Corona Kindness and Corona response.

As reported before the five church hubs (St Pauls, Christchurch, Milton Road Baptist, Locking Castle and Hope Church) were part of the corona response during lockdown and as restrictions were lifted during the period - March 24th to July 13th 2020. Over 400 individuals were helped by around 120 volunteers across these church hubs– undertaking around 1600-2000 individual tasks such as shopping, collection of prescriptions and keeping in regular contact on a weekly basis.

We have worked closely with Helping People who continue to provide help for those who are still needing to isolate. and have forged strong relationships to provide a foundation going forward as we transition the support we can offer.

Become part of history with your COVID Story - an invitation to share your story with the Town Council.

An invitation to community groups volunteers and those supported, to contribute to a shared resource and historical archive of North Somerset’s Covid-19 community response.

What was achieved in a short amount of time as the community response to Covid-19 is astonishing. Community groups sprang up and some even developed into community interest companies almost overnight. Although we may not fully realise it yet, we are not just making history, we have the potential to build a new and better future.

We must now log the historical impact of everything we have learnt so we can use this as a guide for our future next steps.
We are looking for the people who volunteered and the people who had help during the COVID lockdown period.
What worked well, what didn’t go so well, who benefited, how were lives changed?

From the stories of volunteers and the people they have helped, we will make a historical archive with Weston Museum – from the start of the crisis to people’s thoughts and feelings about what might happen next. This archive will be made up of survey answers, video and audio interviews as well as supporting documents. We want to hear from organisations, volunteers and those who received support.

We also want to learn from the experience and use it to inform the design and delivery of services in the future. By talking to the people who have led and organised the effort in the different communities of North Somerset, we can understand patterns and trends, what went well, what we can improve and what we can share, learn how we can do more than ‘go back to normal’ and understand how we can ‘go on to better’.

If you have something to add to this project, please send an email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. we would love to hear from you.

TWO NEW EXCITING PROJECTS

ROC – COACH Community Mentoring.

Great news - we will be running ROC - COACH Community Mentoring here in Weston-super-Mare. ROC Community Mentoring is tried and tested and aims to empower disadvantaged young people and families and build resilience in individuals through one-to-one mentoring.
Many thanks to the Community Safety Team at North Somerset Council for their support and the £10,000 funding to allow us to train people to be mentors.

We are now looking for an individual to lead this important project in Weston and Worle to be the ROC COACH Coordinator. We estimate that this role would take about 8 hours per week (split across two days) and would suit someone who has experience of helping young people or families and parenting and is passionate to make a difference here in Weston by helping set up and administer the project and provide support to the mentors and people referred to the service. There is funding for the first year of this role and the person could be self-employed or employed by ROC HQ.
We are also looking for mentors who will commit to supporting either a family with a child under 12 (family focus) or young person (aged between 13 and 17) – using a prescribed and tested coaching process (you will be given full training and support). The time commitment is to offer around 20-30 sessions (lasting 60-90 minutes) over a year period and is extremely rewarding.

Please can you publicise this crucial role in your organisations/groups and if anyone is interested can they email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call Penny on 07974029848 for an informal discussion?

Dragon’s Den – Seed funding of £500 per project

North Somerset Council and the action group leaders are in discussions to launch a Dragon’s Den-style competition for residents of Weston and Worle to start a community projects.
Organisations and groups will be able to apply to ROC WSM for £500 to start a scheme that reduces crime, supports young people, addresses loneliness and isolation, or improves communication in the town.
This Dragon’s Den project has been trialled in Keighley and we want to build upon their success. We will be circulating further information shortly.

NEXT ON LINE MEETING

ROC – Zoom Action Group Meeting - 14th September

Join us for more information on these projects and other new developments on Monday 14th September at 4;30 pm - 5.30pm. Your personal invitation on how to join this meeting will be emailed this week. Please forward this news letter and the meeting details to anyone you know who would like to participate in building kinder and safer communities throughout our town.