Community Development Update

Our community development (resilience) team have been busy over the summer, delivering support, advice and fun activity programmes within our communities. These include:

Let’s Play Out:

During the summer holidays, we worked in partnership with South Denbighshire Community Partnership (SCDP), Denbighshire Leisure Ltd, and Denbighshire Play. Together we delivered Let’s Play Outside sessions in Corwen (Wednesday’s 10:30am-12:30pm) and Llangollen (Wednesday’s 2:00-3:00pm) for over 100 people! Activities included sports, messy play and art crafts. Families said that they really enjoyed the weekly sessions and can’t wait for them to be on every school holidays. Please keep an eye on SCDP’s Facebook page for more information.

 

Cost of Living Roadshows:

 

Working in partnership with Welsh Water, Nest, Warm Wales, Cambrian Credit Union, Citizen’s Advice Denbighshire, Wales Illegal Money Lending Unit, and Working Denbighshire, our team have been on tour across the county, advising people about the cost-of-living crisis.

We wanted to visit our communities, listen to people about their worries, offer advice and support about rising costs of energy, fuel and food. Partners were able to share ideas, hints and tips to help over the coming months.

Over 450 residents came along to our roadshows, with 26 being referred for more support. Feedback from the events showed that this is something that communities want, and we hope to be out and about again soon. Please keep an eye on our social media accounts for up-to-date information.

Eat Well, Cook Slow Project:

After a successful pilot in 2020/21, Denbighshire Housing and Citizens Advice Denbighshire came together again to deliver slow cookers to our tenants.

The idea of the project was to connect with tenants who were at risk of falling into food and fuel poverty this winter. 66 tenants were given a slow cooker, fresh ingredients, a recipe book, and a link to online demonstrations on how to prepare meals, along with energy saving measures.

We checked in with tenants to see how they were getting on, as well as having a chat about maximising household income, reducing expenses where they could, resolve debt issues, energy and utility advice, and how to apply for grants and entitlements.

As this was such a successful project, we will continue to work with Citizen’s Advice Denbighshire in the future, to help our tenants.

Pengwern Community Hub Official Opening:

This August, the Chairman of Denbighshire County Council officially opened of the new Pengwern Community Hub. Families from the local community came along to enjoy activities including arts, crafts, nature, hair braiding, bracelets, keyring making to name a few. There was also bike health checks, entertainment and refreshments.

This new hub aims to increase opportunities for people to raise skills and aspirations, as well as resources to deliver activities and services to support people.

Councillor Rhys Thomas, Lead Member for Housing and Communities, said: “We are really proud to continue working with our partner organisations in supporting the hub’s continued work to increase the overall wellbeing of the local community.”

Margaret Sutherland, Chief Executive Officer of South Denbighshire Community Partnership (SDCP) said: “SDCP are delighted to have worked in partnership with Denbighshire County Council, Denbighshire Housing and Friends of Pengwern on the development of the community hub, which will provide enhanced activities and services for the Llangollen community.

“Extensive consultation in the summer of 2021 identified services and activities that the community felt were needed. All partners have a very clear aspiration for the hub to provide a place that the Llangollen Community will embrace and actively contribute to the management and direction of.”

Keep an eye on the Hub’s Facebook page for up-to-date activities they have planned.