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Hi, Gloria here from Castlemilk Timebank
The primary school children at St Martin's School, a local school in Castlemilk have earned their time credits by keeping their play area tidy, buddying and mealtime monitoring. They have exchanged their time credits for juice from BRITVIC soft Drinks (they are going to see Harry Potter at the cinema, thirsty work) and a REAL christmas tree for their assembly hall. Have a nice time over the holiday period take care regards from Castlemilk.
What better way to beat the winter blues than get together with friends and share a hearty lunch?
Every Friday at the West Euston Time Bank participants sit down together and enjoy a bowl of soup.
Time credits are earned for preparing the soup, bringing the bread, serving and washing up. And the café has had a really positive reception too, "It's not just about the food. Instead of eating on my own I can now share a meal with friends and find out what's happening in the community" says Flo Knight, a time bank member.
Call Maria Duha on 020 7383 4922 for more details
West Euston Soup Café
Time banks are succeeding in re-building trust and social capital, and are attracting into volunteering the very people who normally take part least – including claimants, disabled people, those with a long term illness and non-white British ethnic groups.
Those are the findings of the first nationwide study of time banks in the UK, carried out by the University of East Anglia with funding from ESRC.
The research gives time banks a thumbs-up for their work in deprived communities – building the capacity of communities, providing informal local services and making an impact on long-term, isolation, illness and depression. But it says the same model should be applied to other issues, to support political participation or consultation.
The report The Time of Our Lives will be published formally by Time Banks UK and the New Economics Foundation (NEF) at the annual gathering of time bank activists in Glasgow on November 7/8.
It comes as the number of time banks in the country tops 50, with examples in schools, health centres, housing estates and community centres – a way of measuring and rewarding people’s time as equal partners in the business of delivering services.
The report also found that time banks are:
Building employability by freeing up time to go to work, for example providing childcare, by linking with training providers, and by developing skills for future employment. Download a pdf copy of the Executive Summary of the report here (140kb), or for a copy of the full report (64pp) price £11.95 contact Central Books 020 8986 5488.
Going to time bank events generally brings me into a state of excitement over all the amazing things people do through time banks. It seems that every time I hear of a new time bank, it also means hearing about a new way of doing time banking.
Working on putting the time bank handbook together I had the chance to go and visit time banks across the country! That brought me as far as the Cotswolds, Leicester, Rutland, Newcastle and Glasgow. Here a little briefing on what I saw and heard:
It has been absolutely fantastic to see all the time bank buzzing across the country, and to know that this is just a small part of all that is going on!
Julie Baxter, the Fair Shares Participants Co-ordinator, has been conducting partnership work with a number of community groups, businesses, voluntary agencies and schools in the county. The focus of the work has been linked with active citizenship and the government's educational directives for Key Stage 3. The needs-led development work has naturally evolved the adaptation of the application, contract and agreement forms for the inclusion of a wider social participation.
Maidenhill Secondary School, in Stonehouse, has joined Fair Shares as an organisational participant and selected a group of non-GCSE pupils to perform a variety of assignments as part of their accredited ASDAN vocational work experience. Tasks were undertaken with residents of an extra sheltered housing scheme in their neighbourhood. The help they provided included assistance with wheelchairs during trips to the shops, which for one resident had not been received for several months. Other pupils were involved in leaf clearance, writing Christmas cards, laundering cumbersome items and baking mince pies for a Christmas concert, which took place at the school. In recognition for the dedicated and responsible conduct performed by the young people, the Everyman Theatre in Cheltenham donated Pantomime tickets. The Fair Shares were donated back to the housing scheme and arrangements made for a summer trip for all those who took part on the pilot.
On the strength and success of the Maidenhill pilot, Wycliffe College have joined the scheme and will be engaging on Fair Shares as a major part of a new GCSE in Community Citizenship. Older pupils will be taking part with a community service programme. Their work will commence from late September. The work will primarily focus on the prevalent needs for befriending and companionship in the town.
The Young Peoples Fair Shares and the schools involvement has proved so successful we will shortly be introducing the proven scheme to other secondary schools in our county.
On July 9th 2002, from 6.15-8.15 pm, in the Redgrave Suite of the Barbican Centre, participants in an innovative project aimed at improving school attendance and grades will celebrate the first anniversary of the Tower Hamlets pilot project, OPT 4 IT. Miquita Oliver, the popular children’s television presenter, will give a keynote talk and present reward computers to the peer tutors.
Three schools in Tower Hamlets are participating in the two-year project, which is managed by Community Education Development Centre and the New Economics Foundation, and supported by the Shine Trust.
Opt 4 IT uses the idea of time banking with older pupils who share their time tutoring younger pupils. Older pupils (peer tutors, Years 10 and 9) learn how to tutor others, and help younger pupils (Years 8 and 6) with numeracy and study skills, using specially designed learning materials. The pupils chosen to be tutors are those having difficulties with school work, who have behavioural problems or poor attendance. The tutees are those who need 1:1 support, or are from a local primary school and are starting to make a transition from one school to the next.
The project was pioneered in Chicago, where it was found that the peer tutoring improved grades for the peer tutor and tutee alike, has a positive effect on attendance of participants and influences their general well-being and confidence. The project also provides access to a computer for pupils who may not have regular access.
Activities take place in school out of school hours, for 1.5 hours a week, over 20 weeks. Peer tutors earn time credits for the time that they spend tutoring younger pupils. When they reach a target number of time credits they receive a refurbished computer (paid for in the project funding bid). A school coordinator in each school manages the project.
Around 30 peer tutors will receive a refurbished computer as reward for 30 hours completed tutoring. Parents, teachers and local councillors will attend the ceremony, as well as representatives from the SHINE trust and the Community Education Development Centre. A theatre troupe from the Morpeth School, one of those involved in the project, will put on a dance performance involving children of all ages.
For more information contact Karina Krogh at NEF on 07887 992479, [email protected]
Peer tutors with TV presenter Miquita Oliver at the Opt 4 IT celebrations
We had a wonderful visioning event last month in London - 40 time bank enthusiasts looking forward to many varied time banking successes. Here's some of the things that they wanted to see happening in 2005:
Read the summary report! (63kb PDF file)
Ash-worth Time Bank in Cheshire celebrates the Jubilee
UK delegates contributed to an international meeting of time bankers in March, held in the US. The main focus of the weekend was to look at how to strengthen, support and sustain the growing global time banks movement. Ideas discussed included setting up a worldwide organisation to network time banks, share resources and to campaign for social justice more effectively on a global stage.
March 2002 International Meeting
Time Banks UK is set to expand after the exciting news of a £273,000 grant from the Community Fund.
The TBUK consortium, which supports the growth and development of time banking in the UK, now includes the Gorbals Initiative (Glasgow), and Valley Kids (Rhondda Valley), besides time banks pioneers Fair Shares (Gloucester) and 'think and do tank' the New Economics Foundation.
The three-year grant will be used to:
For more information contact Fair Shares on 01452 541337.
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