Lorna Prescott

East Coseley’s plan is endorsed!

Lorna Prescott Big Local, Big Local Plan, community activities, Community Forum, Community Profile, Core Group, Local Trust, Visioning August 24, 2023August 24, 2023 0 Comment

On Monday 24th February, members of the East Coseley Core Group and local residents and volunteers came together to start preparing for the next phase in their Big Local journey once their plan had been formally endorsed by Local Trust. In particular, participants thought about how new projects and activities could be stimulated and supported by Big Local.

At the start of the meeting, chairman of the Core Group, Brian Guest, was able to announce that after Irene Evison’s visit last month, East Coseley’s Big Local plan had been officially endorsed by Local Trust. Brian himself had received the wonderful news not 30 minutes before and he revealed that he’d contemplated what might happen if the plan had been rejected. And what Brian said was inspirational: he and everyone else would still be here engaging with the community without the money.

I’m certain Brian was right. Having been privileged to work with East Coseley people over the past few years, I’ve found everyone utterly committed to making East Coseley even more vibrant and they are worth so much more than any amount of money for the dedication and support they’ve shown and will continue to show.

Equally, everyone was ecstatic that the plan had finally been endorsed. People feel like their hard work is paying off and things are now coming to fruition. And the announcement was just the tonic for a great meeting that contained much chatter about growing projects, identifying and nurturing community leaders, involving schools and young people, making the natural and built environment more appealing, Big Lunches, Black Country festivities… I could go on!

So work continues with renewed energy. On Monday, there will be a Core Group meeting that will look at how the plan can be delivered in a way that involves and engages the whole community. Watch this space!

The amazing story of Amy, Asher and Aace Dance Company

Lorna Prescott community activities, Sharing our passions, skills and spaces, young people January 6, 2018Aace Dance 0 Comment

Amy Louise Park and Asher Louise Riley grew up in Coseley and share a passion for dance. In 2016 they wanted to create an opportunity for young people to showcase their passion for dance. Amy and Asher hoped that through regular dance classes and performances they could change how young people spent some of their social time, grow their confidence and have a positive effect on their happiness, health and wellbeing, around weight loss and obesity.

When they came together in June 2016, members of the Big Local Project Investment Team could feel the energy and enthusiasm Amy and Asher had for their idea. They told Big Local that they were really excited about it, they had been waiting for an opportunity and the timing was perfect. They wanted to use the Coseley Community Centre (previously the Youth Centre) for dance classes as it is a great space.

Before approaching Big Local for some funding to start up, Asher and Amy had already gone out to meet young people attending the youth club and found 25 young people interested in joining dance classes. Through the Big Local Project Investment session Amy and Asher heard about the Darkhouse Summer Playscheme and offered to run a dance class with them which would help to promote the newly forming Aace Dance to more children and parents, and help volunteers from Darkhouse to offer a new activity.

Aace Dance launched in summer 2016 with a single Street Dance class on a Wednesday, and has now grown to two venues and nearly 15 classes. They have put on two shows and performed in events such as Black Country Day and other community events. Helen Riley has supported the group from day one attending every session to help out and Casey Broadley and Molly Turner joined in 2017 to teach Zumba and Gymnastics.

Amy and Asher are passionate about Coseley and the surrounding areas. Big Local supported them to make connections, buy equipment, pay room hire costs to get dance classes started in 2016 and exercise classes in 2017 and to put on a Christmas show. In total Big Local has invested £1,100 through 3 small grants in this self-sustaining, growing enterprise. Just one demonstration of how a little bit of support and encouragement from Big Local helps local people with ideas and energy to make Coseley a more vibrant place to live, impacting positively on the lives of hundreds of local people.

Aace Dance always welcome new starters in both adult classes and children’s, their Facebook Page is open for the public to contact them either via Facebook messenger email or phone. You can keep up to date with their achievements and find out about all sorts of exiting things happening in 2018 such as dance festivals, summer performances, dance camps, inspire weeks and a third big showcase. If you would like to get involved please don’t hesitate to contact Amy and Asher

Support for local groups and clubs

Lorna Prescott Big Local Plan, community activities, local groups and clubs December 4, 2017December 4, 2017 0 Comment

**Ace Dance: East Coseley Big Local have supported Aace Dance to get both children’s dance classes and adult fitness classes started**

Much of the Development Support which East Coseley Big Local invests in, including a full-time Big Local officer, has helped people from local groups and clubs to get to know each other, initiate collaborative projects, share resources and develop partnerships with all sorts of local and national organisations.

Through Big Local we encourage local groups and clubs to share resources, and to bring in funding from other sources. This way we can use our £1million Big Local funding to help bring in even more ideas, support and resources to East Cosley. Dudley CVS provides free support to groups seeking help with funding. We do recognise that it is getting harder to secure funding, so for groups and clubs who have applied elsewhere, Big Local considers investment in activities and equipment which benefit residents of East Coseley. A budget of £8,000 per year has been allocated in the current Big Local Plan for direct investment in local groups and clubs.

Local residents from the Big Local Core Group have formed a Project Investment Team which oversees allocations of Big Local budget to local groups and clubs. Since April 2017, East Coseley Big Local used this budget to invest in:

Coseley Bowing Club, who have created a bee-friendly Bzz Garden
Bayer Street Allotments, who have equipped their polytunnel and undertaken the award-winning planting project at Coseley Station
Darkhouse Summer Holiday Club, who ran another successful week of activities in August
Christ Church, who wanted to replace a stolen Home Communion set
Ace Dance, who asked for help starting up adult fitness classes
Act One, who have set up a choir and started a dementia project
Summerhill Community Centre, who wanted a little help to repaint and spruce up the centre

If you are involved in a local group or club and would like some support from East Coseley Big Local, you can submit a simple form on our local groups and clubs page

East Coseley Big Local are also investing in support to help groups share and promote what they do. Look out for more videos and stories here in our updates.

Share Fest comes to Coseley

Lorna Prescott Sharing May 15, 2017May 15, 2017Share Fest 0 Comment

Share Fest is an exciting opportunity for people to create and connect over 50 opportunities to share through practical, enjoyable activities across the whole of Dudley borough. It builds on the success of Do Fest Dudley, a 3 day festival of practical projects in March which 72 people helped to create and over 200 people took part in. Do Fest Dudley featured Lightning Talks about East Coseley Big Local and Bayer Street Allotments, and Coseley Crafternoon took their weekly session to Dudley and inspired another Crafternoon to start.

Share Fest will take place over 10 days, from Friday 9 June to Sunday 18 June. Projects which invite people to share skills, food, spaces, ideas and more are being planned. Over 30 people are already involved in co-designing Share Fest activities, and you are invited to get involved.

Share Fest co-design

Come along to a Share Fest co-design session with East Coseley Big Local on Saturday 20 May or Thursday 25 May at Coseley Library to find out more. Find out more and register places on Eventbrite.

5 ideas for Share Fest activities in Coseley

1. Teach a Trade School class during Share Fest. Last summer we launched Trade School Coseley with a range of classes from making marmalade and scones, to hairdressing, to creating funky upcycled flower pots to Latin dance. What skill or talent could you share with your neighbours?

2. Start a Garden for Everyone. June is a great time to start growing herbs, salad leaves, radishes, peas, carrots, courgettes, kale and more from seed outdoors. You’ve probably seen the fantastic flowers growing at Coseley station and the daffodils spreading around the area. We can take inspiration from Incredible Edible and add vegetable and fruit growing in Coseley.

3. Pop along to Crafternoon in Coseley at Jack Newell Court, it’s 12pm-3pm on Tuesdays. Crafters bring their own projects, share and learn skills, swap tips and get inspiration from each other.

4. Organise a Big Lunch with your neighbours or colleagues. You can get a free Big Lunch starter pack from the Eden Project. If you’re already planning to get your neighbours or colleagues sharing food at a Big Lunch let us know if you want it to be part of Share Fest.

5. What else could you share? Come along to a Share Fest co-design session this month to be inspired by imaginative projects invented by local people around the world and get support to start something during Share Fest.

3 Share Fest projects you can take part in

1. Create a piece of art around the theme of sharing to bring to Creative Connect on Friday 9 June.

2. Offer your sewing, soldering or sawing skills at the launch of Dudley’s Repair Cafe on Saturday 10 June.

3. Pitch a project or support projects at Dudley SOUP on Thursday 15 June.

Do Fest video

To get a taste of what this is al about take a look at the video from Do Fest, featuring the Coseley Crafternoon crew!

We’re making a plan…

Lorna Prescott Big Local Plan November 1, 2016Survey 0 Comment

Over the last 3 years East Coseley Big Local has started or supported over 30 projects which help make Coseley an even better place to live. From involving residents canal improvement work and flower planting at Coseley station, to investing in projects working with children and young people, to writing and delivering The Grapevine to over 4,000 households… Big Local has got off to a great start in Coseley.

The residents leading Big Local in East Coseley are now making a plan for the next 3 years. They would like to hear from at least 500 people of all ages in the area to help them shape the plan.

Big Local is about making a lasting and positive difference by bringing together the talent, ambitions, skills and energy of individuals, groups and organisations. Our Big Local Plan starts with what we already have and seeks to build on that. Contribute to the plan by telling us what is important to you and the people you care about.

Ways to contribute

Fill in our short online survey by Monday 5 November
Come to our Forum meeting on 14 November
Have a cuppa and a chat with Neil at a drop-in session – we have 4 drop-ins planned at Coseley Library in November
Fill in a survey form if you are given one at an activity or by a friend or neighbour
Leave a reply below or tweet @east_coseley

You’re invited to our Big Local Community Forum

Lorna Prescott community activities, Community Forum, older people, young people October 24, 2016Aace Dance Co, Beatfreeks, Castle & Crystal, Community Forum, Crafternoon, credit union, isolation, loneliness, older people, Phase Trust, Trade School, young people 0 Comment

Nothing beats getting together to share ideas, encourage each other and find out what’s going on. For the last four years we’ve been connecting people and great ideas in Coseley through Big Local Community Forum meetings.

Our next Community Forum will take place on Monday 14 November at Willowfields on Whitehouse Street. It is open to all – if you live, work or volunteer in Coseley, or would like to know more about Big Local please come along. There is no need to book, just turn up. It’s an informal gathering, with lots of time to chat to people. You can expect a warm, friendly welcome, a few short talks about projects and activities East Coseley Big Local is supporting and a chance to talk about what you’d like more of in Coseley.

At this Community Forum we will hear from Phase Trust, a local charity who have been running a Youth Club in Coseley. We’ll also hear feedback from conversations between young people in Coseley and creative youth engagement agency Beatfreeks, and ideas about how we might unlock the potential of young people in Coseley. You can find out about community activities and projects East Coseley Big Local has been supporting, from Crafternoon to Trade School Coseley, a new dance company to community growing. Castle & Crystal credit union will be with us all evening, you can have a chat to them about what they offer, and how they helped Coseley residents save £28,000 in loan interest in a year! We’re also starting to think about ways that Big Local could help to tackle isolation and loneliness in Coseley. We’d love to hear your ideas and experiences.

In December we’ll be updating our Big Local Plan and preparing our budget for Big Local activity for the next 3 years (we have £1 million Big Local funding over 10 years). What we hear and discuss at Big Local Community Forums play a significant part in shaping our Big Local Plan. Join us on 14 November to find out more and tell us what is important to you and the people you care about.

Sharing food, stories and laughter

Lorna Prescott Bring & Share, community activities, Ideas, Sharing August 15, 2016August 15, 2016Bring & Share, cemetery, choir, Coseley Carnival, Past & Present 0 Comment

We’ve started bringing people in Coseley together through activities which involve sharing. At the first of three summer Bring & Share meals Donna and Neil invited people to bring food to share for lunch, and memories and photos of living in Coseley.

There was a lovely lunch of sandwiches and crisps bought by people to share, and a delicious homemade banana and honey cake made by local resident Diane.

Yvonne brought along photos of Coseley Carnival from the 1920’s taken by her husband who was a photographer. These brought back memories, sparked conversations and inspired the concept of having a Coseley carnival in 2017.

Andrea brought some maps of Coseley from as far back as the 17th Century. Everyone found it fascinating to see how the landscape had changed. Andrea is interested in finding out more about the street she lived in as a child. Diane was soon on the case asking members of the Coseley pre 1970 Facebook group if anyone had any information. We love ways that sharing in Coseley has been started by local people using online spaces like Facebook, and how active groups like the Coseley pre-1070 are.

The afternoon flew by, everyone tided up together, there was even food to take home! Ideas shared during great conversation over a simple shared lunch ranged from starting a new carnival, to generating a friends of group at the local cemetery, to the start of a new Coseley operatic group or choir. Let us know if you’d like to get involved in any of these things, or if you have ideas you would like help getting started. East Coseley Big Local is here to help things happen.

Why not come along to the Bring & Share Supper on Wed 24 August, from 7pm, or our Bring & Share Community Picnic on Tues 30 August from 1pm. You can see photos from Bring & Share meals on the CoseleyLife Facebook Page.

A space where ideas can mingle

Lorna Prescott Big Local Plan, Ideas July 15, 2016 0 Comment

To make our first Big Local Plan we spent many months asking people for their ideas of what would make Coseley an even better place to live and work. We heard over 100 great ideas. We wrote our plan to support local people to bring those ideas to life. Having the ideas has really made a difference. Lots of projects, partnerships and activities have sprung up in Coseley to take those ideas forwards. They include the annual Big Event, improvements to the canalside, all sorts of activities for children and families, growing projects all over Coseley and more.

We are starting to think about our next Big Local Plan, which will describe ways people and projects will be supported in East Coseley between 2017 and 2020. We’ll be taking a look at the ideas people had in 2012 and 2013. We know about some ideas that people in other places have had and turned into amazing projects. We’d love to show them to you. We’ll be taking a look at the ideas people in Coseley had in 2012 and 2013. We want to add more ideas. Your ideas. And let all the ideas mingle. When we bring lots of small ideas together they add up to something much bigger. (The 4 minute animated talk below is all about bringing little ideas together.)

The Big Local team would love to meet you. Come along for a cuppa and a chat, find out about Coseley’s 100 ideas and add yours.

100 IDEAS
TUES 26 JULY | TUES 2 AUGUST | WED 17 AUGUST
1:00pm – 4:00pm
@ the Youth Centre building on Old Meeting Road, WV14 8HB

Jubilee celebrations and Big Lunches are in full swing in East Coseley!

Lorna Prescott Uncategorized July 11, 2016August 24, 2023 0 Comment

Saturday marked the start of a weekend of neighbourhood get-togethers with a family fun day at Summerhill Community Centre. The day was a fitting start to National Volunteers Week and saw committee members pulling together to put on a fantastic party.

Volunteers have spent the last few months planning a day that would help them welcome new people through their doors, to see their lovely centre in full swing! The day was paid for through a lottery Awards for All grant and a generous donation from the Eden Project’s Big Lunch.

When I arrived, the centre car park was already a hive of activity. I was greeted by a police officer from the Black Country Living Museum and a splash of colour from a traditional sweet shop stall. The bouncy castle was taking a battering and centre Chairman Gerry was entertaining youngsters dressed as Bob the Builder!

Walking through the door I was hit with a blaze of red white and blue. Hundreds of flags from the Willofields bunting workshop had been carefully strung together with union jacks, royal decorations and a party table fit for a queen.

The back room was equally beautifully decorated and was busy with families drinking tea while a face painter & balloon modeller entertained the kids. Volunteer photographers Beatrice, Eileen & Phil captured the fun and have produced a splendid gallery of images as a lasting record of the day, some of which will be printed in a special feature in the Coseley Grapevine.

An afternoon highlight for the younger visitors was the children’s Big Lunch! An indoor street party with jubilee snacks, treats and plenty of jelly and ice-cream, which transported me back to a Silver Jubilee street party I myself enjoyed as an excited 5 year old. It made me smile in the knowledge that Summerhill was making lasting memories for a new generation of children who will I’m sure remember the great sense of community from the day for many years to come.

The afternoon also received strong support from the new Mayor and Mayoress of Dudley, Cllr Melvyn & Michelle Mottram. They skipped lunch at an earlier engagement so that they could spend as long as possible kick-starting celebrations in their home town of Coseley. During his visit Mayor Mottram signed ‘Valued Volunteer’ certificates for committee members and added his name to ‘The Dudley Bunting’ which will go on display at celebrations all across the borough in the coming days and weeks.

With so many local people milling around the centre (an estimated 150!), it proved to be a perfect opportunity to have conversations about Big Local. We asked visitors if they knew about the Coseley million and how they would like to spend it! Those questioned were quick to say that children and young people were their priority and gave suggestions ranging from after school clubs, to activities that would bridge the gap between younger and older residents. When asked what they loved about East Coseley everyone without exception said, ‘the people’. One resident told me,

“I wasn’t born here but when I attend events like this it makes me proud to look around and think, ‘these are my neighbours, this is my community!”.

Such strong sentiment made me feel proud to be working with local volunteers who are giving a tremendous amount of time and energy to get their neighbours involved.

…And Summerhill was just the start of it! Another Big Lunch took place at Rainbow Community Centre yesterday which I’m sure will have been equally enjoyable and today will see a further two events at Willowfields and Ebenezer Baptist Church who have teamed up with the New Inns Public House.

Thanks to support from the Big Lunch and energy from local people who have applied for Big Local grants, celebrations will continue long into July!

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