We would like to warmly invite you to East Coseley Big Local’s first dementia-friendly cinema screening on the 17th Aprilat Darkhouse Baptist Church, Coseley. Do you know, care for, or support someone living with dementia in the Coseley area? Would you like to book places at the cinema? Please contact Neil at neil@eastcoseleybiglocal.netor call 07472627497.
Join us 2pm – 4pm on the 17th April for a screening, snacks and refreshments. The cinema is open to the community but the screenings will be enhanced to suit the needs of people living with dementia.
East Coseley Big Local is passionate to support people living with dementia, their families and carers, to continue to participate in entertainment. The dementia-friendly cinema will enable people who often feel a little isolated in the community to enjoy an everyday experience in an accessible, friendly, supportive and fun environment where participation is encouraged!
Our first film screening will be the classic 1948 film Easter Parade.
Broadway star Don Hewes’ (Fred Astaire) dancing partner (Ann Miller) goes solo, and Don declares that he can make a hit performer out of the next dancer he sees. This turns out to be the inexperienced Hannah (Judy Garland), who bristles as Don tries to make her into his old partner. But as he realizes that he is falling in love with Hannah, Don knows that he must let her grow into her own kind of dancer if he wants her to reach her full potential.
What is East Coseley Big Local?
East Coseley Big Local is an exciting opportunity for residents to make a massive and lasting positive difference to their community. It brings together all the local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make the area an even better place to live.
Big Local is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and managed by Local Trust. There are 150 Big Local areas in England which have been allocated £1million each. East Coseley was selected as a Big Local area by the Big Lottery Fund in 2011. Find out more at www.eastcoseleybiglocal.net.
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
Looking back at 2017, it’s been another great year for East Coseley Big Local, developing successful partnerships with local groups and organisations, businesses and national organisations, working on collaborative projects and sharing resources to make East Coseley better place to live. We look back at a few of our most successful partnerships from last year!
A great partnership between East Coseley Big Local, Marston’s Brewery and the Apple Tree Inn, formed 4 years ago, enables Lunch and Chat events throughout the year for local people and families of all ages who often feel a little lonely and isolated in the community. Providing a safe space where local people can get to know each other over a hot meal. At this years Christmas lunch, we were joined by 55 members of the community of all ages ranges, from 22 years old all the way up to a staggering 101 year old! Volunteers, support workers, people and families from the community all enjoyed and shared a three-course Christmas meal together, with entertainment and a small gift. East Coseley Big Local Chair, Brian Guest said “The Apple Tree plays an important role in the community. It is the perfect environment for friendships to flourish.”
East Coseley is working in partnership with Beatfreeks, a youth organisation based in Birmingham, to unlock the potential of young people in the area. It started with a skateboarding party in the park, followed by a 16 week programme of Friday night activities at Clayton Park Youth Centre, which kicked off with an open-air pop-up cinema last September. The weekly events were rapidly co-designed and hosted with young people, in response to their ideas and interests. Activities including poetry, crafting, filmmaking, circus skills, singing and comedy were all enjoyed by young people in the area. A film was produced at one of the sessions themed on happiness, “What makes you happy”. One young person said, “I now look forward to Friday evenings”
Initially, the youth centre was under threat for under usage, it’s now thriving and occupied for most of the week, it’s now a safe place for young people to go in the evenings.
The East Coseley Skittles League has become a staple in people’s diaries. It started 3 years ago and takes place 4 times a year. One of the most amazing things about the evening is the community groups that attend are talking to each other about collaborating on projects. Neil Langford, Community Changemaker said, “The most wonderful part is that people enjoyed the evenings so much, they felt like they wanted to give something back. So we started a raffle, and this year (2017) we raised over £300 for the local food bank operating at Darkhouse Church. All the money donated by people in the community at the skittles night helps other people in the community.” Brian Guest, East Coseley Big Local Chair, said, “Grandparents, parents, children, friends, everybody of all age groups, all mix together and enjoy a great night of fun and games. In fact, sometimes the skittles becomes secondary, people are enjoying themselves so much!”
East Coseley Big Local supported and funded Bayer Street Allotments to grow flowers and shrubs on the embankment and in window boxes at Coseley station. This year the allotments association joined the ‘adopt a station’ scheme, set up by London Midland, which has allowed volunteers to have better access to the station and have improved ties with the railway authorities. The partnership formed between East Coseley Big Local, Bayer Street Allotments, Network Rail and London Midland has been a great success.
Working in partnership with the allotments and Roseville School, for children with social, behavioural and emotional problems, has given young people an opportunity to learn how to grow and look after plants.
Residents have been cleaning up the area with regular litter picks and collaborated with the local Spar shop who now come along to help out. Local businesses are now working with the community.
The connections made at the Community Conservation Forum, Dudley Zoo, with wildlife experts, including the Birmingham Bat Group, lead to the discovery of two species of bat in Coseley’s canal tunnel. East Coseley is now working with Canal and River Trust to improve the canal towpaths and having conversations about creating a wildlife area on the canal.
East Coseley is bringing back events that people had missed in the area. Every year the Big Local funds The Big Event, which takes place at Clayton Park Youth Centre. At last years event, the community came out in the scorching heat to enjoy a fun day out with family and friends. Neil Langford said, “The main aim of the event is to bring families together so that they can enjoy a day out, they don’t have to pay entry, it gets people out who may not be able to afford to go to big events. We have now formed a great partnership with Dudley MBC who gave us permission to use the park and provided us with advice to get the event up and running.”
The Christmas Lights Switch On in Roseville is now a major event for the area which always has the support of East Coseley Big Local. This year families came out in the heavy snow to enjoy a market, entertainment and a performance from The Coseley Comets.
Last October we held the Big Local Big Chat in Coseley, which brought together Big Local partnership members, workers and reps from the Black Country, Birmingham, Shropshire, Solihull, Staffordshire, Worcestershire and the Wyre Forest. The theme of the event was ‘Collaboration and Partnerships’ It was clear when listening to other Big Local areas that building partnerships can help to kick-start projects, accomplish shared visions, and possibly open doors to new opportunities.
The collaborations we have seen in East Coseley prove that anything is possible if we work together.
We’re now looking forward to an exciting year ahead, building on, and creating new partnerships in 2018!
Have you been inspired by any of the stories in this post? Are you interested in starting a project to improve the Coseley area? It’s always lovely to hear your thoughts, the Big Local team would love to hear from you! hello@eastcoseleybiglocal.net
We joined some amazing local people from the community at the Mary Dermott Hall in Coseley for the last tea dance of 2017. People from the community, who come together every week to enjoy lunch, entertainment, exercise, dancing (including line-dancing!), and, most importantly, to meet friends, enjoy a little social interaction and have a great time!
This month residents made their way through the heavy snow, dressed in their very best festive outfits, ready to get into the Christmas spirit and enjoy an afternoon out. We’ve made a short film featuring these lovely local people who are making this happen in Coseley with the support of East Coseley Big Local. We hope you enjoy it!
The Coseley tea dance was always well attended by local older people in the community. It had been running for about 5 years, before, last year it was in danger of having to stop when the people who ran it moved out of the local area and the venue at the time was no longer able to accommodate it.
East Coseley Big Local, Changemaker Support Officer, worked with three enthusiastic regular attendees to apply to the East Coseley Big Local Community Spirit Fund, not only to help restart the tea dance but change the format of the event slightly in order for it to become self-sustainable.
The Community Spirit Fund awarded a small amount of money to help the residents kick-start the tea dance, covering the hire of the venue and an entertainer.
People were happy to bring their own lunch and pay £3 each week in order to help the tea dance continue. Now, the weekly tea dance pays for itself. Everyone contributes to making the event happen. The tea dance has a regular attendance of 30-40 people.
This event makes a huge difference to the lives of the people who attend. Many of the attendees live alone and do not have regular outings, and they look forward to the tea dance. It is also a way of helping people to keep active through dancing. It runs in the daytime within a safe environment, and occasionally agencies also come along to offer advice on issues ranging from health and wellbeing to safety and security.
A tea dance participant said: “It’s the only time I get together with my friends”.
It’s hard not to feel welcome or join in on the fun when around the people at the tea dance… we even found our film-maker getting involved, singing an excellent version of ‘White Christmas’ to the residents whilst they were enjoying lunch!
East Coseley Big Local are passionate about supporting residents to make things happen in Coseley. If you would like to find out more about joining the tea dance contact Neil Langford neil@eastcoseleybiglocal.net.
Are you a local group or club looking for a little more support in Coseley? Let us know how East Coseley Big Local can support you: http://www.tinyurl.com/ycmrk5f2 or contact neil@eastcoseleybiglocal.net for more info. We will be meeting local groups and clubs on Wed 17 Jan.
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.
East Coseley Big Local and Black Country Touring are looking for enthusiastic people to drop by and join them to chat, plan and share ideas to potentially start a dementia friendly community cinema within the Coseley area.
On the day, Lee Allen, Dementia Friends volunteer champion from the Alzheimer’s Society, will be delivering a Dementia Information Session for anyone interested to learn more about dementia and how it can affect people’s lives.
We will be talking with Olivia James of Black Country Touring about starting and planning for a dementia friendly community cinema in Coseley.
If you would like to get involved and come along please let us know, and also whether you would like to bring anyone along with you, by contacting neil@eastcoseleybiglocal.net
Date: Monday 22nd January Time: 10am – 1pm Venue: The Apple Tree Inn, 5 Central Drive, Bilston, WV14 9EW All welcome!
Here’s a bit of background information for the day:
What is a dementia friendly cinema?
A dementia friendly community cinema provides a safe, welcoming and fun environment for people, families and carers living with dementia. The cinema is open to the whole community but the screenings are enhanced to suit the needs of people living with dementia who may feel a little isolated in the community.
What is a Dementia Friends Information Session?
A Dementia Friends Information Session is a fun, interactive way to learn a little about dementia and how it can affect people’s lives. Led by a volunteer Dementia Friends Champion, the Session lasts 45-60 minutes and covers five key messages that everyone should know about dementia, through activities and discussion.
What is East Coseley Big Local?
East Coseley Big Local is an exciting opportunity for residents to make a massive and lasting positive difference to their community. It brings together all the local talent, ambitions, skills and energy from individuals, groups and organisations who want to make the area an even better place to live.
Big Local is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and managed by Local Trust. There are 150 Big Local areas in England which have been allocated £1million each. East Coseley was selected as a Big Local area by the Big Lottery Fund in 2011. Find out more at www.eastcoseleybiglocal.net.
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.
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.
We’ve started bringing people in Coseley together through