East Northants Rural Community Programme
CULTURAL COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS
RURAL COMMUNITY PROGRAMME
The District of East Northamptonshire has 256 square miles of predominantly rural areas stretching from the market town of Thrapston to Easton- on - the – Hill in the North bordering on Stamford and Peterborough. Harringworth to the West, bordering Kettering & Corby (as you look at a map). Hargrave; to the right bordering, North Bedfordshire. It has 52 villages and hamlets and a population of 83,000 inhabitants. Most of the villages are without public transport and certainly 16 minutes drive time from leisure facilities.
Although there are cluster villages, most are not accessible without transportation of some description. In most cases transport is limited to one car in the family which is used for work or cycles on back or main roads. This results in captivation and isolation leading to boredom and potentially anti social behaviour.
In order to achieve the aims and objectives of the project that also links to the aspirations of the Council’s Community Strategy and Sport England’s requirement to achieve 1% increase in participation and 3 X 30 minute periods of physical activity. The RCP was developed by C.C.P. to combat the social exclusion of young people in rural areas during the major holiday periods of Easter and summer. The main aim of the project was to provide sport and art / craft activities to disadvantaged young people aged 8 – 13 years in rural villages utilising village/ community halls and open spaces such as playing fields / areas. The objectives were to provide opportunity, initiate and increase participation in a wide variety of indoor and outdoor sports improving health, tackling obesity and developing skills and encouraging creativity through various art /craft mediums by mental stimulation and awareness.
The project was piloted last year to ascertain if indeed there was an identified need. This involved contacting Parish Councils outlining proposals and requesting dates and times that they would like the RCP to visit in return for free use of facilities. Following favourable responses from several PC’s Equipment, Transportation and Multi Sport coaches, CRB checked were employed to deliver two hours of activity am or pm to villages during the East vacation for two weeks.
The project received funding initially from the LankellyChase Foundation £250.00 who provide funding for summer play schemes to disadvantaged children and the Leicestershire County Council – Bridging Communities SRB6 Grant Fund £750.00 who provide funding to regenerate communities. At present the project has received £1292.00 in principal from the Welland Catalyst Fund subject to matched funding which is pending from the Abbey Charitable Trust.
A Monitoring and Evaluation sheet was sent to all participants requesting information on likes and dislikes if any and also a comment block for parents to input. The results highlighted a number of positives including value for money, peer interaction and quality time for mother’s who left their children in a safe and enjoyable environment. Since the initial pilot of four villages the number of villages has risen to 16 and the average participation per session is 15. Based on a five day week and two sessions per day this equates to an average participation weekly of 150 young people per week.
In order to ensure that access to the project was equitable a minimal charge of £2.00 per child is levied per session and not surprisingly it is considered to be extremely good value! Parishes have also entered into a further agreement to pay for sessions x number of participants to indicate total support for the young people of their village.
The value of the project is underlined by the number of “Excellent” M & E responses received from participants and parents and by the number of applications received from Parish Councils for return or initial visits from the RCP team. “Great v.f.m and most of all the children really enjoyed themselves and want to go again – great recommendation.” If ever there was a feel good factor and a reason for sustaining this project then that quote is all that is required….. apart from funding. In order to encourage Parishes to come on board and potential funding organisations a Power Point presentation has been made.
For more information please contact:
Roger Lovesay
Head of Policy and Development