Spennymoor Area Action Partnership Annual Report

2020/21 Spennymoor Area Action Partnership 2020/21 Key Information

Covid 19 Response

Over 3,000 food parcels delivered through Spennymoor local community groups and volunteers

Covid 19 Recovery £224,498 1,992 of AAP budgets to address Covid individuals who were 19 impact and issues on the supported as part of the Spennymoor AAP community and its Covid recovery projects effects, allocated to 45 projects £133,768 26,605 of match funding generated social media engagements 88 projects developed £234,719 and supported through of councillor Neighbourhood Budget Spennymoor Area Action allocated to 33 projects Partnership

21 voluntary and community groups supported Spennymoor Area Action Partnership Our People

Established in 2009 Spennymoor Area Action Partnership (AAP) brings together local people and partners Anyone who lives, works, studies or volunteers in the to take action on local issues. Areas covered include the city centre and the outlying villages. area can get involved with the Area Action Partnership. Over the last year the key focus has been on ‘Covid Response’ and Covid Recovery. Over £144,00 has been We currently have Over 2,000 people who are part of our allocated to local organisations to support them through the Covid pandemic. wider Forum who receive regular updates and who are invited to get involved in the work of the AAP. The partnership continued its work throughout the pandemic with the team and Board members adapting to the changing environment to support our local communities ensuring meetings took place virtually and Our Board is the decision making body of the AAP. It project leads and community groups were informed of relevant information. is made up of local people, elected councillors and representatives from partner organisations. Our current board members are;

Welcome from the Chair De Hickson (Chair) (Voluntary and Community Sector) De Hickson (Partner Representative) Norman Vaulks (Public Representative) During my tenure as chair in this unusual year I have seen first-hand how our community has pulled together. The AAP has played no small part in this, we have funded a great many local Nikki Skinner (Public Representative) schemes and initiatives that are making a huge difference to people in our local community, aided by match funding both from volunteers and organisations alike. Well done everyone. Pat Lawton (Public Representative) The Spennymoor AAP Board and staff team have responded well to this unusual situation and Cllr Liz Maddison have worked hard to spread resources in areas where they are most needed and acting quickly to requests. Thank you all for your cooperation and achievements. Cllr Kevin Thompson Virtual meetings are not the same and we have been unable to carry out any public facing roles this year, however we have done our best to efficiently handle funding requests to the benefit of all. Cllr Neil Grayson I feel that we have all learnt a great deal this year and going forward will continue to work together with our partners Cllr Neil Foster (Spennymoor Town Council) and providers to achieve the best for our community. Cllr Martin Harmer (Spennymoor Town Council)

The past twelve months have challenged AAPs whilst other resources have been allocated from the Cllr Michael Ord ( Parish Council) us all in many ways. The Covid pandemic County Councillors Neighbourhood Budgets. I’d like to take has changed how the council and Area this opportunity to thank the AAP teams for their help and Jenny Haworth (Vice Chair) () Action Partnerships (AAPs) have had support in ensuring that our Neighbourhood Budgets have to work as many communities and local been making a real difference in local communities. Gary Thompson (Business Rep) residents have struggled because of the The next year will be no less challenging but I am delighted Graeme Metcalf (Fire and Rescue Service) restrictions that we have all had to follow. to say that the AAPs are being given extra resources to help If there are positives we can take from communities recover from the pandemic. There is also new Acting Inspector Mike Sammut (Police) this terrible situation it is that ‘community’ is alive and well funding to support the County Council’s Towns and Villages in . Thousands of people have stepped Programme and the AAPs will be playing a key role in Barbara Harker (NHS) forward and have taken action to ensure the most isolated ensuring this funding helps to improve communities across and vulnerable have been looked after. The people of County County Durham. Ian Walker (Livin) Durham need to be applauded for their efforts. Finally I would like to thank all those involved with AAPs Many of those organisations that have been helping out including the members of the public who regularly support Agnes Armstrong have been supported by the AAPs who have provided their work. I am very proud to have been involved with the We’d also like to thank former Board Members Bill Noble, funding to numerous groups enabling them to do their vital AAPs over the past twelve years and know that they will keep work. Some of this funding has come directly through the making a difference in County Durham. Sandra Wyper, Kay Seymour, Nigel James and Mick Clark for their services to the Area Action Partnership. Councillor Brian Stephens, Portfolio Holder for Neighbourhoods and Local Partnerships 2020/21 Funding Allocation

2020/2021 Covid Response and Recovery COVID Response/Recovery Funding Overview Neighbourhood Budget Covid Response Spennymoor AAP received £100,000 additional Covid Trinity Methodist Church Trinity Food store £2,000 Response Funding which was used to support community SYACA You are not on your own, pick up the phone £13,100 Solan Connor Fawcett Cancer Trust SFCCT Care Packages and voluntary sector groups and fund Covid 19 help Daisy Arts Creative Activity Packs £2,120 £10,000 initiatives. The funding was utilised to deliver a range of Solan Connor Fawcett Cancer Trust (SCFCT) Care Trinity Methodist Church Keeping Trinity Going £3,580 innovative projects to sustain vital community facilities and support vulnerable individuals, groups, and families during Packages £7,927 Spennymoor Youth and Community Association (SYACA) the Coronavirus pandemic. Spennymoor AAP also made Durham County Council (DCC) Oxford Road Environmental You are not on your own, pick up the phone! £9,173 referrals to the Covid 19 help initiatives from the Community Improvements £12,756 County Durham Furniture Help scheme (CDFHS) Hub which was operated by Durham County Council. Spennymoor Town Band Support £6,750 CDFHS Response £2,100 Durham County Council also allocated funding to a St Pauls Centre Café Connect £5,272 St Andrews St. Andrew’s Family Fund £2,000 countywide Covid Recovery fund and De Hickson (Chair) Hett Village Hall Hett Village Hall Renewal £15,000 represents Spennymoor AAP on this funding panel. Handcrafted Projects Handcrafted Covid-19 Relief Spennymoor Town Youth Football Club (STYFC) Essential Response £6,474 All Area Action Partnerships had an overarching priority Equipment for Youth Programmes £10,000 St Pauls Fridges and Freezers £3,008 of Covid Recovery for the 2020/21 financial year and the Durham County Federation of Women’s Institutes Spennymoor AAP Area Budget of £144,902 was allocated St Davids Survival during closure £3,000 Embracing and Connecting the Community £1,500 to projects focussed on the Covid Recovery Priority. Foundation of light Foundation of Light Covid response Spennymoor YACA Learning Together £33,473 £2,000 Covid Recovery DCC North Eastern Roundabout Environmental Improvements £2300 Methodist Church Byers Green Methodist St Pauls Centre Take out Delivery £17,935 Byers Green Village Hall Projector and IT £3072 Church Keeping going £681 College Employability, Upskilling, King St Primary Online Learning £3,600 Discretionary Project £17,807 Step to the Occasion One step at a time £1,610 SCFCT IT and Payment Upgrade £3,768 Spennymoor Taekwondo Club Chi Taekwondo during and Primary school. Dare to Dream School after Covid 19 £540 Library Train £20,000 North Park School Environment Improvements £9,283 Youth Council Youth Council Tea Party Packages £600 Go Well Take Home Pack Challenges £6,968 St Pauls Centre Eat and Meet £6,370 DCC Street furniture Installation and refurbishments The Learning Library Fun Time Learning Boxes £5,250 SYACA The Community Takeaway £29,257 £10,991 Spennymoor Town Council Know Your Town App Livin Work and Training Grant £2,000 St Pauls Centre Covid Recovery Alterations £20,697 Spennymoor £6,000 SYACA Youth Work Croxdale Helping Young People Get SCFCT Team Solan Function room and basement Through COVID £2,345 SCFCT Team Solan responds to Covid £6,953 refurbishment £12,000 Durham Christian Partnership Foodbank Debt Advice Trinity Methodist Church Trinity Healing Our Community Wolf Muay Thai and Fitness Wolf Muay Thai Equipment £4,485 £7,089 Support £1,815 Byers Green Scouts Carry on Scouting £1,500 Durham County Federation of Women’s Institutes Keeping Man Health CIC Man Club Spennymoor £5,075 Safe and Reaching Out £5,265 Spennymoor Town Band Support Brass in Spennymoor Trinity Methodist Church Equipment for Outreach £5,054 £1,100 Learning Library Carry on Regardless £11,958 DCC Highways 20mph zone £8,325 Middlestone Moor Primary School Online Learning and Hett Village Hall Association Village Hall Renovation Chi taekwondo Spennymoor Chi Spennymoor £2,276.30 Recovery Curriculum £1,500 £15,693 Clyde Terrace Allotment Group Community Garden Rosa Street Primary School Supporting Vulnerable Pupil Improvement Project £4,079.98 £4,800 SYACA Youth and Community Centre Fencing £4,494 2020/21 Funding Allocation

Neighbourhood Budget DCC Front Street Roundabout Improvements Works £6,655 DCC Bulb Planting £2,400 Spennymoor Town Council Additional and Improved CCTV in Spennymoor £13,534.88 DCC Installation of bollards and fencing (Oxford Road) £2703 Spennymoor Cricket Club Equipment £5624 Croxdale and Hett Parish Council Cemetery Maintenance £3,007 Holiday Activities with Food The Holiday Activities Fund 2020 continued to provide access to Holiday Activities with Healthy Food to children, young people and families from across the Spennymoor Oxford Road Environmental Improvement Scheme Trinity Food Store AAP area. Projects were developed in partnership with the Town Council, voluntary and community sector and Durham County Councils Children and Young Peoples Services. Byers Green Village Hall- Sports and Crafts for 4 to 14 year olds £265 St Pauls Centre. Easter Holiday Activities with Food £615 Spennymoor Youth and Community Centre Crafting and Cooking Together at home £999 Byers Green Village Hall Sports and Healthy Food Days £509 Spennymoor Youth and Community Centre Creative Cooking and play at home £1941 Trinity Youth Project Trinity Summer Holiday Club £1400 Spennymoor Youth and Community Centre Creative Cooking and play at home £953 Trinity Youth Project Trinity Youth Project “Dot, Dot ,Dot “along project £850 Groundworks Family Enrichment Program £995

Neighbourhood Budget is an allocation of £19,400 that each County Councillor gets each year to spend on Community Projects. The process is supported by the AAP team. The projects listed above have been supported by County Councillors; Alan Spennymoor Town Band Gardner, Ian Geldard, Neil Grayson, Liz Maddison, Kevin Thompson, Peter Atkinson, Brian Avery, Joe Makepeace, Jan Blakey, Stuart Dunn, and Maura McKeon. Information on what projects individual Councillors have supported can be found on the Durham County Council website. www.durham.gov.uk/councillors The Difference We Have Made

Solan Connor Fawcett Cancer Trust St Paul’s Centre Spennymoor Youth and Community Team Solan Delivers Care Café Connect Project Association (SYACA) Your not alone pick up the Packages to Cancer Sufferers This project provides a bi-monthly meeting to connect people who are lonely or affected by social isolation as phone This project which received Covid Response and well as supporting people who are affected by dementia. Neighborhood Budget funding has supported 72 families The Café Connect initiative provides a social environment The project has delivered weekly emergency parcels to living with cancer. The initiative has delivered care where new friendships can be formed while sharing residents in the Spennymoor AAP area who have been packages and maintained phone contact for each family, games, crafts and entertainment over afternoon tea. directly affected by COVID financially or socially. every 2 weeks, for 12 weeks. People affected by cancer can be on low income, older, live alone, vulnerable, The project commenced in February 2021 and has Parcels have been packed and delivered by volunteers and isolated. Cancer diagnosis and its effects can provided support to people who are vulnerable, isolated, with project management and the helpline run by SYACA affect people’s mental health. Many people are on the suffering from mental health/wellbeing issues and SYACA has purchased computer equipment which has Government vulnerable list to self-isolate for 12 weeks individuals who have been shielding and have become been used for project meetings via zoom and to facilitate or are worried to about the risks of not self-isolating. fearful of going out during the Covid 19 pandemic. meetings with a Duke of Edinburgh group of young Delivery of care packages and phone calls for this IT equipment has also been purchased to support people. SYACA also advertised and promoted activities period has made a significant difference in improving people who do not engage well with others. online via social media such as AAP funded family wellbeing, reducing anxiety, providing visible support, cooking packs and crafts as well as advertising the evidence of caring and kindness, as well as the provision helpline and emergency parcel project. of food. The project delivered in excess of 2,400 emergency parcels to residents who were isolating or had been affected financially directly by COVID restrictions and who were in emergency need of food and toiletries. Most of residents who were supported were aged 50 plus and in the high risk COVID category but SYACA have also supported families with babies and young children. The Difference We Have Made

Trinity Methodist Church Trinity Summer Holiday Club

The project provided a virtual holiday club at Trinity Methodist Church (TMC) called Razzamatazz Robots that has enabled TMC to provide a holiday club over 5 days during the summer holidays. The club has supported primary school aged children to undertake a variety of craft and online cooking activities after they Kirk Merrington Primary School Spennymoor Youth Council (SYC) were provided with family cooking packs. Dare to dream Each family was provided with five food packs and five Tea Party Packages activity packs – one for each day of the club. Each food pack contained fresh ingredients to make a meal for Kirk Merrington Primary school approached Spennymoor Spennymoor Youth Council (SYC) saw the harm and the whole family. Meals included, chicken stir fry with AAP with an idea to help their pupils and the wider hardship caused by the onset of coronavirus in our rice, tuna pasta bake, pitta pizza, frittata, spaghetti, and community by upcycling a decommissioned railway community and the impact it had on members of our meatballs. There was also a sweet treat each day. carriage into a magical fantasy world of words and families and the wider Spennymoor area. The children’s activity pack contained worksheets, a daily books and breakout areas for children suffering from SYC examined ways that they could support the the isolation that COVID-19 has brought. The school challenge and a craft linking to the holiday club theme community and decided that to provide a light-hearted for that day. undertook an enormous amount of work and fundraising diversion for housebound and elderly people in the to make their dream come true also connecting with area would be the most beneficial and effective action The overall feedback from the project was very positive other local voluntary organisations and groups, and available to them.SYC discussed this with the Steering that has enabled families to have fun, eat together and will create a library that will change the landscape of group of Helping Spennymoor and came up with the learn new skills. the school highlighting local heritage and job skills of idea of ‘Afternoon Tea’, for 100 identified people. the area, as well as sparking the imagination within the children to encourage a love of reading, whilst also The teas included produce and local donations from addressing mental health and behavioural issues that bakeries and stores and the women’s institute. This Contact Details may have arisen over this most trying of years. meant that they were able to deliver more than the 100 proposed teas and they made up and delivered 155, to Spennymoor Area Action Partnership local people, who had been isolated and shielding. Green Lane The boxes were made up and delivered during July and Spennymoor August 2020, by SYC members and helping Spennymoor County Durham volunteer drivers. They had a card saying who it was DL16 6JQ from ‘and acknowledging the role of Spennymoor AAP and received numerous positive comments and Tel: 03000 261136 feedback. Email: [email protected] www.durham.gov.uk/spennymooraap