The aim of this project was to reduce loneliness and social isolation amongst over-50s living in and around Winsford and Malpas, by enabling their ongoing participation in a range of social activities.
Social activity clubs were funded in Winsford and Malpas, with £41,810 and £30,146 respectively, as part of Brightlife’s ‘Key Commissions’ strand. They were delivered by Community Compass, a social enterprise established in 2016 to help improve the lives of older people in Cheshire West and Chester.
Key learning:
The specification for this commission was based on the need for a wider variety of local social activities for over-50s, which was identified during a consultation of the communities in and around Winsford and Malpas.
Brightlife invited tenders for the development and implementation of a range of social activity taster sessions, to include proposals for how socially isolated older people in each area would be supported and encouraged to access and engage with the sessions.
It was anticipated that involvement in the taster sessions would facilitate access to other local services and activities, enable the development of meaningful relationships within groups, and promote each participant’s identity as a valued member of their community.
The successful tender from Community Compass proposed the establishment of regular, community-led social groups, or ‘Compass Clubs’, designed to ultimately be taken over and sustained by the participants themselves.
Community Compass took a deliberately flexible approach to development and delivery of their Compass Clubs, in line with the ‘test-and-learn’ philosophy of the wider Brightlife partnership.
Suitable community venues were found in Winsford and Malpas, and booked for use on a weekly basis. Tutors were employed to deliver 8-week blocks of taster sessions for various activities that had previously been identified, through community consultation, as being of interest to older people in each area. Activities included arts, crafts, creative writing and gentle exercise. Alongside the activity sessions, talks and visits by a range of local agencies were organised to offer relevant information, advice and support.
Volunteers were recruited via an advertising and marketing campaign and through partnerships with existing volunteer agencies, and were given comprehensive training on working with groups of older people.
Participants were either referred through the Brightlife Social Prescribing scheme, recruited during community consultations, or signposted by providers of existing social housing and care services in each area. Transport was offered to potential participants to encourage attendance, along with additional telephone or face-to-face support if required.
Participants were regularly consulted for feedback during informal ‘tea break’ evaluation sessions throughout each project, with less popular activities or venues being adapted or replaced accordingly.
In both Malpas and Winsford, the majority of participants in all activities were female. Having found that men were more likely to take part in activities which involved both exercise and socialising, Community Compass introduced additional activity blocks specifically aimed at men (gardening and outdoor crafts) to address this gender imbalance.
Sustainability of the Compass Clubs beyond the initial period of Brightlife funding was built into their design, with the long-term goal always being for the members of each group to eventually take over management and ownership. This has worked particularly well with the Compass Club in Malpas, which has continued to be run on a weekly basis by members and volunteers. In Winsford, the group lacked the confidence to take ownership immediately, so a decision was made to increase the weekly fee to enable the employment of a coordinator to support the group until its members are confident to eventually take ownership.
Formal activity provision has continued beyond the funded 8-week blocks in both Malpas and Winsford, by negotiation of free or discounted rents for tutors and ongoing marketing support.
Following the end of its Brightlife-funded projects, Community Compass secured further funding to run two additional weekly Compass Clubs in Ellesmere Port and Northwich.
Listen to the podcast with Simone Cobbold and Yvonne Boyle sharing tips on how they set up a successful and sustainable, brand new organisation (Community Compass) to help people out of loneliness.