SAFE is a community business centre
based in the old school.
And it's got 13 social enterprises there.
We own the Lock & Key community pub
which was a derelict pub.
All the profits that are generated
through the festivals, events,
through the pub, all of that goes
straight back in to the charity,
to be reinvested, to support local
people, to do more great things.
The group we're involved in is a Tuesday
afternoon sing around in the pub.
And we've sang today at the Country
Festival, and we started the
Country Festival off last year.
We started it off and
that's a dream come true.
The keynotes are a bunch of ragtag
and bobtail musicians.
We all love ukuleles, we all love to get
together and have fun, sing and play.
Singing Our Socks Off is a community
choir that I started 18 years ago.
We've supported charities
if they have an event.
We've supported them at Christmas.
We organise group litter picks.
We organise litter picks with children.
We do the education of the young people.
We also work with Mencap, and
bring people with learning
disabilities out into the community.
And we've also now got a reading club.
We do a coffee club as well.
We litter pick within the community.
We clean up grot spots.
We do planting of flowers, just to make
the area look a bit better, to create
a cleaner, greener, brighter Bootle.
Halley's Hub is a pre loved
shop selling anything from
clothes to household items.
And everything in the
shop is for a pound.
We do free uniform, free
pre love baby clothes, the
food pantry, the food waste.
We offer monthly sessions for kids
and families in the community to see
wildlife on the canal and enjoy the
sports facilities that are available.
We'll be out there, first point of
contact, and we listen to people.
We door knock, we'll have
conversations, and it's giving
people an opportunity to to speak.
We attend public meetings,
gatherings, events.
We do anything from working with
a local park group, we've helped
set up the People's Park Festival.
We had over 12, 000 people
attend over two days.
We work with local asylum seeker
refugee organisation across the
road, we work with other community
based projects and organisations.
So that can take the form of
getting a petition together to
change a lot of problems with
potholes and unadopted roads.
And talking to local councillors
and landlords about the things they
need to change on their street.
We collaborate on events like Big
Litter Picks and across the row
we have the Outback, which is a
community garden and a Family Centre.
The Outback is a community garden
garden where people volunteer.
We use a lot of the produce
that's grown, which gives people
satisfaction to see it from
seed to plant to on the table.
Tesco's generously give us
whatever they can from a surplus.
And we cook it here.
So it's freshly hot meals that
we give to our volunteers.
And we do plot to plates,
budget cookings.
I go out to teach people.
We teach nursery staff,
we teach parents.
We've got two polytunnels.
We grow chillies and tomatoes
and aubergines in here.
And then outside, we grow all
sorts of different things.
Squashes, courgettes, beetroot.
We grow kind of what the
community like to buy.
We make lots of different
curries, soups.
We have a pop up shop, and
people come and buy our produce.
We have a range of volunteers.
And we have a learning experience
on how bees work in society.
The three hives this year,
very fortunately have given us
close to 450 jars of honey.
We run a number of programmes where
we're delivering services, such as
our community transport, taking people
to hospital or day centres, based
on electric rechargeable vehicles.
We have a community newspaper
called Watchet Connects.
We produce and deliver to
every house in Watchet.
And we have a programme with young
people called Strives, where we're
working particularly with those
kids who might not go to education
or youth club, to do activities.
We also help other groups
identify and potentially apply for
funding for their own programmes.
We support local organisations,
with things like upskilling.
We've recently started
up a women's group.
We also work in the library with
Sparks IT, helping sometimes
older people, get used to using
things like computers, smartphones.
There's the community bookshop which
we renovated and we now rent that out
to the people who run the bookshop.
That brings a profit in for us, which
we then plough back into the community.
When the lottery funding came
through, that's meant that we can
expand into two rooms rather than one
room and put out a lot more stock.
Previously it was damp, it was
cold, it felt very restrictive.
It's a great building to be in
and very welcoming to visitors.
The Quantock Foodbank serves a
very rural and coastal population.
We have changed the whole of our
operation from just being a food bank to
actually operating through our pantries.
One is static and the other is
a fully electric mobile vehicle
which goes round the villages.
Those who have been referred
without funds can still access
the pantry free of charge.
However, those who are struggling
with the cost of living, pay a
membership subscription of four
pound a week, and for that they're
receiving 35, 40 pounds worth of food.
Watchet Connects is a bi-monthly
magazine that is free to
everybody who lives in the town.
The whole process is done by volunteers.
It tries to publicise everything
that's going on in the town.
Both the opportunities for volunteering,
but also the options that are available
for people to enjoy themselves, to join
groups, to become part of the community.
I really feel it gives me purpose
and it gives me a feeling of pride.
It's built life friendships.
I myself have felt at times lost,
and with the facilities here and
the people here, I feel I'm a
better person for doing this.
It gets me out.
It's a bit of exercise.
Seeing litter doesn't do
my mental health any good.
Picking up that litter
improves my mental health.
Sometimes it's my reason for getting
up in the morning, is to see the sun
and to get out, take my litter pick
with me and by the time I come back
I feel so much happier in myself.
There's a lot of my members who,
going on in their home life.
People who've lost their
partners who come to the choir.
And for them to be able to meet
new friends, do an activity
they want to do and new skills.
It's part of their life.
Last year we were awarded Merseyside
Women of the Year, and that
was voted for by the community,
which we were very proud of.
When you feel you've no control over
your life, it's hopeless, isn't it?
But if you feel you're connected
with people and you can kind of
influence the space that you live in
and make a positive impact, well then
it's a beautiful thing, isn't it?
I see this as my community, and
it's my way of of giving back.
It's really important
to respect the roots you've had,
where you've come from
and...
and to see it change
and change in the hands
of the people that live in
the community is absolutely amazing.
We have people who have been to
bees who are struggling in society.
Getting involved with bees has made
a difference to a point where one or
two of them would actually say that
beekeeping has saved their lives
and you cannot put a value on that.
It's something that gives me a
lot of joy, a lot of happiness.
It's my happy place.
And it's more economical as well.
Rather than buying more and wasting,
we're trying to teach them that what
they've got in their pantries, what
they have at home is what they can
budget on and learn to cook from that.
I love feeding people.
Feeding is my life.
The more the better.
I'm on my own, as a widow.
So coming here also gives
me company and enjoyment.
It allows me to use my creative
skills that I've had over the years.
And I've noticed over the time
I've been coming that people
have got the confidence back.
Their enjoyment through being helpful
towards others, growing things
helps them and I think actually
gives them a better quality of life.
I look forward to coming, actually.
Lovely people to work for.
It's keeping me fit and active, and
at my age that's very, very important.
And psychologically as well, people
here get a lot of benefit out of it.
The people that we see, a lot
of them are very vulnerable.
A lot of them are in severe ill health.
They come in very shy.
And we have seen remarkable changes to
a point in time when they say that they
are ready to stand on their own again.
And they have developed
confidence in dealing with people.
Helping these projects
makes me feel proud.
It makes me feel part of the community.
I enjoy making a magazine because
I like the feeling of connecting
people together, that's one of the
reasons for the name and it works
in my head, it works for me as well.
It's a great place to volunteer.
It keeps you in touch with local
people but it also enables you
to meet lots of other people.
Also, it's raising funds
for local good causes.
What the Canoe Club gives us is
an opportunity to let people see
nature, to see that there's more
than just buildings and brickwork
around Bootle, that there is so much
nature around here, that they see
there's other opportunities, not just
your standard brick jobs out there.
If the lock and key wasn't here,
and Safe Regeneration wasn't
here, there'd be nothing here.
There'd be nothing going
on in the community.
It provides such a range of
opportunities for different ages.
There's a great sense of community,
we're all friends, we all really
enjoy developing together.
It's like a second home.
And everybody, they're
just like one big family.
We're just so lucky to have found this
place, which lots of people who've
come along have said, I would never
have dreamed of singing or playing
an instrument, but because the pub
makes everybody feel so close together
they said, oh, we'll spread the word
and we'll start this here or there.
I think that gives people a sense
of pride if they can see that their
environment is being cared for.
We're also very conscious of how
litter affects our waterways.
And we know that if litter gets into
our waterways, it ends up in our sea.
And we hope that by getting at
the children at a young age, that
by the time they are in secondary
school and are adults, they
understand the importance of looking
after their environment as well.
It's therapeutic for us,
but it's also really nice
to see the smiles on children's
faces and young adults when they
can do something that their parents
maybe couldn't afford before.
One thing I'm really, really proud of
is the impact we've had
on galvanising the community to
hold the council accountable for
all the potholes in the area.
I started a campaign.
The hashtag?
Fill my hole.
That was a hashtag that went viral.
We had over 200 potholes reported.
And now we are seeing the change,
potholes are getting filled, some
roads have improved, and the council
are being held accountable by who?
The public.
We had one lady that came, the
housing development was deteriorating
and so we went down to her estate.
And now that estate has been upgraded.
And so they've got new pitched
roofs, new windows, new doors.
And it's really brought
the neighbourhood up.
So many people can get isolated
very quickly and lose that
trust just by a small incident.
So the impact of all this is people
suddenly getting that they are a
community, they can see change very
quickly if they work together and
actually just talk to each other.
And then the empowering
is quite magical.
Through connecting all the different
groups in Watchet, we're stronger
together than we are individually.
And so building
cohesion of different groups and
individuals making them feel more
part of the community and being able
to participate in it and enjoy it.
We support the economic wellbeing
of the town through improving
the infrastructure, for example,
refurbishing the bookshop.
And we've got over 100 members
of charities, businesses, other
interest groups who help shape what
the people of Watchet like to do.
We're working towards upskilling
people so that they can take the
opportunities that's around this area.
The town's growing and young
people are choosing to stay.
Watchet Connects is really
important to Watchet.
It's a way of getting information
into every property in Watchet.
We do have a significant number of
people who don't have a computer.
They often complain that they
don't know what's going on.
And so Watchet Connects is a
tool that we can enable them to
know what's happening in Watchet.
I think over 6000 pounds this year
has been donated to local causes.
And the building is available for
community groups, and also used by
some of the Ukrainian immigrants
who are having English lessons.
And they also share some of their skills
with some of the local community.