people with garden and growing based wellness activities. They are soon to complete their new garden pavilion and are interested in working with groups to put on more activities in the gardens. If you are interested get in touch.
Byrne Avenue Baths
Jane from Byrne Ave baths wanted to quickly highlight two new endeavours at the baths. They have opened a social supermarket called "The Shop" which operates Tuesday – Thursday from 3:30-6pm and on Saturday mornings from 10-12.
They also have a men's wellbeing hub that has started up where they offer support to men through social and special interest activates. This runs on a Thursday between 1-3pm.
Wirral Change
Wirral Change, the hosts of this month's meeting, talked about the support services they offer to BAME and Asylum and refugee communities they have contact with 100 different ethnic groups and they have around 22,000 contact points a year. They have 4 teams with 30 staff and see around 8,000 clients. Their teams include Asylum and refugee support from arrival to 3 months post right to remain, a welcome to Wirral team for people moving into the area for the first time, an Employment team to support people into work and they have an all-inclusive team that will look at ad-hoc issues not covered by the other 3 teams. They also host a large range of wellbeing activities from culturally specific groups to community lunches and more. Due to the volume of clients they see they have a waiting list for most services so they have just started a drop in service for 15 minute consultations to support with quick access pathways to the right places.
Wirral Change have been conducting a large renovation project that they are happy to say has upgraded most of their upstairs classrooms and is around 90% complete.
Wirral's Qualitative Insight Team
The Qualitive insight team wanted to highlight a couple of events they have coming up. They include:
2 | How to deliver a focus group – from planning to reporting | Thursday 13th March pm | Teams Online |
3 | Responsible storytelling – ethics and consent | Tuesday 25th March am | Teams Online |
4 | Bringing your findings together – all things analysis | Tuesday 29th April am | Teams Online |
5 | Reflecting on your work – building lessons learned into future work | TBD | Teams Online |
You can find the upcoming sessions available on our site. To read more or RSVP, click below:
ABCD
Amy shared a video with attendees at the end which involved Cormac Russell, a well-renowned advocate of Asset Based Community Development involved with COP from the very beginning, speaking about ABCD:
Amy wanted to highlight to everyone that COP Is reaching its 12th birthday on the 15th May and she asked that anyone who had ideas for speakers or what else we could showcase at the event to get in touch with her.
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