Community Projects

Stoke North Live at Home Scheme operates two weekly lunch clubs for older people in the local community of Ball Green and Fegg Hayes helping to reduce loneliness and isolation that many local older people fall victim to.

The aim of the groups, is to provide social interaction with other like minded people, bringing them together to enjoy a two course healthy delicious hot meal provided by their excellent cook. These sessions have resulted in people contacting each other during the week, attending day trips, making some new and meaningful friendships all of this is conducive with great wellbeing and health. It is a know fact that 'Loneliness is a killer and can exasperate poor health to their detriment'.

Safer Communities CIC funded £500 towards the running costs of this group for the year.


Liz Daley, Scheme Manager said “Thank you so much for the £500 from the Safer Communities fund, we have used it very wisely to help in the continuation of our two lunch clubs at two different venues, in the Stoke North area. There has been an increase in the numbers attending our groups over the last six months and we now have 60 people on a weekly basis between the two groups. This funding has supporting Stoke North Live at Home Scheme to provide 2880 meals over the year; these meals are prepared fresh each day, using locally sourced, fresh ingredients resulting in a high quality, two course nutritious hot meal provided each week by our cook”.

This funding has helped them secure further funding towards running an additional three clubs in the coming year, the monies from Safer Communities CIC made a huge impact on this scheme.



An example of this is:

Christine’s Story - Prior to becoming a member at Stoke North Live at Home Christine suffered with her nerves, Christine’s confidence was low and she only went out occasionally. Sometimes she would go to a local centre, but the meetings were often cancelled, due to lack of support from the public leaving her disappointed and lonely. Christine didn’t know how to access services, so the only time she went out was to medical appointments.

Her son Jimbo stated that “Since joining, she bounces out of bed on a Monday and Thursday and is so excited about going to the clubs. She has more to talk about and has made lots of friends, who she can speak to in the week. She even goes out for a meal with a friend now. She always has a smile on her face on group days and seems more alive. Her health and mobility have improved, and she get about easier than before” adding that “The family are ecstatic that their mum can comes to the groups, especially as the transport is right to the door. This has bought mum to life. All at Stoke North Live at Home do a cracking job”

Christine’s confidence has improved tremendously she says “The clubs are a godsend. I live for the days I come along. I have made so many friends and I love all the many and varied activities we do. When I was ill recently, I was so pleased by the flowers and cards I received. It really bucked me up. I’ve still got the cards on the mantle shelf”

Last year Safer Communities CIC funded multi-sports equipment and alternative activities for the Food and Fun summer time club ran by the Port Vale Foundation Trust.

This programme provides children with games such as football and a nutritious lunch during the school holidays. As for some when the free school meals are not available, families can struggle to afford or access food that provides a balanced, healthy diet. This is alongside a number of the children also experiencing social isolation, with a lack of intellectual stimulation, that ordinarily would be provided by the school or family enrichment activities.

In the UK, it is estimated 73% of the poorest families cannot always afford to feed their children during the school holidays when the support of free school meals is withdrawn. This affects approximately 3 million children and young people across the country.

Port Vale Foundation Trust ‘Food and fun’ helped to support some of these families living in Stoke on Trent North by providing both primary and secondary school children with a free meal, football and other activities at different sites over the Easter holidays.

During the summer of 2018 a total of 509 sessions were delivered, serving 5,537 meals during the summer holiday at 22 different sites all across the city. A grand total of 1769 people attended the events, which when split covered 1309 children and 460 adults.

Sarah Minsall, Inclusion Officer for the Port Vale Foundation Trust said “Funding from Safer Communities CIC for the equipment was such a great help. Thank you for your support.”

Safer Communities helped ensure that Girl guiding Staffordshire Unity 2018 was a success for the benefit of our local areas, please see the short video
showing some of the amazing work done by the girl guides

Safer Communities supported a ‘Fireworks night’ to help encourage residents to attend an organised event, rather than individuals having firework displays in their own gardens.

This proved to be a huge success with over a thousand people in attendance, the community raised an additional £1,200 on the evening, with the money being put towards some outreach work done within the Bentilee community, providing hot meals for families during school holidays.

The fireworks event and the outreach work is ran with help from 20+ volunteers from within the community, giving their time to plan, set up and serve. PCSO’s were present, but there was no trouble, a great time was had by all.

We really can’t thank Safer Communities CIC enough - Emma Cartwright


Bentilee Youth Club has been running Cook and Eat (Holiday Hunger) sessions for about 2 years, this began has a result of the youth club opening in the daytime running arts and crafts classes during the school holidays, the club quickly realised that some of the young people may be hungry, so cook and eat began.

The Youth Club is working in partnership with Safer Communities, KICKS and Space who are all helping to add extra value to the Cook and Eat sessions (KICKS facilitated the cooking sessions encouraging the young people to try something different each week). One of these added values has been a climbing wall in place during the sessions, this was to help encourage a good attendance, we are delighted to report that the attendance numbers went beyond our expectations.

The wall was continually busy for the 3 hours it was there, with the young people waiting to take their turn and once completed they returned to await another go. Around the wall parents were able to sit with their young ones and enjoy the sunny weather, it was noted that some young people were reluctant to climb, so some of the Mums who were able to, climbed the wall demonstrating to the children it was OK and safe, following their example the reluctant ones tried again, this time succeeding that resulted in increasing their confidence and self-esteem, whilst the parents and young people created memories and bonded. This time was also a great opportunity to promote SPACE and our Youth Club and this could be an ideal opportunity for other resources to engage with parents and young people promoting other services available.

Whilst this was going on outside, inside the youth club other young people had, had the opportunity to prepare and cook a variety of ingredients, thus gaining knowledge and skills of food preparation. Once the food was ready to be served, the young people would come and let everyone know that the food was ready or they would bring it out for everyone to eat.

The local PCSO’s visited the wall every week when time allowed, PCSO Richard Simpson climbed the wall and became a hero with the young people around the wall.

Parents and young people’s feedback was very positive, saying that they were surprised that it was a free activity. Some of the parents brought their children every week for the full 6 weeks.

Andrew Johnston - Youth Development Worker



Bentilee in Bloom neighbourhood secured funding from Safer Communities by applying for the ‘Wellbeing in the Community Funding Pot’. This was to enable them to purchase various wquipment that included litter pickers, hi-vis waistcoats, plant pots, seedling trays, and gloves to fit men, women and children.

This equipment enhanced the project and allows it to grow.. please take the time to read the attached document of what Bentilee in Bloom has achieved and how they continue to improve their neighbourhood… /download/25c7d578-14d2-11e9-b2f5-41a09499276a/

A community group in Bilbrook and Codsall set up to help people living with cancer has received funding from Safer Communities CiC.

The group has been established by residents with the aim of offering support to anyone who has received a diagnosis of cancer.

The group has three main objectives:

• to raise awareness of cancer and provide information;
• to assist members to ask the right questions around treatment;
• to support people in the community living with cancer.

The group meets every third Thursday of the month at Codsall and Bilbrook Community Fire Station and has written to all the practice managers of local surgeries to make them aware of the services they can offer. They also hope to involve as many relevant organisations as possible.

The group offers a safe space for people to talk through issues as well as signposting members to information and raising awareness of cancer. The group aims to improve the health and wellbeing of its members and tackle the social isolation of those diagnosed and living with cancer.

Safer Communities provided £400 to help the group set up by purchasing DBS checks, Public Liability Insurance, marketing materials and financing a launch event where £200 was raised for charity.
Heather Dean founder of the group said “Four of us got together as cancer had affected all of our lives. We have all lived in the community of Bilbrook and Codsall for many years and became concerned about the lack of support in this key area. We wanted to deal with the issues and challenges posed by cancer to help local people.

“Gavin Williamson, our MP came along to the launch and he was very impressed with the work we were doing. We had seven people attend our first meeting. Along with our usual meetings every third Thursday of the month, we are decorating a tree in red for Christmas in the community. Also those people who come along to the meetings really seem to get friendship and support; in fact one of our retired members stated that the Group had given her a purpose!!”

This summer, Girl Guiding Staffordshire hosted their international camp called Unity supported by a donation of £500 from Safer Communities CIC.

The week-long camp is held every four years and offers guides the opportunity to take part in lots of different activities around the theme of “#inmyelement”. This included STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), adventure and traditional camp activities. This camp was planned by volunteers including the “Service Team”. Safer Communities CIC made a donation of £500 towards the cost of the activities.
The Service Team was made up of 85 members of Girlguiding aged 16 – 26, from across Staffordshire, as well further a field including Aberdeen and Southampton. The Team gave up their week to help run this camp; which included activities such as: entertainment, security, running a crèche, helping with emergency procedures alongside office duties. The group were split into five making the duties more manageable and giving opportunities to give back to our local communities by completing three projects at different locations across Staffordshire.

One of the projects for a team was at Rocester Church, spending a full day in the pouring rain (the only rainy day this summer) clearing the pathways up to and around the church, making it more accessible for users. This work was completed in record time and made a huge difference to the grounds.





Whereas another project with two teams spent the day at Valley Primary School in Oakamoor. They transformed the garden into a more friendly and colourful environment for the students. This involved adding educational images around the garden area and using old tyres to create additional seating, they even uncovered a pond that had been lost to weeds.


The third project was at Briar Hill Nursing Home in Rugeley where two teams spent a full day reclaiming and developing a sensory garden for the residents. Working closely with the residents ensuring they were involved in the planning and design. They made wind chimes using cutlery, adding bright colours onto the previously plain items in the garden,and created new planters at various heights for those with mobility issues.

Sian Osbourne, Service Team Core Member, stated:
“We’d like to thank the Safer Communities CIC for their kind donation towards our community projects. We would not have been able carry out any of these projects without the financial support provided. The support for our community projects enabled volunteers to benefit three different groups within the communities of Staffordshire. “

In the village of Ta Prok, commune Leangdai, in the district of Angkor Thom
Well number: 1230, built 29 May 2018.

This well was sponsored by Soroptimist International Staffordshire Moorlands, who are Community Room User Group at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service Community Fire Station, Leek.


One Families story, who have benefited from this well….

Mr. Por Pim is a 33 years old farmer who lives with his wife and children in Ta Prok village, Leangdai commune, Angkor Thom district, Siem Reap province.
Mr. Pim spends long days working as a farmer, leaving home before sunrise and not returning until late evening. Mr Pim’s wife also works as a farmer, and in the village, helping to bring in additional income. Despite their working long hours, their daily income is less than $2.

In Cambodia the income of a farmer is tied to the seasons, dictating the amount of work to be done, resulting in no stable or reliable income stream. Due to this, the yield of the crops impact the amount of work available.

Mr Pim’s family previously did not have a well, and they had to use a neighbouring well whenever they needed water. Meaning that they had to carry heavy buckets a considerable distance, making something as simple as collecting water an arduous task. During the dry season they also struggled to store the water, meaning that collecting water was something that had to be done daily. Although Mr. Pim sought support from the local authorities but unfortunately no one could help them.

So when the CCDO came to the village, they assessed the needs of Mr. Pim and his family and found them suitable to become beneficiaries of the CCDO WASH Program, sponsored by Soroptimist International Staffordshire Moorlands, a Community Room User Group at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service Community Fire Station, Leek.

Mr. Pim’s family is delighted and grateful to the CCDO and particularly Soroptimist International Staffordshire Moorlands for the generous donation as they now have access to water in all seasons.

Fabulous prizes

Thanks to a donation from Safer Communities CIC and free use of Newcastle Community Fire Station the Good Afternoon Art Club has been able to provide a variety of activities for all who attend.
Below are some pictures of their recent fire craft session. The attendees made fire wreaths with our top ten safety messages on. For more information on fire safety in the home please follow this link - http://www.staffordshirefire.gov.uk/HomeSafety.asp