Community First Yorkshire were formerlyknown as Rural Action Yorkshire.Their Community Connect Project workedintensively with three village halls in ruralNorth East Leeds over an 18 month period toenable them to become 'Community Hubs'capable of identifying and responding to theneeds of their village's older residents, whowere experiencing or at risk of social isolationand loneliness. Community First Yorkshireacted as the Community Builder organisationand held an Activities Budget into whichunconstituted groups could bid to runactivities to support older people in theirvillages. This budget was equally dividedbetween the three rural communities andsimple standard application forms andselection criteria were developed.

The vision for the Project was to reduce thenumbers of older people resident in the ruralareas of North Leeds either at risk of orexperiencing social isolation and loneliness byengaging with their local community hubs,offering a range of responsive activities to bestmeet the needs or desires of older people.

●48 volunteers

●4 village halls directly supported

●41 community activities delivered to262 beneficiaries

●A third of beneficiaries were men

2017

Community ConnectCommunity First Yorkshire

Community Connect was an Asset BasedCommunity Development (ABCD) project builton the knowledge and experience thatCommunity First Yorkshire had regardingcommunity development approaches.They understood the importance of startingthe project by doing asset mapping andidentifying who the community connectorswere. Starting with community connectors andphysical assets in each area was key to thesuccess of the project. Each of the hubs alsohad a strong element of co-production rightfrom the start with older people involved indecision-making and the selection of activities.

● 81% of respondents had increasedwellbeing after having being involved withone of the hubs

● 35% of respondents had increased theirlevel of social participation

● Discovered that some of their traditionalmethods for marketing and promotion,such as distributing posters and flyers tolocal venues, were not effective. They foundthat older people are more likely to readsomething that comes through their door;particularly if it is in a trusted localpublication such as a parish magazine.

● It was anticipated that the majority ofbeneficiaries would be living alone – in factslightly less than 50% were living alone.

● At first recruiting new volunteers was achallenge. They had a core team ofvolunteers but needed to increase the poolof volunteers to place less pressure andcommitment on the existing volunteers,some of whom had other voluntarycommitments.

● Digital Skills Hub evaluation forms werecompleted by 22 participants during thefinal session. 100% scored the courseeither 'good' or 'very good.' Comments fromthe evaluation suggested that participantsenjoyed learning in a group environmentand had improved their confidence, butthat they still felt they had much more tolearn and some would prefer one to onesupport. They explored how they could offerfurther support to those that participated inthe courses as well as reaching theapplicants that were not prioritised.

● The people reached by this model hadlower levels of isolation to begin with, at thestart of the project, but this was alreadyrecognised by the hubs. Community FirstYorkshire considered what they needed todo differently at each hub to reach themore isolated.

● Using co-production principles from theoutset led to the development of a widerrange of activities tailored to the needs andinterests of the people at each hub.

● All four of the original hubs (Swillington,Scholes, Elmete, and East Keswick) havecontinued, even though funding hasceased, and are now embedded in thosecommunities.

● The success of the project, notably in arural area of North Leeds, resulted in asecond phase being commissioned, thistime in areas in the South East of Leeds.

● The project was funded for an additionaltwo years to see if the model could bereplicated in rural South Leeds andcontinue to succeed in areas where therewere less obvious community assets.

● A 'car buddy' lift sharing scheme wasdeveloped in response to need. This wasnot part of the original model but wasimportant due to a lack of communitytransport in rural areas.

● Community First staff helped the hubs tolook for additional funding for activities(eg. for the Brass Band group at Scholes).

● Community First Yorkshire now has wellestablished partnerships with the villagehalls in Swillington, Scholes, Elmete, andEast Keswick.

● The four hubs have all formed partnershipswith other local groups.

“A safe fun and

stimulating place

where older people

can make new friends

and meet up with

old friends.”

Judy was a volunteer at the Elderberries groupin Scholes; she had been involved since thegroup started. The group met every Mondayfor tea and biscuits and a variety of activities.When Judy received the leaflet asking forvolunteers to help set up a community group,she saw it as a chance to be involved in thevillage. Judy was very passionate about craftmaking and had been making things in herliving room for years. Judy wanted to teachothers and share the same pleasure in craftmaking that she’d had over the years.This was an opportunity to extend and developher passion further and ‘give something back.’She ran a craft station at the Monday groupwhere people could sit and chat whilst makingsomething they could then take home.Volunteering had a great impact on her life.She described her experience: “Five monthsdown the line, by sending one email to Becky,it’s opened up a whole new village life andwhole new group of friends. I hope to expandon that as time goes on. I only have positivethings to say about it. Volunteering for theElderberries has changed my life completely.”

The group led to other opportunities for Judy tobe involved in such as the Manor HouseCommunity Centre and attending a fitnessclass in the church Hall. Judy said her life hadbeen much fuller as a result of being involvedin Elderberries. Before this, Judy had alwaysbeen very active in many different events butthese were not related to the village.

These included raising money by making craftitems for The Yorkshire Ambulance Service,attending a folk music group, and a localhistory group. Her husband passed away fouryears ago and this changed her involvement inactivities outside of the village because theyhad always socialised together. She saw theElderberries as “the catalyst that brought meinto village events.” She didn’t know about anyof things going on in the village beforevolunteering at the group. As a result, Judyhad formed genuine friendships and felt asthough she was part of the village; somethingshe did not feel before. She said: “I wasn’tpart of the village before; I’ve lived here for 40years and never knew anybody except myimmediate neighbours.” She described thegroup as acting as ‘a jumping off point’ toother organisations to get together and thatmany people she knew had joined the samegroups that she had, as a result of meetingpeople and hearing about events atElderberries. Judy found that she had so manyextra things to do that it was hard to fit themall in. She said: “I want to carry on and do asmuch as I can for as long as I can.”

When asked what she would say to otherpeople, who were thinking about gettinginvolved, she said: “Do it, definitely.Tell anybody to actually be brave enough toput a toe in the water and get out there andbecome part of something. It's not only onething it will have a huge effect to put you intouch with other things as well.”

Time to Shine is managed by Leeds Older People’s Forum (LOPF) and funded by Big Lottery Fund’sAgeing Better programme to reduce social isolation and loneliness amongst people over 50.