Posts Tagged ‘Events’

What is innovation?

Thursday, September 2nd, 2010

At a recent networking day for Facilitators, we discussed a perpetual topic – innovation. This is an area that can often be confusing and lacks tangible meaning to groups. The main questions we asked each other were:

What is innovation?

How does innovation differ between groups?

Where are the different areas for innovation in the project lifecycle?

Innovation is the introduction of new ways of doings things, something different, something unconventional, something exciting!

We have already seen good examples of innovation in Community Spaces projects, but we want to know things that you have done or seen that deserve recognition and should be shared. Your examples could be from any part of the project process: how you tendered; use of social media; a specific consultation event; the sustainability grant; the launch event; and, of course, the project itself.

 Some examples that have already featured on our blog are:

Turning an old tree into some artwork

A group gave ongoing progress reports and photos via their website

School children designing their own artwork, featuring their own pictures

An exciting Natural Play Area

 We want to share your experiences to help ensure all project offer something different and promote innovation throughout Community Spaces. Let us know your innovative examples.

A successful launch for Hemmingwell!

Tuesday, August 10th, 2010

Hemmingwell Regeneration Project launched on August 1st after receiving just over £27,000 from Community Spaces to improve their local square. Tamzin Smith, the groups Facilitator, went along to the launch to capture some of the community spirit!

Love your park!

Tuesday, July 20th, 2010

With the summer now in full swing, there is nothing better to do then get outside and enjoy your local park, and there’s no better excuse then ‘Love Parks Week.’

 Love Parks Week is an annual celebration of our parks and green spaces. It is organised, by Community Spaces partner organisation, Green Space http://www.green-space.org.uk. Love Parks Week raises awareness of what our parks have to offer, and is a campaign to save these valuable community assets.

 The annual celebration starts from the 24th July, and continues all week until the 1st August.  There will be organised events across the country for people to get involved in. If you’ve received funding for your park through the Community Spaces programme then your group might want to use Love Parks Week as an opportunity to promote your project and get more people into the park.

 To find out more about organising your own event or about events happening near you visit www.loveparksweek.org.uk

Are you ready for your event?

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Wattisfield prep for launch

Preparing for a launch event is no small task, as I’m sure many of our groups are finding out.

Wattisfield Community Centre and Recreation Ground Committee were granted £49,950 from the Community Spaces programme to create a play area for toddlers, children, teens and adults.

Ann Telford, of  the Wattisfield Community Centre and Recreation Ground Committee, in Norfolk, explains how busy they all are in the build up to their launch event for their new play area this weekend… 

“We have the banner and launch kit at the ready. Helium is ordered for the balloons and much else going on including a battery of cake makers wielding their wooden spoons!

Invites are all delivered, either by post or hand delivery. Posters are all up. The advert has appeared in The 4 Gazette & we are hoping it will be published in two newspapers.

Lex Shrapnel (star of screen & TV) is opening the launch; that is important to us as he went to Wattisfield School.  Arrangements are underway to get out PR stuff to the media following the launch event.

The wet pour is being installed in the play area at the moment, the thermo plastic graphics were done today, final tweaking on Wednesday followed by RoSPA inspection booked for Thursday.”

Wow, good luck Ann and co!

If you’d like to share your launch event story please contact press@community-spaces.org.uk or leave a comment below. (Your email address will not be published.)

For help on planning for your event download our publicity toolkit at: http://www.community-spaces.org.uk/toolkit

Publicity Toolkit Updates

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

toolkit pic smallThe Community Spaces Publicity Toolkit has been updated.

The toolkit now contains additional information about social networking websites, launch events, when to acknowledge Community Spaces funding, and extra advice for large and flagship grant recipients.

Changes apply to sections 1, 2, 3 and 5.

The toolkit can be downloaded as a whole document, or section by section:  www.community-spaces.org.uk/toolkit

We recommend that groups refer to the toolkit when they are first awarded the grant, as it contains all the information relevant to promoting their Community Spaces project and will help them to meet the terms and conditions of the grant, throughout project delivery.

Questions and comments welcome!

In the midst of organising an event?

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

Are you in the midst of organising a small-scale, local event?  If so, we’d like to hear from you!

There are lots of Community Spaces projects due to hold a launch event and we want community groups to share their experiences to help others. If you have any handy hints to pass on about how to plan, organise or run an event,  please post your comments below.

For guidance on how to look after special guests, and other things to consider when organising an event, see Section 4 of  the Publicity Toolkit.  A full version of the toolkit can be downloaded from the Community Spaces website.

Bennion Pools launch in Leicester

Monday, July 6th, 2009

The Community Spaces team turned up to join The Friends of Bennion Pools at their launch event this Saturday. The project transformed the former sewer farm into a natural wildlife haven.

Thomas Skidmore presents John Greasley with Community Spaces plaque to mark the completion of the nature project.

Thomas Skidmore presents John Greasley with Community Spaces plaque to mark the completion of the nature project.

Special thanks go to the Community Support Officers – Carol, Anna and Mike for their help and support, and also to Dr Paul Archer from the Heatherbrook Surgery for continually supporting the group.

Pictured with Chairman of the group, John Greasley, is Groundwork UK Grants Officer, Thomas Skidmore, who said: “This project is a great example of how a site can be completely transformed with Community Spaces funding and strong community involvement.

“The Pools look fantastic and there are lots of different elements that inspire you to walk around. The group also has several plans for future development which are very encouraging.”

Well done to everyone involved!

An eventful summer for Community Spaces

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

Ten out of 72 Community Spaces-funded projects have now launched, and a further seven projects are expected to launch this month – from trim trails to bare rock habitats!

We’d like to wish each Community Spaces project the best of luck with their launch event.  If you need any tips on how to prepare for an event and guidance on how to use our logos, please download the Publicity Toolkit under the Useful Information section of the Community Spaces website.

Let Us Know When You're Launching!

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Launchkit3Groups participating in the Community Spaces programme are required to give Groundwork UK at least 4 weeks notice, prior to the project launch date. This gives us time to prepare the support you need to publicise your project and acknowledge your grant.

We’ve got banners that we can lend you, and a launch kit to give you.

The launch kit contains a plaque (8″x6″), a project comlpetion certificate, balloons and lots of other goodies for you to use. Please contact your Grants Officer or email press@community-spaces.org.uk  to confirm your launch date. Thanks!