Lanchbury, Rebecca - CommissioningWhitehead, Sue - Democratic Services212019-07-03T14:41:00Z2019-07-03T14:41:00Z61528871272201022016Innovation Fund – Cohort 1 Group/Service Name Feedback Witney Day Centre The minisubs has offered improved transport options for people already attending or wishing to attend the centre, We have been able to offer trips to other day centres to link up with them,The funding has enabled the service to offer its provision to a wider geographical area, having our own transport has enabled us to support a larger number of people to get to and from the centre.OCCAC We have been able to organise the following activities since we received the grant:Origami, Chinese calligraphy, Karaoke, Peking Opera singing, Chinese music instrument playing, Chinese cultural dances, community choir as well as Mah Jong and Chinese chess tutorials;Visits to different Community/Memory/Dementia Cafés in Oxfordshire run by Restore, Alzheimer’s Society, John Radcliffe Hospital, Dementia Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire Age UK, St Clements’ Church and St Margret’s Institute to meet other service users, share good practice and improve integration;A special day trip to Portsmouth for elderly and carers on 7th April 2019;Encouraged our elders to grow fruit and vegetables at home and in our community allotments at Elder Stubbs.Funding is becoming increasing difficult to source and secure in terms of becoming self-sustaining.Green Pastures Green Pastures has been able to offer the monthly Nostalgia Cafe as we set it out in our application for Innovation funding in June 2018.  The Nostalgia cafe opened in October 2018 and has run once a month since that time.  We have averaged 18 to 20 visitors at each cafe.  Our visitors are usually 9 or 10 pairs, each pair consisting of a person with Dementia and their carer. Before we put in our application we did do quite a lot of research on what was available for those living at home with dementia and their carers in the Banbury area.  This meant that   we could choose a format and a day and time that did not clash with other Dementia focused activities in the area.  It also meant that we contacted carers who quickly spread the word about the new Nostalgia cafe.  The venue is very important.  Green Pastures opened its new Home in 2017 and designed it with a large, light atrium area which could be used for community activities like the Nostalgia cafe.  Our visitors with Dementia particularly like this space and frequently comment on how much they like it.   I recommend that good consideration is given to whether the venue is suitable for a project before a grant application is made.   Our volunteers are hugely important to the success of the Nostalgia cafe.  We have a team of 7 volunteers so that we can have at least 4 present for each Nostalgia cafe in addition to the one paid member of staff.  Money from the Innovation grant funding was used to ensure that our recruitment process for volunteers was appropriate and robust.   The grant funding paid for all our volunteers to be DBS checked.  The Innovation Fund grant provided dementia training for our volunteers which not only gave them the skills and knowledge they needed but also started team building.  One volunteer commented “It is a real pleasure to volunteer at the Nostalgia cafe.  I think it is going really well and it is lovely to see the carers chatting to each other and everyone entering in.”For the first six months we had a dementia friendly activity at each Nostalgia Cafe.  These ranged from Reminiscence of Old Banbury, to a Sing along, art and craft and Boccia!  We found that the art and craft was not very popular especially with our visitors with dementia so now we focus on the activities that the visitors really enjoy even if this means we don’t have an activity every month. I was not confident that we had been successful in gaining an Innovation Grant after reading the Cabinet minutes for July 2018.  This delayed our starting to get the publicity designed by three weeks.  I do recommend that successful applicants for the Innovation grant funding are notified directly by email within 24 hours of the cabinet decision that they have been successful so that this sort of delay in getting started can be avoided. We received our contract with the terms and conditions for the Innovation Grant only one month before the first Nostalgia cafe opened.  By this time the publicity designs had been approved and had gone for printing.  It was at this point that we saw the requirement for the “supported by Oxfordshire County Council logo”.  This meant that we had to go back to the graphic designer to get the publicity redesigned with the OCC logo included and then a reprint done of all the publicity.   I do recommend that terms and conditions of the Innovation Grant funding are sent to successful applicants within a couple of weeks after they have been told that they are successful so that they can ensure that they comply with all the OCC requirements in all their planning and publicity.The Nostalgia cafe has made me realise that caring for someone with dementia at home is often very difficult.  We have had carers shedding tears and quietly telling us that they are finding it hard to care for their relative with dementia. We always have enough volunteers so that they have time to sit and chat with person with dementia or with the carers.  We also have a support agency present at the Nostalgia Cafe.  These are Dementia Oxfordshire, Age UK and Carers Ox, one comment from Dementia Oxfordshire in January was “I will be at the Nostalgia cafe in February.  I have heard good things about your cafe from clients and am really looking forward to it.  We have seen two daughters hugging each other after sharing with each other their experiences of caring for a mother with Dementia.  One comment from a lady with Dementia in the early days of the Nostalgia cafe was “My daughter says that it is time to go home now.  I just want you to know that I don’t want to go home, I have had such a lovely time here.”  Green Pastures would very much like to continue the Nostalgia Cafe once the Innovation Grant funding ends in September 2019.  We are planning to apply for Sustainability Funding in September 2019.  Age UK The funding has supported our plan to deliver cultural experiences for people in Oxford.Over the past 12 months, we have:Produced agreed terms of reference and action plan Delivered 6 bi-monthly Age Friendly Network meetingsDelivered 4 specific training sessions based on needs of network members Produced a cultural brochure for older peopleCo-ordinated a joint creative response to the Age of Creativity Festival for October 2018 and May 2019Commissioned 6 exploratory meetings that focus on developing a response to specific gaps in delivery Created a support network of members to respond to local and national commissioning/funding opportunitiesMarston Gardening Community Our inaugural year has gone exceptionally well. We started off with some very successful seed and plant swaps, followed up by some lovely planting of flower pots and hanging baskets, all recycled and reused containers! This was followed by a wonderful autumn harvest of local fruit and vegetable crops, which were swapped and donated to local residents. We helped clear and tidy several elderly residents’ gardens.The 2 biggest projects of this last year were planting thousands of daffodil bulbs around the village, and the formation of a new community orchard, ably assisted by the pupils of St Nicholas primary school. Bulbs were planted round St Nicholas church, Mortimer Hall Recreation playground and in the orchard. The orchard has 12 fruit trees, 5 apple, 2 pear, 2 cherry, 2 plum, and 1 fig tree, which was planted by the Lord Mayor of Sheffield.! :-) The orchard was truly "blessed" by a wassailing event in January, attended by over 50 people, including pupils, parents and staff from St Nick's school.2 other projects MCG has accomplished in the last year are filling in holes and carrying out re-turfing repairs to Mortimer Hall Recreation ground and doing a major overhaul of the Mortimer Hall Preschool Nature Garden.Held 5 committee meetings + an AGM in FebOrganised 15 work parties to carry out various projects...Attended 14 other events, either representing MCG, or supporting other community projects, e.g. Oxford's Library of Things, and Cuttleslowe Community Wood.Completed 107 work hoursSupplied 8 compost bins to local households to encourage home composting, to reduce load on City Council.Planted or handed out 175 trees in Marston, including on Parish Council land, The Red Lion pub, St Nicholas Church vicarage, St Nicholas Primary school and New Marston Primary school, and to 26 residents.Coming year.More bulb and wild flower planting to help insects and pollinators, and many more trees to capture carbon, mitigate climate breakdown, improve air quality and reduce summer air temperatures in the city, but especially in and around Marston. We have struggled to find a suitable lock up due to us being a community group and not meeting the criteria for what is an empty storage space that could be rented from the District Council. Faringdon Sensory Garden This project didn’t start due to the dependence of other funding which wasn’t awarded. Awarded amount has since been declined. My Life My choice Internal staff changes meant a slower start to getting up and running but it has proved beneficial in the long run as this person was able to bring new ideas to the project.We have been successful in matching volunteers with people who have similar interests, including cultural and religious beliefs. It did prove a challenge to recruit volunteers but with improved advertising and publicity, we have been very successful. We have trained volunteers and some Gig Buddies with LD, who can now provide support to a person wishing to attend an event or area of interest. It was important for us to link with other local organisations and share experiences and to network to recruit volunteers to match with Gig Buddies.We would have liked a contract earlier on in the process as we were not confident that the funding would materialise until it was in our account – things can change. Addendum 2 – Innovation Fund Feedback from First Cohort