Aviva Community Fund has provided £122 of match funding
The Bank, a Welfare & Enterprise hub for Chopwell.
Newcastle upon Tyne, England, United Kingdom
Aim
To regenerate our community and improve the lives and life chances of people who live in Chopwell, one of the most deprived areas in England
Where is Chopwell?
Chopwell is a former mining village in rural west Gateshead with a population of around 3,700 in 1,600 households. North Chopwell is one of the most deprived areas in England –in the lowest 4% of areas for employment and the lowest 6% for the impact low income has on children (IMD 2019). A high proportion of adults in Chopwell have no qualifications (27%) compared to the national average (22%), (Census 2011).
The deprivation levels in our rural community have led to significant crime levels, mental health, drug and alcohol issues. There are also serious food poverty issues with the Pickle Palace social enterprise, helped by volunteers from CRG, delivering over 100 food parcels a week during lockdown. There are also regular urgent requests for food received at Chopwell Primary School and Chopwell Community Centre and where there is no space to run a food bank.
There are however a huge number of positive things about Chopwell, which CRG are building on, including:
- A really strong community and people with a lot of passion, pride and love for Chopwell who want to see things change.
- The area’s very interesting history, with coal, self-sufficiency and strong community at its heart.
- The surrounding area of ancient woodlands and orchid meadows. Chopwell overlooks the beautiful Derwent Valley and has the stunning backdrop of the North Pennines. It is also on the edge of Chopwell Woods, a 360-hectare woodland managed by the Forestry Commission popular with walkers, runners, cyclists and horse-riders.
- The steep, windswept and perfectly parallel lines of long Victorian terraced streets were built by the people who lived in them and Chopwell is regularly used in TV and film, including in recent years Vera and a Hovis advert.
Chopwell Regeneration Group
Chopwell Regeneration Group (“CRG”) was formed in May 2017 by a group of residents. Our mission is to change the course of Chopwell’s future, to revitalise our village and to improve the lives and life chances of people who live here. Our shared vision is for Chopwell to again be a vibrant and exciting place to live which will attract new businesses and visitors, provide work and leisure opportunities for its residents and care for all members of the community.
CRG’s responsibility is to provide whatever long-term support we can for those most in need in our community. We know that The Bank is ideally situated to play a crucial part in this work, providing desperately needed help to fill a gap in the support services available to residents here.
'The Bank' building
Gateshead Council have granted CRG a 35-year peppercorn lease of a large building at the end of a row of shops on Derwent Street, the village’s main street.
The ground floor of the building was formerly a Lloyds Bank which closed in 2017 and is still known locally as ‘The Bank’. The two upstairs floors were previously used as residential accommodation, accessed from the rear of the property, but have not been occupied for many years. Since 2017 the entire building has been empty.
The Bank will benefit all of our residents, reviving pride in the village environment and encouraging further investment and support for local businesses and retail outlets.
What will happen at The Bank?
The Bank will become a Welfare and Enterprise Centre, and a radical stride forward for Chopwell. It will provide an infrastructure that meets the wide-ranging needs of the village – needs which are very clearly identified in the 2019 IMD statistics quoted above. This project will address a fundamental lack of essential services, and equally will catalyse growth and opportunity, creating positive futures for badly disadvantaged residents.
The services to be provided on the ground floor will include the restaurant / café which will serve ‘pay as you can’ meals, money management services and a wide range of activities to help improve social cohesion in the village. As well as the issue of poverty, mental health is also a serious concern here, with many socially isolated and lonely people, especially among the elderly. Activities may include leisure activities, but also courses such as money management or benefits awareness, for example, directed particularly, but not exclusively, at young people.
The first and second floors are already providing spaces for start-up and small businesses let out at competitive rates for use as offices / workshops. We are focusing on young people who need a helping hand to get their ideas off the ground, and will be providing mentoring, opportunities for networking, use of IT facilities etc. All our rooms have been let to local people - without us even needing to advertise!
A priority for the project will be creating opportunities and increasing the aspiration of young adults. Employment and qualifications of 16-24 year olds in Chopwell are disproportionately low compared to national averages. The Bank will be a vibrant and accessible hub at the heart of the village, providing an evolving training, apprenticeships and employment programme. We will know The Bank is succeeding when we have fundamentally shifted perceptions of young people that opportunity only exists outside of the village.
The Centre will benefit all 3,700 residents through the services and opportunities available as well as providing a warm and friendly place to meet in the heart of the village.
What's the current project about?
In the current project, we are trying to raise £10,000 to run cookery activities to help the community improve their health and well-being. Our Nutrition related aims are:
a) to relieve food poverty in the village by making healthy food accessible to all, and
b) to increase people's awareness of nutrition and their ability to maintain a healthy diet.
The planned activities are likely to include, for example, a men's pie club, cookery classes for teenagers, easy, nutritional meals for families as well as demonstrations from local chefs. They will be run from our training kitchen in conjunction with local social enterprises such as The Pickle Palace and Big River Bakery. The funding will contribute to ingredients, trainers' costs, advertising and overheads.
This project successfully funded on 7th December 2021