Big Sparks

We hold a Christmas market and we have a Santa's Grotto where children can get to meet Santa and receive a small gift, it costs just £3 per child to get to see Santa, which due to the cost of many other places, this opens up the opportunity to deprived families to be involved in seasonal event that may otherwise miss out on. We hire space at local church, charge people to hold craft stall there to help cover the cost, we have a raffle and tombola stalls (which prizes are donated by local businesses), proceeds from the raffle and tombola are donated to local charities (last year's chosen charity was Neptune Children's Ward at Southend Hospital. We also have stallholders who can sell items they have made as a hobby, enabling the visitors to the Christmas Market to pick up little gifts for their family and friends. It brings a sense of community and wellbeing for everyone who attends, no matter what your age or status.

This project will provide fresh fruit and vegetables for local households free of charge. This project will run as part of the Shoebury Ark which is a charity seeking to address poverty in Shoebury. This will provide 100 boxes of fresh fruit and vegatables each week for households who access support at the Shoebury Ark. Anyone can access the Shoebury Ark if they live in SS3 there is no referal needed. We will work with local farm producer Kirby and Lewis to provide 100 boxes of Fruit and vegetables each week for distribution. This will be at under retail price. This will mean that each household that acccesses the Shoebury Ark will now receive fresh fruit and vegetables. Currently the attendees are offered fruit and vegetables but these are sporadic as this is mainly from supermarket waste collection.

I want to hire a room at the Cart & Wagon Shed (Heritage Centre) over 2 days to run a Mental Health training Course for 6 residents in Shoebury suffering with mental health issues. I will use the Mental Health First Aid England course material, certificates & registration fees and include refreshments over the two days. I have chosen this centre because of its calming area, close to Essex Wildlife. My aim to to assess the number of young people living in Shoebury with similar issues and eventually run similar training courses over the next two years.

I would like to design & develop a self-guided, children's heritage trail starting at The Cart & Wagon Shed & taking in sights around the garrison & the Essex Wildlife Trust parkland. Parents & carers will either be able to collect a physical copy from the Heritage Centre or download and print a copy at home. We would launch the walk during the VJ Day anniversary weekend so local children will be able to enjoy the trail during the summer holidays. Initially, the guided walk and map will be paper-based but I would also like to develop an interactive google map. Here is an example of a google trail that we created for our lock-down, socially distanced Halloween fundraising trail (which generated over £3,000 of donations for Havens Hospices).

We are developing a community health-themed project in Shoeburyness, made up of two connected elements: 1. Planning the event – led by children 2. Delivering the event – shaped by the children’s ideas and supported by families and local partners Element 1: Co-Production and Planning of Children-led Mini Events (Led by Children) The first phase of the project focuses on co-producing the event with children aged 8 and above. They will be grouped by age and supported by local parents and volunteers. Each group will: - Take part in two planning sessions (e.g. at East Beach or Garrison Cricket Ground) - Use simple resources to brainstorm ideas - Learn skills like organising and decision-making - Help advertise the event - One reflection session to help them reflect on their achievements This stage helps ensure the children are codesigners, helping to shape what health means to them and how it should be shared with others. Element 2: Delivering the Community Health Event The second phase is the public event, which will bring together the children’s ideas with local health partners and community members. It will have three strands: 1. Children-led Mini Events Each age group will deliver an activity they’ve planned, such as movement-based challenges, games, music, or storytelling with a focus on physical or mental health and wellbeing. 2. Health Professionals’ Corner We will invite local GP surgeries, dentists, school nurses, the Lighthouse team, the Livewell team and health / medical students and professionals from Southend Hospital to take part. We will encourage them to: - Demonstrate health principles in child-friendly ways - Share career experiences to raise aspirations - Discuss health research in an accessible format 3. Shared Food Space To support social connection, we’ll approach ASDA, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, and local shops for fruit/food donations. A food budget is included in case donations are limited. If there is leftover food, we will donate it to Shoebury Ark. We also plan to invite Bayo (our local MP) who has shown an interest in youth voices (ie following on from his Youth Summit) along with local councillors and the Southend Children and Public Health teams. This will offer them a unique opportunity to hear directly from children about what health means to them and the changes they want to see in Shoeburyness and Southend more broadly. When and Where? The timing and location of the event will be flexible and shaped in part by the children’s time and preferences. We would like to hold it during the summer holidays (before 1st September), but depending on plans and capacity, it may take place during the October half term. Potential venues include St Peter’s Church Hall or a local public green space. The final choice will depend on permissions, logistics, and weather (but it will be somewhere accessible, local and that the children are happy with).

We would like to arrange a weekly keep fit class have some small crafting classes have a coffee weekly morning meetings.

We are a small estate of sheltered flats and many of us have no close family and to have something to look forward to would bring our small community back together and would improvise our physical and mental health.

Shoebury is a diverse area of green spaces and densely built up areas. Working in co-operation with Southend Parks and Shoebury Residents Association, the aim of this project is to promote a greater use of flowers and other planting around Shoebury to create a brighter and more attractive environment for the community to live, work, relax and socialise in. The objects of the project can be summarised in two parts: (i) At present, there is a small number of planters and hanging baskets in areas such as Shoebury Common North and West Road. An objective of the project is to increase the number of street planters/ hanging baskets etc. wherever there is space and permissions available and to create a team of residents as Community Gardeners who would be prepared to take part in growing plants to fill planters throughout the year and subsequently care for them. (ii) In green spaces around Shoebury, such as St. Mary’s Green, Friars Park and possibly verges, plant additional flowers and shrubs to try to improve the local environment for both residents and wildlife. As above, planting will need to be cared for and watered while it becomes established.

This project is to plant a community orchard of up to 100 heritage fruit trees of mixed variety in the meadow just north of the main carpark entrance to Gunners Park Essex Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve. Special attention will be given to make sure it is accessible to as many people as possible. The orchard will be situated in a wildflower meadow alongside the main car park with ample coach parking for schools etc and disabled parking bays only metres away. The trees will be alongside flat, wide, gentle gradient paths and be kept accessible with mowing. Planting will be done by local volunteers from the area supervised by Essex Wildlife Trust staff with experience in tree planting. Trees will be maintained year-round by the ranger who will facilitate volunteer work parties. Welcome and educational signage will be designed, printed and installed by the Essex Wildlife Trust with help from children from neighbouring schools who will contribute to the design. If approved tree planting will be done in winter 2025/26 when the trees are dormant and have the best chance of survival. The funding requested should allow for larger older saplings that will fruit sooner however it must be noted that a mature orchard will take time to grow (but then last for many decades).

In 2019, the Southend and Leigh Methodist circuit had a vision to reach out to the community and utilise the building that, up until that point, was being used as a rental property for various groups. Their objective was to meet the needs of a very deprived community that was suffering from multiple levels of deprivation. In the past 5 years the project has grown significantly and we have 24 partners that collectively support 1,850 families a week with food provisions, which has put a strain on operational elements of the project. From the onset of the project, the aim was to invite members of the community to volunteer and contribute to the direction and running of the project. This has been made possible through corporate relationships with two national supermarkets that donate in the region of £1,000,000 worth of goods per annum. We now have over 16 community champions, one of whom is now a full time member of staff. The Whittingham Estate is situated between the two poorest wards in Southend - there is no community centre on the estate nor is there any other foodbank within our locality and the families we support come from the most forgotten pockets of deprivation in the area.

The community we serve falls within the 10% most deprived areas in England (IMO 2019), with child poverty over 50%, child protection levels much higher than local and national levels, domestic violence and addiction and social isolation are commonplace with county lines drugs, gangs etc. all taking advantage of the vulnerability of the local community. The cost of- living crisis has only exacerbated the situation with increased mental health issues, poor diet and nutrition and a lack of community safe spaces. Over the past two years, the project has grown exponentially to meet the growing need during and post the pandemic and we are now the first point of contact for over 250 immediate families within the area, providing advocacy, foodbank and community.

Residents in Shoeburyness are keen to replace some of the many street trees lost over the years, as well as in increasing our local green canopy by caring for existing and planting new trees. We are bringing together residents to form a working group which sits alongside the East Beach Residents Association, which can focus on how best to improve our locality in terms of tree cover, as well as to educate local residents about how important our trees are and how we can best look after them and protect them. We would work with the local council as well as charities such as Trees for Cities, the Tree Council and the Woodland Trust and use our existing communication channels to encourage volunteering and community action. In particular we would support the recruitment of local Tree Wardens and ensure that they have the information, resources and equipment to undertake their role effectively.

We already have the mechanisms to work closely with local councillors and officers.