Close your eyes and hold on tight! A rollercoaster journey of exploration, self-discovery and building relationships across the Halesowen area

In early 2021, when I was invited to take a lead on developing a place-based group for Halesowen area I was over the moon.  I’m an incomer to the Black Country, moving here in early 1996 and have lived in Halesowen or surrounding areas since then, so felt I had a connection with the area, plus I had met some amazing people whom I was keen to invite along and get involved.  

Through its place-based working, Dudley CVS brings local people together who are passionate about their communities. These networks offer a platform for local people to share what they love about their community, what they feel are the main issues and what would make it an even better place to live. Our aim is to collaborate on the things the community has identified as priorities. Place Based working is all about people doing great things and nurturing strong connections rooted in communities.

I had a dream for how things could grow if the Halesowen group was a success. It would be good to develop a local offer/information platform where to go locally for support, members who were offering localised help and support e.g. free furniture, food, befriending etc. across the Halesowen area, develop a what’s on guide for social activities for all ages which would be helpful for those supporting isolated residents, local volunteering roles to save people having to travel, sharing members contact details where appropriate so people from outside the group could approach and connect.  At this stage I was buzzing with excitement and full of optimism at the potential to connect with local people, and see where it could go.

As with any new project the first steps were to identify individuals and groups from across the area, as a starting point to building a network and I had quite a wish list to start. It was also essential to undertake appreciative enquiries [AI’s] to see what challenges there were to living and working in the area and also what people loved about the area or were passionate to improve.  

At this point in time the whole country was still heavily affected by Covid, which meant that any engagement needed to be done virtually over email and Zoom calls. The first Zoom meeting in Spring 2021 had four attendees, including Halesowen BID and Dudley MBC. We followed up with a list of actions to make contact with existing connections to start the appreciative enquiry process.  

AI’s continued to come in slowly and at this point there were also some encouraging responses from people indicating they would like to join the network, including NHS staff working locally from Talking Therapies and the local contact for Dudley Adult and Community Learning. There were regular Zoom calls for the next few months, with new people joining and others stepping away as they felt it was not relevant to their current focus.  It grew to around 12 attendees on average on the calls, which was really positive.

It was slow going at times which made me doubt the way I was attempting to grow the project. Was it me or the project?  The AI’s coming back were useful and themes were emerging, as I started to log them. I was constantly trying to think of ways to make new connections, but I’m a people person and like to make contact face-to-face, so found the challenges of relying on email and virtual meetings frustrating.  I spoke to colleagues who were running other place-based networks and drew heavily on their support, and learning.

By early February 2022 people had drifted away from the group apart from a few stalwart supporters, who were absolute stars and stuck with me on the journey.  The purpose of the group was to share information, but not all members wished to contribute.  A final Zoom call in February 2022 was, I felt, the end of the road for the group and I was ready to call it a day.  Six people attended, but several regular supporters were unable to attend.

Rather than walking away and despite rapidly running out of things to try to get new members to engage, I decided to take the plunge and have one final, last-ditch attempt to mix things up a bit!  During the process of growing the group’s connections, I had made contact with the Team Manager for Carers Support DMBC, who kindly agreed to host regular sessions there and provide tea and coffee if I brought the milk. We were going to hold the meeting 12-2, so people could bring along their lunch if they wished and it would hopefully fit into their day. The date was two months away, so the next stage was to invite everyone I could think of and of course the ‘regulars’ to a face-to-face meeting. It was also promoted through social media, our e-bulletin and existing members’ contacts.

A simple agenda was circulated, as I do like a plan. We would start with introductions, asking people to say if they were working on any current projects, they needed to make connections for, or perhaps were putting on an event they wished to share. This was sent to the members list, which at the time stood at around 20.  As the date approached my nerves grew and I was convinced that no-one would come. I couldn’t sleep a wink the night before, so arrived at the venue with a feeling of overwhelming dread! My wonderful ‘regulars’ all came and lots of other people too, in fact there were about 18 people which was a huge surprise.  

Attendees were asked if they would like regular face-to-face meetings every 6 weeks or so, at lunchtime and the overwhelming consensus was that they would value the opportunity to connect and share information, which was a pleasant surprise after all my angst. Brief notes were taken, just attendees’ name, email and a sentence about what they wanted to share, which would be circulated after the meeting to allow members to make their own connections if they wished. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the connecting and once the introductions were over, chatted away as they ate their lunch. They moved tables to talk to people they didn’t know and there was a definite buzz, which was a huge relief. There was a glimmer of hope that this might just work!

This was the game changer for the group and put it on a completely different track, a much more positive one and the regular meetings are an absolute joy.  

 

The clouds have cleared – reflections on where we are now! So much great stuff happening across the Halesowen area for local people, provided by local people

 

Benefits of being part of a thriving network  

•  The group has grown to 68 members and average attendance at meetings is 20-25 people. 
• Members disseminating info to other attendees e.g. someone from mental health team came and revealed there’s a two year wait for talking therapies, but offered other suggestions – useful for members offering support around mental health  
•  Members telling other people about what we do and good stream of members via word of mouth or recommendation to join – just had a martial arts org who is looking to offer free self-defence sessions, who knows the fireman who joined a couple of months ago 
• Good mix of community, voluntary, faith sector plus NHS, Council, business members   
• New activities popping up in response to need e.g. grief café, dementia cafés, Friendly Bench sessions with Dementia Friends, sewing group, new men’s and women’s mental health groups, plus good response through network to Warm Welcomes with local hubs popping up   
• What’s on guide for things happening across the Halesowen area has grown as members send in details of new activities. 
• Halesowen Connected Facebook page – has grown to 200+ members, sharing local events, activities and local volunteering opportunities. 

What’s emerged from the network? 

• People love the networking side of meetings – 12 to 1 is info exchange then 1-2 is networking and people slow to leave  
• People more willing to get involved and great connections e.g. college needed placements and at one point had a queue of orgs interested, so it’s more reciprocal  
• Connections made e.g.   Art Yard chatting to Young Carers Project and looking at a joint creative project , Scout group offering free Christmas meals for people on their own and shared with network, doing 150 this year instead of 80 last year , ASDA Halesowen offering tea, coffee, milk to Warm Welcome Hubs  
• Social atmosphere – new members are welcomed and absorbed, and new connections have built following meetings e.g. new Police member mentioned funding around anti-social behaviour and struggling for applications – had 3 within 24 hours of mentioning it at the meeting 

Next steps – literally! 

• After months of planning and a risk assessment, a monthly Health & Wellbeing walk started February 2023, led by Eileen and James from Just Straight Talk. 
• Open to anyone who would like to attend for some fresh air, gentle exercise and if they wish to, a chat with some of the others taking part. A gentle 60–90-minute stroll, meeting outside Halesowen BID office on Somers Square and walking up to the Leasowes. It’s all downhill on the way back!  
• On our second walk in March 2023, we were joined by Tracy from the new Women’s Mental Health group and Sam/Andy from Just Straight Talk. Here they are at the beautiful Leasowes.
• At our April walk we had 8 walkers, three new people taking on the walk leader training and another beautiful day. It’s hoped that once training has been completed, the walk could run twice a month with new leaders to support.  

The Halesowen Connected group All Stars – I couldn’t have done this without you! 

A huge shout out to the people from across Halesowen area, who have played a huge part in the development of this group and been with me on the journey 

•  Vicky Rogers – Halesowen BID 
• Ian Dale – 1st Halesowen Scouts 
• Joy Howell – Hasbury Community Church and Churches Together in Halesowen 
• Glen Ostins – Dudley Adult and Community Learning 
• Nicola McGregor – Team Manager for Carers Support DMBC – for kindly offering us a venue to meet  

• Davinder Tiwana – DMBC Community Development Worker for Halesowen 
• James Tivendale – Just Straight Talk 
• Cllr Stuart Henley – Halesowen North 

Over to you … 

Would you like to join our local network for the Halesowen area? If you are a resident or local group, we’d love you to join us. Please drop me an email for future dates: eileen@dudleycvs.org.uk 

If you aren’t from Halesowen area we have other place-based networks, so please drop me an email and I can link you up with your local network.  

For more information about the Wellbeing Walk and others in your area, please visit: https://shorturl.at/svMX0