So, once again, the end of
the year is upon us. The New Year will bring lots more changes for us here in
Neighbourhood Management (http://www.nwemail.co.uk/news/axe-to-fall-on-deprived-barrow-area-s-community-hub-to-save-45k-1.1182961) and we’re sure for our friends in many other agencies
too.
This year has seen the Furness
Enterprise project, ‘The Workshop’, move out of our office in Dalton Road and
close down completely in September. Not long afterwards, in November, our
neighbourhood police team colleagues from Cumbria Constabulary also moved out
of the office.
Our team of four is once
again reduced in numbers, as has happened year on year for the last few years.
There are now three of us remaining and we will keep the office at Dalton Rd
open for the first couple of months of 2015 and then we will be closing down
and moving into Barrow Town Hall.
We will miss being so
accessible to all the residents, workers and general passers-by that have
called in since we first moved in during 2007. We’d like to thank you all for
your help, support, kindness and friendship over the years and we hope you feel
it has been reciprocated from all of us here.
We have certainly tried our
very best to offer a service to everyone that put care, kindness and compassion
at the very heart of everything we've done – we hope to continue this although
we know we’ll have to find new ways to carry this through.
For us here it has always
been very important to listen to what people are really telling us, to try and
get to the bottom of what is happening so we can help and hopefully prevent it
happening again wherever possible. We believe the best way to do this is with
an open heart, to care about what we do and to be kind in how we approach our
relationships with others. We hope you agree.
Looking to the future we
can see a number of bright lights on the
Barrovian horizon, we have been involved in the Inspiring Barrow project which
will continue for another year at least and has engaged hundreds of young
people to think creatively about their futures, to learn and be inspired to be
the best they can be. We are proud to maintain our involvement with this great
local project. www.inspiringbarrow.co.uk
Likewise
the first anniversary of the Women’s Community Matters centre has just passed
by, the women only centre in Duke Street is a great example of how, with the
right philosophy, so much can be achieved by a few kind, caring and determined
women. The centre is another beacon of hope in what sometimes feels like a
gloomy landscape as we constantly hear about cuts to services. They work
alongside the women who come to them for help, offering a warm, friendly and
safe place to be, to learn and to grow. We wish them all the very best as they
grow into 2015 as they continue to develop their services and their vision for
the benefit of Barrow. www.womenscommunitymatters.org
Another
great project also recently celebrating its first anniversary is Love Barrow
families, working with families experiencing difficult challenges they are
changing the way in which public services are delivered locally. Showing us
that working alongside people, no matter how difficult or challenging their
circumstances, is the best way to be helpful. Love Barrow families is built on
the recognition that all of us have something to offer, that we all have assets
and that only through truly working together will we be able to help people
experiencing real challenges make the changes they need and they
want. Love Barrow families is a ground
breaking local project to be proud of.
There
are plenty more great things happening in Barrow that give us hope for the
future, the Love Barrow Awards will take place again in March 2015 at the
Forum, Duke Street (www.lovebarrowawards.co.uk)
recognising the many and varied individuals and organisations who go the extra
mile to keep this community the generous, friendly and safe place it is. Of
course there are many other local organisations offering great services with
committed and caring workers, too many here to mention so we've just mentioned
the ones we've been involved with in some way – long may they all continue well
into 2015 and beyond.
Steve
No comments:
Post a Comment