September's Community Stories

Walking Football Group

Walking football is a great way to stay active and socialise with others. One such group is the Bedworth and District Walking Football Group, run by Russ Watkin, from the Alan Higgs Centre in Coventry.

The club meets three times a week and has around 86 members and numbers continue to increase. The players are aged 50+, and all share a passion for the sport. Many members of the group have recovered from injuries that would normally have ended their playing days, but walking football is played at walking pace, with players not allowed to run. One other big difference to association or 5-a-side football is that it’s classed as non-contact sport. Although tackling is allowed, this must be done with no contact.

The Walking Football club isn't just about the sport, it's also about social and health aspects. The members have formed strong bonds and friendships, which have lasted beyond the football pitch. The club has created a sense of community and belonging for its members, it’s great for keeping fit but there are also substantial mental health benefits too.

The group sessions also include raising awareness of men’s health conditions, and simple health checks are performed at the club. From these checks, 6 individuals discovered they had serious health conditions without realising it. Fortunately, the checks helped identify their conditions at an early stage and all have made a significant recovery.

The Community Resilience Team supported the group to apply for funding to help with short term operational costs to help ease the financial strain from the group’s participants. The Community Resilience team have since helped the group to secure a further £8,600 Awards for All funding to help ensure the club remains sustainable, can continue to grow, and welcome more new members.

Summer on the Square in Hillfields

Over the summer holidays, Hillfields Square was taken over by fun games and activities for families to enjoy. This was made possible by the collaboration between St Peters church, Watch Charity and Harmony Family Hub. These organisations wanted to put together a series of events held in the school summer holidays for children of all ages (and families) to come and take part in free activities to create a positive atmosphere at the heart of the Hillfields Community. In total, the group hosted 6 events, on both weekdays and a weekend so that plenty of people were able to come and visit.

The Community Resilience team was able to help with a funding application for the group, and thanks to Citizen Local Fund and help from the General Charities Committee, the events were a huge success and enjoyed by the whole community. There were plenty of activities to choose from, including football, giant chess, circus skills, a gaming bus, to face painting and glitter tattoos. Each of the events were also able to provide everyone attending with free hot meals, with Sky Blue Support joining the team on the final date.

One mother said, “It has been fantastic to come to these events, my children are very different ages and they have enjoyed it so much, we have been a few times!”.

There were between 100-120 people who attended on each of the dates, with the last event being the busiest yet. Thanks again to Citizen Housing and General Charities for helping to make these events possible, as well as St Peters Church, Watch Charity and Harmony Hub for organising such successful Summer on the Square events.

Car Park Makeover at Bethal Church

A church in Coventry has recently had its car park resurfaced all thanks to the support of construction company, Balfour Beatty.

Bethel Church in Spon End Coventry needed improvements to its car park and Balfour Beatty agreed to tarmac the area, to make access a lot easier.

The work was completed over the summer and forms part of the construction company’s social value work.

Joshua Kindness, Pastor at Bethel Church, said: “We can’t thank Balfour Beatty enough for their generosity in resurfacing the church car park!

“This will have such a positive impact for all the community groups that use the church and for the wider community who make use of the car park as well.”

Businesses working in Coventry have often helped local communities in Coventry and the support shown to the church follows recent transport improvements by Balfour Beatty in Spon End and at Junction 7 of the Coventry Ring Road.

Cllr David Welsh, Cabinet Member for Housing and Communities, said: “It was great to visit Bethel Church and see the improvements.

“There have been many examples of companies and businesses offering support to local community projects across Coventry and this is yet another positive example. I’d like to pass on my thanks to Balfour Beatty.

“Our community team at the Council are always happy to make connections between businesses and community projects.”

Balfour Beatty have been involved in many community projects -

• Donations were given to local food hubs.
• Equipment donated to the British Heart Foundation.
• A “Bake Off” competition raised money for Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice
• Coventry College had donations from Balfour Beatty to use as prizes at their awards ceremony.
• Balfour Beatty also took part in Career Fairs and engineering workshops with local schools and the Job Shop.

The Community Resilience Team are working with Coventry City Council’s Business Support Team, to urge local developers and businesses to support organisations and charities in Coventry as part of their social value commitment.

If you, or someone you know, would like to offer support to help a worthy cause in Coventry, you can get in touch with the Community Resilience Team at communityresilience@coventry.gov.uk(External link)

Left to right: Pastor Joshua Kindness, Councillor David Welsh, Onika Morgan (Balfour Beatty), Sharon Thomas (CCC Community Resilience Team)