Lancashire’s Vital Signs

Vital Signs

Themes  Strong Communities  Health & Wellbeing  Environment  Education & Learning  Safety

 Community Need

The average ‘Attainment 8’ score (a measure of a pupil’s average grade across 8 set subjects) per pupil for the Lancashire area for 2016/17 (45.7) was similar to the North West (45.6). Burnley at 41.3 had the second lowest average score in Lancashire

A systematic review of international evidence found that participating in structured arts activities led to increases in transferable skills (including confidence and communication) of between 10-17%

Students from low income families who engage in the arts at school are twice as likely to volunteer

66% of our survey respondents did not agree that there were plenty of arts and culture facilities and event on offer in their area

Burnley Youth Theatre

Meet Eli (Beneficiary)

Burnley Youth Theatre was set up in 1973 and has grown into a vibrant, innovative charity that engages over 6,500 children and young people per year. Every year, Burnley Youth Theatre delivers, produces and programmes a wide range of creative activities, productions and events that engage the community. The charity operates from a purpose-built venue in Burnley, Lancashire, which includes a 158- seat theatre, three studio spaces and two outdoor spaces. Highlights of the theatre’s year include their six inhouse productions’ which range from new work to scripted classics.

“As part of the [#iWill] volunteering programme, I had a

trainee marketing position, which was great and gave me the opportunity to develop myself and develop a new aspect and a side of theatre that I hadn’t had chance to look at before. Before here I was a closed off person, very quiet. I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

I never expected a lot from myself but you get pushed quite a lot, especially since it is a youth theatre you get pushed to be the best version of yourself that you can be, the best performer.

Coming here you meet so many different people and learn about so many different things that you could possibly get into. There is such a range of sessions, it’s not just acting or singing or dancing, you can do tech, marketing or front of house it’s made me think of different ways my life could go and has made me push for that better side of myself.”

Meet Amy (Beneficiary)

“I joined the youth board when I was 12 and that was a school council role, but that developed into event planning, we planned Solar Fest, Fright Night and other fundraising events and to raise money to run these events we did things like bag packs. The best thing about the theatre are the people, the people are really good and you meet so many different people and that improves your social skills significantly.

Acting also gives you a different point of perspective, pretending to be other people means you can empathise with different situations.

Before the project researching arts participation, I had very set opinions, what my parents thought and what I had heard at school but after this I realised there are so many other things going on in the world, so many different kinds of people and just realised that there is a big, old world out there.”

Community Investment

Burnley Youth Theatre received £5,000 from the #iwill Fund. This funding allowed the group to build upon the success of their 50/50 project for a second year.

The 50/50 project gave 50 young people the chance to volunteer 50 hours of their time at Burnley Youth Theatre over a 12-month period. The funding will be used to give further opportunities to the young people who have continued to volunteer from the year before and bring in a number of new volunteers.

Burnley Youth Theatre were also awarded £3,000 from the Christal Foundation. Funding was used to carry out research on the barriers to participation in arts for the local ethnic minority community.

The project delivered workshops, forums and consultation sessions in local community settings to find out why people from BAMER communities are less likely to participate than their White British peers, before devising solutions and involving participants in the theatre’s winter production.

Supported with

5Grants Total Funding £19,385

Supported by

 Christal Foundation  #iwill Fund  John Laing Charitable Trust

Vital Signs

Themes  Health & Wellbeing  Strong Communities  Fairness

 Community Need

According to a study by the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs, the likelihood that someone will suffer from clinical depression actually goes up by about 40% after retiring

In Nelson, the greatest proportion of Pakistani residents is in Whitefield where approximately 70% of the population are of Pakistani ethnicity

In 2016, 2.5 million foreign-born people were in poverty (32% of all foreign-born people) – this contrasts with a poverty rate of 19% for UK-born people

The stress of immigration can increase risk for major depressive disorder (MDD), while cultural factors can contribute to difficulty in diagnosis and treatment of MDD among immigrant populations

16 Community Foundation Lancashire \ Pendle Women's Forum Meet Ivy (Beneficiary) “I have been involved with Pendle Women’s Forum for about three years, after I retired from work. I didn’t realise how much I would miss it [work], I’ve always had a busy life, I was 69 at the time. I felt that I lost all direction and it gradually crept up on me, I ended up calling it ‘scrapheap syndrome’. People had been saying you don’t know how lucky you are, no work, things of that nature. But another part of me felt is there something wrong with me? Something wrong in my head? So many people saying how I should feel and how pleased they would be for the freedom I had a responsible job for 30 years in technical back up in building control, local authorities. I had been confident in what I had been doing, I just felt like a brick balloon and I didn’t want medication. I went to the library when I discovered Pendle Women’s Forum, I came in and began speaking to one of the staff, and they told me about a crafts session so I came down. When I walked into the session there was 12-13 people and we were all sat there really quietly but by the end of the session we were laughing like we had known each other for ages. There were people from various backgrounds and cultures, which was very beneficial, I’ve learnt all sorts, and it’s a chance to share knowledge. Coming to Pendle Women’s Forum has given me a purpose. I went into the decline and it is like I have woken up. Depression is a strong word but anxiety was creeping in and could have developed into something serious, as far as depression, and I feel I was rescued in a way.” Established in 1998, Pendle Women’s Forum uses a holistic approach to improve the lives of women in Pendle. Based in the highly deprived Whitefield area of Nelson, the team focuses on issues faced by the area’s predominantly Pakistani community, whose cultural backgrounds can lead to significant disadvantages and health inequalities. Access to the group is by no means limited by cultural background and multiple services aim to serve and improve wellbeing for all the women of Pendle, often using mixed groups to promote community cohesion and shared understanding.

Community Investment

In 2018/19 Pendle Women’s Forum received £4,940.00 from the CFL Wellbeing Fund. This funding was used to continue the group’s befriending service for elderly women and BAMER communities, who were experiencing feelings of stress, isolation, depression, anxiety, or unhappiness.

Supported with

2Grants Total Funding £9,840

Supported by

 Comic Relief  CFL Wellbing Fund