Report on Big Local activities for July 2023
Big Local North Cleethorpes: July 2023 activity update
This is the July 2023 edition of our monthly updates on what Big Local North Cleethorpes has been up to. Many projects and activities are ongoing, but some updates are new this month and the latest ones are covered in this summary.
If you are interested in more information or want to follow up on anything outlined below, please contact us at Big Local North Cleethorpes: hello@biglocalnorthcleethorpes.org.uk or karl@vanel.org.uk or 01472 897337 or check the website for more information: (www.biglocalnorthcleethorpes.org.uk)
Arts, Leisure, Culture and Heritage
Our various arts & crafts and modelling groups continue to meet weekly in the Shed at 82.
On 19th/20th August, local artist Lyns Powles will be hosting an Urban Arts Reclaim Festival in Cleethorpes. Like last year, Big Local will be supporting Lyns to host a “Fringe Festival” in North Cleethorpes at the same time as the main activities around Cleethorpes Leisure Centre. We’re in the organisational stage at the moment, but some local artists have already been commissioned to produce some new local art reflecting Cleethorpes and we there will be a gallery exhibition, live painting and other activities in North Cleethorpes over that weekend and in the weeks that follow. Follow plans for the event on Lyns’s Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/Cleethorpesurbanartfestival and pay a visit during the day on the 19th/20th August. If anyone wants to get involved with to knit/crochet something ‘seaside’ related for the event, see the Facebook page for details. After the weekend is over there will be a series of arts workshops run by Lyns and hosted by Big Local for young people from our area.
Lyns is also working with We Are Fish to take over the old Cycle Hub building on Cleethorpes station to turn it into a youth/Arts community venue. Discussions around the lease are slow and ongoing with Transpennine Express and it is still hoped that this space could reopen for the community to use in the coming months.
One more booking for the Thorpe Park Holiday Home came in this month meaning a one more local family benefitted from this Big Local supported offer.
Supporting Young People and Families
The “Little Green Influencers” group at Reynolds Family Hub continues to run very well and is engaging children under 5 and their families in their green space at the Hub.
Families experiencing hardship in our North Cleethorpes target area have continued to benefit from small grants and gift cards to help with food purchases, utility bills, access to the internet, IT equipment and other ad hoc needs on a case by case basis.
Big Local has been supporting young people from the area to attend Ghetto Park to keep active. Ghetto Park managed to use some of this match funding to purchase t-shirts for all the children who were then able to take part in the Carnival procession as part of the recent Armed Forces Day. Over 110 children took part!
The Old Clee foodbank was supported with a £1000 donation in June to ensure they could continue to meet DN35 area residents’ demand from 40 individuals per week.
Supporting Older People
Karl continues to deliver Scams/Fraud talks to groups across NEL and two more groups were visited in Cleethorpes during July. This means another 60 local people have been warned and advised about scams.
The new Stay Safe Guide aimed at older people as part of the Keeping Older People Safe (KOPS) programme has now been produced. Copies can be picked up from 82 Grimsby Road and are being handed out to groups in Cleethorpes. The guide has been funded by the Safer Streets East Marsh programme but there will be a good supply available to people in the North Cleethorpes area too. All the information (including the .pdf version) can be found at www.staysafenel.com
The household/personal safety equipment ‘cache’ programme funded by the Police and Crime Commissioner has now come to and end. But more than a dozen extra households in North Cleethorpes received items this month. Additional funding has been applied for and we hope to hear in August if this is successful. Another 25 extra ‘panda alarms’ have also been made available to local childen via local ward Councillor Sophia.
A ’hardship’ grant of £300 was provided to Corpus Christi church this month to help them fund taxi fares to those people who could not otherwise make it to the church for worship or the social groups.
A security camera was donated via PCC funding to a household in Daubney Street Neighbourhood Watch to support community safety efforts.
Copies of the latest KOPS newsletter can still be picked up from 82. There is a new website www.keepingolderpeoplesafe.com coming online which will be providing much more useful information which can also benefit North Cleethorpes residents.
Environmental
The Community Allotments on Carr Lane led by We Are Fish are continuing to engage residents with the environment. Community Feasts are being held every Monday (4-6pm) and are open to other allotment users and to others wanting to join in.
All four DN35 area Green Influencers groups continue to work well. The after-school ECO group at Beacon Academy continues to be very active on Thursday afternoons with a clear focus on the plastics free agenda and engaging in area wide events/trips – next event being an Eco Fayre at St Francis Church on 8th July. A new Green Influencers lunch club continued during June at St Peter’s Avenue Primary.
Hangout recently covered the costs of a new trolley to help the Green Mentor team continue to support young people through the Green Influencers groups and at events.
Community and Partnership working
Since the passing of Steve Pygott, members of the community have been working on ways to bring the Sidney Sussex Rec Pavilion back into active community use. Big Local North Cleethorpes has been supporting this work, hosting meetings and aiding communications as necessary. There has been much progress with getting access to the building and to finances; to We Are Fish supporting the Sidney Sussex Pavilion Group; and to working with the Council to re-establish lease arrangements. Police and ward Councillors have been involved throughout and very soon it is hoped that the Pavilion will once again be able to properly open to local groups and people.
Big Local provided a small grant this month to We Are Fish to help support their work with the Pavilion, with the potential at the Cycle Hub and with their community engagement work on the community allotments.
Work continues internally at the community hub at 82 Grimsby Road to change layout and furniture to make the rooms and spaces even more usable for community activities. Funding for this comes from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and supports the work of Big Local. If you’re a member of North Cleethorpes community, it would be great to have you pop in to 82 Grimsby Road to see what we’re up to and what we can offer.
Three people from the Big Local North Cleethorpes team will attend the Local Trust Connects event in October in Nottingham. This will be the final Connects event from the Big Local programme and this is an opportunity for us to represent North Cleethorpes and to learn about how legacy is being put in place for Big Local across the country.
Our ‘cost of living’ activities continue to enable us to continue to distribute small grants and gift cards to people in need and refer them to the later life partnership, citizens’ advice and credit union for support with financial hardship. We can also help with community problem solving and link them to our councillor and police drop-in sessions at the hub.
The above work with local people and with our community building will also support our proposed legacy option to make every effort over the next 18 months to make the building useful, vibrant and sustainable for future use by DN35 residents beyond the end of the Big Local North Cleethorpes programme into the 2025/2026 financial year.