April/May - The Greets Green Partnership Legacy Website

PARTNERSHIP NEWS COMMUNITY SERVICESWomen from Greets Green are beinginvited to splash out at a fun newmorning of exercise. The SocialSwimmers project, which proved sosuccessful when it was first launchedin 2005, has now started again.Sessions take place at Tipton SwimmingPool for women of any age who want togo swimming, but for cultural reasonsdo not want to go to a mixed open poolsession. Or it could be that they just feelmore confident swimming in a ‘womenonly’ environment. Transport to the poolis also provided for those who need it.The sessions are being run by CommunityCoach, Vasu Patel and cater for all women– whether they’re confident swimmers orthey’ve never been in a pool before.IN THE SWIMActive Lifestyles Co-ordinator, NathanMoore, explained that the aim is to makethe Social Swimmers sessions more viableso they will continue when Partnershipfunding comes to an end. They are initiallyrunning for 12 weeks, finishing in May. Hesaid: “The women enjoy swimming andthe exercise this gives them. They alsoenjoy mixing with other women they maynot normally meet.”To find out more, contact Nathanon 07817 009 062. Calls can betransferred to a female memberof staff if preferred.“We have an hour’sswimming session bookedand then there’s an hour’sexercise class. It onlycosts £2 so it’s great valuefor money.”A little extra helpA new team of local people is workingwith Greets Green Partnership toprovide support when projects needa little extra help with staffing.The sessional staff have been recruitedto work with the Partnership via theSandwell Templink employment agencyand have so far been helping out with arange of activities as and when required.Those recruited so far include formerAfrican Caribbean Outreach Worker,Rachel McFee, who said: “I’ve worked inGreets Green for the last two years and itwas a good opportunity to stay involvedin the work that is taking place locally.”Fellow sessional worker Bhiku Patel, aformer BT manager, said: “I took earlyretirement and thought this was a goodchance to work in the community.”Rachel has so far helped out with awomen’s event and both have beeninvolved with community consultationwork relating to housing developmentsin Greets Green.They’re now looking forward to taking partin further work as it becomes available.Other sessional staff include AtaurRahman, who has a background in salesand is a former restaurant owner; LeeFletcher, who has previously worked inrecruitment; and Syeda Nessa, who hasexperience in community involvement andtranslation work.The team of sessional staff come fromall backgrounds and help out in a wholevariety of ways, including providingsupport with language skills, events andsurveys. It’s a great opportunity to try yourhand at different types of community workwhile earning cash at the same time.Community Services Manager, RohitMistry said: “We’ve recruited half a dozenpeople so far and are looking for more,so there are still opportunities for localpeople to sign up.”If you would like to find out mor e,call Rohit at Greets Green Partnershipon freephone 0800 953 0215.16Greets Green Magazine April/May 2008