Over the last two years Rural Action Yorkshire have been trialling support to seven village halls to help them become community hubs providing early social care interventions.
Themes
Early social care intervention in the community and promoting social inclusion.
Locality
Rural areas of North Yorkshire.
Aims
Helping older people to stay engaged and connected to their community through their village hall.
Details
The project has focused on activities for older people to help them stay engaged and connected to their community through their village hall. The activities have been designed to help combat loneliness and isolation and help older residents stay fit and healthy. It has included new exercise classes, ping pong club, digital inclusion training, luncheon clubs, book swaps and more.
The approach is based on understanding the needs of the residents and the assets within the community and then linking the two together. During the project 82 volunteers organised activities benefitting 285 older people.
In Cold Kirby the hub's organisers set up a community library and drop in café. This runs fortnightly and has developed a much bigger clientele than the previous mobile library service. It also involved working with the local vicar to identify the most vulnerable residents or anyone who is housebound so volunteers could deliver books to their homes. While in Brompton-by-Sawdon they have offered meals to the whole community and their newest innovation has been to send some meals out to residents who were too ill to come to the hall. They are going to investigate some 'hot boxes' or something similar to facilitate this efficiently using the small profit from the meals.
This work is now being extended to more potential hubs through funding by Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby CCG.
Contact details
Leah Swain, chief officer, Rural Action Yorkshire (now merged with North Yorkshire Forum to form Community First Yorkshire)
Tel: 01904 704177
Web: www.communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk
