Community Power Podcast Series 2 Episode 9: The power of pom-poms in East Coseley

Episode 9: The power of pom-poms in East Coseley

Chris Allen

Hello and welcome to this week’s Community Power Podcast, a series being brought to you in partnership with Local Trust. My name’s Chris Allen, and in this series, we’re showcasing some incredible projects, focusing in particular on what happens when you give local people the resources, the power and the assets to make a difference to their neighbourhoods. With me, as ever, is producer Beth Lazenby, who are we going to be hearing from this week Beth? 

Beth Lazenby

So this week, Chris, we’re in your neck of the woods, West Midlands, to talk to Shona Gilsenen and Dave Roberts, who are both engagement workers at East Coseley Big Local. And they work specifically around loneliness and isolation. So they’re going to be talking to us about one of their really successful projects. 

Chris Allen

Indeed. And East Coseley is in the borough of Dudley, just outside the city of Wolverhampton. But we got into our studios, and first of all, I said to Shona, tell us a little bit about the East Coseley Big Local area. 

Shona

Well, I’m perfect person to ask, because I didn’t know East Coseley before I worked there. So you know going there as a fresh, fresh person to the area, there’s lots to find out. And there’s so much already really going on in East Coseley. There’s so many sort of different groups that people can access. And this is things like, you know, the bell ringing. You’ve got the bowling club, you’ve got cricket club, athletic, athletic bowling. 

Chris Allen

You get the impression it’s a really lively community. 

Shona

Yeah, this, it’s, it gives impression, it gave the impression to me when I first went there, like, it’s, like, your, your old school sort of village. And it’s got, like, you know, all these sort of things that you might, you know, think, or what’s an English village look like? And that’s, that’s the kind of things it’s got. You know, shopping centre’s really small, but it’s got everything it needs. You know, it’s got your bus routes and the community. A lot of people that go there tend to stay there, so it’s got quite an older population. But it has got, you know, a lot of primary schools in the area as well. So you’ve got that new generation sort of coming through. But a lot of these children are grandchildren of people that have lived there forever. 

Chris Allen

It’s a bit of the old black country town. People are proud of it, aren’t they? Coming from Coseley. And I know back in the day, tried to save the baths. Failed, unfortunately. But you know, it’s got that old black country town feel to it. What were your first impressions Dave? 

Dave

I’ve known Coseley all my life. I was actually born just a mile down the road on the Rendon estate. So used to walk through coldly through Jubilee Park to go to the swimming baths when I was a kid. Regular weekend activities. But I did move away for nearly 30 years. I moved down to Wiltshire in 1991 and then came back to live in the Midlands again, within a mile of Coseley. 

Chris Allen

Sounds like a magnetic place, yeah. 

Dave

Not a lot changed, really, in that 30. I mean, okay, new buildings went up, the baths closed. But the people, the facilities there, you know. Coseley is rich in its community assets, in terms of community centres, which was when Shona and myself – and we’ll talk about it later – when Shona and myself first moved into East Coseley to do our work, the community centres there were ready to welcome us. 

Chris Allen

So you’ve got us and buildings, but also people. People come together for clubs and different things you said earlier, Shona as well. 

Shona

Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think there was a strong sense of community. And people did attend, you know, the line dancing classes, or their Slimming World, or, you know, whatever they’re into. But you know, a few people we’ve worked with, they’ve they felt that they didn’t have that community feel until we did start working there. And whether that’s through, you know, the fact that we’ve put pom poms everywhere. And we still got everybody something in common with each other through finding something, finding a pom pom. But or the work we’re doing, I don’t know. But, you know, she’d lived there for, you know, one lady in particular, sort of like, 40, 45 years. And didn’t really know her neighbours. Very much, I suppose, about the family, you know, and didn’t attend any sessions in her area. But then I suppose that is typical of, you know, maybe a working parent, isn’t it? 

Chris Allen

You get very isolated very easily. We’ll come back to pom poms in a minute – people are probably thinking what are you talking about – but we’ll come back to that one of your creative ideas. Now you two were brought in to look at the whole thing of loneliness, isolation, and you came out with this idea of pom poms. Dave, tell us about the pom pom idea, what you did and what kind of impact it had? 

Dave

Oh, it’s Shona and meself didn’t even know we each other existed on this planet prior to joining the team at Just Straight Talk. We were asked to basically set up a coffee morning as soon as possible, hit the ground running, get a coffee morning or something running. So we had a quick discussion and talked about a lot of other groups were, like, crafty or arty or doing something. And not everyone necessarily is arty, crafty. And I felt so we started talking about, yeah, everyone made a pom. Everyone made a pom pom of some description in their life. 

Chris Allen

Oh, we have. May have been about not sure how many years ago. I’m not giving away, but yes. 

Dave

And it’s such a simple activity. 

Shona

I think at the time, it was like, my, my daughter, who was, I think, seven at the time, was making pom poms with her grandma, who was like, you know, late 60s. So there we knew straight away if we were going to put an activity on, and we didn’t know who was going to come to the coffee morning, we’re going to reach an, you know, an activity that’s intergenerational. 

Chris Allen

So, so you call it Pom Poms for Loneliness. 

Shona

That was a very knee jerk, sort of. 

Dave

It was sort of like, a really creative moment. We just sat down with, well, it needs to have a purpose. Yes, the purpose behind it. And we just came up with the slogan that’s on the label. 

Chris Allen

Yeah. I’ve got one here, as it happens. 

Shona

The idea was that, you know, we’re doing this activity, we need to reach people. That’s the two. The main thing really is to reach people who are isolated. There’s a lot of people in the area that already attended sessions. How can we reach those people – other than put leaflets through the door, which are probably just going to get thrown. So these pom poms we were making, we thought put a label on contact details on. Dave, come up with the slogan, you know, and a way to reach us, you know, and put them around the area, and brightly coloured wool, you know. 

Chris Allen

And it works. 

Shona

It took off absolutely, wonderfully. And the pom poms for loneliness was just a, we need to set up a Facebook page. So for pom poms, we thought, oh, Pom Poms for loneliness. 

Chris Allen

It’s got this little sign on it, ​“let’s spread the word about loneliness and isolation. Take this pom pom on little vacation.” And people did, didn’t? They took them around the world, never mind, in East Coseley. 

Shona

Well, that was interesting because we didn’t, I didn’t expect that. I mean, I knew it was going to be good, you know, because it was so unique. And yes, we liked the idea, but we didn’t realise people would like hold on to them and then take them with them in their suitcases on their journeys. And we then make memories with with what we’ve put out there in the wild. 

Dave

Then people started sending us photographs. Where there were, you know, Jamaica, New Zealand, Germany, America, all over the world. 

Chris Allen

No, no, that’s absolutely ideal. But back to home, you know, it was more the people in East Coseley that you were trying to support here. So people began, did it sort of break down the nerves of people coming together? It made them smile. It saw some reason to come together, as opposed to just, you know, hey, oh, look, there’s this coffee morning on. Would you like to come to it? This maybe put a smile on their faces? 

Dave

I think the big difference, Chris, as I said at the start of the show, is Coseley is rich in community assets and community buildings. And there was art groups, there was Pilates, there was line dancing, you name it. It was happening in Coseley. However, as I said, a lot of people don’t really want to join an organised group where they’re expected to pay a sub, attend every week and go through a course and tick all the boxes and do Pilates or or bowls or cricket. A lot of people just want to meet people, make new friendships, have a chat. And I think that’s been the success of our coffee mornings. And what we do. 

Shona

It’s a hard step, isn’t it? And what the pom pom gave us is permission to open up a conversation. You know, we’d, I’ve driven past many people with a car full of poms and just pulled up, ran back to the bus stop and going, ​“can I give you a pom pom, please?” I mean, I never saw them again. They were scared, off of course. No, but, you know, it gave it gave people, gave us permission, and gave people permission to have that conversation. ​“Have you seen this? What’s this about?” Or at the bus stop, ​“Oh, yeah. What’s that?” you know, rather than just, ​“so, what’s the weather like today? ​“And then, you know, potentially that would open up conversations about loneliness, or maybe, ​“what is this, you know, are there sessions where we can go?” 

Chris Allen

So the coffee mornings. People don’t need to necessarily go and do something. You just need to be somewhere. Is that what you’re saying? Yeah, it’s about being rather than doing. 

Shona

You try and stop them doing something. Oh, we got a room full of people where, I mean every, every time I put on social media, you know, the room was buzzing. It’s always buzzing. But they’ve come round to the idea, haven’t they? Of like, you can be here, you can do what you want, but you can do a lot if you want to as well, you know? So it’s no, it’s great, it’s really, it’s really buzzing. 

Chris Allen

And then COVID hit. Obviously, the nature of your work changed radically. And through that, I know you did support in the community. What were the kind of things that the pandemic uncovered for you? Things perhaps that have been hidden that we weren’t aware of before the pandemic hit. 

Dave

It put the magnifying glass on just how lonely and isolated people were. It almost gave people permission, if you like, to say how lonely and isolated they were. But I think it also highlighted how caring people were. The other people making sure the neighbours were okay. The people talk to neighbours okay, albeit over the garden fence or from a distance, not from doorsteps, but actually just checking in on neighbours that they hadn’t seen for a while. 

Shona

Yeah, we found that, you know, the people we might already work with in one road, that in one road in particular, that you know there was three people that we worked with that attended our sessions or had found a pom pom. But when COVID struck, then they started sort of looking out for the more vulnerable neighbours in the street and and because they’d already been working with us and knew what we could do, and because they weren’t afraid to ask for our help, because we knew them, they then were going to neighbours and going, ​“you know, they can, they can pick up some medication for you, or, you know, they, you know, if you need a Christmas dinner, you know, or anything like that”. So it’s sort of built, built our connections with with other people in the area. And I suppose it would be bad to say it would be good for business, but the point being, it did bring more people out of the woodwork, whether that would be referrals from, you know, from other agencies, or from neighbours and friends that that saw the other people in need. 

Chris Allen

It broke, broke the ice in terms of those, those, those barriers there. And you obviously were then meeting very practical needs in terms of food and medication that people needed as as well. And do you think these were things that were hidden for a long time before the pandemic came along? You were obviously beginning to dig a little bit into the loneliness isolation in the area through the pom pom idea. But you think there was so much hidden in there that people have been lonely for years? 

Dave

It was very much hidden, Chris. Very much hidden I think prior to that. When we started, I think we were about 12 months into our project by time COVID kicked in. And the numbers coming to us, if we’re honest, were slow and the same couple of people every week. I think, through COVID, people were readily admitting and I think a story of my own. Just prior to COVID, Shona and myself went on a conference around enforced loneliness and isolation. So yeah, went on it took part in the debate, but never really understood it properly. And then COVID kicked in, and I was forced to stay at home. So I experienced, I lived that enforced loneliness and isolation. And it really hit home then about what other people must have been going through for years. 

Chris Allen

And I remember at the time talking to people around around the issue. And one of the one person said to me, ​“actually, the way that we can best get through this is by talking to those who live this way all their lives.” The enforcement you’re talking about. 

Shona

I think that’s like with anything, isn’t it? You know, if you can speak to somebody who’s got that lived experience, you know, whatever the issue is, really. And that’s what the beauty is about our groups now, is that, you know, you’ve got people coming. They’ve found out about the group, whether they’ve been referred or it’s a friend that has told them and they’re coming, because maybe they’ve their partners passed on, and they’re they’re really hurting. And they know they need to come out and do you know, and get out the house. And when they do come there’s so many people in that room that have been through that same experience, you know, and for them to know that they’re in that room with people that get it. And if they want to talk to them, they can. It’s not a support group, but there is support there. 

Chris Allen

Do you need more new ideas like pom poms coming along now? Or actually, have you established such a network that people have those relationships. They know where they can turn to. You’ve broken the ice? 

Shona

Yeah. I mean, we’re always coming up with ideas, aren’t we? I mean, we came up with that one last year about the let’s just do a jubilee event. So, you know, we put a huge event on at the park. And, you know, the trust, is it, the trust is now in us that, you know we can deliver, you know. We’re passionate, and we know what works. So we’ve proven that through the different things we’ve done, the small things we’ve done. And, you know, so therefore, we’re able to do these events, which also bring people together. They create memories. So they’re still ticking the boxes of reducing isolation and loneliness. 

And that that day in particular, we had 20 volunteers. You know, all sort of in high vis and radios, and that’s fantastic. Where were these people before, you know? And it’s fantastic, and it gives them such a sense of belonging. And we really value them. This isn’t just about doing them a favour, you know, you know, making them feel needed. We actually really need them. And, you know, we always say, ​“people say thank you, and what a wonderful project, but we’ve said from the beginning, it wouldn’t be anything without you guys, whether that be you just come along for a cup of coffee, share our posts on social media, or come and volunteer with us. It’s it really is a team effort.” 

Chris Allen

The local medical practices must love you, because you know you’re having a massive impact on mental health and well being, and perhaps people will come to your sessions rather than seeing the doctor? 

Dave

We’re actually getting referrals from social prescribers. 

Chris Allen

They do love you then. 

Dave

Yeah, yeah. So we’ve actually built up a relationship with the social prescribers, and they’re actually bringing people to our sessions and introducing them to us. 

Chris Allen

And that’s obviously a very there’s a formal aspect of that, coming into a very informal way of working. But it’s okay, is it? It’s working, okay? 

Dave

Oh, it’s working fantastic. 

Shona

Yeah, they just leave them after like, a session or two. Don’t they. And then we’re on our way. But we’re fully aware that, you know, on a Monday morning that doctor surgeries would get more phone calls from from patients, and it’s not because they’re particularly ill or more ill than they were on Friday. But it’s because they’ve had a really lonely weekend. I haven’t spoken to a medical practitioner you know about that. But we know somebody else who works for the local charity, who has somebody who would come in or phone up or contact them constantly, constantly for tiny little things. And that then has sort of lessened since we’ve been working with them. So it’s helping them. And obviously, you know, that person then doesn’t need to just sort of pester people, if you want to call it that. They’ve got a place to be, and you know, we want them there, and they’re a valued part of our community. So it’s, it’s a win win, really. 

Chris Allen

And obviously, we’re getting towards the end of Big Local. I like to say we’re entering the home straight, entering the home straight now, and the funding will all be spent at some particular point. I don’t know what might happen with your particular posts, but what, what do you see continuing in the area? Dave, in terms of this continuing, this loneliness and isolation being broken down and staying broken down? 

Dave

I’d like to think that we’ve created a community that have come together already and will continue. A lot of them will continue to be friends, to have a friendship, to have a connection in the community. Because lots of people who have joined our sessions, have also joined then had the confidence to join other sessions. And go off and you know one guy in particular, he’s now a volunteer for our sessions, but also volunteer for the food bank. So I think he’s built that sustainability and built on people’s confidence to go and search for other things that this mission in their lives. 

Shona

I mean, obviously it depends on what space and fundings available for them to continue the sessions that we’ve started. But, you know, there have been times when we’ve been on courses or whatnot, and we’ve said, ​“well, we can’t run the session. Would you open up? Would you do the teas? Would you do this?” And it’s happened. You know so. 

Chris Allen

There might be less, less need for, you know, professional support. Moving forward, they might be able to do it themselves. I’m thinking, you obviously work with elderly people. Are the younger people coming through to help sustain this as well? 

Shona

Some. Yeah, so, I mean, our age range now at the sessions, is 28 to 93. 

Chris Allen

Decently wide, yeah. 

Shona

Yeah. Okay, a lot of a lot of people, you know, friends, as we call them, are older, because that’s just the people that we’ve been able to contact, because they’re not a work or what have you so. But yeah, there’s certainly more of the referrals that are coming through from social prescribers or other support groups like creative support as well. We’ve had a few people come through there, and they are starting to get younger as well. So, and I think the more younger people that come, you know, especially you know, our 28 year old, he’s, you know, he’s very young, and you know, he’s come along. And of course, it’d be nice that it had been an opportunity that he could socialise with people his own age. But he feels so welcome. And he just comes to everything, and started to go to other things with some of these people as well so. 

Chris Allen

It’s important to him. Clearly, important and maybe he’ll be one of your leaders. 

Shona

It’d be nice to think that, you know, lead that lead the way into into the next chapter. 

Chris Allen

And we, you know, we’ve got this phrase cost of living crisis around. I imagine that a lot of the people you link with are in a permanent cost of living crisis anyway, and it just got worse at this particular time. I know you know your your work is complemented by some of the other aspects in terms of food banks and pantries and whatever. But you think you’re helping people through these times? Do you think through these sessions that you’re giving them a new dimension in their lives? 

Dave

Oh, yeah. I mean, Shona and meself belong to a larger organisation called Just Straight Talk. And there’s a fantastic support team there. If we mention friends who are coming to our sessions, they’ll they’ll actually go the extra mile and look at the housing, look at the benefits, look at the doctor surgery with them, look at the medication with them, and help them in all aspects of their life to try and get a better deal. 

Shona

We’re also lucky that we’ve had Dudley council did come to, well, have come to a few sessions now. But the one lady came in particular, Helen, and she then emailed me, you know, week after, saying ​“we’ve got some Asda vouchers to help with the cost of living. And, you know, just all we need is age and postcode. So do you know anyone?” Well, this is wonderful. So, like everybody that comes to our sessions, I think we had about 20, about 20,25, yeah, £150 vouchers that we were able to give to to our people, and they were able to get through Christmas. You know, not worry. In fact, one lady said, when I gave her the voucher, she said, ​“Oh, I can have my son for for Christmas day now”. And I’m thinking, what? She could have missed out on that. 

Chris Allen

It’s more than just about… 

Dave

And also, we’re also trusted through the food bank as well, so Shona and myself can actually fill those vouchers in. So our friends don’t have to actually go and seek another organisation and admit that they’re hard up for that week, you know they know us. We know them. 

Chris Allen

Break your little barriers down. And sounds like at the heart of it, strong, trusted relationships across a whole number of sectors. Here you’re talking about the statutory sector. You’re talking about the work that you do from community voluntary sector as well. Volunteers as well. It’s about actually people saying, ​“Hey, we’re in this together. How can we help each other?” 

Shona

Definitely, and they know where to come. So it’s like a yes, full service. It’s good, isn’t it? 

Chris Allen

We can’t finish without mentioning the fish and chips. Tell us the importance of fish and chips. 

Shona

Well, fish and chips, it’s a hot it’s a hot meal. It’s a wonderful treat. 

Chris Allen

And supports local business. 

Shona

It does support local business, and it was started by who is now our oldest friend, Irene. I used to get her fish and chips anyway, before COVID. And obviously that stopped when the shop closed. And I saw it open, and I was on the phone to her and told people. We did a zoom, ​“oh, we’ve got fish and chips are open again”. And Irene said, ​“Can we, can we have some fish and chips?” That’s fine. ​“We can deliver fish and chips”. So every Friday, and it’s still going now, we go and pick up some fish and chips and deliver them out to people. As far as we’ve got a lady who’s had to move out of Coseley temporarily, but still keep that connection with her. So taking fish and chips up to home in Sedgley. It’s, it’s been really important. 

Dave

The fish and chips are great, but I think it was also the weekly contact as well. 

Chris Allen

I can see that. Yeah, I know, I know fish and chips are great, but it had a deeper meaning than that. Yeah, so coming to an end, I just think about the pair of you. You know what? What’s the future hold for you if your job has to change or there isn’t future funding, what’s in your thinking at the moment? 

Dave

I think we’ve both got very different outlooks on that, to be honest. I’m coming towards the end of my career. I’ve done Community Development almost all of my adult life. And I’m not just saying because I’m on this show, but this project has probably been the best and most rewarding role I’ve ever carried out. I think she’ll be hard to beat. 

Chris Allen

Are you saying you’re going to quit while you’re at the top? 

Dave

I’m getting towards that, and I’m seriously considering winding down. So I’ll probably go down to a few days a week. I can’t afford to fully retire. I don’t think yet. I could look for something else, but within the same kind of work patterns. 

Chris Allen

But this is in your heart and soul isn’t it? 

Dave

Oh yeah and because it’s because it’s close. It’s it’s in an area where I’ve known all my life. And I think the the friendships were built up, we Yeah, they’re not participants, they’re not they’re not clients, they’re friends. 

Dave

Indeed. Shona?

Shona

Oh, I’ve got several different ideas. So I think with this project, and seeing the success of it and the need for it further, I’d like to be able to maybe plant seeds like this in other areas. So just be that charity or that organisation or that person that just sort of comes with these little ideas that maybe could work and start them off in areas that then they can, you know, be self sufficient and continue this. 

Chris Allen

The pom poms franchises? 

Shona

Yeah and also have a Poms on Tour van, which then I go and do festivals and, like, sell well, not sell coffee, give out coffee. Put some chairs out, and we just make pom poms in different areas and inspire people to be nice and make friends. But also, I really love the social media side. So, you know, I don’t know whether my future might be in marketing and, you know. Or maybe visiting all these little seeds that we’ve planted and seeing how they’re developing. But yeah, definitely, yeah, my heart is in community and making a difference, so we shall see. 

Chris Allen

Thank you both very much indeed. Through you, thank you for all the volunteers you’ve developed and you work with as well. Because, you know, changing one person’s life is tremendous, but actually the number that you’re changing is absolutely outstanding. So thank you. 

Shona

Thank you, Chris. 

Dave

Thank you.

Chris Allen

That’s Shena Gilsen and Dave Roberts from East Coseley Big Local with their pom poms for loneliness, a clever little idea that makes such a big difference. 

Beth Lazenby

Yeah, absolutely. I think it just shows that something so simple can transform into something huge that people just engage with really readily. I think what you said around people being there to be, rather than to do, was really important. And then Shona obviously reflected that that just starts up so many different conversations and other projects spiral from there. So yeah, personally, I’m very excited by the pom poms on tour idea, and I hope they go ahead with it. 

Chris Allen

And if people want to know, how about how to make the pom poms, or whether go to for more information, what do they do? 

Beth Lazenby

So we’ll post everything that you need to know about pom poms for loneliness and East Coseley Big Local in the show notes. 

Chris Allen

Thanks, Beth. Indeed, and Beth and I look forward to you joining us next time on the Community Power Podcast, brought to you by Local Trust, discovering what happens when you give local people the money, the power and the assets to make a difference in their neighbourhoods.