Hatfield Woodhouse Community Information Day & Digital Skills Course

Here at Well Doncaster, we pride ourselves in having the residents voice at the heart of our work in hyper-local communities. One of our main aims is to contribute towards addressing health and wealth inequalities across Doncaster and your voice plays an essential role in achieving this in the form of our monthly Positive Action Group (PAG) meetings – facilitated by a Well Doncaster Officer. We actively encourage residents to take lead on the PAG meetings by utilising their lived experience and community knowledge to increase engagement, community spirit and provide more opportunities for the residents and community groups to access.

Thanks to our discussions with residents, local community groups & partners at the Hatfield Woodhouse PAG meetings, a Community Information Day was planned to bring borough-wide services directly to the residents of Hatfield Woodhouse.

The day saw 25 different Doncaster-wide services and organisations host an information stall to showcase their opportunities for supporting residents. We were joined by key partners including Be Well, Doncaster Mind, East Family Hubs, NHS services and the Stronger Communities team. It proved to be extremely popular, with residents engaging in meaningful conversations with all stallholders. As well as a valuable opportunity for the stallholders to network and signpost between services, which provided a powerful means to bring the community together and reduce social isolation.

“It was great to see so many residents really engaging with every single stall, taking the time to have valuable conversations and make the most of gathering lots of information which was on offer to them.” Charlie Bonner, Well Doncaster Officer

We were very grateful to hear back from some of the residents and partner organisations who attended the event! Here is what some of them had to say:

“Several people took some of our leaflets and service booklets and talked to us about various issues and concerns that themselves or people they knew were having.  We were also asked to attend a pop-up at an over 50's site to help support with mental health and money concerns.” – Doncaster Mind

“I was joined by Samantha Whittaker from Doncaster Council's Multiply team & together we had a busy & fruitful event. We made many new contacts & were able to jointly promote our services. I even got confirmation of people who will attend my Basic Digital Skills course on Thursday 7th November at that venue. I'd like to think that we can make a positive contribution and impact on our local communities & this was a good opportunity to start.” - Trevor Parsons, Adult Family and Community Learning

“Just wanted to say thank you for yesterday which was a fabulous day with so many contributors.  We had a steady flow of attendees throughout the day who stayed and visited many stalls. I managed to speak to most of the stalls and met some really knowledgeable folk who were happy to help. Cake was good too!” - Hatfield Ward Councillor Glynis Smith

“I would just like to thank you and your colleagues, on a very successful day it was wonderful to see the amounts of residents who attended, also all the stall holders who attended with very useful information. I really enjoyed the conversations I had with many of the people and stall holders. Well done and congratulations.” - Hatfield Ward Councillor Linda Curran

“You did an amazing job I don’t actually think you could have done anything better other than have 5 of you!” - Morgan Radcliffe, Mission Endeavour CIC

“I just want to say a big Thank You for all that you have done at Hatfield Woodhouse with the Village, PAG Group, HWEG, Village Hall & the Chapel. You have been full of energy and enthusiasm since I first met you in June at the Summer Fayre.” - Julie Parker, Sandra Newton, Mandy Harper, Hatfield Woodhouse residents

Next Steps and Community Impact

The event was hugely successful in bringing services directly to Hatfield Woodhouse residents and really engaging the residents in the community. As a result, some residents have enrolled in a digital skills course being delivered by the Adult Family and Community and Learning team at the Village Hall. The course has made an immediate impact in just the opening weeks, with one of the tutors, Trevor Parsons, explaining that residents are already benefitting from the opportunity. A number of residents have explained that the course has begun to provide them with essential skills and given them a greater sense of confidence to overcome some of the barriers they may have previously faced on digital platforms. Residents also mentioned that the approach to teaching has “really sparked enthusiasm” for “getting with the times” by “equipping the learners with valuable basic knowledge”, enabling them to “adapt to the increasing technological advancements of today.”

There are also future plans for delivering similar events across communities within the Hatfield Ward to really maximise engagement with the residents and strive to make a positive difference in the community.