One Voice Annual General Meeting 2014

CHAIRS REPORT

Elaine Norton

ONE VOICE ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING 2014

Last year has been another successful year for Immingham with many achievements that should be celebrated, some of these One Voice have been heavily involved in and others One Voice have only had a little involvement but every achievement should be valued a few to mention which have made a difference to the town are the installation of Broadband in Habrough and Stallingborough, the new food larder service, the Kennedy Way development which will bring increased retail business to the town, the continued development of fair trade within the town, The improved appearance of the town and achievements of Immingham in Bloom 2013. The continuation of the One Voice Christmas party, I-Fest, and Rock School which also lead One Voice/ Rock School being selected from 1300 nationwide projects as one of five to receive a Recognition award from the Health Lottery. As chair, I would personally like to thank all individuals, businesses and organisations that have generously committed their time to develop partnership work within the community.

I have always believed the Key to the work of One Voice is Partnership working and where possible, we have continue to develop our partnership-working approach. I recognise there is always room for Improvement in relation to this element of One Voice however from many who support One Voice and have committee representation Their support has been consistent and is valued highly so I would like thank all the supporting partners who have shown continued commitment to One Voice and supported the work of One Voice as together we try to make a difference.

I feel that although there is still areas we need to focus on more that we are working productively across all aims listed within our constitution and many aspects of our work meet multiple aims but there is still most definitely a need to continue to develop different and creative ways to continue engaging the community. I feel it is important that we reflect on ourselves as a committee, looking at our roles and how we individually contribute towards the work of One Voice ensuring we truly represent our community’s views and needs.

An overview of our last year’s activities are detailed below.

COMMUNICATIONS:

Effective communication tools have been established previously and continue to be used, these have shown positive results in raising awareness of events, projects and community developments.

Communication Tools used are:

Website
An online community calendar
One Voice Banner and Literature for community events.
A large banner is placed outside the venue to promote our meetings.
Regular reports are received from supporting key partners with updates being shared with the community via social media tools.
Facebook
Twitter
Regular contributions to local press.
Email Distribution List with over 200 contacts
Monthly meetings with presentations from partners.
Engagement plan ( currently being developed)

FUNDING:

The new process for community groups which was introduced last year has proved to be successful funding has been granted to the following:

Coomb Briggs dance Curriculum
Friends of Coomb Briggs
Humber Conservation group
Wasps Rugby club
Pilgrims Football club
Brownies Group
Lives responders
Gambia Project
YMCA outreach
Sea Cadets
Table Tennis
Canon Peter hall
Immingham Christian Centre
Border Force event
Immingham Army cadets

A new process for supporting organisations to request funding was introduced the following projects have been awarded funding.

Oasis Youth Zone
Oasis Fair Trade Café
Police / Safer Homes :shed & garage crime reduction scheme
Stallingborough parish Council: village hall development
Habrough Parish council: In bloom
Fire Intervention programme

Internal funding allocations to community projects

Contribution towards the running costs and removal of graffiti of the skate park.
Funding for the Fair trade Town initiative.
Funds allocated to support ITC to redevelop the play equipment at Homestead park
Funds used and raised to replace through Christmas Family fun Dec 2013.

Funding request or applications made by One Voice

ABP sponsorship of £3500 for I fest.
Fund awarded for Rock school £16,000 from Peoples Health trust and £3,000 from NELC.
Wren awarded £50,000 funding for a soft play area development which unfortunately has been lost due to Oasis not completing the lease on Immingham resource centre.

PROJECTS AND INITITIVES

Rock School:

Funding has been secured to enable this project to not only continue but to expand with the new provision of Junior Rock which is a peer mentor programme the project has been relocated into Immingham resource centre following the closure of the Youth centre and sessions are run weekly by Dave Foulds during term time. Workshops were also held during the summer holidays to invite other young people to join the project. Regular showcase events are held at Blossom way sports and social club with the support of arts development.

Skate Park:

Funds raised by young people last year were used to concrete a grassed area which created a lot of dust on the park .Immingham Town Council are moving a youth shelter which is located elsewhere in the park to provide a seating area near the facility. There has been issues with graffiti and there are still no bins located in this area following previous damage.

Other than issues regarding graffiti and litter the facility continues to have a positive impact on the community and there is still an overall reduction in anti-social behaviour.

Skate schools were run last August which were highly successful over 80 young people participated, these sessions included health and safety advice these will continue to run as part of the long term sustainability for this project however we have not been able to run one this year so far. A skate jamm was held as part of the Immingham Showcase weekend with approx. 70 young people participating

Studio 1:

Attendance continues to be inconsistent, studio is in a good financial situation and further sponsorship has been gained.

Broad band:

Under the leadership of Thomas Horton there has been great Success achieved throughout this project with a high level of partnership work between the parish councils, NELC and service providers this service has now been installed in Habrough and Stallingborough.

Fair trade:

Under the leadership of Thomas Horton the town has achieved Fair trade status, Primary schools local businesses and churches are involved in this initiative which is showing to be very successful.

Immingham Resource Centre/Soft Play area:

This project has recently hit a stumbling block when Oasis decided to withdraw their business plan and not proceed with signing the lease for the building. Current communications have been made with NELC who have said they are committed to finding a solution to meet the community’s needs. Enquiries are currently being made regarding alternative locations for the soft play area I feel this is a project that needs to be focussed on as there has been a clear need identified for this by the community.

PARTNERSHIP WORK AND SUPPORT

Reports and Updates are received monthly from supporting partners.
Community Issues are directed to the appropriate partner with actions to address these when-ever possible through the ward councillors and Town Council.
In Bloom: Continued Sponsorship gained for the flower bed which the skate board sculpture sits in.
Promotion of community events through One Voice’s communication tools and family information services, with the aim of raising public awareness of social activity and provision in the area.
Rock school showcases, Firework event and I-Fest events in partnership with Blossom Way sports and social Club and ABP.
One Voice Committee training with Cert
Rock School: support securing funding for the continuation of this project
Video footage received from channel 7 and coverage on Estuary TV
Community Calendar published to promote useful contacts and organisations and In Bloom in partnership with local photographers to support Chimpy’s Cause which is a local Charity

WHAT NEXT?

Key Focuses

Engage with Community: People to people
Identify effective and creative ways to offer support to Partners
Promotion of funding opportunities and One Voice within the community.
Future of Immingham resource centre
Additional sources of Funding

Future Ideas that need to be prioritised

Soft Play project
To develop a community newsletter and One Voice coffee morning

As we embrace the 6th year of One Voice I feel our focus must be on continuing to improve working relationships with relevant authorities and organisations. Thanks to the financial support from ABP I look forward to seeing the positive effects of One Voice assisting community groups and organisations I am keen to introduce an engagement plan to continue the development of our work within the community and to see the area continue to improve over the next year.