Queen's Park and Craven Vale
- There is an allocated Community Development Worker based at The Haven Community Centre (and The Vale on a Tuesday).
- Support is given to the infrastructure organisations such as the Neighbourhood Forum which covers both neighbourhoods and the two Community Associations which also act as Local Action Teams.
- Continued support is given to develop a community produced and delivered newsletter that reaches all 1,800 households.
- Support to new activity groups at The Haven, which opened last year as a community venue on Pankhurst Avenue. This includes The Haven Activities Association, a Parent & Toddler Group and a Sewing Group. As well as support for The Families Together Group.
- There is also support to activities in Craven Vale like the Gardening Group and across both areas, such as the very popular Community Choir.
- Throughout the year the worker helps groups come together and organise community events.
- The Trust also has an allocated Community Worker - Young People in the area. This work started in 2006 and involves weekly activity sessions carried out in partnership with community organisations and other agencies, such as Active for Life.
- Helping to facilitate discussions with the Community Associations and the Queen's Park and Craven Vale Forum about the future of the Forum follwoing a fall in resident attendance.
- Supporting the Queen's Park Community Association and Craven Vale Community Association to address their local issues and get appropriate agency responses and develop their role as Local Action Teams with the police. For more Local Action Teams visit Safe in the City website.
- Support to resident led management associations for the two community venues, The Vale Community Centre, 17A Hadlow Close & The Pankhurst Haven, 116 Pankhurst Avenue. Full lists of activities are available from both venues.
- Support to the Family Together Group to fundraise and deliver affordable trips and activities for local families.
- Helping to organise and facilitate an exhibition in The Fringe Festival which helped bring local groups and individuals together to produce a positive and vibrant showcase of their work.
- Ongoing support with the community groups continues and the worker is supporting groups to recruit new members, showcase their skills, secure funds and keep transparent accounts.
Young People in Queen's Park & Craven Vale 2009/2010:
- Between October 2009 and September 2010 we have supported over 86 sessions for young people.
- Young people successfully took part in a number of local art projects which culminated in their work being shown at the Youth Arts Fringe Festival in April 2010 and in their local community spaces.
- Young people were supported to write funding applications which raised over £3,600 to continue to support various activities for local young people. This will be used to fund equipment, materials and resources.
- Over 39 young people signed up to take part in QPCV August Activities.
- 19 young people signed up to take part in a 10 week football project kindly fundraised and supported by the Active for Life project.
- We have supported over 8 multi-generational events which have included an apple themed day with mural painting, Christmas fete, community exhibition, pumpkin carving and art and craft based workshops. A group of young people from Queen's Park also took part in citywide consultation workshop on Brighton Museum.
- Currently we have a weekly youth group, a newsletter edition for young people in progress and a weekly cookery and media project underway, as well as having had October 2010 half term sports activities, a young women's recycled clothes workshop and our Halloween pumpkin multi-generational session.
"This note records with pleasure the benefits that Craven Vale receives from the TDC team and especially for the tremendous efforts put in by yourself and your colleagues to stimulate community feeling in the area.
We are aware of the tremendous strides that have been made over the past year or so in helping families and children to come together for social events, and for offering a range of activities that stretch the mind and provide exercise. We are also aware of the behind-the-scenes work that is done in terms of community safety, and of providing good communications to the residents of all that is being provided. For next year, all we ask is for ‘more-of-the-same' please!"
Secretary, Craven Vale Community Association
"Young people who take part in the various Queens Park and Craven Vale projects supported by TDC are able to seek advice on a wide range of issues and take part in a variety of activities. The work Claire does is invaluable in providing young people with a sense of achievement and belief in their own abilities to make positive changes for themselves and their communities."
Bill Randall (Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council) (2012)
“I was delighted to attend and very impressed with the artwork. Wish you continued success with all your projects”
Former Brighton & Hove Mayor Carol Theobald, on the Launch event of the Young Women's Space 2 B art project funded by the “Here To Help Awards”
“In 2007 Queen's Park and Craven Vale residents had concerns that there was not enough information for young people around drugs and alcohol. In response Communities Against Drugs commissioned a young people’s outreach project with Odyssey and the Trust for Developing Communities. The TDC has enabled us to provide additional support for young people using existing workers who know the area. They have also maintained relationships with the young people involved beyond the project.
I am certain that the young people involved would not have benefited as much if the project had relied on outside workers delivering such a short-term piece of work. Claire is a dedicated worker and has provided a large number of young people in Queen’s Park and Craven Vale with a safe space to express themselves and to talk about drugs, alcohol and other issues facing them.”
Alice Piper, Communities Against Drugs
“It is the invaluable support of dedicated community workers which have encouraged and enabled voluntary groups to form, flourish and continue to be an important resource for our community” (…) “The work of the Development Workers has made a massive difference to the area and improved wider community cohesion.”
Emma Lambert, December 2010
"Working in partnership with Claire Burchell (Queen's Park and Craven Vale Community Worker with Young People, TDC) has enriched the offer to young residents living in our area of work. Having the support with outreach and utilising the relationships that Claire has built up with young people and their families has really benefited the process of engaging with the hard to reach and disengaged, and ensuring the activities delivered are meeting their needs. Within any community the residents have to be able to trust you and be behind what you deliver, working in partnership with Claire has certainly aided the building of these relationships."
Mark Burgess, Active for Life Officer
| Relevant Document(s) | Size |
|---|---|
| Hanover & Elm Grove Ward Profile 2009 | 1.56 MB |
| Neighbourhood statistics - Queen's Park & Craven Vale (2001 Census) | 50.3 KB |
| Queen's Park & Craven Vale Neighbourhood Action Plan 2007 - 2010 | 1.53 MB |
| Queens Park Ward Profile 2009 | 1.41 MB |