Barton Community Association

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1 Barton Community Association ANNUAL REPORT 2017 SUMMARY Since our last Annual Report we still find ourselves facing severe funding and service cuts in our area, but we continue to strive to deliver the best services possible to our community. Here is a snapshot of what we have been involved in during the past twelve months. BARTON PARK - with the new development now starting to take shape and building work appearing literally on our doorstep at Fettiplace Road and along Barton Village Road we can see the first block of apartments appearing over the hoarding along the A40. This block should be ready for occupation towards the end of this year or very early The Marketing Suite is due to be open by the end of the summer, and already the children s play area is complete. The man-made lakes make for a lovely feature of the area and already the ducks have become the first residents of the new development! BARTON UNITED the club have had to face a second season away from their home, but everyone involved is looking forward to moving back to the new pavilion in good time for the 2018/19 season. We will continue to support the club wherever we can during this transition period. BARTON BASH our annual community event will take place on Saturday 30 th September at the Neighbourhood Centre between 12 noon 4.30 pm. Thanks to all our donors and sponsors for their continued support that makes this event happen each year. Please get in touch if you would like to be part of the Bash in whatever capacity you choose. LEASE negotiations are ongoing and we are working towards securing the best possible deal for the future of the Centre and those who benefit from it. We are also working in partnership with Oxford City Council around proposed alterations and improvements to the Centre BCA STRATEGY our business plan is now complete and is available to view on our website. Alternatively, you can obtain a hard copy from the BCA office NEW RESIDENTS we would like to welcome all new residents to Barton, and actively encourage you to become involved in your local Community Association.

2 Membership costs just 1 per year (under 16`s free membership) and there are many opportunities to volunteer at all levels and within many activities ACTIVITIES in our last Annual Report we promised to try and provide some new activities based at the Centre. Since last year we have introduced weekly Zumba classes for adults and separate free classes for children. Please visit our Zumba facebook page at:- Zumba BNC. We have also recently started Salsa classes for adults. The cost for the adult classes is just 5 for six weeks, so less than 1 per week. We understand this is the best value available throughout the county. Some of our core activities including the After School Art Club, Homework Club, Barton Job Club, Bingo and Wednesday Lunch Club continue to succeed and offer great opportunities to everyone in our community. Through the existence of the Fun to Learn Homework Club we are seeing some of our young children achieve much improved SATS results before their transition to secondary school. MATHS AND ENGLISH CLASSES during the past twelve months we have worked with Abingdon and Witney College to provide support through Adult Numeracy and Literacy classes here at the Centre. The results have been so successful that the college has asked if they can continue these courses throughout the 2017/18 academic year FACEBOOK AND WEBSITE DETAILS - please take time to have a look at our website and let us know if you think there is anything else that should be included. Also our facebook has now got a life of its own and regular contributions keep many people informed about us and what s happening locally. Visit our website at:- and our facebook page at WHAT WE DO included in tonight s pack is a What`s On at BNC. Please take a minute to glance through all the activities that take place on a regular basis here at the Centre. Maybe you or other family members can be persuaded to come along and join in some of the activities on offer. Or maybe you might want to suggest something new to be added to the timetable. We have recently received some funding that will allow us to restart the Disco Dadz project that proved hugely successful last time round. COACH TRIPS 2017 our annual coach trips continue to be extremely popular and throughout August last year we took approximately 600 passengers to coastal resorts and further afield. This year we have a very full itinerary on offer including an overnight stay to Blackpool, Birmingham German Xmas Market, London Illuminations and Sightseeing Tour alongside all our regular favourites to Weymouth, Bournemouth, Brighton and Portsmouth/Southsea. We also offer from time to time shopping trips in and around Oxford using our own minibus where the only criteria is to be a member of BCA so enabling free transport to all passengers. DOCTORS SURGERY we will soon see changes happening in the building with the complete overhaul and refurbishment of the current doctor s surgery. Patients old and new will benefit from a much improved Health Centre on their doorstep. Work will hopefully start before the end of the year. EATWELLS CAFÉ going from strength to strength with extended opening hours, local employment opportunities, training for people with learning disabilities, work experience for school students, volunteer placements, in-house and outside

3 catering services, lunch club provision and management of food bank deliveries three times weekly. BARTON COMMUNITY CUPBOARD the food bank has recently been relaunched under its new name of Barton Community Cupboard with the addition of a small fridge that enables us to receive a greater variety of stock than before. The Cupboard is very well used and easily accessible to anyone living locally. GRANTS AND DONATIONS even though we are witnessing first hand continued austerity in the funding market we continue to offer a far wider choice of activities and services to our community through the receipt of various grants and donations. We offer our grateful thanks to everyone who supports us through these means. STAY AND PLAY SESSIONS as a result of working in partnership with County Council and Brookes we have recently seen the return of our weekly Stay and Play sessions at the Centre. The sessions take place each Tuesday morning, and we are seeing many local people getting involved in order that the sessions will become self-sustaining over time. Grateful thanks to everyone who makes this possible. VAN COULTER AND RAY GUILLERY- sadly we had to say goodbye to two people who offered us great support and advice throughout their involvement with the BCA. Van was our local Councillor and OCC representative on our Board of Trustees throughout his time at Barton, and Ray was one of our deeply respected trustees who offered Barton residents a great deal through his wisdom, knowledge and support LOCAL COUNCILLORS Since the passing of Van Coulter we now have a new City Councillor, Mark Ladbrooke who, alongside our other councillors Mike Rowley and Glynis Phillips, will take on the challenges and resolutions that Van worked towards. VETERANS ASSOCIATION We feel very privileged to be able to host the local branch of the Veterans Association covering Berks, Bucks and Oxon. The organization offers practical, welfare and pastoral support to all ex service personnel. They meet at the Centre on a monthly basis and have expressed their gratitude and thanks to the Association for supporting them. As a result of the venue we are able to offer them they now find they can offer more in depth support to anyone suffering from trauma (PTSD) as a result of being involved in conflict as well as their more generic level of support. INVESTORS IN EDUCATION we have recently been informed that we are to receive an Investors in Education Award for our ongoing contribution towards the education of our local children. We were nominated by Wheatley Park School. IT S PANTO TIME! In January we hosted the Pantomime Dick Whittington in partnership with Emmanuel Church for children aged between This was a free event and the feedback we received was that the parents enjoyed it every bit as much as the children! INTERNATIONAL FOOD FEST AND CHILDRENS CHRISTMAS PARTY for the first time we held an International Food Festival at the Centre with visitors being able to taste dishes from around the world. These included dishes from the Caribbean, India, Iran, Greece and many more countries. Alongside this we had our annual Children`s Christmas party and even Father Christmas managed to put in an appearance making sure each child left with a small gift as well as a full tummy!

4 STAFF AND VOLUNTEERS None of the above would be possible without the professional and accommodating approach of the BCA staff who are regularly praised by organizations using the Centre for their warm and friendly welcome and always being prepared to go that extra mile. We must also acknowledge and thank the unconditional commitment of our volunteers, including our board of trustees, who make sure the wheels keep turning. Sue Holden Company Secretary Barton Community Association July 2017 Working with the community and for the community to improve the quality of life for all Barton residents

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