In this week's episode we speak to Jeff, Neil, Steve and Danny from Tonge with the Haulgh's Men's Shed project. The initiative connects retired men, offering them opportunities to work on projects, learn new skills and socialise – as well as providing essential social support, addressing loneliness and improving mental health.

Despite being called a ‘men’s shed’, the group aims to attract younger members and welcomes women as well – with a women’s only art group offering a safe space for women to socialise.

In partnership with their local church, the Men's Shed project has launched additional community initiatives, including a gardening project with a beehive for honey production, an over-50s lunch club, a community café and a learning hub, helping to prevent isolation and giving members a sense of purpose and community.

If you would like to visit or start your own local Men’s Shed, please go here: https://menssheds.org.uk/

A historic rural former market town, Winterton has always prided itself on being clean and green.

Now, after working towards becoming an Incredible Edible community – where residents unite to grow and foster lasting connections through food – Winterton Big Local has taken a significant step towards realising its dream of creating a community orchard.

In this episode we speak to Kerrie Prowting, Winterton Big Local’s coordinator, and local resident Sarah Hussey about their journey towards breaking ground on the orchard.

As well as producing apples, pears, plums (and more!), the five-acre orchard will provide a habitat for wildlife. And as a shared community space, it will offer residents a place to gather and take part in volunteering opportunities – creating a shared sense of ownership and a lasting legacy for years to come.

In this episode, we connect with John Cousins to delve into the journey of Sompton and Woolavington, the two communities that form Villages Together Big Local.

Despite their differences, these communities have shared valuable lessons on addressing some of their toughest challenges, including isolation, lack of spaces for young families, and anti-social behaviour.

By engaging in thorough consultations to understand their community’s needs, they’ve developed solutions to transform their area, including refurbishing their pavilion – which now houses a boxing gym – and creating a new football club.

Recorded at our final Big Local Connects event in 2023, this episode highlights the power of communities when they’re supported to take ownership of local challenges and opportunities.

For episode one of the new series, we caught up with Rebecca and Reece from Ewanrigg Big Local in Cumbria. They talked to us about their We Will campaign, which broke down the stigma around mental health through empowerment and listening.

Although the We Will campaign has ended, its reverberations can still be felt in Ewanrigg, especially at their community hub, The Centre. Here, a calendar of social events have created a sense of connection, offering residents a place to come together, reducing social isolation and promoting good mental health.

Meanwhile, many of the young founding members of the We Will campaign have gone on to higher education and work.

Having grown up with Big Local, Rebecca and Reece share the importance of including young people in driving local change, to make a lasting impact on services and attitudes.

This episode was recorded at our last ever Big Local Connects event in 2023. You can find out more about We Will on The Centre’s website, and watch their campaign film, boy, on YouTube.

Links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9WBZ1L2s4I&ab_channel=TheCentreWestCumbria

https://thecentrewestcumbria.com/we-will/

In this episode of Don’t Get Any Ideas, Heather and George travel virtually to Cornwall to catch up with Jayne Downing to find out what the people of Par Bay did as part of Creative Civic Change. A poet herself, Jayne was a driving force behind ‘Poetry from Par Bay’ – a book created in 2020 as part of the Covid and Beyond Project with poetry from the local community. During lockdown Jayne teamed up with George to create a Cross-Pollination Poetry Open Mic Night that, on Zoom, united poets from Pay Bay and Corby.

Guests:

Jayne Downing, Artist

Hosts:

Heather Peak, Artist and Critical Friend

George Hill, Artist and Co-chair of Don’t Get Any Ideas

In this episode of Don’t Get any Ideas, Heather and George travel to

Stoke to visit the Portland Inn Project to learn about how to imagine

as a community what the next century might look like and whether

the Portland Inn Project is successful in it’s application to Arts

Council England to be one of it’s regularly funded organisations.

Guests:

Rebecca Davies, Artist

Anna Francis, Artist

Hosts:

Heather Peak, Artist and Critical Friend

George Hill, Artist and Co-chair of Don’t Get Any Ideas

In this episode of Don’t Get any Ideas, Heather and George travel to

East Marsh in Grimsby to meet Josie Moon, local resident,

community activist, writer, artist and choir leader. Tucked away in

the local market they discuss how Josie looks for the light in bleak times.

Guest:

Josie Moon, Community Activist, artist, writer and choir leader

Hosts:

Heather Peak, Artist and Critical Friend

George Hill, Artist and Co-chair of Don’t Get Any Ideas

In this episode of Don't Get Any Ideas, Heather and George travel to Walthamstow to visit William Morris Big Local who have working with local art group Wood Street Walls to discuss holding onto creative community spaces in London.

Guests:

Gabriel Edwards, Project Lead at William Morris Big Local

Georgia Bonfield, Program Manager at William Morris Big Local

Hosts:

Heather Peak, Artist and Critical Friend

George Hill, Artist and Co-chair of Don’t Get Any Ideas

For the last episode of series two of The community power podcast, we talk to the chair of Scotlands Bushbury Hill Big Local who was awarded an MBE last year for her outstanding service in and to the community.

She chats to Chris about her 11-year Big Local journey, including the difference between what she imagined she and her community would be able to achieve when they started compared to where they are today.

Read more about the work of Karen and her fellow 'pink ladies' here: https://localtrust.org.uk/news-and-stories/voices-of-big-local/the-pink-ladies-of-scotlands-and-bushbury-hill/

And for more resident-led Big Local stories, you can visit our website here: https://localtrust.org.uk/news-and-stories/voices-of-big-local/

The Community Power Podcast is brought to you by Local Trust, produced by Beth Lazenby and hosted by Chris Allen.

When Sue Merriman, worker at Brereton Million Big Local, first took their idea of a wellbeing campaign to the district council they weren't convinced it was possible. Two years later, they've worked together to launch a free health and wellbeing app which takes users through eight aspects of wellbeing and points them towards local providers that can support them.

In this episode, Sue talks us through how the app came, as well as the more specific and dedicated work she's provided to support the wellbeing of young people in the community after losing local youth services.

You can find our more and download the Cannock Chase CAN app here: https://cannockchasecan.co.uk/

And find out more about Brereton Million Big Local's work here: https://www.breretonmillion.co.uk/

The Community Power Podcast is brought to you by Local Trust, produced by Beth Lazenby and hosted by Chris Allen.