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Wednesfield and Fallings ParkLocal Neighbourhood PartnershipNorth East Area Office6 Shaw Business parkShaw RoadWolverhamptonWV10 9LETel No: 01902 556622http://www.wton-partnership.org.uk/wednesfield-and-fallings-park/designed and produced by dc2290 document centre 01902 558280

Wednesfield & Fallings ParkLocal Neighbourhood PartnershipANNUALREPORT2011/12

Board MembersRev Simon Mansfield……..............(Vicar of St Gregory’s Church) Chair of LNPRoy Campbell………………................................ Vice Chair of LNP (Resident)David Newton……………...............................… Vice Chair of LNP (Resident)Tania Davis…………………........................ Resident (Woodend CA Secretary)Jennie Hubbard…………..................................................… Resident (DABS)John Lee…………………...........................................................…. (Resident)Les Simmons………………..………Resident (Pickering Road Community Centre)Bob Simmons…………………...… Resident (Pickering Road Community Centre)Alf Wardley……………………........................………... Resident (Transport rep)Ann Wood……………………………Resident (Ashmore Park Community Centre)Daniel Warren……………………..........................…………….. Resident (Youth)James Clarke……………………….............……………. Resident (WV11 Website)Steph Jennings……………………..............…………… Resident (WV11 Website)Fr. Jeff Leach……………………….....................……………. St Gregory’s ChurchAldona Grupas…………………….…………….. Resident (Lithuanian Association)Patricia Fullwood………………Resident (Long Knowle Community Association)Jean Shinton………………….…Resident (Long Knowle Community Association)Vincey Smith………………….....…….Resident (New Testament Church of God)Ranjit Dhilon………………….....................................................……..ResidentPaul Singh……………………......................................................……..ResidentCllr Neil Clarke………………..............…………………..Wednesfield North WardCllr Phil Bateman……………............…………………….Wednesfield North WardCllr Rita Potter…………………..............…………………Wednesfield North WardCllr Bhupinder Gakhal………................…………………Wednesfield South WardCllr Matthew Holdcroft………...............………………..Wednesfield South WardCllr Paula Brookfield…………………...........…………… Wednesfield South WardCllr Steve Evans……………………….........................…………Fallings Park WardCllr Val Evans…………………………........................………….Fallings Park WardCllr Ian Brookfield……………………...........................…….. Fallings Park WardCllr Malkinder Jaspal………………….........................………..Heath Town WardCllr Caroline Siarkiewicz…………….........................…………Heath Town WardCllr Ranjit Jaspal……………………….......................…………. Heath Town WardStaff List 2011/12Sue Lindup..............................Neighbourhood Manager/Constituency ManagerSimon Hamilton ......................Partnership Officer / Constituency Support OfficerKaren Sahota ..........................Administrative OfficeBrian Grayson ........................Neighbourhood Warden (P/T)Raj Chamba ...........................Neighbourhood WardenJohn Bullock ..........................Neighbourhood Warden (P/T)Mac Jarvis ..............................Neighbourhood Safety Coordinator2

FinancialExpenditureAction PlanningCommunication Strategy £ 500.00Ashmore Park Jubilee Event £ 400.00Wednesfield South Jubilee Event £ 400.00Long Knowle Jubilee Event £ 400.00Wednesfield High Olympiad Event £ 360.00Moathouse Fun Day £ 179.20Wood End Jubilee Gardens £ 118.68Christmas Lights Event £ 17.95Involving Young People in the LNP £ 500.00Community Arts Project £ 203.00Additional FundingWolverhampton Primary Care Trust £ 1395.00(Physical Activities 11-25 year olds)Wolverhampton City Council Extended Schools £ 1000.00(Additional activities for children & Young People)11

Your NeighbourhoodWardensThe Neighbourhood Wardens are an integral part of the Local NeighbourhoodPartnership team and provide visible patrols across the area.What they do…• The Wardens are primarily concerned with high visibility patrols and promotingpublic reassurance. They are proactive in making contact with all sections of thecommunity (visiting youth clubs, religious groups, schools etc.)• They act as a referral point for agencies such as the police, waste management• They carry out specific small scale projects such as promoting the creation of newNeighbourhood Watch Schemes, assisting in environmental projects such asRubbish Action Zones and litter picks• They collect information and evidence that can be used by police and otheragencies in enforcing the law• Promote community safety• Reassurance Visits to Burglary VictimsWhat they don’t do…• Wardens are not police officers and therefore, do not directly intervene inincidents of crime, issue fines, warning notices etc.How to Contact the Wardens (between 9 am and 5 pm - Mon to Fri only)Mobile: 07771836957, 07768 447195 or 0791692629310

Message from the ChairSimon MansfieldWednesfield & Fallings Park LNP is blessed with people whohave great enthusiasm and give much to the areas in theWednesfield & Fallings Park area; for without them theirareas and the Local neighbourhood Partnership would bemuch worse off.It has been interesting and busy year as the LNP has beeninvolved in the following aspects.• Community Arts Project where an artist is about to becommissioned for a piece of art at Bentley Bridge• Make Shift event• Many Jubilee events have been held in the area• 2012 Olympics which many local organisations have heldevents to celebrate this Historic event.• Community Hubs consultations have taken place in the area.Further conversations are about to place later in the year.• We attended the Dementia City Strategy event and currentlyworking on establishing a Dementia café in the area.• A successful North East Jobs fair was delivered at GoodyearPavilionAs Chair I have been working with other Chair across the City on ways to meetthe Challenges of the City and discussing the City Wide Strategy and how withinthe Local Neighbourhoods we can help meet those Challenges. We can achievethis by delivering on our Local Priorities which establishes Wolverhampton as avibrant City and forward thinking and in certain areas frontrunners innew initiatives.I hope you enjoy this report which will show you in more detail thework we have carried out which I mentioned above.I want to thank Sue Lindup the manager of the LNP and SimonHamilton our Support Officer, our neighbourhood wardens RajChamba, John Bullock and Brian Grayson and our NeighbourhoodSafety Coordinator Mac Jarvis for their hard work and all that they doon behalf of this neighbourhood In Wednesfield and Fallings Park.I have had the privilege to be Chair of Wednesfield and Fallings parkover the last 5 years I hand over to a new Chair and wish them well inguiding our area so that we can partake and influence the decisions thataffect the people who live in this community.We have an important voice; let’s make sure we use it well by workingwith the community groups, our local Councillors and the Council thatoperates the services.I trust we will continue to improve the facilities in our area and make adifference for the residents of this LNP area.Simon MansfieldChair, Wednesfield and Fallings ParkLocal Neighbourhood Partnership3

Neighbourhood Priorities• Employment and Skills Event• Derelict Land• Annual Summer fare/Christmas fare• Wednesfield Village and Canal• CommunicationWhat have we been doing?Employment and Skills EventIn July this year, LNP Board members Volunteered to helpand support the North East LNP team at the NE Job Fairwhich was held in July this year at the Goodyear Pavilion.Despite torrential rain and wind the event proved verypopular with over 1,600 people coming through the doorsduring the day.The LNP and Job Centre Plus backed event saw job seekers of alldifferent ages and backgrounds speaking with firms in and aroundWolverhampton, many of whom had jobs or apprenticeships on offer.Wolverhampton North East MP Emma Reynolds attended the eventwith Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration and ProsperityCouncillor Peter Bilson to show they support, the LNP staff and boardmembers worked their socks off in a hot and crowded conferenceroom making sure everyone was signed in and looked after.(article by James Clarke)Business SupportWe supported the annual Charity fun day inPartnership with Wednesfield South Tenants &Residents Association which was run inSeptember for the shop keepers on Moat houseLane East in Wednesfield. The Activities on offerto the residents of Moat house Estate wereBucking Bronco, Bouncy Castle, Raffles cakestalls, Help for Heroes Stall and much more andthey were entertained by the Grey Coll PipeBand and the Cannock Chase Drummers.£665 was raised for this year nominated Charitythe County Air Ambulance Trust and the eventattracted up to 250 people.Charity MarketWe organised a charity market in Wednesfield High St whichcorresponded with the Christmas Lights event offering free stalls toCharity’s to raise funds for their cause. We also offered stalls to SocialEnterprises giving them an opportunity to promote their Business andhelp them on the Pathway to success as a Small retailer.4

Community First is an £80m government-funded initiative that will run for fouryears, until March 2015. The Programme will help communities come together toidentify their strengths and local priorities in order to plan for their future andbecome more resilient. It will fund both new and existing community groups.The fund was put in place for priority Neighbourhood Areas and Groups withinthese areas were asked to submit a bid to become a Community First Panel. Inthe Wednesfield & Fallings Park LNP area we were successful in bidding for aPanel for the Fallings Park Ward and Wednesfield South Ward.The Community First Panel was set earlier this yearand following training provided by the LNP in Marchthe Wednesfield South Panel began reviewing andrecommending funding applications from local groupsand clubs.So far we have recommended over £10,300 worth of funding to 11 different community groupsand in return these groups have pledged £54,000 worth of volunteer hours.Funding for year 2 must be allocated by March 2013, so if you know of a group in WednesfieldSouth that would like to bid for £250 - £500, please ask them to visit the panel's website or tocontact Simon Hamilton at the LNP for more information.The groups we have been able to help secure funding for so far include: Wednesfield SouthTRA, Wednesfield Youth Group, Wood End Tenants Association, Wednesfield FC, St Thomas’Church Centre Management Committee, Marching Band of St Gregory’s, WednesfieldCommunity Football Team, Heath Town Swimming Club, Wednesfield Aces Cycle SpeedwayClub, Wolverhampton North Scout Group and Bentley Bridge Community Arts WorkingGroup.Visit our website at: http://wednesfieldsouthcommunityfirst.wordpress.comFallings Park panel was established earlier this year and we havealready allocated Year one funding to community groups in thearea to the sum of £5,624.Groups that benefitted from this fund are Long KnowleCommunity Centre, St Gregory’s Church Dementia Cafe, and TheMarching Band of St. Gregory's, Fallings Park Methodist Church,37th Wolverhampton Sea Scouts, Catch 22- Wolverhampton Positive Futures and Old FallingsPlay scheme.We are currently allocating year 2 funding of up to £500 per Project.Visit our website at: http://fallingsparkcommunityfirst.wordpress.com9

What Else have we been doing?Bentley Bridge Arts ProjectThe arts project which will see £35,000 spent on a public art installation within theBentley Bridge Retail Park is progressing well.The working group which is made up of LNP Board members, a representative from Wednesfield High,local historian Ray Fellows, Wednesfield South Cllr Bhupinder Gakhal and project manager SophieHeath from Bilston Craft Gallery have been meeting regularly over the summer to plan the projectand discuss issues such as potential locations of the artwork.In September an artist's brief was distributed inviting artists topitch their ideas for the project. Over 50 pitches were receivedand we plan to commission the winning artist some time inJanuary.The consultation event which took place at the WednesfieldChristmas lights switch on was a great success and we hope tohold further consultation events to involve local people as theproject progresses.More information will be available soon atwww.wednesfieldart.co.uk(Article and Photo courtesy of James Clarke & Steph Jennings)Youth Olympic EventsWe supported the Wednesfield High 'Olympiad ‘Wednesfield High school was buzzing with excitement as sports day wasreplaced by the inaugural 'Olympiad' to celebrate the 2012 LondonOlympics. The event was opened by the Mayor of Wolverhampton whodelivered a motivational speech relating to the Olympic valuesStudents waved banners, flags and replica torches before going off tocompete in six different activity groups for the day.One session included traditional track and field athletic activities. a second session included inflatableactivities, bungee running, gladiators and rodeo bull to name but a few supplied by a local company'Bouncing High' and former pupil Tony Whittall. Archery, climbing, Zumba, Roller Blading, Boxing,Judo, Rowing, X-Bikes and Dodgeball proved very popular additional events alongside traditionalsports such as football, rounders, swimming, badminton, rugby, cricket, basketball, tennis,trampolining, table tennis and golf.The weather held good and the festival atmosphere was an inspirational to staff and students alike.Event organiser Rob Moses thanked Head teacher Claire Evans for entrusting him with the planning ofthis unique fun day and funding the community element of the day that helped to make it such aspecial occasion.Wolverhampton North Scout Olympic EventWe Funded the Wolverhampton North Beaver and Cub Scout OlympicEvent. They were lots of new activities for the young members to try,Long Jump, Javelin. Discuss, Shot Putt, Hammer and lots of track events.Scout Leader from Brewood attended the event with her OlympicTorch she carried as Torch Bearer in Wolverhampton.8Members of Wolverhampton North with ourDistrict Chairperson and their very own ScoutLeader who was a Torch Bearer in Wolverhampton.

Derelict LandWood End Community GardenWork has been carried out on the old Park site in WoodEnd situated between Bellamy Lane and Wood End Road.The Partnership between Parks & Green Spaces, Wood EndCommunity Association and the Local NeighbourhoodPartnership lead to the revamping of the old Park site byinstalling Gates to secure the site, a Bench and Rubbish binwas installed, the site cleared of the old Concrete base ofthe playground and landscaped with new flower Beds in theshape of ER60 to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee alsoSilver birch trees were planted on the site.Pupils from Wood End and St Thomas’ Church of England Primaryschools and Bray Brook School took part in a project to plant daffodilsin the flower bed created in the shape of ‘ER60’ in the Spring andthen re-planted the beds in the summer with Summer plants.A commemorative postcard was produced, using a photograph of thepupils at the transformed site, which was sent to The Queen.Wood End Community Association won a bid to rename the area‘Wood End Jubilee Gardens’.The City Mayor Councillor Christine Mills officially opened theCommunity Garden in October with everyone who was involved in the project present to witnessthis historic event.Mike Fullard, Chair of the Wood End Community Association, said: “It has been a great projectworking with the school children on planting daffodils in the spring and replanting the beds withother plants.“The children have loved getting their hands dirty and thanks to Steve Male, Area Parks Managerand the Wednesfield & Fallings Park local Neighbourhood Partnerships we have turned the areainto a community space that we are all proud of.“The Pupils have really enjoyed being part of the project and look forward to using theregenerated open space for their School activities.“It is great that the open space was renamed the Wood End Jubilee Gardens as this would be afitting end to all the hard work that has gone into the project.”5

Annual Summer Fayre2012 was a memorable year for the Nation celebrating QueenElizabeth II Diamond Jubilee and enjoying the inspiring 2012Olympics.Several events were held in the area Supported by the LocalNeighbourhood Partnerships bringing the Community together tocelebrate these Historic events.Ashmore Park held a Diamond Jubilee event at St Albans PrimarySchool which had an estimated 1500 people.The Event was organised by a Panel called ‘Ashmore ParkTogether’ lead by Ashmore Park Community Association andsupported by Local Businesses, Community Groups and LocalCouncillors.It was officially opened by the Deputy Mayor Cllr Jaspal andDeputy Mayoress Mrs Jaspal.Despite the cold weather there was a great turn out, withpeople enjoying activities such as the bouncy castle, buckingbronco, face painting, laser quest, a community art project,Punch and Judy, balloon animals, magician and tombola, with acelebratory soundtrack and fun provided by WCR communityradio.Events during the day included a 5 a side football competition, Bubblescheerleaders, a Zumba Flash mob, the Grey Coll Pipe Band and Essington ParkVillage Silhouettes.Much needed hot drinks were provided by the Anglican Catholic and BaptistChurches and Shaz’s Baps were on had to provide hot food. First Aid cover wassupplied St John’s Ambulance Brigade. (Article by James Clarke)Long Knowle Community Association held their DiamondJubilee Event at their Centre and invited local groups andthe Youth service to run stalls and the Entertainment.The Youth MP Hannah Scragg opened the event and itattracted Hundreds of People from the local Area. Crowdswere entertained by the Wolverhampton Pipe Band, theSequence dance group showed their dance steps, there was aKarate demonstration and free buffet and refreshments.(Article By Pat Fullwood)6

Christmas FayreThe LNP work in Partnership with St Thomas’ Church andthe Local Primary Schools to organise one of thehighlights of the year; the Annual Christmas Carol serviceat St Thomas’ Church in Wednesfield. The City Mayor isinvited to attend the service every year and this year theChurch was yet again filled to bursting point.The Wednesfield Christmas Lights event was organised by theLNP in Partnership with The City Council Out door Eventsteam and supported by Wednesfield High School and theLocal Neighbourhood Police Teams. The lights were switchedon by the City Mayor Councillor Christine Mills, Local 2012Olympic Bronze Gymnastic Medallist Kristian Thomas and1984 Olympic Gold Medallist Tessa Sanderson CBE. Theresidents of Wednesfield attended the event in their Hundredsto see our local Olympic champions switch the Lights on.Partnership is continuing between the LNP, the Rotary Club,Wednesfield Traders, Sainsbury’s Superstore, Guru Nanak Gurdwara,Co-op Funeral Care, Jennings funeral care and TATA Steel to fundthe Christmas tree for the amphitheatre in Wednesfield.7