Weekly Engagement Update

Our teams are back in the swing of things this week - and there's been lots going on! The Engagement team have called in to see tenants taking part in chair-based exercise and painting sessions at the Hub at St Bernard's and Ingol Library, Age Concern Central Lancashire's Dementia Cafe at The Courtyards, and The Glees club's belated Christmas celebration at Moor Nook Community Centre, where members enjoyed pies, cake and bingo! The team also carried out a pop-up session in the Slade Street and Bow Lane areas of the city centre, listening to tenants' views and letting them know about upcoming involvement opportunities. Beanstalk Food and Cookery held another really popular airfryer cookery session for solo cooks, who enjoyed learning to make pizza toast. Our Environmental Services team took advantage of the decent weather to renew bark chips in the communal areas across Grange - looks great!

🎆 A very happy new year from our Engagement team, who've wasted no time getting out and about in our communities! They kicked off 2024 with a community pop-up to connect with our Blackpool tenants 🎡, dropped into Brookhaven for a chat with residents enjoying their regular coffee morning ☕, swung by Farringdon Park for a check on the area and tenants and called in to see how our Moor Nook allotments are looking after the Christmas break 🥔🥕

It's time for highlights of the week from our busy Engagement team! This week has included a Community Interest Day at Ashton Methodist Church, a visit with our Tenancy Management Team to talk to tenants about anti-social behaviour, a group of tenants enjoyed a fun trip to Blackpool illuminations and a chippy tea with SHAPE Lancashire, plus the lovely task of dropping off a brand-new slow cooker to Mr and Mrs Davis, who won National Energy Action's prize draw at one of our recent Winter Warmer sessions – hope you enjoy some tasty soups and stews!

👋 If you live in Moor Nook you might have spotted our Engagement Officers out and about at the beginning of another busy week, letting our tenants know about a huge range of activities, events and involvement opportunities we have on offer.

👨‍🍳 Residents at Chapelfold enjoyed another session of marvellous meals from the microwave, delivered by Lancashire Adult Learning!

🎉 Eddie had a great meeting with The Prince’s Trust, discussing joint community works and projects. He then had the lovely job of delivering a hamper of goodies to the winner of the children’s raffle at our Winter Warmer session at the weekend. Lucky Lillith was really happy with her prize, especially as it’s her 6th birthday today – happy birthday Lillith! We had an adult winner too – well done to Keeley, who won a hamper full of cleaning products.

💻 On Thursday evening, our Tenant Talk group met to review and discuss CGA’s website. They took part in several exercises and came up with some really useful and interesting insights which we will take on board going forward.

🍕 To round the week off, we worked with Beanstalk Food and Cookery to deliver an air-fryer cookery course at the Ascension Church in Brookfield, where the pizza toast went down a treat!

🙋‍♀️ Thanks to all our tenants who have got #involved this week. Don’t forget that if you’d like to find out more about what’s happening why not join our Tenant Hub - our online space to share involvement opportunities, community news, photos, videos and activities. Click here to find out more: gateway2engagement.co.uk

👮‍♀️ Our Community Engagement Officers started the week with a pop-up in Deepdale. They were joined by two PCSOs who cover the area, plus our Early Action Officer, Amanda. As well as chatting to tenants about any issues and sharing involvement opportunities, the team enjoyed spotting some spooky Halloween decorations!

🧙‍♀️ The Halloween theme continued later in the week at Ingolcroft, where residents enjoyed a Halloween quiz and bingo – our team were there to chat and let people know about events and activities they can join in with.

❄️ The first of two Winter Warmer sessions for tenants was held on Wednesday, and really helped the people who came along. There was an air-fryer cookery demo from Beanstalk Food and Cookery energy and money advice from National Energy Action, Green Doctors and our Tenancy Support team, plus everyone who attended was given a winter warmer pack, including a draft excluder, hot-water bottle, thermal mug, fleece blanket and more to help keep toasty in the colder weather. There was also a raffle for the chance to win a slow cooker – perfect for a warming stew or soup!

👨‍🍳 On Thursday, residents at Chapelfold enjoyed a session delivered by Lancashire Adult Learning, where they learned how to make a delicious corned beef hash using just a microwave!

🎮 One lucky winner received her prize voucher for coming 3rd in our online Halloween game, Groovy Graveyard. The game was available via our Tenant Hub – click here to find out how to join: https://shorturl.at/eQTUY

🍂 It’s the time of year to start tidying the garden, and our GreenCare team have been out in our communities completing their winter pruning – pictured are Operatives Pat and John who’d been making our Moor Nook allotment site look smart. The timing was perfect, as Engagement Officer Sharon was showing the site to someone interested in taking a plot.

Phew – another busy week!