Bus Stops

As most of you are aware God has really blessed Open Blue helping us to secure significant funding recently from UK Youth and Osborne Clarke and the Garfield Weston Foundation. 

For the Garfield Weston application I had to put together a project proposal of no more than 6 pages.  As I was asking for a contribution towards general running costs, it became a bit of retelling of all that Open Blue has done over the years.  It is a bit of a read, but I thought some of you might enjoy hearing what Open Blue has done over the years, and for others of us it would be an encouraging reminder. 

Open Blue has been working with communities across Wiltshire since 2003.  We look to build community and deliver opportunity wherever we serve.  We help those struggling with rural poverty and isolation.  Our mobile community centre provides a venue for activities, that most of us take for granted, but in these isolated communities are not available unless people are able to, and prepared to travel.  At the moment we are working in four communities.

We run a baby and toddler group and an after school club at the Thingley Traveller Site visiting once for 3 hours each month.  We work in partnership with Traveller Educational Support. After a slow start we are seeing 5 children at the baby and toddler group.  We have consistently seen between 20 and 25 children at the after school club.  Activities include cooking, arts and craft and games. These could be board games, outdoor games and electronic games. We also provide snacks and drinks.
 
In Upavon and Burbage we visit each village monthly for 2 hours providing a place for the young people to hangout and have fun together.  Both hot chocolate and cheese toasties have proved very popular, and the kids have enjoyed the chance to run around and play outdoor games on nearby playing fields as well as board games and electronic games.  At both communities we are seeing a regular number of 8 young people.  We were invited in by the local area board and the parish councils.  Both were concerned about the well-being of the young people.

Wellington Place is an isolated estate of MOD hosing that Open Blue has been visiting for over 15 years.  The estate is outside of the wire from the nearby army base and separated by fields from for the nearest village, Hullavington.  In the last year we have run 2 fun days for the under 11s in the community working with the Army Welfare Service and from March to November ran a regular monthly after school club.  We saw around 20 children each time and many of the parents stayed too, giving us a chance to get to know them and more importantly a chance for them to get to know each other, thus building community. 

We have recently started visiting Calne again.  Working with the Rise Trust we provide a venue for young people to hang out together and have fun for an hour on a Friday night.

All communities have been really pleased to see Open Blue back visiting them.

At Upavon and Burbage we work with the local parish council.  Councillors are pleased to see the numbers of young people we are serving, the fact they keep coming and those we are drawing to the bus.  Over the past year we have rebuilt relationships with the young people as well as providing fun activities for them, and are beginning to have the opportunity to chat and provide that listening ear.  Young people have struggled during the pandemic and by providing a place to hang out, build and make new friendships we are helping to improve their well-being and mental health.

Open Blue has been visiting the Thingley Traveller Site for over 15 years working with Educational Support.  Through the after school club and the baby and toddler group we provide activities that the children enjoy and would not have access to otherwise.  In the time Open Blue has been visiting the site we have provided a bridge for other services such as Health Visitors and Public Health to the site.  Over the years we have helped parents make applications for secondary school places thus the children remain in school longer than is usual.  We have also liaised between the travellers and the local council when plans to develop the site were being put in place.  We helped the travellers explain what they needed and would like to see.

Again Open Blue has been visiting Wellington Place for over 15 years.  Our visits with the bus proved to the MOD the need and they converted two houses into community centre for the estate.  Open Blue transferred its activities to the community centre, and for many years we were the only regular provider of activities using it.  In this community we have partnered with Army Welfare and Health Visitors.  The Health Visitors were struggling to see new born babies and found a fortnightly visit to the baby and toddler group, we ran before the pandemic, would mean they could see most of the new born babies in the community. This meant they were able to identify health problems with the babies earlier as well as post-natal depression in the mums.  As restrictions eased Army Welfare contacted Open Blue asking when we would be able to return.  The drop-in centre was in need of repair, which has been completed recently.  We were able to use the bus to run a fun day during the summer of 2021 which was the most successful of a series of events Army Welfare organised that summer.  We ran a further fun day in February 2022 and then began the monthly visits with funding we received from Wessex Water.  Army Welfare were struggling to get people from this estate to events they organised on the base, so have been very pleased to see the response to our visits. 



The vicar of Lacock invited Open Blue to help at the Corsham Road Estate, an isolated estate of social and emergency housing surrounded by fields and situated across the busy A350 from the village.  To access the village, residents have to walk 15 to 20 minutes on roads without a pavement and cross the A350.  For over 10 years Open Blue ran a baby and toddler group, an after school club and a residents café, for the older members of the community, weekly during term time.  The residents café and the baby and toddler group happened at the same time on different decks.  Older residents commented how it was nice to see and get to know the baby and toddlers and the young mums who they normally would not interact with.  The members of the residents café said coming to the bus each week built friendships and they got to know each other much better.  Over time they started going out together to a Cabaret event in nearby Chippenham three times a year.  We feel we built community on that estate during time we visited. 


Open Blue has developed a one pot cookery course, that over 6 to 8 weeks teaches people to cook healthy, nutritious meals from fresh ingredients.  It came about when one young mum, who came to our baby and toddler group, admitted she did not know how to cook meals for her family.  We initially helped her but then developed a course we could deliver on the bus to communities.  Greensquare a local social housing provider has used the course on numerous occasions for its residents.  The course teaches people to cook healthy meals improving family diets as well as encouraging them to eat together more often, both important markers for children doing well at school and people living a longer healthier life more generally. 

Thank you for all your support and prayers over the year.