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A reflection from Sally Taylor The National Lottery Communities Fund brought a load of black country people together today for their ‘Reaching Black Country Communities’ event - a day where we heard from the Community Fund, shared with others what we do, connected, and got to choose different breakout groups where we could hear all about how other social impact organisations do what we do. All the sessions I chose to attend were related to community engagement - you can tell

Author: Sally Taylor. I took myself off to Gather Dudley CIC on Wednesday. Gather Dudley is a community interest company, a “coffee shop and creative community venue enabling and encompassing everything that good people are doing in Dudley”. Sound good? Sure does, and I went with the intention of working there, seeing what they do and how they do it - without prearranging, just turning up and observing. What I got instead was an incredibly warm reception from lovely people de

For those of us who have been desperate to get started but have struggled to carve out the time (that ol’ Bearwood Street Festival was a lot to deliver!!), it’s been a long time coming, but the Board have now charged project lead Sally Taylor to ‘get on with it’. A series of updates on the website and in social media have got us started, and now we’re just securing dates and space to kick of our first ‘Make It Happen’ meetings, where all are welcome to muck in and start desig

Funding bids successful! | The plan | Keep in touch We’ve done it, we’ve managed to attract enough funding to develop the idea of a Community Hub and co-working space on Bearwood’s high street!   Thanks to our funders SCVO and the National Lottery Community Fund, we can crack on with exploring the potential, collaborating locally, and business planning. If you’ve been with us since last summer’s pilot, thank you for your patience! If you’re new to this whole idea, welcome! Wh

Sally Taylor shares her experience of co-working and explains why ‘it’s not just about the desk’. The vision for co-working as a social enterprise in Bearwood is about creating community.  Yes, there will be desks. There will be quiet space. There’ll most likely be a kitchen and free tea and coffee. We’ll definitely have wifi, obviously! But what else? Co-working is a growing movement that’s been around for yonks.  And it’s different to simply renting office space. The essenc

Graphic developed with participants at our 3rd June Build, Make & Mend day by Annabel Evans Bearwood Community Hub CIC is born  |  Looking for a space  |  Engagement & Consultation  |  Finances In this update we tell you about progress to creating Bearwood Community Hub  (click the link to find out more detail!), co-working space and flexible creche. Here's a quick-fire update - 4 key things you need to know.  After that we'll explain how you can get more involved if you'd li

A little bit of neighbourly magic happened on Milcote Road in Bearwood last weekend. Residents closed the road so children (and adults!) could play out.  In this blog, co-organiser Sally Taylor tells us about the day and how residents got it going.  It all started with a video shared on Facebook from PlayingOut.net , the Bristol-based organisation helping people across the UK to enable kids to play out safely and easily.  "Let's do it here" said Anya. "I'd love to get it orga

Build, Make & Mend / Sunday 3rd June / 11am-4pm / Free / Dorothy Parkes Centre, Church Road, Smethwick, B67 6EH What can a community hub do for us in Bearwood? We’ll be finding out at our Community Hub Panel, 2pm-3pm.   We have a great line-up of visitors to Bearwood who are going to share their experiences of setting up community-led hubs and workspaces.  All are very different, to inspire us and get us thinking about what a community hub on Bearwood’s high street could be.

Build, Make & Mend / Sunday 3rd June / 11am-4pm / Free / Dorothy Parkes Centre, Church Road, Smethwick, B67 6EH A day for residents, children and families to explore the potential of a new community space built by and for the people of Bearwood. We’ll hear from experts, host talks, workshops and family making sessions too. All this to help us think about how to make Bearwood an even better place to raise children with a community hub at the very heart. Please, come and help u

Build, Make & Mend / Sunday 3rd June / 11am-4pm / Free A day for residents, children and families to explore the potential of a new community space built by and for the people of Bearwood featuring a packed programme of talks, workshops, an exhibition and lots of free play for all ages. In this blog post we're featuring one of the sessions at Build, Make & Mend, the very awesome Toy Swap 'n' Mend with Community Led Design & Fabrication experts - KIONDO and Design specialists

Always thought there’s something you could change to benefit people in Bearwood? How do you go from idea to action? Always much easier when there’s people around you that want to help make it happen.   If you’ve got an idea for Bearwood or you want to hear what others are thinking, come along to our ideas forum on 3rd June and find out who else wants to get ideas off the ground. We have two slots - one at 11.15am and one at 3pm.  Register for a slot here https://www.bearwood.