Welcome to Darnall Forum's Community Website

Thursday, 16 May 2013

Darnall Carnival

Thanks to generous support from British Land we hope to be able to help local residents and organizations to hold a carnival again this year, probably on Saturday 14 September. We are looking for volunteers to help organize this.

EXCITING NEWS ABOUT DARNALL POST OFFICE

While some post offices are closing, Darnall Post Office is expanding! During the summer we are refitting the branch so that we can offer more services, including:

· An ATM machine

· Car tax or vehicle licensing

The branch will also have a makeover inside while these changes are taking place. To make these changes we will have to close the post office for ten days. Staff will let you know, up to four weeks before, when these changes are going to happen.

All of our usual services will continue to be available alongside the new ones after the refit:

· Saving and borrowing

· Insurance

· Banking and payments

· Travel money

· Letters and parcels

· Phones and internet

· Forms and documents

We will also be opening for longer on Saturdays.

Darnall Forum Can Help You Learn English or IT, Or Get Your CV On-Line and Apply for Jobs By Email

ADULT COMMUNITY LEARNING AT DARNALL FORUM

Once again we are running adult community learning courses at Darnall Post Office and at the Church of Christ, Living Waters and the Staniforth Neighbourhood Centre in Darnall.

In September we hope to offer

· ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) Entry Level 1, 2 and 3, and Level 1 and 2.

· IT courses in a range of subjects at Levels 1 and 2, including wordprocessing, spreadsheets and desktop publishing.

This will depend on Council funding and on who the Council asks to deliver adult community learning courses in Darnall next term.

There are also some places available NOW on IT courses at Tinsley One Stop Shop on Bawtry Road near Meadowhall.

Basic Help for Jobseekers

Each Monday from 9.30 till 11.30 we run sessions for people who are looking for work on Mondays. The programme we offer lasts for five weeks and during that time we will help you to:

1. improve your CV

2. open an email account, or use your existing email account, so that you can manage your CV and send it to employers

3. search for jobs on the Internet

4. improve your job applications and covering letters

5. improve your interview skills

You can join the programme by coming along on a Monday at 9.30, but we only have space for ten learners at a time.

If you already have a CV please bring it with you. If you have a copy of your CV on-line please send it to yourself in an email before you come to your first session or you can bring it with you on a memory stick if you have no alternative.

Basic Help for Jobseekers in Slovakian

On Wednesdays mornings from 9.30 till 11.30 we will be running sessions with an tutor who speaks Slovak. The programme we offer to Slovak speakers also last five weeks. We will help you to:

1. create a CV in English

2. use your email account, or set up a new English language email account, to manage your CV and send it to employers

3. search for jobs on the Internet

4. prepare some covering letters and useful words and phrases to put in application forms

5. prepare for an interview in English

If you already have a CV – in English or Slovak – please bring it with you. If you have a copy of your CV on-line please send it to yourself in an email before you come to your first session or you can bring it with you on a memory stick if you have no alternative.

Please note that places on this programme are strictly limited. Please call at Darnall Forum to arrange a place on the next course.

This programme and some of our other sessions for jobseekers are funded by the European Social Fund as part of its mission to invest in jobs and skills for European citizens.

Wednesday, 8 May 2013

What they say about us

You can find out what The Guardian and others are saying about us by following these links:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/the-northerner/2012/oct/22/socialenterprises-key-fund-sheffield-leeds-bradford-doncaster-barnsley-rotherham

http://www.sycf.org.uk/foundation_news/?id=131

Monday, 4 February 2013

Darnall Post Office Wins Another Award

Darnall Forum has won the Sheffield Gives Third Sector and Community Investment Award for 2013 from the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce & Industry. The award is for the most significant new business / third sector collaboration in Sheffield in 2013. Post Office Ltd has been working with Darnall Forum to support the community post office run by Darnall Forum.

Previously Darnall Forum won 'Best Improvement in Performance' for a Small Agency Branch in the Post Office Network in 2012, for its efforts in reopening the post office after it was closed for almost a year and rebuilding the business from scratch. Darnall Post Office was also one of the runners-up in the Yorkshire Key Fund Top 10 Social Enterprise awards 2012.

Post manager Gillian Jackson said, 'It's fantastic that all our hard work has been recognised again by this award.'

Wednesday, 16 January 2013

Community Organisers working in Darnall and Tinsley!

Darnall forum are happy to announce that we now have a team of community organisers who are here to listen to you; how you feel about your community, what you love, what your concerns are and what you want to see for the future. They have already listened to almost 250 local residents.

The aim of this project is to build networks of people in Darnall and Tinsley who have similar interests and ideas for their community. We want to empower you to develop projects that will build upon your visions for the future. Zahira, Nagina and Charlotte will be based in Darnall Forum but you are more likely to see them out and about in Darnall and Tinsley. They are all looking forward to listening to what you have to say and helping you put your project ideas into practise.

If you have an idea, vision or concern or just want someone to listen to what you have to say about your community please do not hesitate to contact our community organisers.

Zahira Naz – 07860526602

Nagina Hussain – 07860526601

Charlotte Beecroft – 07860526585

Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/DarnallTinsleyCOs

Find out more about Community Organising at www.cocollaborative.org.uk

These posts are supported by the govenrment’s national Community Organising programme and the East Community Assembly

Friday, 21 September 2012

AGM

The Darnall Forum AGM will be at Darnall Post Office on Tuesday 25 September at 6pm.

How to join in

1) Follow us on Twitter @darnallforum
2) To post a comment, click on the link beneath the post or previous comment to which you want to respond and write your message in the box.
3) Complete the word recognition box, which is designed to stop spam.
4) Then, if you have one, you can enter your Google username and password.
5) Alternatively, you can click 'other' and enter your real name, or a nickname which you would like us to display, or you can click 'anonymous'.
6) Then click 'Publish'. Your message will be sent to us for checking.
7) We will know who you are but, if you have used a nickname or chosen to be anonymous, no one else will know.

How our community team can help

Chris, Nazia and Zahira are the friendly voices on the end of the phone line when you call us and the people who deal with your visits, letters and emails.

They work closely with community groups and individuals who want to make a difference to Darnall. Chris is our Lead Key Support Worker, helping people who are over 18 and currently out of work, to find jobs, education or training through Sheffield CIty Council's Pathway to Success programme.

Zahira is currently covering Nazia's learning Champion role and is the person to contact regarding our education programme.

We also have a team of adult community learning tutors who work closely with us. They help us run courses in IT, ESOL, employment skills, driving theory and other subjects.

If you want help with something which isn't listed here, and you live in Attercliffe, Darnall or Acres Hill, why not give us a ring anyway and we'll try to signpost you to the right place.

More about us

Darnall Forum’s day to day business is managed by a Board of local volunteers. Its vision statement is:

To create a listening space for the community, and
To work in partnership with other agencies and organisations to improve local services and help regenerate Darnall.

The Forum has four part-time staff who with local people to implement a Community Action Plan that was drawn-up after extensive consultation with all sections of the local community. The members of the Forum Board are drawn from the different faith and ethnic groups represented in the area and are elected by the members of the Forum at its AGM.

Darnall Forum is currently funded by Sheffield City Council, the European Social Fund and a small number of charitable trusts.

Darnall Forum also trades under the names D F Enterprise and Darnall Forum Trading, which reopened the community post office in 2010 and ran it for nearly eight years.

The Main Aims of Darnall Forum are:

To create a forum where people can meet to raise issues of local concern, where the agenda is set by local people and where leadership and direction remain with local people.

To work together as women, men, young people, elders, black, white, disabled or able-bodies, of different faiths or none, recognising, respecting and valuing our differences.

To form links with key agencies and local enterprises in order to work in partnership with them, discuss their role in the area and – where necessary – challenge them.

To gather resources to support and deliver initiatives begun and supported by local people.

To ensure that there is a clear and agreed process by which the Forum makes and acts upon its decisions, and to ensure that the Forum Board is accountable to the membership.

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