It has been a busy summer in Brighton’s BN2 Five. ULG members holding a wide range of activities, ranging from pottery classes at the Bristol Estate Artist Studios to Street Cricket at Crew Club, making for a packed summer schedule. These activities met the needs of new born children to those in their 100s. One resident in BN2 Five celebrated her 105th birthday!
What is BN2 Five?
Bn2 Five is the focus of the local transfer for ACTive NGOs in Brighton. It is made up of three neighbourhoods, Whitehawk, Bristol Estate & Manor Farm with approximately 7500 residents. Bn2 Five is home to a number of community assets, many of which are fragile and have daily pressures to keep providing local activity.
‘Nothing ever happens locally’ is a frequently mentioned in East Brighton, but not reflective of the numerous activities and events taking place. Better communication has long been called within the BN2 Five community and the ACTive NGOs ULG meetings have prompted collaborative action. Communication within BN2 Five is the key barrier to the successful transfer from the good practice of NGO House Riga.
From ULG member Tanya Saunder’s (Manor Gym) initial idea, a summer pilot was proposed amongst ULG members, What’s On in BN2 Five. This summer pilot was a direct response to the key challenge facing Brighton in transferring the good practice from NGO House Riga:
“Developing a communication strategy that does not work in competition with individual communications channels but works to best publicise the local offer and opportunity to engage, create and build new activities, services in East Brighton.”
The need for a communication strategy was clear when the transfer plan was created, however less clear how it was to be produced. After a number of conversations with individual ULG members, including Tanya from The Manor Gym and Tony and Graham from Serendipity, we formed a strong idea of what was needed to create a pilot. We discovered that many Bn2 Five residents do not have WiFi in their homes, instead relying on their mobile phone internet data allowances to use internet. So the internet is a precious resource for many in BN2 Five. Additionally, many older residents prefer physical newsletters and flyers to find out about local activities and events. With this evidence, it was clear that a physical publication and promotion was needed to see the What’s On in Bn2 Five be a success.
Who created the What’s On in BN2 Five Guide?
This group of ULG members began the discussions of how to improve communication in BN2 Five and all help create and shape the guide: Tom Goodridge & Sam Warren (ACTive NGOs coordinators), Graham Allen & Tony Silsby (Serendipity), Tanya Saunders (The Manor Gym), Lorraine & Darren Snow (The Crew Club), Helen Brightey (Roundabout Children’s Centre), Caroline Vitta & Sophie Murphy (Trust for Developing Communities), Chris El Shabba and Anne Glow (Due East Neighbourhood Council), Sarah Brice (Brighton & Hove City Council Graphic Designer).
Additional support, review and current contributors: Councillor Nancy Platts (Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council), Ricky Perrin (Sussex Bears), Caitlin McCarthy & Evie Martin (Parklife), Hugh Logan (Bristol Estate Community Association), Tracey Silsby (Hawks Community Café), Norah Carr (Whitehawk Library), Kevin Miller (Whitehawk Football Club), Abby Nicole Standing (Open Space Dance School), Dean Coussens (Youth Employability Worker – Brighton & Hove City Council), Sayanti (BME Worker – Trust for Developing Communities) Garry Meyer (Brighton Community Workshop Project).
What exactly has been created?
A weekly guide to summer activities within BN2 Five community, promoting activites and events taking place in every community asset.
What is the target audience of the guide?
The target audience are the residents of Bn2 Five, to meet the following purposes of the transfer plan:
Raising awareness of the full offer to the whole community through strong marketing and publicity.
It was also designed to support ULG members be more aware of all the activities and events taking place in BN2 Five, so they could act as signposters to local residents.
ULG members were clear that it needed to look different to municipal flyers, as they were likely to put off local residents from picking them up in the first place. Secondly, ULG members wanted the guide to be accessible – with minimal text that was clear and easy to read and visually appealing.
How the guide was distributed?
The What’s On in BN2 Five guide was promoted using physical paper flyers and through social media. Twelve hundred flyers were distributed to every child in the three local primary schools and also promoted on the main 1A bus route used daily by hundreds of BN2 Five residents.
Addtionally, A3-sized posters and flyers were located in key meeting points within twenty community assets to maximise the promotion. Alongside this, a small number of guides were printed and shared amongst the community assets. The small print run was made with the hope that ULG members could act as points of information for local residents rather than the cost of hundreds if not thousands printed guides.
What has happened since the guide was distributed?
The summer calendar in Bn2 Five began in early July with the boxing summer school at The Crew Club and ended with Parklife’s Big Picnic on 31st August.
The success of the guide builds upon the strong word of mouth culture within BN2 Five. ULG members, from Whitehawk FC to Crew Club and Manor Gym, noted that they saw numerous residents entering their space for the first time and in conversation mentioned that it was the guide that brought them there. Social isolation in Bn2 Five is a big issue, so ULG members were encouraged to see new users take part in activities and events over the summer. The event to most benefit was the Bristol Estate’s Summer Fun Day on 17th August, which had its best attendance in years, with ULG members supporting on the day. The highlight was the dog portrait sessions and pottery sessions run by Bristol Estate artists for young and old.
What’s On in BN2 Five Facebook group
The What’s On in BN2 Five Facebook group was created to add a social media presence as ULG members noted that flyers were not always the best way to promote events with Bn2 Five residents. The ULG did some local social media research and found that five existing Facebook groups had some promotion of activities and events but none regularly gave updates or had another focus, such as a local page for selling items (Whitehawk Selling Page).
What was the benefit of creation of this guide?
The group decided against formally evaluating the impact of the first What’s On in BN” Five Guide but instead collected anecdotal feedback from residents attending summer events and ULG members who held events and ran activities ULG members reported an increase in first time users at their activities and the events over the summer. Residents made mention of the guide and regular mention of the Facebook group at events. The benefit has been for ACTive NGOs, is that residents have seen a tangible output from the project and this has brought further interest and expecting increased engagement over the coming months.
Feedback has been strong on the Facebook page with the nearing 200 members, but more importantly that community members are interacting on the Facebook Page and ULG members are regularly posting events on the page.
“Promotion was good, next year it would be good to get the physical promotional material out earlier. The online promotion was [strong]” Sophie Murphy (Trust for Developing Communities Youth Worker).
Next Steps for BN2 Five
Create an online and paper questionnaire to fully evaluate the What’s On in BN2 Five pilot
Use What’s On in BN2 Five Guide to promote ACTive NGOs ULG meetings and future events.
Wear ACTive NGOs T shirts to promote both the project and the guide and Facebook group at all local events.
Maintain regular posting on the Facebook page and increase visibility of ACTive NGOs through this product of the project.
Include What’s On in Bn2 Guide as a standing agenda item within ULG meetings.
Written by Tom Goodridge, ACTive NGOs coordinator Brighton & Hove
Images by Brighton & Hove City Council Graphic Design Team with direction from ULG communications group
