L4G Derbyshire..... Community TV

Community TV coming soon....

Looking for local people who would like to offer ideas, and/or volunteer your skills and expertise for the up and coming launch of L4G Derbyshire's Community TV

Contact Me on 

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or L4G Derbyshire

Friendship, Fun and Laughter (and lots of wine...)

This week has been another really busy one for me - among other things like trips to A&E (again) lol

One particularly busy day was  the 28th August 2014.

Before we left I met for a couple of hours with a great friend of mine Louise, who I haven't seen since the back end of June, seems so much longer lol, it was awesome, chatting about family, the various changes we have been through, events and all the stuff we are passionate about.  She shared about the charity she is involved with and in due time I want to do a blogpost especially for this, but since they are still organising everything, it will wait till then.

Louise we really shouldn't leave it so long, I love and miss you down to earth nature and the way you ground me "Get down here missus" lol I need that sometimes :)

Following a really nice lunch we were joined by +Chris Ogle  and +Carol Dodsley  as they collected me for our trip up "Norf" where we were to travel to Redcar to attend the +Link4Growth Durham & N.Yorks  Link4Drinks event organised by the very lovely +Gerri Riddiough and her team, the wonderful and caring +Sue Esplin and the protective and nurturing +tonia nixon.  We arrived VERY late due to the horrendous traffic on the M1 but still in plenty of time.  The others that were due to meet us, had already gone on from the guest house to the venue.

After signing in to the really wonderful Armada Guesthouse we were shown to our rooms, I think we were all really pleasantly surprised, the place is spotless, quality, comfortable and stylish, the staff are awesomely helpful and very friendly, yet still managing to be extremely professional.  Carol and I went to get changed and I had a quick coffee in my room before joining her and Chris in the foyer.

We travelled on to "Turner's Mill" in Redcar, where we meet up with +Dee Twentyman and +Jenny Braithwaite and other local people from Redcar.

The atmosphere was electric, there was much wine to be had and have it we did, the conversations varied from the local, to national and global situation we find ourselves in, ideals and aspirations, lots of other fun topics too.  By the end of the night its safe to say we were all well anointed lol - We were also treated to Dee's beautiful singing voice - WOW she can sing !

Following Turners Mill we all popped over to Tonia's house for more drinks after picking up yet more wine and drinks.  Once through there we made our way back to
the guesthouse where apparently I face planted with Jenny lol, who was amazing - we sobered up pretty quickly actually (how on earth we did that while still drinking I will never know lol) anyways we sat in my room talking about all sorts till about 4am.  Nice to know someone else who LOVES tequila lol.

I woke the next morning about 7.45am with Dee knocking me up for breakfast lol, which I have to admit didn't stay down as I wasn't very well at all :/

from then till way after 12pm I was seriously hung over, feeling sick and wavy (so embarrassing lol).

We all walked into Redcar, and found a cafe to sit in, I didn't sit long needed fresh air and I broke my coke fast, the caffeine was seriously needed but coffee smelled YUCK.  I enjoyed the walk about and the fresh sea air, the people in Redcar are so friendly, almost as friendly as Derbyshire folk ;)

After much texting and laughing among us girls, we were met by Chris and Gerri for lunch in "The Plimsoll Line"  - we all had fish and chips which was lovely I have to admit, except Carol who had a sundae, before we all set off back down south.  Poor Chris and Carol had to put up with my snoring on and off as I caught up on some well needed sleep 10 hours in 3 days lol.

Thank you to all of you in the +Link4Growth  Team that I met for such a wonderful time, you are ALL so fabulous !

Here is the very tired +Carol Dodsley  and +Chris Ogle  with the Link4Growth Update !

The Challenge

The Challenge

Someone challenged me today to do the "ice bucket challenge" and I told them quite firmly but kindly that I wasn't going to do it.

I felt their discomfort with my decision right away.


"What you aren’t into charity"?
"What you don’t believe in giving"?
"Don’t you feel anything for the sufferers of ALS/Any illness, disease or malady"?

The answer to the above is simple, yes I do !

I would happily add my money to the pot, however consider that the Charity in question for ALS stated in their annual report they were reported as using 7% of the money(in 2012) for actual research....just enough to keep charity status.

However I am sorry but I am not going to do something I don't want or feel like doing just because the whole world is doing it. I have never been into jumping on bandwagons, even fun ones, but that wouldn't stop me if I thought it would help, but it won’t.

The ice bucket challenge has done one thing raised awareness of ALS and the plight of its sufferers, for this I am truly happy.  If people are so moved, just donate, but don’t be led about by your heart, unless your brain has has a good look into what you are donating too. Look into who benefits.

Charity is BIG business 

In the UK alone in 2012 was estimated total amount donated to charity by adults in was £9.3 billion (down on previous years), with 55% - 58% of British adults giving monthly(1)

And top executives pay is astronomical in some cases.  Research has found that 30 of the top 100 earners in British charities were paid more than £200,000 a year and nine were paid more than £300,000.  The average pay across the top 100 was £208,000 to £216,000 a year, according to research earlier this year by Third Sector magazine which examined their most recent annual reports and accounts for 2011 or 2012.

It found that the two highest-paying charities were the London Clinic, a Harley Street-based hospital, where one executive received between £990,000 and £1m in 2011(2)

1. https://www.cafonline.org/PDF/UKGiving2012Summary.pdf
2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10236183/Nine-British-charities-paid-staff-over-300k-each-last-year.html

Instead of throwing money at large charities who have proven on a major scale to be wholly inefficient at putting our money where it should be in the hands of millions of sufferers rather than on executive cars, offices with corporate furniture and branding....

Keep it Local

Why not support local charities, that work within your own community, donate time volunteering in a local charity shop or with the elderly, sick, disabled and struggling families etc.  Use your money wisely, buy your pensioner neighbours a pair of new slippers in the winter to prevent falls, donate food for both people and animals, donate old but good clothes, baby wear or equipment, furniture, etc etc the list is endless.
Your thoughts .....I would love to get positive and reasonable feedback on this and other ideas or even names of charities in the Derbyshire area that need you/our/my support.

At +Link4Growth Derbyshire  and +Link4Growth  in general our hearts are with the local communities, we care and want to help change our community for the better.


Come with us, join us, come for a coffee on the 24th September 2014 at Jan's Cafe in Heanor 10am to 12:30pm and lets find out how we can benefit local charities and businesses and PEOPLE in our community.

Link4Coffee - Heanor - Derbyshire - Held in Heanor every 4th Wednesday

Link4Coffee - Ripley - coming soon .....

A list of Derbyshire Charities

Can be found here

http://www.iderbyshire.co.uk/local/charities-and-voluntary-organisations/

Google+ and Google+ Hangout Training

Oh I am so relieved I was panicking this morning when I wasn't dressed, hair not down, a late night and plenty of antics with the kids early left me totally unprepared for the workshop learning about and how to use Google+ with Carol Dodsley as the trainer.

Then it turned out to be a very professional webinar format, I like this, it allowed me to get up and deal with squabbles, have a cuppa and a loo break, (even though there were breaks during the workshop).

In fact I was so impressed I have signed up for the Google+ Hangouts for Business too

If you are new to Google+ Carol is the woman for you, she is a Google+ Top Contributer and has many years experience in the field of training.  I was so impressed I wrote a little testimonial for Carol via email and she has consented to me sharing it here :)

"I enjoyed the Google+ with Intent Workshop held by Carol Dodsley immensely, I found the presentation to be professional and informative.

Having 7 children at home I was relieved that the format was delivered via hangout presentation allowing me to be at ease in my own environment without the added cost and inconvenience of child care.

Having said that I especially liked the way each of us attending could connect with Carol and each other, ask questions and leave feedback via the chatbox widget. This allowed for our questions to be answered fully in a natural way, allowing the workshop to continue without breaking the flow.

I would highly recommend both Carol as as a trainer and her workshops for first class delivery, content and followup.

Thank you Carol for a first class training session".

***************

Link4Skills offers high quality, affordable training solutions accessible to anyone from anywhere in the world.  Link4Skills is passionate about making training/education easy to access, affordable and in bite sized chunks so that the knowledge can be applied immediately!

Google Plus training - GPlus for Business and Charities

Google Hangouts for Business

Link4Skills is part of Link4Growth Ltd - a not for profit community building organisation.

L4G Derbyshire is getting all social:)

It has been a really busy week at Link4Growth Derbyshire, among other events we have new places online to share all the great stuff happening around Derbyshire.... come and join us if you live in Derbyshire, whether you are a member of the public, at school or working or are a new or established local business, charity, volunteer etc.  This page is all about being social and sharing local news, funny quotes and stories and sharing ideas and exchanging information.

As always you can find us on the Link4Growth Website & Forum, the original place to find out about Link4Growth in general and Derbyshire in particular.


My Blog as the DL can be found here at

L4G Derbyshire DL - Lisa Fenwick


From this week we also have our own group of Link4Growth Derbyshire Communities across the social media networks.

Facebook 

We at L4G Derbyshire now have our own facebook page which allows us to target posts to the Derbyshire area, to people, charities, business and all other sections of the community.  Catch up with the latest events, blog posts, posters to inspire etc all on our fb page.

Of course you can find me at my own profile and contact me direct regarding any aspect of L4G Derbyshire (or anything else too).

Google+ & Google+ Communities

Google+ is the amazing social layer over the Google product range, such as Gmail, Drive, Youtube and Blogger.  I Love G+ and the hangouts and all the many possibilities for using the Google product range for business and leisure.  Link4Derbyshire now has its own community on G+

Check us out at +Link4Growth Derbyshire  and get involved  - AND - If you are a local business, charity or other organisation and would like to advertise your services, products and wares, we also have a "Buy Local" page coming soon to Google+   You can also keep up with posts from me on my G+ profile too 

 Pinterest 

We also now have a Pinterest profile too :)  This is where we will post photos of all the local towns as and when we visit, it is also for L4G subscribers and members to post photos and links to their businesses, each town or area within the Derbyshire district will have its own board, so far we have boards for Heanor and Langley Mill.  Soon we will also be adding Ripley and Chesterfield.

Coming Soon...

Twitter 

..............coming soon but for now you can follow us at

@Link4Growth & @lisa_fenwick_

all that and much more to come....... to a Derbyshire town near YOU! 

A day in Heanor !

So much has happened this week, it began with a trip into Heanor to choose Joseph's new glasses and get his eyes measured, the opticians we have used for the past two years was called Lancaster and Thorpe, recently though, following speculation over closure; their jobs were saved by the company Scriven's.  I must admit I am really happy the team have had their jobs saved, they are such lovely women, always interested and friendly.

During the appointment I got to talking about the local business community and what I and others at Link4Growth were doing and the response was REALLY encouraging.

I usually pop into the local Lighthouse charity shop have a look at some of their wares, they are a local charity that works in the community with the youth of the area, they do amazing work and I have supported them as much as I can since moving here 8 years ago.

I had noticed that there was a new market on in the square and decided to check it out, after getting some lunch with Joseph.

We popped into Heanor Home Discounts on the way to have a look around, and picked up a bread-maker for a tenner, its the same one I had looked at on Amazon for over 5x the amount nearly new, it was immaculate, and then I spotted something I had wanted for ages a tape deck stereo, so I put a deposit on it and arranged to collect the next day.

During my visit to the shop the woman that was there was called Kayleigh and she was lovely, very friendly and bubbly, eager to help and so into supporting the local business community, which she describes as strong and keen on doing something, anything to make the plight of Heanor shop keepers a better one.  She said she would be happy to pass the message along about the Link4Coffee event in September and put a flyer/poster up in the window, and she confirmed my thoughts regarding the venue for the coffee morning.  I have to say that if you are local and want anything for the home, furniture, brick-a-brack and electrical items, this is the place to go in Heanor.

With bread maker in arms and Joseph at the side of me we set off next door to Jan's Cafe, and sat down, I went through the menu, good home made food, we chose (Joseph chose) a plate of cheesy chips and an orange juice and I went for a milky coffee.  As we waited it was good to hear the stories and banter about family holidays past and present, Eastbourne, Brighton and the like.

It's so good to sit and relax and not rush, there is a sign on the wall that sums it up beautifully.



We chatted about Link4Growth and that we would love to meet at Jan's cafe, I was thrilled when she agreed, we settled on a Wednesday morning between 10am - 12pm, her quietest day.  Just need to get some leaflet and flyers printed to hand in for the windows etc.

The atmosphere is great, and the food is wonderful, and the humour is everywhere, little signs which show how much of a sense of fun the people have around here.
So we have our first venue and date (slightly altered) is Wednesday 24th September 2014


Following a lovely lunch at Jan's cafe Joseph and I walked around the market with has been there for a couple of months as a bid to regenerate a local market which is severely lacking in custom, very sad really as the whole area has been a market trading area since feudal times I am led to believe.

Joseph was somehow convinced he could get a pet pigeon from the market lol no pigeons Jojo just lots of other things...

The first store was run by John, brimming with goodies for girlie's to do their hair bows, bobbles, clips and grips, frilly scrunchies and all sorts.  I noticed the same hair extensions my daughter bought for £8 on amazon were only £2 on his stall with no posting and packaging prices either.

He also stocks a variety of jewellery, which since I am rubbish and hair do's I opted for those... I chose a silver nose ring, not bad £2 and a claw set pair of nose studs.  We got chatting about how well the market is doing and how the summer holidays are effecting business, many people are away at the moment.

John's Jewellery and Hair Bling Stall

Next was Jan, she was lovely and she runs two stalls, a shoe stall and a car boot type stall, some of the shoes were lovely, sadly not in my size, however I did buy some really comfy toe posts for £3 swapped them for my heeled sandals aah much better, now I remember why I stopped wearing them.  So they have now been donated to the local charity shop.  Jan was lovely very into supporting the local businesses and the community in general.

Jan's Shoes Stall

Finally was Steve, running two stalls, one was nightdresses and underwear etc, and the one I was interested in was the bookstall, loads of novels on offer all sorts of genre's too, and what was great was it was £2 a book, but £1 if/when you exchange it for another one, great scheme I thought.  A great guy very helpful recommending a book by Stephen Leather that my son Jack would enjoy.  Sadly for some reason the photo's pf the other stalls didn't save to my phone...

Steve's Book Stall

They all gave permission for photos to be taken for the blog and I want to thank them all for being just great.

Joseph and I caught the bus back home to Langley Mill laden down with bread maker, new shoes, a book and a new ring in my nose lol, after having a lovely conversation with some people at the bus stop all about shopping locally, they all agreed they would do more of it if they knew what was about...

Guess that is where Link4Growth comes in :)

Heanor Memorial Hospital

This week has been a busy one for me, not that I am complaining...

Among other things, I was at Ilkeston Community Hospital with my youngest son Joseph, for his opthalmology appointment, everyone is so friendly there, the coffee/tea bar in clinic one is fab, not too expensive and all for charity (League of Friends).

Consultation Doc for Heanor Memorial Hospital

Joseph was tested for his new glasses prescription, behaved beautifully, although we were there about 2 hours that was waiting time, appointment with the nurse and then the optical test and prescription.  We go again in two months.

Whilst in the waiting room I picked up the Heanor Health Services "have your say" public consultation booklet and read what it had to say.

I got to thinking on the way home, how difficult it would be to get into Derby or Nottingham for that simple eye appointment, the costs and time would triple, and then I thought about Heanor Hospital and the possibility that it could close, meaning just that sort of travel for mainly sick and elderly patients.



It is good to hear that no decision has been made as yet and the consultation is still ongoing, (11 July 2014 - 8 October 2014.

So far the options are:

1.  Do nothing and disperse the current services to other health facilities - meaning demolish the old building  - saving money, probably making money as land is a commodity councils are quick to profit from, however this would ignore all the local wishes for health services in Heanor to remain local and accessible.

2. Make the minimum changes to the existing building - costing a lot of money, no guarantee of total removal of the asbestos as well as ignoring the fact that the current building isn't fit for purpose in many other ways, in my own opinion this is the least favourable option, it would be like putting a plaster on a gaping wound hoping for healing

3. Demolishing the existing Heanor Memorial Hospital facility and rebuild on that site with the same services, including inpatient beds. - although this is what most people in the area I have talked to would like to see happening, at the cost of around £4 million I doubt it will be supported at the governmental or local government level.

4. Demolishing the existing Heanor Memorial Hospital facility and rebuild on that site with the same services, but with inpatient beds provided elsewhere. - again the cost and whether this will meet the future health needs for the local community again make this option a doubtful one.

5. Demolishing the existing Heanor Memorial Hospital facility and rebuild on that site with the new services, designed to meet the future health needs of the local area including those usually accessed at the Wilmot street Health Centre in Heanor - this is the one I think they will go for personally, Wilmot street is small and old and in need of lots of repairs and alteration. So if the new build was to be fully up to scratch, it does make sense that centralising all those necessary services would be essential.

6. Demolishing the existing Heanor Memorial Hospital facility and rebuild on that site with the new services, designed to meet the future health needs of the local area NOT including those usually accessed at the Wilmot street Health Centre in Heanor - this option is not supported locally by the public, by GP's and those working in the health services at Wilmot Street centre.  This option would create the same situations at option 1 (ignoring the wishes) and option 2 (short term thinking for long term issues).

7. Demolishing the existing Heanor Memorial Hospital facility and rebuild on that site with the new services, designed to meet the future health needs of the local area including those usually accessed at the Wilmot street Health Centre in Heanor as well as inpatient beds - this is what nearly everyone I have spoken to wants, and yet its not really even being considered - the policy and consultation documents have made this clear.

Petition
I have already signed and posted about the petition to keep Heanor hospital open, but I am raising it again here.... I am glad the local MP Nigel Mills has created an online petition, and I have signed the paper ones throughout Heanor that I have seen, as well as "encouraged" anyone I am with (or that just happens to be in the shop/clinic lol) to sign too.

I have also emailed Nigel Mills MP and my local Councillor for Heanor Celia Cox and look forward to their replies.

Letters To:

Nigel Mills MP
Councillor Celia Cox

Do Your Part...

One thing I love about +Link4Growth is that everyone I speak to is actively looking for ways to help our community and in finding ways we can work together at every level, no one is excluded, everyone is needed and everyone is valued, we are all important !

I am going to start a "do your part" section of my blog, where I can list all the little ideas that I and you can do to .....well... do our part in making our community happier, healthier, safer, and more prosperous.

I will include anything which people feel will benefit their communities.  Starting with 13 broad spectrum ideas I will add more as more becoming obvious, are suggested by the people here in my local community of Amber Valley in Derbyshire.

 Many people think they dont have the time to do anything that will have an impact, I have used that excuse at times too, I am a busy mum with 7 children, I don't have time for that, UNTRUE, we all have time to o our part even if its a smile or a wave, to running the local brownies, all this and more can be done through a creative use of time and resources - and of course the internet makes SO much possible now, and all without taking up huge chunks of time.


We ARE our community, does it matter if we live in a small village, an average town or a huge city... does it matter if we know "everyone" or we know "no one"..


For too long our communities have been slowly crumbling the causes of this a wide and varied, but this is not the time or place to hammer out the why's and where for's... that's just wasting time, what we need is ACTION from all of us...

So a list of things we can all do....

Volunteering 

is almost a swear word today and yet voluntary work is so rewarding, what ever our passion whether its kids, animals, or our elders.  We can be of benefit to someone, somewhere.  Offer to help out at your kids school, clubs or groups, coach a sports team, teach a craft etc.

Help your neighbours

Many of us meet our neighbours simply because someone wasn't in and the parcel needs delivering. this is very sad.   , get to know those around you, find out how you can help each other, someone struggling - offer to help, my neighbour Becky and I have become such great friends over the last almost 5 years... we have helped each other, (her help has been a Godsend so many times)... my washing machine broke (and with 7 kids being without a washer for a day is scary!)... helped out with shopping and childcare, listening to each other, cried on each others shoulders...  My kids have gone shopping and taking bins out for our elderly neighbours during heavy snow. So much is possible, if we just look around us.

Donate 

Whether it be food for people, animals, birds, it doesn't cost much to stick a couple of tins of beans or tomatoes or a tinned meal for cats and dogs into the food drive at you local food drive.

Donate clothes, to friends and family, to charity or thrift shops, even rags can go for recycling and used in a variety of crafts.  I have donated tons of stuff to friends and family, to my local charity shops, I believe strongly in giving, and in return I have also opened my front door to find people locally have donated to me an my kids secretly, this has always been such a blessing.

Get Actively Involved

its great to get involved with and/or organise events in your community to raise awareness of local issues, or just for fun... from activity days for kids and families during the holidays, to tea dances for pensioners, film nights, car boots, jumble sales etc.  Anything which gets people together and talking would be GREAT, too many are stuck at home isolated with the only options for help being the state services, which many are wary of approaching.

Set Up Local Groups

whatever your passion whether its photography, local history, nature walks, films, DIY, etc anything which again provides a service locally that encourages the community to work together and get to know each other.

Focus Groups

For those that are inclined to get into the nitty gritty join the local focus groups, set up support networks, get involved with the decisions being made for your community often by people outside of our community.

Educate your community 

All of us have skills, some of which we take for granted from cooking to cleaning, sewing and DIY, gardening, IT skills, car maintenance.  Life skills are something that most kids I know don't have, I have lots of kids and they have lots of friends, all welcome for dinner, many of them have learned to cook with me, or clean and organise something with me, gardening with the family etc.

Work on community initiatives

Its so good to be a part of regenerating areas that are neglected, look at helping with clean up campaigns for parks or local areas, campaign against litter and dog fouling is high on lots of peoples priorities around where I live.

Join up or create a Security Circle 

where people offer skills and resources in times of emergency such as fire, flood, etc.

Support and use your local charities

At the moment they are under threat from the mega-national charities, which are fabulous at raising money, but not a lot goes back into the local area unfortunately.  We have two charities locally that I am aware of and over the next couple of weeks I will be finding out more about them and discovering others locally.

Eat, Drink and Buy Local

Be loyal to your local community, buy local, spend your money locally on local goods by local people, who in turn spend their money locally.  Instead of the alternative where mega-superstores take our money and very little is returned back to the community.

Support local people 

Many people are under tremendous pressure, often to the point of harassment.

Get involved with debt counselling and legal advice center's that help people fight unfair treatment by bailiffs, housing associations, debt collectors and others.  If there isn't one start one !

Other Ideas

Create a local freecycle, trade and skills exchange or similar.

Plants seeds

Both in the physical and in the spiritual, by helping others, by being involved in your local community you can sow seeds for the future, in other peoples spirits, who knows who you can reach and make life better for.