River Freshney Bank Clearance

On the 15th of August the day arrived when the cutting back of the weeds on the River Freshney started.
The turnout was good and all the support we were promised was in place from the Council and Community Payback.
Very special thanks must go to Pete from Green Futures whose staff trained the strimmer operators and then he got his wet suit on to reach the parts that other workers couldn't reach. Green Futures Staff also came on the day and it was the production of the industrial sized hedge trimmer that solved a lot of the problems we faced.
Community Volunteers did a sterling job all day and the Young People who turned up to litter pick all got stuck in and did a great job.
We made a huge impact on the Monday but more needed doing on the Tuesday and so a smaller number of Volunteers came back and did some more.
On the back of the start we made the Council have said that they will come out to help finish the stretch that we are aiming to bring under control and so next Monday it will be all hands to the pumps to finish off.

I think it is important that we see this as just the start  of the process and we need to look at the River Freshney as a whole river not just the bit that runs through the West Marsh.
This means that people from the West Marsh could join with others in the Borough to look at all the issues and opportunities that the River presents.
The Freshney could be a real amenity for all of the people of North East Lincolnshire if it was properly managed from one end to the other.
Councillor Billard has already been in contact with Councillors from other wards who are willing to look at how we might work together.
I have already said to a number of people that the Heritage Lottery Fund presents a real opportunity here and John Radley has made me aware that the Governments Environmental White Paper is due to come in to force early next year and there will be opportunities to bid into a funding pot as a result.
If people are really keen to make a big impact on their local environment then what, in my opinion, is needed is a wide ranging partnership which will convince potential funders that there is a serious intent to commit to a large and inclusive project.
I am looking forward in the coming weeks to helping put such a partnership together and helping with any resulting bid writing process.
If anyone thinks they can contribute to the process then please let me know.

Silly Olympics on The Marsh?

Councillor Billard dropped in to the Children's Centre on Macaulay Street to talk to the Parent's Views group and they came up with the idea of a Silly Olympics on the DOYG to coincide with the Olympic Games next year. I went to visit Denise Barclay the manager of the centre and Cllr Billard and myself are going to support them in trying to get this off the ground.
It would be really good if anyone who has had experience of involvement in this sort of event would let me know so, even if direct involvement is a problem, we can get some good advice as to what sort of things to include.
It also occurred to me that we might try and do this as part of the Fun Day next year.
If you have a view on this please let me know.

Container on the DOYG

As many of you are aware there is a large green container on the DOYG and it is only open, as far as I understand it, by request of a key holder when they are available.
However I was approached recently by two enterprising young women who are keen to see if it is possible to open it up as a refreshment kiosk. We had a long discussion about the whys and wherefores and they have been in touch with the relevant people at Balfour Beatty who are supportive in principle of something positive being done with it.
So I spent an afternoon with the people who want to do this and we sketched out a plan, their action from that is to get costings on any changes to the container that need making and from there develop a full business plan to look at revenue costs.
From there it is over to EFactor to get the help needed to make sure everything has been covered.
If this comes off then it will do two things, one provide refreshments and two make sure the toilets are open when families are using the park.
So if it works then everyone should win.

Young People update

Jez O'Kane and myself have been supporting young people to put in bids for Fair Share Youth Funding and I know many of you are aware that we have supported a young people's magazine project at Whitgift School a Dance Group that meet at WMCC, young people taking up boxing at the new gym in Immingham, one young person accessing a drama summer school, young people accessing training for an NVQ through Humberside Fire and Rescue, one young person furthering his coaching skills and a new group of Basketball Players who train on the Duke of York Gardens.

Jez has also been directly working with young people on a community education programme using visual art as a way of promoting healthier lifestyles.

Jez is also currently working with a wider group of interested parties to look at extending the opportunities for young people to access art projects of all kinds including music, dance, drama and the visual arts. He is therefore looking for people who might want to get involved in an Arts Network across North East Lincolnshire to see how we can provide arts opportunities in the West Marsh and other areas of North East Lincolnshire. Rehearsal, performance and gallery spaces are what we need apparently and we think that by acting in partnership across the borough we are more likely to make progress than if we try and do it all just in this ward.

Health Inequalities Meeting

West Marsh Health Inequalities project

Friday 8^th July

Lounge Bar, Grimsby Town Hall

The meeting took place and the following people attended

Matt Cridge, Local Strategic Partnership Manager, NELSP

Andy Humphrey, Community Development Lead, GPCC

Fiona Corby, Children’s Centre Development Officer, NELC

Denise Barclay, Children’s Centre Co-ordinator, West Marsh, NELC

Cynthia Manson-Siddle, Deputy Director Public Health

Annie Darby, Public Health & Primary Care Project Lead, Care Trust Plus

John Mooney, West Marsh Community Development

Cllr Darren Billard

Nerys Davies, Research & Information Officer

Andrea Bratley, Principal Equalities Officer, NELC

Richard Topliss, Cultural Services Performance Manager, NELC

Jane Mansfield, Area Co-ordinator, NELC 

Sasha Erdejczuk, Admin (notes) (SE)

Louise Law, Employment Support Key Worker, NELC 

Codes for those who don't know: NELC = North East Lincolnshire Council

GPCC = GP Commissioning Consortium (This will replace the Care Trust Plus)

NELSP = North East Lincolnshire Strategic Partnership

Those attending the meeting discussed the direction that the Health Inequalities reduction work would take and they want to arrive at a partnership decision as to how this will be put in to practice.

The most important thing is that partners end up with an agreement as to the way they will approach making the West Marsh residents healthier and there was some agreement at the meeting that it wasn't just about health professionals giving advice but it was about making the West Marsh a better place to live all round. That would mean supporting the local voluntary and community organisations in the work they already do.

What I am trying to push for in this is that they take the approach of building up the work that local people already do over the long term rather than just doing short term projects which involve people coming from outside the area to do a piece of work and then disappear when the funding runs out.

If you feel you have something to contribute to this work let me know and we can talk about it in more detail.

River Freshney Project

Hi All,

we will be having a big cleanup event on the banks of the river freshney on Monday the 15th of august at 9:30 am if you would like to come along please meet us in the Duke of York Gardens car park.

All Welcome