Did you know that in Brighton and Hove, our rates of people attending their cancer screening appointments are lower than the national average?
Or that cancer is a major contributor to the significant life expectancy gap in the city of 11 years between our deprived neighbourhoods and more affluent areas?
In general, residents of our more deprived neighbourhoods and members of ethnically diverse communities are diagnosed for cancer later, which of course leads to worse outcomes.
To address this shocking health inequality, we are launching our new project; Act on Cancer Together.
We are proud to be working in partnership with Hangleton and Knoll Project and Macmillan Cancer Support to raise awareness of the early signs and symptoms of cancer, to support community members to learn about and attend cancer screenings and to access the support available to them if they receive a positive diagnosis.
Our teams will be sharing information across the city, supporting people to fully understand and attend cancer screenings, and also supporting our communities to access the brilliant services on offer from Macmillan.
One of the first messages we want to share is that this week is #CervicalCancerPreventionWeek. Look out for our social posts this week about the ways #WeCan End Cervical Cancer, and for more campaigns in the coming months.
Did you know that Bevendean Foodbank has now been around for more than 10 years?
Whilst it’s difficult to celebrate something like a foodbank, we would love to share our journey from past to present, celebrate the many volunteers past and present and every supporter along the way.
In 2011, local residents together with the Bevendean Community Worker discussed the idea of starting a Food Bank for the local area. They applied to the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership for a grant of £800 to cover the cost of the food which would come from FareShare. Bevendean was one of the few neighbourhood run foodbanks across the city then.
At the start there was plenty of food delivered by FareShare every week, but once more foodbanks opened, this soon had to reduce. The volunteers were always supported by their local community worker. People from Bevendean, Moulsecoomb & Meadowview, but also neighbourhoods along Lewes Road between the bottom of Coldean Lane and Saunders Park attended the Food Bank to help use the surplus food from FareShare. It wasn’t long before it was necessary to start a referral system, so the residents who were struggling the most were the ones accessing the food. They also had the support of many advisors who attended the Food Bank.
The main focus in the beginning wasn’t necessarily the emergency food provided to community members, it was also a space to meet friends & neighbours and make connections with others, as well as vital city-wide services and community activity provision. The Coffee Morning was for a long time a key place to meet on a Wednesday morning in Bevendean. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic in 2020, the doors had to close and the focus was suddenly very much on providing more emergency food to more people very quickly. It’s due to a determined group of volunteer packers, drivers and the support of funders, councillors, other local community groups, donations, community workers and the Brighton & Hove Food Partnership that the steep increase in demand was met at all. Within 4 weeks, the volunteers went from packing food for a maximum of 22 households to packing food for 70 households and delivering it. A mighty feat for any small community group.
The demand was relieved once another food project – the affordable Moulsecoomb Community Market – started at St George’s Hall and the community members in need of support benefitted from receiving food local to their homes.
Rolling from the Covid-19 crisis into a cost-of-living crisis was to be expected and the demand never went back to the pre-pandemic numbers. In 2022 however, we saw another spike coming and went from 25 households back to almost 40 households in 2023.
There is a lot to celebrate: donations, funding, support and volunteers, but there is only so much capacity a neighbourhood project can tackle. On top of our yearly FareShare
membership of £1250 and the hire of the hall at £1350, we also purchase up to £150 worth of special food items a week now to meet the demand. One of our biggest issues is the lack of space to store the food.
Pairing these issues with our wish to bring back the community coffee morning where people can meet, chat, get information and have a warm drink, the committee has decided to change how we run the foodbank, but still be able to make a sturdy food offer under ever increasing pressure. From March, the foodbank will support its attendees fortnightly, which means more can be given out to families, we create more capacity for future demand and we have more time to pack and run the foodbank in a less hectic way, which benefits both recipients and volunteers.
How Can You Help?
If you receive food from the foodbank, please remember to support us by bringing your own bags and £1 donation if you can. Also helpful is if you bring any food items back if you don’t use them. Please let us know in advance if you can’t make it so your food doesn’t go to waste!
We are always very grateful to receive monetary or food donations. Please contact us if you want to find out more: [email protected]
If you have free time on a Wednesday morning, why not join and support our fabulous volunteer team?
TDC's Youth Team recently hosted and Citywide YouthWise meeting, consulting with our young people about the effects of the Cost of Living Crisis.
What is the Cost of Living Crisis?
‘The poor get poorer’
Tax cuts
Striking
Increased cost of essentials, food, gas, electricity, travel, raising children etc.
Brexit causing prices to go up even more aside from the COLC.
Increased travel prices and if you don’t have a return ticket, it is more expensive.
Trickle down economics doesn’t work.
How are Young People Affected by the Cost of Living Crisis?
One of the main repeated points is Education – School uniform, canteen meals, supplies, and travel to/from school
Housing for young people is inaccessible.
Buying child care supplies (clothes, nappies, milk).
Cannot afford University rent/bills and just generally living as a student on their own
Not having accessible information about what the COLC really is in terms that young people can understand.
What Do You Worry About Spending Money On?
We had lots of responses to this one – with a broad spectrum of things. We had a discussion around this showing that people are struggling with near enough everything – here are some of the main points from this:
Medical care: Dentist, Opticians & Glasses, Hearing tests
Mental health services since waiting lists are sometimes too long to wait and going privately costs too much.
Food
Electricity & heating
Gas
Housing – whether it’s council, rent or owned
Travel – Coach, Train, Bus. Even owning your own car – insurance, fuel and repairs.
Finding a job
Technology – Some people need tech for school. Also; Phone/Tablets, Phone bills, Laptop/PC, Internet/Wifi, Games consoles etc.
Owning a pet – Medical care, Emergency care (For example, most vet practices have a cost for just the consultation, and then any tests/medicine/treatment will cost more. E.g. A CT scan is roughly £1.5k) cost of pet food etc.
Hygiene/Feminine products.
What Support is Available and How Can You Access That Support?
Support people knew about
Using charity/second hand shops to buy clothes rather than buying brand new.
Food banks
Church clothing swaps
Getting money off of bills in receipt of a non-means tested benefit.
Grant schemes (via. Gov website)
We also had a moment to speak about what support people would like to see!
Prices of things to go down
Discounts on school uniform
Help with school meal prices
Donating clothes should be enforced more
Also, other notes/worries
Some people don’t fall under a financial bracket where access to support is available.
Any support should be available and accessible to young people – including having young people friendly information on which support is available.
Pride seemed to be a huge common theme – People who are struggling with the COLC may also struggle with embarrassment for finding the support, and there should be an anonymous yet safe way of accessing support guilt-free. OR there should be more communication surrounding accessing support to fight the stigma
How Much Do Things Cost?
Mobile phone bill?
Depends on contract
Upwards of £30 per month.
Pink Tax (Sanitary products)
Feminine products are way more expensive than typically masculine products.
Monthly rent
Between £800 - £1500 per month OR MORE
Student accommodation is very expensive - £6-12k per year.
Streaming service subscriptions
Between £7.99 - £20 per month per subscription
What Would Help?
Making information more YP friendly and accessible to anyone.
Meetings around travel costs (Trains & Bus companies)
Make information around travel, prices, how to access those means of travel, accessible. (Bus company & council are meeting to discuss this)
Thank you to all the young people who took part in this discussion.
And thank you to our Youth Worker Charlotte Pemberton, for reporting on the event.
Sue collecting a Community Champions Award from the Mayor of Brighton and Hove at our 2020 AGM on behalf of Mike Noble, Chairperson of Friends of Downland Court
This week we say goodbye to our Ageing Well Project Manager Sue Sayers as she retires.
Director of Neighbourhoods Kirsty Walker said this about Sue's time at TDC
"It’s been a privilege to work with Sue for many of her 16 years at TDC and to see all the people who have benefitted from her kind and patient support and her belief in inclusion, especially of those living with dementia.
From family groups in Craven Vale to Older people’s groups in Whitehawk & Woodingdean Sue has touched hundreds of lives and helped people believe in their ability to make change in their community!"
Community Development Support Worker, Cal Chester said this about working with Sue:
"Sue became my line manager shortly before the first lockdown and remained encouraging, supportive and inspiring throughout which I appreciated tremendously. Sue has done such fantastic work throughout her time at TDC and my very best wishes go to her for future adventures."
As she leaves us, Sue has this to say about her time at TDC
"I have enjoyed working for TDC over the past 16 plus years but it is now the right time for me to retire and hand over the baton for community development work with older people.
From my early days with TDC, working as a neighbourhood worker in Queen’s Park and Craven Vale, then going on to work at Downlands Court, Peacehaven, working with older people in Eastern Road and then at New Larchwood and finally developing our work as a partner in Ageing Well across the Deans and in East Brighton, I found my niche in supporting those over 50 to develop groups and provide activities for older people and those living with dementia.
I am happy to say I am handing the baton on to Claire Burchell, who will oversee older people’s project development in the East with the support of other TDC colleagues.
I would like to thank all those community and neighbourhood volunteers who have helped groups for over 50’s to grow and to flourish. I have enjoyed working with and for you over the years.
I am saying a formal goodbye but I hope you will not mind if I occasionally pop along and see how you are all getting on from time to time and to share memories and plans over a cup of tea."
"We met SeanO at a time when my daughter was struggling with her mental health. My daughter was very at ease and felt confident enough to engage with SeanO and his services, this was nice to see as she can usually be a bit shy and nervous. As a parent I really appreciated someone else being able to step in and bring calm to an otherwise extremely emotional and difficult situation.”
An Update from SeanO our Hospital Youth Worker
It's been a busy beginning to our Hospital Youth Work (HYW) project, and we are incredibly grateful to all those that have researched, funded, given support and worked tirelessly to help make it a reality.
The last 6+ months have required attentive compassion for young people, understanding of NHS system operations and thresholds, and agility to get what is best for the presenting young person in the form of information, activities, projects and services that can support their wellbeing, address risk factors, and enhance life outcomes.
In our stakeholders meeting in December, we reported that we'd received just under 200 referrals since April 2022, covering a whole spectrum of risk factors, and for young people living all over Sussex. Many of these young people (and their families) are engaged while in CED itself and given a range of information and support at the time. Each referral is assessed according to their individual concerns, needs and wants in the immediate presentation, or through a follow-up. They are then given appropriate information, signposting and referrals through community navigation and/or given bespoke 1:1 support in a way that suits them through our youth work team. Young people are reporting improved outcomes and a reduction in social risk factors as a result of our work.
The project is currently being externally evaluated; results will be shared in our next newsletter!
Two members of TDC's Equalities Team, Mohammad and Maha, will be supporting people affected by cancer at the Macmillan Horizon Centre beside the Royal Sussex County Hospital.
Maha, who speaks Arabic, and Mohammad, who speaks Arabic and Farsi, are available at the centre on Tuesdays and Wednesdays in February and March. Their role is to welcome all visitors to the centre and to support people from ethnically diverse communities who might otherwise struggle to access Macmillan’s help. There is a safe and quiet space available to talk to Mohammad or Maha privately.
The initiative also supports Mohammad’s wider role in TDC as a community health connector, in which he helps to increase access to health services for people from East Brighton.
The Horizon centre's facilities include a café, a lounge, welfare benefits advice, nutritional support, physical activities, complementary therapies and more. These services are free to access and available to anyone affected by cancer, be that directly or through a loved one. The centre has been designed with input from people affected by cancer to make it the best place to offer the support and services that people in Sussex need. It offers all-round support from a team of specialists in a calm, friendly and welcoming environment.
The Macmillan Horizon Centre is a partnership between Macmillan Cancer Support, the Sussex Cancer Fund and Brighton and University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust. To find out more about the facilities and services they offer visit The Macmillan Horizon Centre webpage.
A big festive thank you to all our amazing community members and partners we have worked with throughout a ridiculously busy 2022.
2022 has seen TDC’s fullest ever year. With our neighbourhood community development workacrossthecity at the heart of our work. Our MESH project helping over 50 people get jobs. Our youth work winning more awards. Our work with the amazing local Albanian community. Intergenerational fun at the Ageing Well festival. And so much more.
We understand that it has been another very challenging year for many – and we are now delivering Cost of Living pilots with local community organisations to support people through these tough times. We will be sharing more about this in the new year. Wishing all well over the festive break.
Best festive wishes
Athol
In 2022 TDC continued to work to support communities across the city of Brighton and Hove.
✨Here are our Highlights of the Year✨
Adam Muirhead, Director of Youth Work
"2022 was full of incredible activity from the whole youth work team here at TDC. My personal highlight was taking time out after a busy summer programme to check-in with ourselves and have some fun at the Youth Team’s overnight retreat in September. Along with some reflection, planning and monitoring, the team took part in some fun activities including raft building and archery before heading out for a meal and a gig in Shoreham-by-Sea.
Intended as part-treat/part-decompression, the whole experience allowed us time to acknowledge the challenges of the past year and to look forward together with some hope for great things to come."
Evie Beardmore, 121 Youth Worker
"My highlight of the year has been transitioning into a new role as a 121 Youth Worker. This role has been an exciting new challenge, allowing me to support the needs of young people and empower them through a person centred and asset-based approach.
The connections and work have been incredibly rewarding and I am feeling very fulfilled in my role at TDC”
Kate Barker, Consultant
"Curiosity youth club ran a three day summer project at the Whitehawk Inn experimenting with and creating a virtual reality of the local area. 16 young people attended and got involved with 360° filming, 3D scanning, creating virtual worlds, interviewing locals, and visiting areas of interest to them. It even involved the local bus station giving young people a free seafront bus ride just for them!
A young person commented 'You get to relax, but also to do cool virtual reality stuff. They supply food and it’s very fun. And the people and youth workers are really nice.'"
Emma Reeves, Community Development Worker
"This year has been an exciting one for me as I have worked more for the Equalities team, supporting people from diverse backgrounds into work via MESH, Finding Your Way and the Employability Support Ukrainian Project
One of the highlights of this work was the Inclusive Job Fair which was an event in collaboration with the Brighton and Hove Job Centres and the Brighton Business Chambers. It was great to see TDC staff in action supporting the job hunters and helping with translation. We had Arabic and Ukrainian speakers. It was a busy morning and it felt good to see people getting support not just in applying for work but also benefit and housing advice.
"Learn Around the World is my highlight of the year. We invited people from ethnically and culturally diverse backgrounds to join as each week to share experiences and learn together. The groups chose sessions about English language classes, setting up your own business on social media, fire safety, volunteering and the Mayor even popped in to give out certificates. It was a real TDC team effort from our multicultural support hub, social prescribing plus and community learning projects."
Claire Burchell, Citywide Manager
Caroline Vitta, Youth Work Manager
&
Tony Silesby, Community Development Worker
"Our Highlight would have to be the North Whitehawk BBQ. TDC’s Neighbourhoods, Equalities and Youth Team’s supported Due East to do a door knock in North Whitehawk to find out what sorts of things people would like to see improved locally.
Lots of people said they would like to see more community events, so Due East fundraised for some Community resilience funding to put on a free summer event. It was a great success with over 120 children, young people and families who enjoyed the Circus Skills activities and a lovely BBQ staffed by local volunteers.
With the children entertained, the adults were able to also pop over to the planning for real consultation being held in the park, so they could have a say on how the Swanborough housing development might benefit the area when it is built. The TDC Youth Team gave out free school uniform vouchers to parents and young people who needed a little helping hand with the soaring costs of living. The best thing of all was the sun shone for us all. A great day was had and many residents said how much they appreciated it and how much they enjoyed living in the area. Bring on 2023 when we can do it all again!"
Cal Chester, Community Development Support Worker
"My highlight of the year were the trips we organised as part of our Ageing Well work to Tilgate Park, Reystede Animal Rescue and the amazing English Church of The Martyrs in Goring and its painted mini version of the Sistine Chapel.
For some, these trips were the first time they had been outside of Brighton for several years following lockdowns. It was really amazing to see people enjoying the space, natural beauty and sociability. The trips also linked brilliantly into our regular Ageing Well work in both Woodingdean and East Brighton, with older people we had been working with already coming on the trips or the trips allowing us to link new people into our regular groups.
Loads of other highlights included, were working in the great Ageing Well team, hosting Intergenerational Bingo, organising 3 Ageing Well Festival Events, supporting Albion Life's launch in the spring, presenting an award at the AGM and working in new spaces with new people!"
"A few highlights from me this year was working with the Craven Vale Community. With their Wassail in January through to the Jubilee celebrations for the Late Queen and their Mediterranean fiesta which was full of music, dance, sangria and sun in September, residents had a great time. They have had a very busy and successful year. We will see out 2022 with our Annual Christmas party to celebrate with lots of festive cheer.
Plans are already being made for next years festivities, which will include Saturday teatime fever, monthly quiz evenings and the Coronation of our new King. I’m excited already and looking forward to 2023."
Anita Doherty, Community Development Support Worker
"My Highlight of the year was working in partnership with St Cuthmans in Whitehawk, signposting many people to local groups and services to get the right support, including getting energy support to those that needed it for this winter. I was able to refer lots of people to the over 50’s activities and enjoy a regular group get together for lunch and trips out. Seeing people engaging with the group and make new friendships has led to a lot of joy and lessened isolation.
It was also fun working on the activities for the Ageing Well Festival where we supported an Intergenerational event locally in East alongside our TDC Youth Team. It was wonderful seeing all the ages groups having fun and sharing conversations together. I am looking forward to how the group grows next year now they have been successful in getting some funding."
Anke Thurm, Community Development Worker
"We did it! Together with Moulsecoomb Local Action Team, Action for Bevendean Community and a local artist we managed to produce and publish our first “What’s on in Moulsecoomb & Bevendean”, which is distributed to all households in Moulsecoomb, Bevendean and Bates Estate!
Kirsty Walker, Director of Neighbourhoods Projects
"During recent years we have noticed increasing isolation and vulnerability for some members of our communities and one community that this is very true for is those with learning disabilities; so I was delighted to see our work with Speak Out enable some members create local connections with Sussex surplus’ café at Bristol Estate through creating a walking group to visit following their sessions.
Mike said about the lockdowns: 'I felt like a caged animal, it was awful'. 'I feel completely different now…I just want to do things and meet new people.' "
Amy Baker, Lead Youth Worker
"Our highlight of the year from the East team, is our trip from October half term when we went to the escape rooms and nearly didn’t get out!
We took our girls group and our Thursday café young people from Whitehawk, the girls did the raver quest room and café group did pavilion perplex. Everyone had such a lovely time and we ended the trip with a meal at Nando’s."
St Michael’s Way Traveller site became the home of one of the TDC ‘Girls groups’ in September 2017. TDC youth workers George, Reana, and Shannon have worked to strengthen the relationship between St Michael’s Way Traveller site and TDC. This work has been achieved by facilitating a space that provides social and emotional support, heightening levels of wellbeing.
We have achieved some amazing things! Fast forward to September 2021, and the easing of the coronavirus pandemic restrictions saw the friendly group re-open every Tuesday. The safe space located in the heart of both the fixed and transit housing sites, provides a wider sense of community and belonging for girls aged 11+.
Whilst offering young women the opportunity to communicate what matters to them, becoming a part of the group allows individuals to embark on adventure beyond their familiarities. The group has seen huge success in taking the young women to explore further with the use of trips that embody team building, resilience training and Christmas festivities such as LazerZone, GoApe, and more recently, a trip to the Ice rink situated at the Royal Pavilion.
Take it from them! One young woman shares her thoughts on coming to ‘girls group’:
“I love coming to group to speak to workers. I like to do the fun activities and to occupy my brain for a couple of hours instead of sitting at home”.
From our Albanian Community Engagement Worker, Sonila Deda.
TDC have been helping me engage my community for the past 18 months, although some of us have called Brighton and Hove home for more than 2 decades, contributing to the economy of this diverse city. I was proud to get this opportunity to help build our community and lives here in our diverse city.
The Albanians in Sussex Website was born in 2016 with seed funding and was a key element to sharing useful information, activities and resources with the wider Sussex community here. Alongside this is our Facebook page, helps engage new members of our community and keeps us up to date on services and opportunities.
I have worked with some enthusiastic volunteers, planning celebratory social events and activities. The biggest being Albanian Independence Day, celebrated in November. With some generous support from Albanian business owners, including donations of time, food, and music, over 160 people gathered together, after lockdown had dominated everyone’s lives for the best part of 18 months. There was much joy and dance and a great sense of pride.
These volunteers have recently formed an independent community group and have taken on supporting their own events and networking. I am proud to be part of developing this community group, which demonstrates how much my community can meet its own needs and how much we have to offer to the wider Brighton & Hove community.
It has saddened me to see recent negative reporting about fellow Albanian migrants when I see so many positive and valuable members of our community and Brighton & Hove society.
More about our work with the Albanian Community can be found here
This Autumn half term, TDC's Youth Team got together with theatre company Shakespeare in Italy to run the second year of our Apples and Eyes project. A group of young people spent the week creating a film inspired by scenes from The Tempest. The project was designed to be accessible to young people from all over the city, giving them access to the equipment, expertise and inspiration to create and explore the arts.
The rehearsals and filming took place in the beautiful setting of One Garden in Falmer. Transport was provided from central Brighton, which the young people were encouraged to manage by themselves. The sun shone in the woods around Stanmer Park as Prospero, Miranda, Arial and Caliban learned their lines, costumes and props were created and locations were found. A whole range of alternative craft projects were also on offer and lunch was provided by the One Garden cafe.
The final film will receive a world premiere later in the year for the hard-working young cast and crew. Watch this space.
"This is the second year we've run this project and it's great to work with professional artists and film makers bringing a new approach to youth work.
This week I've seen friendships forming and so much enthusiasm for this culture and creativity. It's great to give young people a chance to explore a world they might not get to see otherwise and really find out what they can do."
The auditorium was full of stalls representing employers from across the city. We publicised the event with flyers, posters and social posts translated into Ukrainian, Arabic and Albanian and the response was incredible, with people already waiting for the event before the 10am start time.
Our Employability Support Workers Maryna and Idris were available as Arabic and Ukrainian translators to help people communicate with potential employers about what they can offer.
"It was so good to have a Ukrainian speaker introduce me to employers as I didn't have the confidence to do it by myself."
Ukrainian Attendee
"I thought it went really well, good atmosphere and I could see a lot of good connections being made."
DWP representative
"It was a great lively atmosphere and we worked hard to make people feel welcome and help them connect with employers, colleges and BHCC advice teams, a very satisfying morning!"
This year's Ageing Well Festival took place from 19th September to the 3rd October all across the city.
TDC were involved running events at HAWKS cafe, Albion Community Garden and The Manor, focussing on intergenerational projects around the festival's theme of Challenging Ageism. Including a discussion with young people and older people over 50, Challenging Ageism -- Younger and Older.
TDC's new Equalities Co-ordinator Hannah Sherman visited the Older and Bolder event at The Manor. She said:
People were invited to come along to this wonderful community space and see what It has to offer. Everybody had a wonderful time doing yoga, arts & crafts, and had a go at something new, Swoove! We whooped, danced and sang our hearts out ; one person said: “See the smiles on their faces? Absolutely brilliant!”
Neighbourhoods Director Kirsty Walker said:
I was lucky enough to join a Holding Back the Years session where a fun time was had by all with young and older women sharing a cuppa and their experiences from music they like and what they do to stay grounded to things they worry about. There were lots in common – everyone liked a dance! And we all had a good laugh. To quote one of the younger girls – ‘who knew old people can be funny!’
Community Development Support Worker Cal Chester and Project Support Worker Anita Doherty also supported 'Holding Back The Years' at HAWKS Cafe,
Cal said:
We supported two lovely sociable and events, where older people were able to share their positive approaches to health and wellbeing.
As well as shared food, a relaxation session and even a raffle we facilitated a discussion of ' What brings us joy? How we can address our health and wellbeing as we age ? How do we support one another?' We received many, many positive suggestions, with one participant responding that we could address these concerns via "meeting and supporting one another at events like these "
Cal was also part of Sensory Overload , hosted by Albion Life at Albion Community Garden, bringing together a group of keen older gardeners who shared tea and cake, discussed herbalism and investigated what was growing in the amazing community garden -- build up over the last four years.
Attendees were given a tour by volunteers of the range of growing projects undertaken by the residents around Albion Hill. One attendee commented:
I had no idea there was this amazing space in central Brighton.
We were delighted to play our role in making Ageing Well Festival 2022 another great success.
