Interested in volunteering with us?

We hope you can make our Volunteer day on Wednesday 25th September.  Details below and please get in touch if you can come along....wcpbarrow@barrowbc.gov.uk or 01229 876475. 

Hope to see you there, Rebecca :-)

Could you help out at the new Women's Centre in Barrow?

You told us what you think....see the Consultation Report

Good afternoon all

Firstly, thank you to everyone who took the time to fill in our questionnaire and let us know their thoughts, ideas and considerations....I hope you feel they are reflected in  this report.  If you don't then please get in touch!

The report can be viewed below, or if you would like to download a copy please click on the following link:

Consultation Report Summary.

Any problems then please give me a ring and I will post/e-mail a copy to you.  Telephone: 01229 876475

Happy reading!

See you soon, Rebecca x

Foodie Fest comes to Barrow!

Foodie Fest is a new food festival for 2013 and is set within Barrow-in-Furness Town Centre.

Join us in the Festival Chef’s Arena Marquee for delectable shows from leading U.K.’s best line up of celebrity Chefs for 2013. This is your chance to get up close to your favourite chefs. Two chefs, for nearly 2 hours, one ticket price. Tasty!

Tickets are available in person from the forum box office, Barrow-in-Furness, over the phone 01229 820000 or on-line www.theforumbarrow.co.uk.   Tickets start from £10.50 per show with a limited number of premium front row seats at £19.50. 

For more information about the chefs and information about other free Foodie Fest activities happening in Barrow that weekend, please visit http://www.foodiefest.co.uk/.

Women only media workshop 4th June

Calling all Barrovian Women!

On 15th March we held a launch event for the Women’s Community Project Barrow at the Forum.  You can read all about it at the posts below!

At the event we asked participants to fill in a feedback questionnaire.  We received many wonderful responses and we were overwhelmed with how much time and effort everyone put into the event and into providing us with feedback.  It has been brilliant reviewing all the things attendees told us.  If this was you then a big thank you!

What people told us we have used to shape the next stage of our consultation.  And this is the reason for this post!

We have developed a short questionnaire that we would like to be filled in by as many women as possible, aged 16 and over, who live or work in the Barrow area.  If you are a woman, aged 16 or over and living or working in the Barrow area, could you possibly fill it in?  (We are interested in what Barrovian men think, but just not today!). 


You can download the questionnaire at the following link:
Questionnaire

The responses from this questionnaire, alongside views from the event will be captured in a final report.  The responses will help shape the Project as it develops and decisions will be made based on what the wonderful women of Barrow tell us they want and need.  We won't be able to do it all at once, but we will certainly do our best to achieve the very best for the women of Barrow.

If you would prefer hard copies of the questionnaire please just let me know and I will post one to you - ring me on 01229 876475.

If you would like one sent by e-mail then please let me know - WCPBarrow@barrowbc.gov.uk

I am happy to collect completed questionnaires – just give me a ring 01229 876475, you can e-mail them to me wcpbarrow@barrowbc.gov.uk or rrawlings@barrowbc.gov.uk , or you can drop them off at the office if you’re passing – Neighbourhood Management Office, 242-244 Dalton Road, Barrow, LA14 1PN (opposite Inspira and next to The Derby pub).

Can you please send completed questionnaires to me by Friday 3^rd May 2013.

With thanks in advance for your help.

Enjoy the rest of your week, Rebecca x

What happened last Friday ...take 2!!

I spy Jamie from Red Road!  And Nicky from Education....

Well...my last blog post was getting so long yesterday that I decided I needed to split the feedback from last Friday's launch into two!

Here is part 2 of the feedback......

Clare Jones, joint Chief Executive of Women Centre took to the stage, first to show us an exceptionally moving DVD and then to provide us with more information about the project here in Barrow.

The DVD proved to be more emotional then many of us thought.  Clare invited us to hear the voices and share the journey's of 4 women who had used her centre and whose lives had been turned around as a result.  I don't know about anyone else but the hairs on the back on my neck were standing to attention throughout much of the video clip and tears sprung to the fore more than once. 

Clare outlined the plan to develop a 'one stop shop' for Barrow's women.  It will become the best place for other services to be based (so they are starting to tell us...we haven't made this up or even exagerated!) and add value to those services.

Clare told us that the important thing to note about this project is that it has the ability to connect up all the excellent work that is already going on.  it will provide a place for women to go to find out about the full range of provision for them in the Barrow area.

I think you can perhaps just read the vision of the project in the photo :
"To grow a vibrant, sustainable, women only centre which will become a strong resource to women in crisi and distress which embraces a positive ethos towards self-development and empowerment."


Clare suggested we often underestimate the prevalence of domestic violence in women's lives and the many ways in which it can prevent women from moving forward.  Barrow's Women's Community Project will be a safe space for women...a place where they can come for help, advice and support....and a place where they can access a number of different services they may have need of.

Women who perhaps do not meet the threshold for mental helath services but need something will perhaps benefit from the project.  We do not have to look at issues in a medical way - we will be looking at wellbeing as a whole.  We will enable women to make decisions about their own lives, offering support as and when they want us to.

The centre can be used by women who need to meet with probation officers as part of their court sentences. 

We will need to make sure we cater for the needs of younger women and also older women who may have caring responsibilities.

The project in Barrow will be about accepting and embracing women who are victims of abuse, who have alcohol or drug issues, women with parenting responsibilities, and girls and young women who also have these issues and responsibilities.

The centre will be a place of HOPE, it will be where there is someone to hold your hand, help you deal with different parts of your problem so you can turn your life around, where there will be someone who will help you find the ladder you need to climb out of your tricky situation.

It will be a place where women will be able to recognise their own strengths, abilities and skills and learn how to build on these to make the changes they want.

The centre will be where women can open doors to new horizons for themselves and their families.

After a powerful and moving presentation...and after some lovely coffee and biscuits served by the very lovely Laura from The Forum....it was time for the attendees to have their first opportunity to tell us what they think.  and they had been thinking A LOT!!

They had plenty to say!

 

 

I can see health partners, the Head Teacher of Greengate Juniors, someone from Signal films...and lots of significant others!  All had a brilliant contribution to make and the Steering Group are more than a little pleased with how it all went!

It was a fabulous event...thank you to everyone who gave up their time to come along, and most importantly, contributed to the discussion and filled in the evaluation forms.  Clare will be turning these into an evaluation report which we will be in a position to share soon.

Thank you, thank you, thank you...today is the first International Day of Happiness and I am today the Pig of Happiness and I think you all are too!

Bye for now.  Love, Rebecca xx