1) The document describes a community training program in Torquay, UK aimed at empowering local residents, especially women, to undertake research and community action projects. 2) Through training workshops, over 30 individuals conducted research on issues in their neighborhoods of Ellacombe, Chelston, and Pendennis Estate. Their research identified needs around community spaces and activities. 3) Following the research, many participants went on to establish new community groups and projects, such as a youth club, street dancing group, and plans for a community hub, in order to address needs identified in their research.

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CREATING CHANGES
TORQUAY
End of Project Report 2014
]
[Course ti

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Introduction
South West Foundation invests in local communities through the
provision of training, community research and small grants. Although
having a regional remit, the Foundation has undertaken a series of
very successful local projects. Our main focus is on supporting small
community groups and those individuals who wish to be active in their
communities, mainly by establishing new community groups or
supporting existing community activity. The Foundation offers small
grants, training and research .We are based just outside Bath but for
the last 5 years the Foundation has been delivering projects at a very
local level mainly in Torbay and North Somerset. These projects focus
around our Community Solutions Training programme. This training
enables people based in communities of geographical, social or health
need, to pick up skills and confidence by becoming researchers in
their own communities. Identifying community priority needs and
looking to see how these can be addressed.
In Torbay we have delivered projects with community members from
Queen Elizabeth Drive and Foxhole in Paignton, Pendennis Estate,
Litchfield Estate, Hele and Barton. All the areas are in top most
deprived areas in Torbay. Individuals, most of whom have not had
the opportunity to undertake training previously, are able to
undertake a 6-8 week course in Community Research, undertaken
their own research project into their communities, and present the
findings of that research to people who can help them to bring about
change.
The Foundation undertook an evaluation of the outcomes of this
programme and found that individuals who had taken part, had
continued to be involved in their communities long after the training
had finished. As part of the training the Foundation had also
encouraged participants on visits to projects in other areas, to share

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ideas and pick up experiences of other projects. As a result the
evaluation showed that not only had participants been able to
undertake the research to identify community needs, but they had
continued to seek solutions to those needs, by getting involved in
setting up new projects and activities. People had set up community
shops and hubs, sought funding to set up play schemes, one group
had been successful in accessing the Lottery Peoples’ Millions to set
up a skate board park, another had become the chair of the local
community centre and with the help of the housing association had
established a wide range of groups and activities from that centre,
bringing down the anti-social behaviour rate and generally enabling
the community to turn itself around.
However, the Foundation had only been able to deliver this training
in small 8 week pilots and had never been able to develop a longer
programme that worked with the individuals to carry on and seek
solutions to the issues that had been raised through the research.
Also a great deal was being expected of the community researchers,
they had developed research and presentations skills but there was a
need to work over a longer period to develop their skills in setting up
and running community group as that would address the needs of the
local communities in which they were based over a longer period.
The Creating Changes Programme
The Foundation receives no direct funding from any statutory agency
for its activities, and while understanding the great value and success
of the Community Researcher training, had never been able to find
the resources to turn the training into a sustained programme that
would assist communities, not only to look at community needs, but
also to help people on their way toward the solutions. The new
Creating Changes Programme, with funding from the Health
Lottery/People’s Health Trust has enabled the Foundation work over
a more sustained period in the areas of Torquay that are in the 10%
most deprived communities in the country. Mainly in working at the
Windmill Centre on Pendennis Estate and the Acorn Centre between
Hele and Barton and in Ellacombe at the Community Shop.
The aim of the Creating Changes Project was to train between 15 and
20 mainly women, to support them to become active in their
communities. The focus was on Tormuhan which encompasses Hele,
Pendennis and Barton which are all within the 10% Super Output
Areas for deprivation. A grant of £2,500 from Ellacombe Community
First Pot enabled us, with permission form the people’s Trust, to
extend the training in Ellacombe - another area neighbouring onto to

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the Creating Changes areas. This area is also in the 10% most
deprived Super Output Areas.
We aimed to involve a wider audience of local people in taking part in
the research. Through the research, we hoped to engage around 130
people in giving their views on the needs of their communities. There
would then be follow up training to enable the participants to take
forward the views of the local community, and set up activities and
actions that would address some of those community needs.
There were other themes running throughout the project. Areas of
Torbay and people from different communities do not often get the
chance to meet with each other and share ideas. It is well recognised
that there is a sense of rivalry between areas, even areas that
neighbour each other. One of our other aims was to widen people’s
horizons, to be able to see what is going on in other areas, and see if
they can share good practice between areas but also to share issues
and concerns.
The area in which we were working also has three centres of activity
in Hele’s Angels, The Windmill Centre and the Acorn Centre. We did
not aim to resolve historic problems and differences, but we did want
to give people from different areas the chance to meet each other,
and make ties and link outside of the more formal structures. We also,
by request, included Ellacombe which bordered on the original areas.
Who were we going to engage in the project?
The 15-20 core people to engage were to be mainly women from
areas of greatest need, as the statistics for women in the area is
particularly difficult. We also wanted to include the engagement of

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the previous community researchers as participants of the project, if
possible as role models within the project, and also to enable them to
continue to build up their own skills and confidences.
We wanted the community to have a say through the research and
also to keep agencies informed of our activities and to look to the
future sustainability of the project.
What did we do?
Initially we invited all the major agencies involved in the area to the
Windmill Centre on the Pendennis Estate, an area we knew well. We
went through with the agencies the plan for Creating Changes and
asked for their comments. It was at this stage that we were asked to
work in Ellacombe
Research
After a taster session on community research, we ran the research
training and project over a ten week period in Ellacombe. There was
a newly established Community Shop in Ellacombe which we were
requested to use by the Neighbourhood Partnership, to try to get this
better known by the community. It was planned that people could
drop in and out of the courses as we knew that people that we
intended to work with, do have complications in their lives that can
make attending training on an ongoing basis difficult.
A total of 16 people attended the training which took place mainly in
Ellacombe but also included other areas. The training which took place
initially over the 12 weeks and included a number of research projects
research. 7 of the people who attended the training were from
Ellacombe itself.

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The main core of participants who stayed with the training overall
were a group of women who were very open about the fact that they
were recovering from mental health issues. Their motivation was to
try to get themselves confident and skilled so that they could ‘give
back’ to their communities for the help they had received.
Ellacombe
Ellacombe as an area is one of the 10% most deprived Lower Super
Output areas in the country.hen the researchers did their initial
background study they found that;
 32.4% of residents in Ellacombe are dissatisfied with the area in
which they live compared to the much lower 14.5% for the Torbay
average
 Ellacombe ranks within the top 10% of the most deprived areas in
the country
 Ellacombe is listed within the top five crime ‘hotspots’ in Torbay
 Ellacombe is also listed within the top five Anti-Social Behaviour
‘hotspots’ in Torbay
 Almost 40% of children in Ellacombe live in poverty
 The population of Ellacombe has a clear younger person bias
when compared to the Torbay wide profile
It is an area that has a large Salvation Army Hostel but no main
community meeting point. The Neighbourhood Partnership had set up
a community shop but it was underused and there was little
community engagement through the shop.
The research was undertaken by a local resident in Ellacombe who
was new to community action. She undertook the research with
support and mentoring by a previous community researcher who also
lives and in Ellacombe. They were also helped by a local friend to
undertake some of the interviews. Forty six local people were
interviewed face to face. Being parents the researchers wanted
explore the potential of a local park which has derelict building on site
as there is currently nowhere for children in the area to play or people
to meet.
Overall the quote below illustrated why the local community
currently found the park a difficult place to use.
“I don’t find it (the park) a friendly or clean place. Most of my friends
don’t like it either.”
From the people interviewed showed overwhelming support for
activities to take place in the park but there was the issue around the

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lack of toilets Children could not stay and play for very long in the
park as they to go home to use the toilet.
Similarly with older people and parents this could be quite an issue
and cut short the time that people could stay in the park.
The café was a popular idea and even people who do not currently
use the park identified that they would use a café.
Overview 98% of the 46 people interviewed wanted the derelict
hut/pavilion area in the park to be turned into a building for the local
community.
Outcomes
 16 people took part in the training at some stage.
 A core of 8 people took part in all of the training
programme.
 46 Local people were interviewed and gave their views.
 report and presentations were produced and sent all local
councillors and to the Neighbourhood Partnership
 the research reinvigorated the Neighbourhood Partnership to
build on this research and to revisit the subject of the park
and the building. It is hopeful that the money that was
allocated to this project previously will be returned to
Ellacombe to refurbish the community building now that the
research had highlighted the issue and the support for the
project
 the lack of community engagement and perceived
‘unfriendly’ behaviour at the community shop, which was
hindering community engagement ,was also brought to the
attention of a number of agencies. Funding has now been
found to employ a development worker at the community
shop
 the main researcher is now working with the newley
appointed Community Organiser to help to improve things in
the area.
Additional Activity
Outside of the main Creating Changes programme the Foundation is
working with the Community organiser and using a small amount of
its own funding to continue training for 6 additional people in
Ellacombe.
Chelston
Four of the women who took part in the Ellacombe training identified
themselves as mental health survivors. They wanted to undertake
research into the neighbouring area of Chelston.

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Chelston is an area of Torquay that has pockets of deprivation, is in
the 20% most deprived Lower Super Output areas with over 700
social housing units. The women who took part were themselves
survivors and understood the effects on mental health of social
isolation and lack of connectivity. The group was of three women and
a man, plus two additional volunteer researchers.All had undertaken
their training in Ellacombe. This research looked into what the
community in Chelston saw as their priorities for Community Action.
The group undertook face to face interviews with 67 people and held
a focus group with 18 other people (85).
The main community priorities identified from the research (reported
in the main research report) were for more activities for both young
and older people to bring back and increase existing community spirt.
There were some areas where pockets of activity were found and the
women decided to build on these, work with people who were already
involved and set up their own activity. Identifying through their own
experience how mental ill health leads to isolation and depression,
they focussed their research on activities that would bring the
community together and add to opportunities for more social
interaction in the community.
Outcomes-Chelston
• 6 local people helped to undertake the research as part of the
Ellacombe group, 4 of them had undergone the full training
• 85 Local people took part in the face to face interviews or focus
group.
• The group have been able to research and identify available
community accommodation in the area. They have been
involved in working on building up the youth club in the local
church. They now believe that there are more people attending
this youth club thank any other in the area.
• Another participant decided to invest time and energy into
street dancing group that she already had contacts with.
• The group have also identified premises and will are now
working with Riviera Church to set up a community hub which
will have facilities for toddlers and older people in the area
and hub for local people to meet and undertake activities and
gain advice.

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Stage Two: Growing Your Group
In consultation with the Creating Changes participants, the main area
that participants felt they needed training in, was in setting up and
running groups, particularly within the area of funding and
fundraising. This was their preferred option rather than undertaking
more research. People had themselves begun to seek solutions to
issues identified by the community. Mostly this was through the
establishment of small community groups providing community
action. Participants felt what they needed was training to help them
to set up their group and raise funds. This programme took place in
a community venue on the border of Hele and Barton both areas
within the 10% most deprived in the country.
Growing Your Group Training
We were joined at this stage by a two other groups of women. One
group wanted to help the Acorn Centre which sits between Barton and
Hele. This centre identifies itself as serving the most deprived area in
Torquay. It was set up by members of the local community for the
community and has expanded its activities greatly over the years.
They have over 1,000 visits a week and open 7 days a week for the

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local community. This centre knows that its funding is being reduced
and that it will struggle event more in the future to survive. The
women had all had their own difficulties, and had been helped by the
Centre. They now wished to become involved in trying to help the
centre to ‘give back and pay back for all the help they had received’
A group of 7 women from the Acorn Centre joined the existing group
of 5 women from Ellacombe and Chelston . This group of 12 also had
two of the women who had previously taken part in the Foundation’s
community researcher training programme in Hele.. They were
already active in their communities but wanted to increase their skills
around fundraising. They were also wanting help to set up a small
social enterprise around childcare. The Foundation ran a training
course over 10 weeks with breaks for school holidays which provided
the women skills around setting up groups and sustaining their
groups. Further training as also offered to smaller groups and ongoing
help and support on a one to one basis or in small groups as people
progressed with their projects.
Two people asked for the similar training to take place at the Windmill
Centre, mainly to help a volunteer who wanted to assist the local play
Centre at Fort Apache on the Pendennis Estate. This volunteer asked
that her sister join her on the training. Her sister was involved in
setting up a rescue centre for horses. So while her sister lived outside
of the area, she joined the training as there was no additional cost to
enable this to happen.
One to one support sessions
One of the main learning areas on this project was the need for
ongoing one to one or smaller group support outside of the training.
Participants have also been assisted through a series of one to one
sessions which have been provided through the lead trainer and the
support worker. Subjects have ranged from how to attract volunteers,
finding sources of funding, organisational issues, how to be assertive
and dealing with conflict. The support sessions also allowed for
positive feedback on progress made.
Outcomes: Community Action
 The women recovering from mental health issues have already
helped to set a successful youth club in area following their
research.

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• They are now working on establishing a group for older people,
a group for toddlers and helping to establish the community
hub.
• The group from the Acorn Centre have got together. They are
helping the manager of the centre to put on community lunches
for people who are isolated in the area. They are also assisting
with fundraising activities and have had two community
barbeques.
I have always wanted a group of people who can help the centre.
I now have this. They are like a breath of fresh air.
Manager of the Acorn Centre
• The volunteer helping with the play facility on the Pendennis
Estate has, according to her sister ‘gone off like a rocket’ and is
now so active in all sorts of community action. She has already
raised over £1,500 for the group to enable them to have more
equipment and fund activities. She approached a lady who was
in the hotel she was working in and told her all about the Paly
facility at Fort Apache, using an elevator statement that she
had practised on the course. To her delight and surprise she
was offered the £500 on the spot for the Play Centre.
• The volunteer who is setting up a Sanctuary for horses is now
working on her open day, seeking funding and moving the
centre forward to becoming a registered charity. She is trying
to set up a centre when the public can come in and visit the
recued horses. At the moment her focus is on publicity and
getting people to be aware that the centre exists and what it
does. While the sanctuary is based outside of the area of
Pendennis she is the sister of one of person who runs the play
area. They will be able to link in their activities in the future and
the community will be able to visit the horse sanctuary and take
part in the community events.
•
Reporting By Film
Within the project we also proposed that groups would be enabled to
make a short film to look at the issues of their communities that they
had discovered. The film was also to look at the positives and to give
a positive view of the community. As part of the sustainability it was
also hoped that these films would be used to help to raise funds and
make agencies aware of what is going on the area. In the films the
women also looked to the future and what they were hoping to
achieve. The films in part replaced written reporting as they contained
much of the information and evidence that the groups wanted to get
over.

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Grow Your Own Group 2: Ellacombe Further training
• Using mainly the additional funding from the Ellacombe
Community First pot, an additional group of women in
Ellacombe have come together at the Ellacombe Children’s
Centre who wish to set up issues that they themselves have
identified as being a real need in the area. These groups would
cover the whole of Torbay and are specific to areas of need. 11
people have joined this short group which is helping people to
look at what they need to do when first looking at setting up a
group. The areas that people want to look at are:
• Setting up a group for young autistic people; three people
would like to do this in various areas of Torbay.
• Setting up a support group for parents of children with severe
eczema
• Getting a group together for women who have been in abusive
relationships
Sharing Experiences, Linking Communities
In addition to other activities we took a group of the Creating Changes
participants to Parks Community Centre in Paignton to meet with Kath
Sowden. Kath had been a previous community researcher trainee and
was now undertaking great work On Queen Elizabeth Drive.
Participants also went to Weston Super Mare to visit two community
hubs in North Somerset.
Timebanking

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The participants had heard of Timebanking and wanted to know more.
We therefore organised a day workshop on Timebanking as we had
very good contact with the Zebra Co-operative in Plymouth who had
been working on Timebanking in Plymouth. Zebra came over to the
Barton Baptist Church and enthused over 28 people who attended the
workshop on the potential of Timebanking
Setting up Timebanks was not part of the activities that the
Foundation was funded to deliver but with the great enthusiasm that
was shown at the workshop for Timebanking, the Development Trust
have said that they will take this forward.
Sustainability
In order to ensure sustainability of the projects the training that
individuals have undertaken is training that is appropriate to their
needs, understandable, accessible and that will stand them in good
stead when developing their projects in the future.
In addition to this, the small grants that were made available will
enable people to establish their groups with some form of equipment
or investment. So far one group has used the funds for publicity,
another has used the funds to purchase equipment that will assist
with their fundays and fundraising days, and another has used it for
additional specific training for their social enterprise venture.. Already

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people are beginning to raise funds themselves using the facilities.
The Foundation has engaged with other agencies in the area so that
for example Sanctuary Housing have linked into the project and will
continue to work in Ellacombe and Chelston.
The Development Trust are taking forward the development of Time
Banks in the area. They have appointed two of the Creating changes
participants as the employees to run the Timebanking schemes in
Chelston and Ellacombe.
We have engaged with the Community Organisers and they have
attended two of the training sessions. They will be supporting some
of the newer recruits to Creating Changes to take their ideas forward.
We are hoping the Community Organiser will also join us with the
making the short film of Ellacombe.
The Acorn Centre will be supporting the group of women who wish to
set up a social enterprise in Child care to take this forward. Acorn will
also be working with the group of women who wish to fundraise and
put on community events in that area.
The Foundation does keep our phone lines open for people and groups
that we have worked form and do continue to give advice and help
on funding matters. We also advise people of any events/training that
we have one offer through our community network.
Additional Funding Update
The Foundation was able to continue to work with other groups in the
area. Through the Community Grant programme Imagine, a group of
mainly women from BME Communities, some of whom live in the
areas that have benefitted and were part of the Health Lottery area
of benefit, have accessed a grant of £13,000 to help them work with
mainly women of BME origin, to access employment. They are aiming
to work with a further 40 women with around 20 moving into
employment.
Another local organisation have accessed just over £8,000 to work on
a learning programme with 10 women to help them to identify their
own skills and assets and to use these to move forward
The Friendly Fundraising Group have worked with the Acorn Centre
which has access a grant of £13,000 to offer workclub type activities
for people who are unemployed. They are currently working on a bid
to people’s Millions to build café at the Acorn Centre to generate
income to help the Centre to be more sustainable.

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Conclusion
The funding from the Health Lottery has enabled at least 20 women
from the most deprived areas in Torbay to become more confident,
improve their existing skills and fulfil their dreams of becoming
community leaders who can contribute to their community. For many
the Creating Changes project has provided them with the opportunity
to give back to their communities the help that they themselves feel
they have received through difficult times and periods in their lives.
Activities that people have become involved in are based on identified
and researched community priorities, as highlighted by the
communities themselves. Their community action is therefore varied
and diverse and suited to community need.
Virtually all of those who have taken part have identified not only to
how they wish to help the community and have already started on
developing facilities and resources, but they also refer to how this is
helping themselves, so there is a double win.
A significant number of local people have also been involved in the
research through face to face interviews and focus groups. It is
important that those people also see how their views have been taken
forward. By allowing the Foundation to develop this model over 18
months it has been tried and tested and we have evidence to show
how this very simple approach works when backed by accessible and
appropriate training and research. The Foundation has never been
able to develop this approach before in this way and we hope to
continue to enable other communities to benefit from this. To give
the course participants the final words
Words from Creating Changes participants
We have been out and done the community research so most
importantly we know what they want.
I’ve gained a lot from it (Creating Changes). We’ve also gained a
friendship. We would not have met if it wasn’t for this project…the
community groups and the courses.

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We’ve got a friendship and we are drawing other people in to feel
more part of things
There is isolation and bringing people together will help the
community with all sorts. With their health, their mental health.
…because of what we have seen in our health we know it helps to be
part of something and to have a purpose. That’s what drives us on-
to help ourselves but by helping ourselves we help others.

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CONTACT SOUTH WEST FOUNDATION
Manor Farm
Skinners Hill
Camerton
Bath
BA2 0PJ
Tel: 01761 471104
Email:info@southwestfoundation.org.uk