October Roundup: NCP's Stories and Highlights of the Month!

With the Halloween season wrapping up, it's time for our October NCP roundup! 🎃

Quiz!

At the end of the month, we hosted a fundraising quiz at the Bull's Head on Kings Norton Green. We raised an amazing £866! 💚

A massive thank you to everyone who joined us, took part, and bought raffle tickets! We had an incredible turnout, and we hope everyone had a fantastic night. Congratulations to all the prize winners as well!🏆 A huge thank you to Chris for being our quizmaster for the evening, and to The Bull's Head for generously hosting us at the pub!

Once again, a huge thank you to everyone who generously donated raffle prizes!

⭐ The Plough Harborne

⭐ Becketts Farm

⭐ Webbs of Wychbold

⭐ Mockingbird Cinema

⭐ Midlands Arts Centre

⭐ Birmingham Brewing Company

⭐ Turtle Bay

⭐ Pip's Hot Sauce

⭐ Motel Rocks

⭐ Birmingham Botanical Gardens

⭐ Lancashire Cricket

⭐ Kings Norton Golf Club

⭐ Wychall Fish Bar

⭐ Phase 2 Premier Salon

⭐ Spotty Pots Studio and Café

⭐ Mr Souvlaki - Northfield

⭐ Redeemer Church

⭐ Mark Jones at Kings Norton Golf Club

⭐ Scents and More at 24

⭐ And more

Get Online Week

This year, we participated in Get Online Week once again! The event, which has been held annually since 2007, took place from October 14th to 20th. It is the UK’s largest digital inclusion campaign. We held daily drop-in sessions throughout the week, where our staff provided free SIM cards to those in need and offered digital advice and support. You can view our Digital Literacy teams upcoming drop-in sessions here.💻

Future Proof

At their Wednesday (29th October) drop-in at Redeemer Church, the team had pumpkin carving for autumn alongside an exhibition of beautiful community art, as well as the weekly services on offer—Share Shack, repair assistance, and income maximisation. The session also included a visit from our local councillor, Carmel, who was able to support a citizen facing issues near her home. They host drop ins every Monday (1 - 2:30 pm) or Wednesday (10 - 11:15 am)

An 83-year-old resident has been unable to tend to their garden for several years due to health and mobility changes. When the team first visited, the end of the garden was completely out of sight. Now, thanks to Ralph’s hard work, it’s fully cleared, and he can enjoy sitting outside with a cup of tea while looking all the way to the back fence! The resident said, “I feel like I’ve got freedom back in my head. It’s all gone, and I’ve got my garden back. I can now stand at the back door and take some deep breaths. It felt so claustrophobic beforehand. It’s already helped my mental health. It’s lovely. It’s just the feeling of open space that has come back again—just like the Lickey Hills. Really looking forward to when spring comes back to be outside.”

Digital NNS

Digital NNS have had an eventful October, holding webinars and attending events for Get Online Week 2024 and Birmingham Tech Week 2024!

Helping communities gain better internet connectivity

The team are always looking for opportunities to support Neighbourhood Network Scheme (NNS) colleagues with their work on improving digital access and skills in their constituencies. Internet connectivity is important for people to be able to access essential online services and employment opportunities, as well as connect with loved ones. Hence, ensuring that people have good internet access is a key area in this work.

Digital NNS Community Lead Pauline Roche got in touch with Jangala, a UK-based charity dedicated to enabling internet access for people who need it most to see how they can help our communities. We held an information session with them on 23 October for the NNSs and their assets to learn how Jangala’s Get Box Programme can help communities gain internet access where there is poor connectivity. The event was a success and our NNS colleagues are already thinking about how the Get Boxes can support communities in their constituencies!

Cross-sector engagement at Birmingham Tech Week 2024

Digital NNS Community Lead Pauline Roche was one of the speakers on the West Midlands Combined Authority Digital Inclusion Panel at Birmingham Tech Week. She enjoyed sharing perspectives and data with colleagues from the voluntary, private and public sectors: the Good Things Foundation, Vodafone UK and Birmingham City Council. This is a great example of cross-sector engagement, and we look forward to more digital inclusion co-production opportunities to further improve the lives of local communities.

AI Foundations webinar for Get Online Week 2024

For Get Online Week, Digital NNS held an AI session on 17 October with digital consultants Chloe (Core Insights) and Janinah (JMK & Co) for NNS colleagues. We had a fantastic turnout for the session, with colleagues from nine out of the 10 NNSs attending the event!

During the webinar, Chloe and Janinah used personalised examples and use cases that provided an overview of AI, addressed common fears, and suggested how to integrate AI into digital strategies. Many of our NNS colleagues found the session useful. We were delighted to hear that they were able to get useful tips and ideas on how to incorporate AI into their

work!

Northfield NNS

Community Lunch

Our October NNS community lunch was around the theme of Autism. A selection of local young adults spoke on their experiences and gave rich and personal insights. We then discussed in groups how they can become more autism-friendly in our work in the community. Here is a selection of the feedback from these discussions:

• Creating quiet spaces in our venues

• Use a soft tone when communicating

• Drop masks!! Being genuine with each other, with kindness

• Build relationships – get to know each other and be open to learning

• Clearer information in advance e.g. Visuals of a walkthrough of a community building / One page profiles

• Preparation is key to including people with Autism. Don’t worry if you get it wrong, it’s important you try.

• ASK, LISTEN, DO

International Day of Older People’s Day Event

International Day of Older People was fast approaching, and I decided that an event would be a great way to honour and celebrate all the amazing work that’s happening within our communities. The difference being it would be delivered by our citizens, for the citizens!

With this year’s theme being ‘The Integral Part we Play’ – Celebrating the Integral Role of Older People in Our Communities, I thought what better way of celebrating this by inviting a group of citizens, all over 50 years of age to take part in a Planning Committee. The aim being to bring these citizens together to not only plan and arrange but to also facilitate the event themselves, gently guided by myself.

Our committee was made up of six members with the oldest member being over 80 years old and we all met weekly. It was during these meetings that we discovered all the incredible, boundless skills, talents, and creativity from all members i.e. designing and making the decorations themselves whilst planning the event right down to the very last detail! Their enthusiasm and dedication truly demonstrated that Northfield Neighbourhood Network Scheme (NNS) have an integral part to play within our communities by bringing citizens together who would otherwise be isolated but, instead, making a difference to the communities they live in.

The event was extremely well attended, and the order of the day included a quiz, a Tai-Chi taster session and a guided meditation. We were also honoured to have Laurence Turner, MP for Northfield to open the event followed by a speech from Graeme Betts, Director of Adult Social Care.

Family Wellbeing

Our Tuesday Parent Coffee Morning attendance has been building throughout September and October. We have a great group of mums who are enjoying a chat and a cuppa, as well as ESOL word searches, bracelet-making, and support from our team with a variety of issues!

After a successful family event at Weoley Castle Library in September, the library requested that we attend again. We joined them on October 4, at the same time as their kids' Jumping Jellybeans class, so we could offer parents support.

Get Online Week began on October 14. We held an event at our Parent Coffee Morning on October 15, where our Digital Literacy team joined us. We offered family well-being support, digital literacy assistance, and provided families with SIM cards that included free data, unlimited calls, and free texts.

October 16 was a busy day! Some team members attended the Northfield NNS Community Lunch, where the focus was on raising awareness and providing support for autism. Other team members attended Bellfield Junior School's Parents' Afternoon to offer support to the school’s families.

Our team also attended a SEND conference, Who Cares, at Moseley Community Hub. We gained further insight into the issues families are facing, including a lack of respite, reduction in activities, and limited holiday provision for their SEND children. We are looking to meet with other SEND groups to explore ways we might support parents. At the end of October, we connected with the Hollymoor Centre in Frankley and Hawkesley Church School in Hawkesley to discuss potential future collaborations. We were also fortunate to provide several families in Weoley Castle with free tickets to the Weoley Hill Firework Display, thanks to Paul from Weoley Village Council and Northfield NNS. We ended the month by joining Frankley Library’s Half-Term event, where we engaged children and parents in Halloween activities and offered a welcome cuppa and biscuits!