Author: Fran Arnold

October 3^rd and 4^th is Fun Palaces 2020 Weekend. Fun Palaces is all about FUN and sharing what we do with our local community. Along with our partners at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and the Canal & River Trust, we’ve put together a number of mini Fun Palaces that are within Covid restrictions, but still enable the community to have fun!

Read on for an outline of each event:

Draw Your Own Fun Palace

Help make your community into a giant art gallery:

1. Print the Scarecrow template below, decorate the Scarecrow, design a colourful outfit that will stand out and draw attention.
2. Draw or paint a picture, that tells us what COMMUNITY means to you and how you feel about it.

Display your pictures in your front window to share with your friends and neighbours.

If you can, please take a photo of your pictures and email them to us at dwb.enquiries@darnallwellbeing.org.uk or post them on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and tag us @darnallWB

(Prizes for the ones we enjoy most!)

Food and Flowers: Spot The Scarecrow

Located at Infield Lane, S9 4PE, behind High Hazels Park, Darnall Allotment Project invites you to explore the site and discover the fun you can have growing and eating your own fruit and vegetables https://www.facebook.com/darnallallotmentproject

FREE seeds to plant and grow at home.

To book a slot on Sunday 4^th October please ring 07495 548 929.

Children under 16 MUST be accompanied by an adult but everyone is welcome

Discovery Trails

Follow the map around one or both of our trails and discover more of Attercliffe and Darnall. Download the maps here:

Attercliffe Adventure

High Hazels Park

Follow one or both routes, and send us your photos and drawings of things you see on the way. Email dwb.enquiries@darnallwellbeing.org.uk or post them on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram and tag us @darnallWB 

(Prizes for the ones we enjoy most!)

Canal Canoeing Experience

Have you ever fancied trying canoeing? The Canal & River Trust are hosting FREE 1 hour sessions on Saturday the 3^rd October on the canal near the Olympic Legacy Park.

To book your place and for more details please email jade.wilkes@canalrivertrust.org.uk. Places are limited and on a first come first serve basis.  No experience necessary. This activity is suitable for children aged 8+ and adults of all ages. Children under 16 MUST be accompanied by an adult. This event is for pre-booked tickets only.

For more information about Fun Palaces in general and to search for other Fun Palaces, please visit their website.

In August 2020, we worked in partnership with Manor & Castle Development Trust to deliver the Healthy Holidays project in Darnall and Tinsley.

The project operated from 4th – 25th August with 2 distribution centres – Church of Christ, Darnall and Tinsley Forum, Tinsley.

Staff and volunteers dedicated their time to supporting families by distributing food hampers and activity resources. All families received a cricket set, hula hoop or skipping rope alongside their hampers.

A total of 733 food hampers were distributed in Darnall and Tinsley. Families received fresh ingredients and 2 recipes each week for a different food theme – Mexican, Italian, Curry and English Omelette.

Families also attended sports activities which were delivered by Sheffield City Trust staff. SCT facilitated 2 hour sessions in Darnall and Tinsley on Wednesday and Thursday, providing the opportunity for families to enjoy playing football, cricket, athletics and basketball.

In Tinsley, other activities included free 1 hour cycling sessions for group of 5 children. Steam Works staff facilitated family workshops with parents and children, featuring different topics each week, such as programming with OZOBOTS (mini robots), slime making and bath bombs.

We were so happy to see the expressions on parents’ faces as they collected their hampers, with produce ready to prepare meals for their families. Watch our video to see more of what we got up to!

This has been (and remains) an intense time for us.

We did not shut our doors during lockdown – in fact, though our usual face to face activity paused, the team have continued to work hard to maintain contact and provide alternative ways to support people to stay well, maintaining regular contact with our 1to1 clients and group beneficiaries where possible. 

If you feel you or someone you know would benefit from this support, please let us know

Please know that we are still here, doing our best to support the community remotely and maintain our Covid Community Hub phone line 07946 320 808 for those in need of a helping hand.  

The pandemic is in a new phase but it is still with us, affecting our day to day lives, the impact we all feel in many different ways.

DWB are navigating the next few months with the knowledge that we, our partners and beneficiaries will be at different stages of how they feel about what is happening and the need to move forward collectively is really important and to do this at the pace that feels right for us, to protect ourselves and community.  This pace may not always match people’s expectations.

We need to build time to reflect, for respite, to re-connect and to recognise what we are achieving.

The Summer has been exceptionally busy owing to the delivery and operational demands of the Healthy Holidays Project (part of a wider citywide delivery) and from the demands of engaging in the city’s Covid response.

Whilst we continue to suspend face to face delivery for now, we are planning and taking steps to build an activity offer that is manageable, safe and a positive experience to support people to stay well whilst we our community still grapples with a pandemic.

It is likely, however, that we will continue some new ways of working for the foreseeable future and are not able to restart everything the way it was before Covid 19 began.

We realise you may feel disappointed but we hope you understand we are acting in the best interests of our community.  We will make every effort to keep you informed.

A few highlights from over the past few months;

• We have stayed in touch with 262 activity participants & 32 volunteers
• Our Link workers have received  58 referrals from 5 GP surgeries
• We’ve made 160 Food bank referrals
• And in addition to the above, we’ve made regular contact from our EU Settled Status Project client list of 1,000 contacts
• To the end of July 2020 we have taken 101 phone calls/emails through the community hub phone line.

Ways to stay informed:

• You or a family member or friend could follow us on Social Media for regular updates.  Please search for @DarnallWB on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• Check www.nhs.uk website regularly for the latest guidance
• Sheffield’s voluntary sector has useful updates here:

https://www.vas.org.uk/covid-19-coronavirus-information-signposting-and-guidance-for-voluntary-sector-organisations/

Thank you for your continued support in this difficult and challenging time.

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Volunteer Coordinator

28 hours per week
Funding available for 4 years, ending August 2024
Annual Leave pro rata – 25 days plus bank holidays
Salary £21,166 pro rata

Are you passionate about community engagement and helping people develop their skills and reach their potential?

We are seeking a dynamic and committed Volunteer Coordinator

The post holder will:

• Be responsible for the engagement and personal development of volunteers
• Develop and adapt a volunteer led activity programme to include a digital element
• Promoting and showcasing the volunteer programme

The successful candidate will work in the Darnall, Tinsley and Acres Hill areas of Sheffield (S9).

You will have a passion for engaging and motivating the community, excellent communication skills and strong, thorough organisation skills.

You will work in a way which empowers others to develop and fulfill their potential.

You will join a strong team of dedicated, skilled workers.

To make an informal enquiry or to request an application pack, please contact Natalie on 0114 249 6315 or email dwb.admin@darnallwellbeing.org.uk

For further information regarding Darnall Well Being please look at our website www.darnallwellbeing.org.uk

Closing Date:
Midnight on Monday 7th September
Email Applications to dwb.admin@darnallwellbeing.org.uk

– Interviews scheduled for week commencing 14th September
– Ideal start date October

10th to 16th August 2020 marks National Allotment Week, which is a great opportunity for us to share some of the brilliant things that On The Plot participants have been growing!

We sent out “Let’s Get Growing!” packs to everyone who would normally come along to our Dementia-friendly sessions at Darnall Allotment Project, and it has been fantastic to see the results from our green-fingered friends. Thanks to Johnny, Cookie, Pat, Nikki, Verena and Bill for letting us share photos of what they have grown. We’d love to see more, if you have shots you’d like to send us!

As well as the vegetables and seeds we sent out in July, we also sent out sunflower seeds and instructions for growing them a couple of months ago, to enable people to join our sunflower growing competition. We’ve been getting some positive reports of plants growing well – as well as news that some, unfortunately, haven’t worked out. We’re looking forward to seeing all of the outcomes later on in the season – when Jo will be judging the tallest one!

We held a special Zoom call for staff, Board members, volunteers and group participants on Monday 3rd August – our Virtual Cuppa.

The call was a belated celebration of Yorkshire Day – so we sent out tea bags and biscuits with our latest activity packs, so that everyone could join us. We’re very grateful to Yorkshire Tea for donating a huge number of tea bags to help us with this, and ensuring we were able to drink proper Yorkshire tea on this momentous day!

On the call, we enjoyed a chat over our cuppas, and then everyone joined in a little Yorkshire-themed quiz put together by Fran, our Communications & Engagement worker, to explore what we knew about Yorkshire – and learn a couple of fun facts about the region along the way!

We asked people who weren’t able to join us on the Zoom call to share any photos of themselves enjoying their cuppas at home or with friends, and we’re really happy to see these photos.

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In July, we decided to send out Craft Packs to our Craft Group participants, as well as to half a dozen of our clients and volunteers, who we felt would most benefit from a craft boost. Each pack was put together specific to the recipient – just one of the advantages of us knowing our community well. As you can see, the packs were happily received, and we look forward to seeing some of the beautiful creations that are made from them!

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We were fortunate enough to be nominated for a donation by Sheffield-based charity 500Together at the end of April 2020, and wanted to put it to good use helping local people who we knew were struggling during Covid-19. We decided to match fund the donation, so that we had £500 in total to share with the community. So we asked our staff, who are in regular contact with members of the community, to nominate families and individuals who they felt could really benefit from a Tesco gift card during this difficult time.

We sent out gift cards to 8 families and 4 individuals, and have had some heartwarming feedback and thanks from the recipients:

I thank the donors and all staff who helped the voucher to be dispatched. We are grateful we feel that are not left behind.

Individual on low income

, the £50 Voucher its make a difference financially  , we bought things which we wish to get it before  , Thanks a lot for the donor . 

Family recently arrived in UK, with a baby due

The voucher was very helpful as my benefits were stopped 6 weeks ago, so I appreciate it.  Helpful to me and my 5 children as a single parent.  I have been finding it hard to prepare food and going out to buy stuff so I really appreciate the token and thank you and Darnall Well Being for support.

Single parent with 5 children

Don’t know what I would have done otherwise. A big thank you DWB for the lovely gift – words cannot express my feelings.

Single parent who has had a number of illnesses

It made difference in our life so that we could buy more food. For the children, while they are at  home eating more food all the time, it gives them a little extra treat.

Family on low income benefits

The Chief Executive of Darnall Well Being has been appointed to the Board of Directors at Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park.

Lucy Melleney will act as a conduit and help capture a local community perspective, working with the Board to deliver one of its key Olympic legacy objectives – to provide local people with significant improvements in health, wellbeing, education, skills, training, and job opportunities and to contribute to the economic regeneration of the local area.

Darnall Well Being is a local, not-for-profit, community anchor organisation working to help the people of Darnall, Tinsley and neighbouring areas stay healthy.

Through an integrated programme of activities and services, it aims to reduce health inequalities by working with local people, to help build knowledge, connections, cohesion and resilience.

Lucy Melleney said: “Darnall Well Being has 20 years’ experience of engagement with the community in Darnall, Tinsley, and Acres Hill, building trust and working in partnership to help people in ways that work best for them. We offer one to one and group support, workshops and training, as well as signposting information about local and national support to help improve health and wellbeing.

“We are well placed to collaborate with Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park and partners to further develop this work and achieve greater outcomes.”

Lucy added: “Enabling people to focus on what matters to them and encouraging opportunities in education and specialised training, will assist the economic improvements that are much needed, and which can in turn impact positively on the health and wellbeing of the local community.”

Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park brings together a unique partnership of organisations with a vested interest in improving physical activity and wellbeing and a commitment to harnessing the power of education, research and innovation to deliver transformational change.

The 80-acre site is attracting substantial investment in one of the most diverse areas of the city, which is acting as a catalyst for regeneration and growth. It is expected to create 3,500 high value jobs and generate £1.38bn in benefits.

The Park is home to an Oasis Academy and a University Technology College, which has an employer-led curriculum supported by Sheffield’s two universities and over 70 employer partners – equipping the workforce of the future with skills inHealth Sciences, Sport Science, and Computing.

Lucy added: “Darnall and Tinsley have above average rates of unemployment and insecure employment, and encouraging people to take up opportunities in education and specialised training will assist the economic improvements that are much needed.”

Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park is also home to Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC), a global centre for research and innovation in physical activity, dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of whole populations. The partnership with Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park will build on the collaborative work Darnall Well Being is already carrying out with the AWRC.

Darnall Well Being is also a recognised Community Hub organisation, providing an essential role during the current Covid-19 crisis, working closely with a range of services in the local area and acting as a conduit between the City Council and local community.

Sandi Carman, Assistant Chief Executive of Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “As a founding Member of Sheffield Olympic Legacy Park, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals is delighted to welcome Lucy to the Board as a Community Director which will help us deliver improvements in the health and wellbeing of the local community through collaboration, education, awareness, activities and events.

“We already work closely with communities in the surrounding area through our Park partners but by having Lucy on the Board we hope to engage even more to help with the delivery of the London 2012 Olympic legacy through the themes of sport, community, environment and economic regeneration.”

Darnall Well Being –  Our Stance on Tackling Racism and Inequalities

June 2020

By working with you – the community we serve, our staff, volunteers, trustees and partners locally and across the city, we want to take action against racism and inequalities and become a more equal community.

As an organisation, we know we must do more to address this, and we must do it better.

We are committed to:

• Explicitly state our commitment to challenge racism in our society
• Make a sustained effort to ensure this is entwined and in the ongoing fabric of the culture and values of Darnall Well Being, now and in the future
• Look at how we are able to broaden our reach and diversify who attends our activities and services
• Discuss at a senior level how we achieve more diverse representation on our Board of trustees, to match the diversity of our team and area
• Maintain and grow a mix of representative voices
• Continue to tackle the ongoing inequalities that lies within our communities
• Listen to the voices of local people in order to learn and connect with their context and experiences.  In turn, this will inform and shape our approach and services
• Acknowledge and respect our differences, whilst embracing unity

Did you know that June is Move More Month in Sheffield? Move More Sheffield have created a calendar with suggestions to get more active every day in June. Here at Darnall Well Being we know what an important role physical activity plays in making our physical and mental health better, so our team have been doing as much as we can to get involved. As well as sharing what we’ve been up to on our social media channels, we have also delivered the Move More calendar to all of our service users, to encourage others to join in, too!

From yoga to running, cycling to boxing, garden workouts to chairobics, and plenty more besides – here’s some of what DWB staff have been up to so far in June. We hope it inspires you to move more, too!

Darnall Well Being featured in Now Then Magazine on 9th June, in an article about the activity packs that we have been delivering around the local area to people we normally get to see in person. Have a read here, if you’d like to know more!

We’ve also been putting together a number of new activity packs, starting with one for a number of our regular contacts, on the theme of Move More Month, which is taking place in Sheffield throughout June 2020. As well as the Move More calendar, to give ideas of activities to get people moving, we also sent sporty wordsearches, advice about regular walking, and other information about Covid 19, too.

Our Dementia Activity Packs have been popular, so another set have gone out this month, with quizzes and colouring sheets, as well as the Move More contents.

We would normally be starting our On The Plot group at Darnall Allotment in June, but because of Covid 19 restrictions, that sadly isn’t possible this year. So we have sent out some gardening themed activity packs, specifically for people who would usually come along to help on the allotment.

Don’t forget that some of the contents from all these packs are available to download here!

Sarah, our Volunteer Support Worker, has made this wonderful, short video to help you practise mindfulness.

We’ve loaded the video to YouTube to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week. Mindfulness can be a very helpful way of relaxing and reconnecting with our bodies, thoughts and feelings. This can be particularly useful in helping to deal with the stress and anxiety that many people are experiencing during the Covid-19 pandemic:

https://youtu.be/w01yY-Y3lMg