Grace Mary to Lion Farm Big Local covered a large hilly area above former industrial spaces around West Bromwich in the West Midlands. In 2021 it was home to about 10,600 residents (ONS, 2022a), almost a quarter of whom were 16 or under (ONS, 2022b), and with nearly a quarter of the population being of Asian, Black African or Black Caribbean heritage (ONS, 2023a; 2023b).
This area was made up of five neighbourhoods: Grace Mary, Lye Cross, Portway, Wallace, Birchley, and Lion Farm. Low car-ownership (ONS, 2023c) and hilly terrain limited access between neighbourhoods, and residents tended to identify as being from separate communities. Community assets included churches, schools, libraries, youth groups and local shops.
According to the partnership, several community and youth services and facilities had closed before the Big Local programme began and, with limited investment in the area, green spaces were largely unmanaged. There was, however, a tradition of community activity centred around churches and community groups.
In 2013, the Grace Mary to Lion Farm (known as GM2LF) Big Local partnership commissioned a community profile and consultation. These identified key priorities for the area as bringing the whole community together, investing in young people, improving the local environment, and enhancing residents’ wellbeing.
The partnership varied in size over time, including 11–15 residents who brought varied skills and experience. Many partnership members were already active in the community and some remained members for the lifetime of the programme. They met monthly and created effective task groups to manage and deliver activities. These task groups drew in community groups and volunteers from outside the partnership, though all decision-making remained resident-led. Annual general meetings united the community by involving residents from across the whole area, showcasing achievements and consulting on community needs and ideas. They included performances from local dance groups and choirs, awards for volunteers, and buffet meals.
With an emphasis on transparency and accountability, the partnership embedded consultation throughout the programme, via door-knocking, social media, and distributing newsletters to 4,000 homes. They appointed a full-time Development Coordinator in 2016, who supported delivery of GM2LF activities and events, maximising resident engagement, and capacity-building in local groups and organisations.
Committed to building on existing activity and nurturing partnership-working, GM2LF shaped delivery around five community hubs. Over £400,000 of Big Local funding was provided through grants to improve community spaces, strengthen activities and bring neighbourhoods together. Projects acted as catalysts, with some residents developing an interest and belief in their ability to make things happen and affect change.
GM2LF’s legacy was evident in strengthened community organisations and the lasting relationships built between groups. In 2022, the partnership established the GM2LF Charitable Incorporated Organisation to deliver events previously delivered by the partnership. Several partnership members became trustees of this organisation.
A Big Local partnership was a group made up of at least eight people that guided the overall direction of delivery in a Big Local area.
Early on, the Grace Mary to Lion Farm (GM2LF) partnership decided to focus investment on five organisations delivering activities in their neighbourhoods. These included three churches, the Wallace Youth Project and Lion Farm Action Centre. GM2LF helped connect these organisations, enabling them to deliver joint events that brought the wider community together.
Each organisation, or hub, in this new network could apply for a grant of up to £10,000 (and £5,000 in later years) to improve their infrastructure and services. This was spent on, for example, employing engagement workers, renovating buildings, improving car-park accessibility and creating a laptop suite. Hubs and other local groups could apply for grants of up to £2,000 to deliver activities. A bowls club used a grant to deliver a new weekly indoor bowls session locally, and went on to gain additional funds from Age Concern. Participants built relationships, connecting outside of the bowls meet-ups and supporting one another, for instance, with hospital visits.
Following the investment of Big Local funding, each hub secured further support from other funding streams. For instance, Wallace Youth Project gained £5,000 from Awards for All towards a weekend narrowboat adventure. Each hub offered opportunities to volunteer and offer mutual support, and each experienced an increase in community use and resident engagement. Newly fit-for-purpose facilities, greater footfall, valuable connections, and a resident led-approach helped the hubs become more resilient, and each committed to sustain community activity beyond Big Local.
From early on the partnership sought to address residents’ concerns about the physical environment by organising regular events that incentivised people to clean up the Grace Mary to Lion Farm area.
During Dump Your Junk days, residents worked together to properly dispose of unwanted household items and clear up litter. Everyone who took part was given an opportunity to go on a day trip. In an event in 2018, the partnership took three coaches of people to Blackpool, after over 300 residents filled five skips with ‘junk’. Inspired by the impact, some residents went on to adopt streets for litter picks.
The partnership’s annual In Bloom competition began in 2015 and encouraged residents to showcase blossoming window boxes and green spaces. Children designed promotional posters, and the competition was celebrated in newsletters and on social media. With over 400 residents participating over a five-year period, these initiatives helped boost local pride and led to a greener, more attractive environment.
Throughout Big Local, grant schemes enabled 29 community groups and organisations to launch or continue projects that engaged Grace Mary to Lion Farm residents. Initiatives that benefited included a wrestling club, games areas in schools, a ‘Place of Welcome’ in a local church, parent and toddler groups, and a homework club.
One grant supported the Wallace Youth Project’s Feel the Freedom project, which responded to young people’s concerns about low confidence, poor mental wellbeing and peer pressure. Feel the Freedom gave young people the opportunity to experience life beyond their estate by taking them on activities like narrowboating. Spending time in the natural environment and working together to navigate locks, cook, and clean, helped individuals develop confidence.
Throughout the programme, the partnership supported local groups working to reduce social isolation. One successful support group developed out of concern that older residents were not leaving their homes post-Covid. After a volunteer told the partnership that Oakham Community Club had not reopened after the Covid-19 pandemic, an initial £2,000 of Big Local funding (and a further £2,000 annually) was allocated to the Club’s rent and activities.
This weekly, volunteer-run club flourished, regularly attracting more than 40 participants and gaining additional funding from Sandwell Council for Voluntary Organisations and Asda. Residents were appreciative of the volunteers, the friendships, and the activities on offer (including entertainers, bingo, guest speakers, yoga, and Christmas parties). A highlight for many was a trip to a pantomime at a Birmingham theatre, for some residents it was their first ever opportunity to see a pantomime.
Older people also enjoyed the partnership’s regular Afternoon Teas. Run by volunteers, these were beautifully laid out, with sandwiches and cakes, local performers, and dancing. The Summer 2024 event at Dudley Golf Club was enjoyed by over 100 residents. Activities like this exemplified the partnership’s approach of ‘engagement with a purpose’, in this case seizing the opportunity to connect residents across the whole area.
The partnership initiated the Big Local Big Feed during the Covid-19 pandemic, when many families struggled to afford a Christmas dinner. This annual event, coordinated across all five hubs, provided residents with a recipe booklet and ingredients for a full family dinner. In 2023, 60 volunteers distributed 175 hampers, providing lunch for 700 people across the Grace Mary to Lion Farm area.
The partnership supported residents to maximise their income, manage their money, and access benefits. They used a range of approaches over the years, including commissioning a credit union to run sessions on ways to save money. Those sessions highlighted a need for one-to-one advice on issues like budgeting, changing energy suppliers, and accessing benefits. So, for two years prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, the partnership employed a Financial Engagement worker who delivered workshops in schools and helped residents to collectively save more than £192,000.
The Grace Mary to Lion Farm partnership felt that young people were often excluded from discussions about the issues affecting their lives. So, two members went out to talk to young people and hear their concerns.
As a result, nine young people (aged 8–16) from different neighbourhoods joined forces to address mistrust between estates, and issues like crime and isolation. Known as Big Local Little Voices, this self-managed group received £3,000 in Big Local funding and support from the Wallace Youth Project.
Big Local Little Voices created a video to raise awareness about knife crime and loneliness. They set up a printing and merchandise enterprise to generate income to support the group’s financial sustainability. The group also improved the local environment and supported mental health by designing and installing ‘loneliness benches’ (encouraging young people to chat) and transforming a disused area into a community garden for young residents.
Over seven years Big Local Little Voices helped young people to make friends, gain confidence and resist peer pressure. For one member, the experience helped them reduce their social anxiety, which meant they could achieve previously out-of-reach personal goals. In 2021, the group’s achievements were recognised with a West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner award for Outstanding Young People’s Project.
Each Big Local area received approximately £1.2 million (ranging from £1.199 mil to 1.209 mil) to spend over 10–15 years, depending on how much additional funding they accessed from Local Trust to address specific needs. For example, to bring people together at the start of the programme or to access training and support. This has been categorised for areas and at the programme level based on reports received from areas.
Partnerships chose their own priorities and categories for reporting, and were encouraged to use broad categories so they could use the funding flexibly. All areas spent a significant amount of money on ‘Big Local delivery costs’ such as workers’ salaries, stationery and IT equipment. You can find out more about programme level spend in this article. This is how Grace Mary to Lion Farm Big Local told Local Trust they used their Big Local funding.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022a) ‘UK Census 2021: All persons’. (Accessed 7 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2022b) ‘UK Census 2021: Age structure of the population: Population aged under 16’. (Accessed 7 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023a) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: Asian, Asian British or Asian Welsh’. (Accessed 7 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023b) ‘UK Census 2021: Ethnic group: Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African’. (Accessed 7 January 2025)
Office for National Statistics (ONS) (2023c) ‘UK Census 2021: No cars or vans in household’. (Accessed 7 January 2025)
