Annual Report 2012/13 - County Down Rural Community Network

MEMBERS 2012
MARA
Summer Schemes are a big hit with the Kids
Maximising Access to Services, Grants & Benefits in Rural areas
(MARA) is funded by the Department of Agriculture and Rural
Development (DARD) and the Public Health Agency (PHA). The
aim of the MARA project is to improve the health and wellbeing
of rural dwellers in Northern Ireland by increasing access to
services, grants and benefits by facilitating a co-ordinated service
to support rural dwellers living in or at risk of poverty and social
exclusion.
CDRCN won the contract to deliver MARA in Down District in
2012 and with our partners (ADB&CN, TADA & PHLP) we also
secured the contract for Castlereagh and Ards in 2013. Over 500
home visits have now been carried out with an additional 1300
targarted between the 2 projects by summer 2014.
MARA home visitors (enablers) are amazed at results when
follow up visits are carried out. One such assessor pointed
out that a householder “looks 10 years younger” when the
MARA assessment’s benefit check brought up the fact that the
householder was missing out on benefits which were immediately
back paid giving the householder a substantial lump sum. She was
also delighted that the loft and cavity wall insulation was carried
out swiftly ensuring a much warmer home and less heating bills.
brings a pack of useful literature and a directory of services for
the area and will go through this booklet with the householder
to check if there is any local service that they can be encouraged
to participate in.
ACTIVE COMMUNITY
PROGRAMME
Funded by Sport NI and Down District Council, Gerard and Paula
have been flat out in every community venue across Down. Lifting
the spirits of Old & Young the physcical activity coaches have
delivered a wide range of exercise classes to over 1500 people
this year.
Annalong Community Development Association
Annsborough Community Development Forum
Ardglass & District Development Association
Ardglass Friendship Club
Ballygowan Senior Citizens
Ballyhalbert & District Community Association
Ballyhornan & District Community Association
Ballynahinch Gardening Club
Blue Row Residents Association
Bright Community Association
Clough & District Community Association
Cloughey & District Community Association
Crossgar Area Community Association
Crossgar War Memorial Community Hall
Down District Council
Down VIPs
Drumaness Heritage Conservation
Drumaroad & Clanvaraghan Community Association
Dunsford Arts & Crafts
Dunsford Old School Baby & Toddler Group
FASA
Flying Horse Ward Community Forum (FHWCF)
Greyabbey Village Hall Management Committee
Harmony Community Trust
Hillside & Spa Community Association
HomeStart Down District
HomeStart Ards, Comber & Peninsula
Inverbrena Over 50s Group
Kilcoo Community Association
This programme is delivered across NI by a range of leading
sporting organisations including Rugby, GAA & Soccer, but
CDRCN specialise in helping the less active members of the
community including the elderly and people with disabilities. In
partnership with the South Eastern Health Trust this programme
has maintained a very high rate of success in 2012.
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Kilcoo Evergreen Club
Killinchy & District Community Development Association
Killyleagh Bridge Centre Steering Group
Killyleagh Early Years
Kilmegan Boxing Club
Lecale Conservation
Loughinisland Bowling Club
Loughinisland Over 55s
Marian Park Community Association
Murlough Community Association
Naiscoil Uachtar Tire
Newcastle Glee Singers
Newcastle Lions Club
Newcastle Wednesday Club
Northern Walking Partnership
Phennick Cove Developments
Portaferry Regeneration Ltd
Rowallane Community Hub
Rowallane Credit Union Ltd
Saintfield Community Estates Partnership
Saintfield Town Regeneration Committee
Saintfield Wednesday Club
Slievenaman Women’s Institute
Sloane’s Lunchtime History Group
St Macartan’s PS
Stream Street Residents Association
The Kairos Centre
The Old School House Club
WEast Chernobyl
Special thanks to all our Funders
ARDS BOROUGH
COUNCIL
Board Members 2012
A young single mother was delighted with the home safety check.
She was given a stair gate and kitchen cupboard clips to keep
her young baby safe in the home. She was also advised she was
eligible for Child Tax Credit which was promptly claimed.
Nick Moore
Jim McAfee
Susan Welsh
Eamon Rodgers
Alan Dumigan
Alan Poots
Maurice Greenlees
Robin Holliday
David Cole-Baker
A lady whose only source of heat was a coal fire was struggling to
carry the coal in daily and it was costing her a small fortune. This
system was just not efficient. She has now, through the Warm
Homes Check got a whole new heating system – tank, boiler, new
radiators in all the rooms FREE. She is so delighted and not only
that, she is also getting her rates paid. She feels like a new woman
and added that her hands have never been so clean and her pets
have enjoyed more of her attention.
We are also finding that whilst some of the households are not
requiring referrals to the warm homes, benefit checks, community
transport or home safety check, they do enjoy having someone
visit to talk with them and confide their problems. The enabler
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One of many new playparks under construction in 2012/13
Chairman
Treasurer
Doris Noe
produced by Flixx Graphics. Tel: 028 44615613
COUNTY DOWN
Rural Community Network
Down Office:
Ballymote Centre, 40 Killough Road, Downpatrick BT30 6PY
Tel: 028 4461 2311 • Fax: 028 4461 1458
email: info@countydownrcn.com • www.countydownrcn.com
Ards Office:
43-45 Frances Street, Newtownards BT23 7DX
Tel/Fax: 028 9182 8884
email: sandra@countydownrcn.com • www.countydownrcn.com
Chairman’s Report
Once again our Annual Report demonstrates the numerous
and successful initiatives we’ve undertaken to tackle the
cause and effect of poverty, our ever growing involvement
in health projects, and promotional programmes to
maximise the services available to rural dwellers. We’ve
also helped numerous projects achieve their goals under
the Rural Development Programme and it has been great to
see villages undertake exciting new challenges to enhance
their facilities. None of this work would be possible without the continued
support of our funders and statutory partners, and we
thank them for working with us to support our member
groups throughout the last year. We are also working in
partnership on several projects with fellow Rural Support
Networks across Northern Ireland, all our rural partner
organisations and also our urban partners in Ards and
North Down, sharing ideas and experience to enhance the
support we can all provide. Special mention must go to the staff and board of CDRCN
who have worked incredibly hard this year, and have met
every challenge to ensure the network thrives, and it has
been my pleasure to promote their good work across
the Province. CDRCN continues to provide a strong and
necessary voice for rural, and will maintain and build upon
that in the coming year and beyond. COUNTY DOWN
Rural Community Network
Annual
Report
2012/13
RURAL COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
County Down Rural Community Network’s core business of
providing a crucial Community Development service to a wide
range of rural community groups has continued to develop and
grow throughout Ards, North Down, Down and South Down.
The last year has been extremely busy with many rural communities
benefiting from CDRCN’s assistance when taking part in the
Rural Development Programme (RDP). The RDP continued to
present new opportunities and challenges for rural communities.
Our Rural development team, Nicholas McCrickard, Frances
McCormick, Janine Connolly and Clare Sheils have assisted a total
of 51 projects through various stages of this EU Programme.
The Rural Development team continued to offer support and
communicate with farm families throughout the area informing
them of events, funding opportunities and relevant support.
CDRCN provided one to one assistance to 15 farm families to
apply online for farm modernisation funding. CDRCN promoted
stakeholder events such as a farm family event, farm diversification
events and a recent public meeting where DARD Minister Michelle
Social economy visit to An Carn and Ballyronan
O’Neill addressed local farmers regarding the recent snow storm
and CAP reform.
The team has provided assistance tailored to individual groups
and their needs including advice on funding, governance and best
practice, as well as creating local and county wide networking
opportunities. In March 2013 CDRCN facilitated groups in
Down to participate in a best practice visit to An Carn and
Ballyronan Social Economy projects providing opportunities
for many groups to learn from other groups experiences on
what is involved in running a social economy business. While in
Ards 11 groups participated in training organised by CDRCN and
delivered through RDC on Designing Your Capital Build. 60 senior
citizens from Attical & Leitrim took part in a cross-council seniors
networking event held in the Mournes.
assessed. CDRCN has assisted groups to apply to RDC along with
other match funders for various projects from environmental
improvement projects to renewable energy projects to
refurbishment or development of Community Buildings and even
rescue ambulances. These projects, many of which are still being
assessed have the potential to bring over £1.5 million into Down
District over the coming years.
CDRCN also continues to assist new groups to set up and develop
smaller scale projects to benefit their local community. Staff are
represented on various boards and forums in the area and we
work closely in partnership with statutory and other organisations
to highlight and address community concerns. CDRCN facilitate 5
regular interagency meetings in Down District.
➤➤Ards and North Down
The last year has seen 10 groups in Ards and North Down engage
with the Rural Development Programme through DRAP and
apply for funding for Village Plans. CDRCN has also supported
groups in Ballywalter, Ballycran, Greyabbey and Portaferry to
apply for grants from RDP for various community projects. These
include improvements to community buildings, football pitches
and projects to enhance the local environment amounting to
£141,000.
The past year has seen CDRCN staff continue to provide wide
ranging support to a number of groups with set up, governance,
funding, action planning, training, etc. In April 2013 we held a
‘Spring into Village Renewal’ network event for groups from Ards
and North Down, giving a focus on Village Renewal while at the
same time running a 1 hour workshop on the Social Economy with
Audrey Murray from LEDCOM. In June 2013 we ran a Networking
and Planning for Change event in partnership with Ards & North
Down Community Networks, looking at the implications for the
merger of the two Councils in Ards and North Down with over 80
participants from the two Council areas. We have also continued
to promote good relations in the area by facilitating the coordination of the Ards Peninsula Inter-Churches and Community
Steering Group as well as our Cross Community/Cross Border
Women’s Group for women in the Ards Peninsula and Louth.
In August 2012 the latter group had a joint visit to Lisnawilly in
Louth and then in March 2013 to Down County Museum, Down
Cathedral and Tober Mhuire Monastery in Crossgar, finishing with
a workshop on the role on Women in the 21st Century.
➤➤South Down
In the past 12 months CDRCN assisted 6 groups in South
Down to successfully draw down a combined total of over
£400,000 for capital and project development. Not only has
this funding been used to create facilities and run projects for
the benefit of rural communities in South Down, it has also
benefited the local economy.
During the year, CDRCN worked with groups in Hilltown,
Annalong, Mayobridge and Rostrevor on the development
of projects arising from their Village Renewal & Development
Plans, which were published in early 2013. CDRCN was
instrumental in involving the Rural Unit from the Housing
Executive to conduct a Latent Demand test in Hilltown to
establish a need for sheltered housing. CDRCN assisted in
setting up the Mayobridge District Forum and has worked with
the group to conduct a needs analysis in the village, building
on the findings of the Mayobridge Village Plan. CDRCN was
actively involved with supporting groups in Annalong, and
working up potential projects. In conjunction with this,
a training course was rolled out to 3 community groups, in
partnership with the RDC to better equip groups on what to
expect when designing a capital build.
CDRCN provided information, networking and practical
support to Attical Youth Club for their Big Health Fun Day, April
2013. A funding information workshop has been arranged for
August 2013 in Castlewellan, enabling South Down groups to
get information on the upcoming Space & Place programme.
CDRCN established and continued to lead a Newry & Down
Rural Community Development Advisory Group comprising
key agencies in the area. CDRCN participated on the Board
of the Mourne Mountain Landscape Partnership Board and
the South Eastern Area Fisheries Local Action Group. CDRCN
continued to work closely with Newry & Mourne District
Council. During the year, relationships were strengthened
with council officials, with the aim of promoting a more
joined-up approach to tackling issues at community level.
RURAL ARDS CONNECTING
HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
Sandra Henderson is employed through the Public Health
Agency and Ards Borough Council. Sandra collates and
distributes the Ards Update to over 150 groups in the Ards
Borough including 2 recent specialised health supplements.
Support to ethnic minorities is also maintained through
this programme including the delivery of English language
classes. Sandra is part of a team coordinating the Peninsula
First Responders Unit who along with Stephanie Leckey from
the British Heart Foundation (BHF) successfully lobbied to
secure indemnity for Community First Responder schemes.
In partnership with Trinity Presbyterian Church, Greyabbey, a
health fair was coordinated with 20 health information stands
and health checks. Over 200 people benefited from health
information and health checks on the day.
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
The Downpatrick Inter Estates Community Programme ran for
2 years in the Neighbourhood Renewal areas of Downpatrick
Urban and Rural networks joint events.
Community volunteers were able to access networking,
capacity building events and programmes as well as working
together on community projects to promote community
safety and influence local decision making all provided by
Ann Grant. Although the project has now ended, CDRCN
is very hopeful that DSD will support ongoing projects in
Downpatrick including the new Allotments scheme and mens
groups which were initiated by CDRCN.
We look forward to further developing our presence in South
Down, working up more projects with groups and bringing yet
more benefits to the area over the coming year.
➤➤Down District
CDRCN provided assistance to 10 groups (at various stages) to
develop and manage play park projects. Six of these projects
have received letters of offer totaling £506,000 whilst the other 4
groups application’s worth a total of £226,000 are currently being
and came to an end in March 2013. This programme enabled
the community groups in Downpatrick to access support and
facilitation in the running and governance of their groups as
well as the opportunity to engage at inter estate level with
activity programmes such as art, training, physical activities,
youth programmes and senior programmes .
Celebrating success in Downpatrick estates
Tidy NI clean Beach Awards on the Ards Peninsula
As CDRCN Community Development & Health Officer Sandra
sits on the management committee of the Ards Over 50’s
Forum and Ards Connecting Seniors. Ards Connecting Seniors
travelled to Oxford Island Discovery Centre in March to take
part in a Rural Older Peoples Conference. Sandra also delivers
health related programmes and coordinates cross community
social outings between seniors groups on the Peninsula.
Community development and health support in the Ards
Peninsula is wide ranging from developing projects such as
village enhancement, funding applications, implementing
Community Development National Occupational Standards,
planning and running programmes for all ages and supporting
community festivals. In conjunction with Tidy and ABC beach
operators in Ballywalter Sandra regularly engages groups to
clean and maintain rural beaches with the result families can
enjoy quality bathing water & clean and safe beaches. Ballywalter
and Millisle won Clean Beach awards in 2012.
In partnership with the Good Relations Officer from Ards
Borough Council the Community Health Development officer
continues to work with representatives from the Lower Ards
Community Assistance Group (Protestant Unionist Loyalist group)
and established community groups across the Ards Peninsula on
the Ards Borough Council Bonfire Programme. This programme
promotes family orientated 11th July festivities and looks at other
issues such as bonfires, flags, murals, and cultural projects.
Peace III Programme - CDRCN is represented on the Peace III
Partnership which consists of the 3 Councils of North Down, Ards
and Down District and is responsible for distributing EU assistance
totalling approximately £2.7million.
Ards PCSP - Sandra is an independent member of the Ards Policing
and Community Safety Partnership (PCSP) which aims to tackle
crime in the area and address the fear of crime while involving the
community at every level.
DOWN DISTRICT HEALTH &
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
The Health Development team in Down works to reduce health
inequalities throughout the District and deliver improvement
in health and wellbeing to our service users, families and other
staff. We identify local health needs and inequalities and work
with communities to look at ways of addressing these through
innovative programmes and activities under the following
headings.
➤➤Older People:
We have worked closely with 35 older peoples groups throughout
the year. We have continued to access funding, develop and
deliver programmes of health promotion and physical activities
including boccia, chair based activities, tea dances, mental health
promotion, aromatherapy, social clubs, nutrition, fuel poverty,
A2B and Home Safety Checks. 250 Winter Warmer packs provided
by the Public Health Agency were also distributed throughout
the district to our most vulnerable residents. We continue to
support The Safe and Well Project and MARA Project with many
of our groups availing of funding. We continue to facilitate Down
Senior Forum to identify needs, issues and priorities to organise
senior events. Highlights for the year included a series of Brain
fit workshops attended by 175 participants, a Christmas Craft &
Wellbeing Event and a series of Boccia Networking Events.
➤➤Younger People:
Throughout the year we aimed to increase youth provision
in rural areas, with examples of our work including assisting
established groups and initiating 2 new youth facilities in
Killough and Newcastle. We continued to provide a wide range
of activities and programmes including arts and crafts, physical
activity, nutrition, drugs and alcohol and personal development
awareness sessions. We ran a series of well attended summer
schemes which took place in Saintfield, Drumaroad, Killough
and Annsborough. We helped promote the Midnight Soccer
Programme and ran a number of youth diversionary programmes
to reduce levels of anti-social behaviour delivered across Down
District. We continue to build relationships with youth service
providers and bridge gaps in youth service provision.
Shoreline walk with Strangford Lough Rangers
➤➤Schools:
Our work with local schools increased both through the provision
of programmes including Time to Read, Roots of Empathy and
Chester’s Challenge and Puppet Hero Workshops. 1 health fair
was organised in St Mary’s high School, Downpatrick with 30
organisations and 550 in attendance.
➤➤Men and Women:
We strive to enable our communities to make healthier choices
through the on-going provision of tailored training programmes
including Smoking Cessation, Physical Activity, Positive Steps,
Cook It, Arts & Crafts and Weigh to Health. We continue to
coordinate 3 well attended Walking Groups within Lecale,
Rowallane and Mid Down areas and this year an additional 20
community volunteers completed Walk Leader Training.
A successful Prepare to Stop Smoking Event was held in
conjunction with National No Smoking Day to equip individuals
with information & advice on how to prepare to quit.
Other training needs identified and met included First Aid, Top
Activity, Child Protection, Youth Leadership and Mental Health.
➤➤Ethnic Minorities:
CDRCN continues to facilitate Down Diversity in Action Forum.
Events this year included a Christmas Networking Event and
Olympic challenge 2012 involving 70 children from 6 primary
schools and 15 partner organisations from community, voluntary
and community sector. A Multi-Cultural Health Fair took place in
Castlewellan in partnership with Homestart with 15 organisations
and 50 in attendance.
➤➤Community Development:
Threaded throughout our work is our strong relationship with
local statutory, community and voluntary agencies. We assist
and facilitate 8 forums & inter agencies across Down District.
Our core work is built upon community needs analysis, Village
Plans, Communities of Interest, Community Safety Action Plans
and identifying and securing funding to meet the needs of groups
and their local communities.Capacity building workshops were
delivered to community groups and individuals to promote
leadership and conflict management work to build cohesion.
COUNTY DOWN
Rural Community Network