Rural Housing Week - Supporting our community

7th July, 2021

smellings

Community

This week is Rural Housing Week, this year’s theme is committed to rural communities. Connexus is a community focused rural housing group with over 10,800 homes across Shropshire & Herefordshire. Our focus is to provide high-quality affordable housing in our rural communities.

We currently have 29 independent living schemes across the two counties. Independent living is often called sheltered housing, helping customers to enjoy their home environment for as long as possible. We promote choice and individual control over decisions while giving reassurance about safety and security. We help customers to find services for additional support with everyday tasks.

Our Independent Living Co-ordinators are based at the schemes during the working week to provide support to our residents.

I’m extremely proud of the work we do in supporting our most vulnerable and often most socially excluded rural residents. Our Independent Living Schemes provide a hub of support and activities for older residents and are truly part of the community as they enable local residents from the wider locality to become part of life on site. Investment in rural communities is part of the Connexus DNA and along with the on-the-ground knowledge of our local teams, we’ll remain a vital part of rural life into the future.

Christine Duggan, Director of Operations, Connexus

Meet Jeremy

Jeremy is one of our dedicated Independent Living Co-ordinators (ILC), he supports residents in Bishops Castle, Clun and Worthen.

At Grange Road, Bishops Castle they have meals on wheels for the scheme and the wider community; run by volunteers from all over the town and from the scheme. The lead volunteers for this service were awarded the Civic award by Bishops Castle Town Council for their services to the community. They also run a monthly lunch club where local people are encouraged to join our residents for lunch. Various other groups use our community centre including; Friends in Retirement, the British Legion and lots more.

“As the ILC I have developed good relationships with other professionals in Bishops Castle for example the GP’s, the Police and other private agencies which makes Grange Road an integral hub in the community. These relationships also exist on the other two schemes I oversee Haselhurst Close and Rectory Gardens which I feel makes them all a valuable asset to their local community.” Jeremy, ILC

At Rectory Gardens, Worthen there is now the Callow Café running from our community centre which draws in people from the wider community and residents of the scheme. As Rectory Gardens is in a very rural setting, this gives everyone a chance to meet and make new friends. The Callow group also run a low impact keep fit class at the centre for anyone who would like to join. There’s going to be a tenants led lunch club resuming at some point; another chance to bring people onto the scheme that wouldn’t otherwise visit.

At Haselhurst Close, Clun there are many clubs from the surrounding areas that use our community centre like; the Marches Book Club, the Clun Chronicle and lots more. Then there are senior citizens group, knitting group and the residents also have a monthly lunch club on a Thursday which is their day for activities throughout the month.

I take great pleasure in supporting the wider community and our clients in the schemes to work together to support each other in their ventures on and off scheme to improve the quality of life in a rural housing setting

Jeremy Hall, Independent Living Co-ordinator

Hear from a few more of our Independent Living Co-ordinators

I love my job role, it involves various tasks and my tenants are lovely. Our sit-out and chats usually involve a lot of laughter as tenants share their memories and also their skills with each other. For example, one lady makes duvets, dresses, lots more. So she will share her experiences with the group. It is a catch-up of the week and also just to chat to each other about anything they want to share.

Kelly Crichton, Independent Living Co-ordinator at Horsecroft

I’ve worked here for almost 18 years, every day is different and I like the challenge of the role and the job satisfaction. For the last few weeks at Upper Fee we’ve started meeting outside for afternoon tea and bingo, we can’t wait until we can start using our community room again when restrictions allow. Local community groups use our community room for their activities too; we are at the centre of the community.
At Upper Fee there’s social tenant committee, each month they organise a trip for the scheme and the local community; visiting beaches and many more great places with at least 30 people attending. This is great for our rural community as our residents get to meet new people, visit places they’ve never been before. The committee organise different things for themselves on the scheme which really shows the community spirit at Upper Fee.
I really enjoy my job providing support to our schemes at Upper Fee and the new scheme at Beech Gardens.

Paul Roberts, Independent Living Co-ordinator in Ludlow

I love being an ILC to rural communities. The passion I have for bringing communities together, bringing something innovative and fresh to people who ordinarily don’t get to see many new faces or different activities is what makes this job special.

Heather James, Independent Living Co-ordinator at Burford & Clee Hill

Find out more about Burford & Clee Hill

The residents of Forresters Road living through lock down has been a very quiet and challenging time, with the very real fear of leaving their houses or mixing with society again. So, with Burford Primary School being just around the corner, Heather approached the head teacher to see if there was anything the children could put together to put a smile on our faces. They really did not disappoint! They had the class of year 4 come down and sing 3 Spring Songs (twice!) Due to the layout, they performed on both sides of the scheme for the various tenants who all took to their doorsteps to watch their performance. The children then finished off by going around the tenants front gardens on a cupcake hunt, answering the riddles to find the next clue until finally, they found their “Thankyou Cupcakes!” A wonderful sight to behold 😊

The residents at Three Crosses had all been expressing their wish to “celebrate” the end of the national lockdown. We wanted to allow local businesses to show off their products, for locals to buy local and help support the community and bring everyone together. What better way to do this than with a Community Fayre!

One of the tenants at Three Crosses has (rather impressively) arranged for over 20 stall holders to come along to the event: from a local author to a local pizza company, information stands, and local dance groups performing. Street auctions, bric-a-brac and tombolas will all be on the schedule with some fabulous prizes to be won and all proceeds going to Midlands Air Ambulance and Macmillan Cancer Support.

For those wishing to come along to the summer fayre – it will be held at Three Crosses Independent Living Scheme, 28th August 2-4pm

Free entry, all welcome!

Connexus is committed to our communities and to working together to help them thrive.

Connexus is currently developing a new 38 apartment Independent Living Scheme in Oswestry which will be completed later this year. The scheme will consist of 33 x 2-bedroom flats & 5 x 1-bedroom flats. There will be landscaped communal grounds for residents to enjoy and develop the gardens if they like.

Find out more about Rural Housing Week 2021

Click here