20 mlynedd o wrando ar a chefnogi'r datblygu pobl a chymunedau 20 years of listening to and support the development of people and communities

Listening to and support the development of people and communities Exceptional work is being carried out every day by so many groups and volunteers, with people of all ages and abilities making a difference. Our Community Advice helped our members to grow, develop, connect work together, providing support to our over 500 members through advice, support, training and events and raise £2,234,956. Our Volunteer Team recruited 238 volunteers. Our Community Coordinators enabling older people aged 50 plus to find out about and take part in all the unique activities and services that exist in our communities. Over 1,349 older people have been supported with over 6,000 referred into activities including luncheon clubs, veteran’s groups, craft groups and many more with the support of a wide range of excellent third sector partners.

The Story Telling Project and other stories Your Wellbeing Matters project collected stories on how people manage their wellbeing with a ‘Learning through Listening’ Conference attended by 63 participants; with 98% reported an improved understanding of what matters to people in relation to their maintaining their mental wellbeing. Talk Valleys used a piece of software called SenseMaker to collect the stories of people in the Valleys ‘Pathfinder’ communities and turn the stories into data. A workshop in Ferndale looked at what action the community can take to address the issues that came through the stories.

The Story Telling Project and other stories ‘Maerdy and Ferndale need intergenerational activities, including capitalizing on working age adults to act as mentors and role models for young people and removing barriers and enabling young and older people to share experiences, such as volunteering and open days in residential homes.’ Residents of Maerdy and Ferndale, Our Community Matters event.

Listening to and support the development of people and communities Our GP Wellbeing Coordinator engaged patients visiting the Rhondda Primary Care Cluster, helping over 239 people to address what matters to them and finding out about their interests and access community activities and services. The Big Lottery funded Community Voice programme led to Welcome to Our Woods and Ynysybwl Regeneration Partnership getting grants of over £1,000,000 from the Create Your Space programme to involve people in transforming their local environment. Spectacle Theatre were successful with their ‘Creating Progress’ Lottery funded project to improve the mental health of young people by developing their resilience to cope with stress through creativity.

What next? Transforming How We Work We have spent a lot of time reviewing what works. We are very busy. The people we work with have good relationships with our staff and like what they do. We know sometimes we do a lot of different things that work but do not always continue. We need to provide better support in areas such as measuring impact. We will make changes. Be more clear about what we can offer as Interlink. Work with members who want to act as ‘hubs’ to support their community. Help members help each other through peer support. Provide better access to more on-line information, guidance and tools. Continue to be innovative.

Thank you all for your support Thanks to all our friends, members and partners Thank you to all our volunteers, staff & trustees. A special thanks to Christine, who will be sadly missed.

TODAY Tell us how we can better help you to do what you do Get some funding advice Let us know if you want to support the Healthy and Active programme to get people who need a bit of support to be more active