www.sheffieldmind.co.uk/serv_lets.htmWe like this one - Steel City Lets Scheme, in Sheffield. We took this one very much as our model for East Lancs Lets.
Lets is a co-operative idea, working on many levels to keep wealth in communities, to bring local people together to support each other where people don't have a lot of money, its about seeing all skills as equal and that everyone has something to offer, it's about socials, having fun, supporting each other practically and we are hoping it will move forward to be much more offering things like labour history workshops, practical workshops on things like diy, and we're hoping to create many offshots like a lets bookclub, a lets film club, and we're hoping to develop our website
www.lets.coop so that people can exchange lonks online (accompanied by IT skills training for Lets members).
These are the ideas - they take a lot of work and they take time which we have plenty of. Some Lets schemes may be without this vision of co-operation - and if work isn't put in by members then nothing will come out of it. I may well contact Preston in the new year to discover why it folded.
But ours will not fold - you coming to our xmas do Octoberlost?? thanks for putting this link up anyway.
Ideas are one thing, making them happen is another? We are coming along nicely with our little lets scheme
Snipets from a report I did on Sheffield Lets Scheme at the beginning of this year:
Visit with Carole West, SteelCity Lets, Tuesday 9th March 2004
Steel City LETS has an office base on Southey Avenue, right in the centre of the largest council estate in Sheffield – the Longley Estate, located in North Sheffield.
Steel City LETS has been funded by MIND, and began in 2001 originally with two paid Lets Project Workers – Helen and Carole. It’s just Carole now as a paid worker, and MIND funding will cease at the end of March 2004. Carole has been busy applying for further funding to support her position, and continue to develop the scheme. She had just finished another funding bid before our meeting. Sheffield is an area which has received much funding recently, but all this seems to be coming to an end which is resulting in 67 groups in the SRB 5 area of Sheffield coming to an end in March 2004.
This lets scheme was initially going to be exclusively for people with mental health issues, but Carole said this did not prove successful so they changed this to make the scheme ‘all inclusive’. Currently most of the 91 members do not have mental health issues. Encouraging people with mental health problems to get involved has proved difficult.
When the scheme was launched in 2001 Carole, Helen and others worked hard to organise support for the scheme, and tapped into already existing community organisations to get things like free office space. They had very limited resources, so thought of innovative ways, not involving huge amounts of money, to get people involved. Socials were particularly successful. Carole showed me pictures of a social held on the green outside the Four Greens Centre – again right in the heart of the estate. They had jumble sales, got local businesses to donate bouncy castles, had a barbeque, got the Four Greens Centre café to provide refreshments, Carole’s partner brought a tractor down, someone went in some stocks and got pelted with stuff and they had live music and ‘sthingys’ auctions (sthingys is Steel City Lets’ currency).
Carole also mentioned the success of allotments within the scheme, and how they had held socials on the allotments.
With currently 91 members and 17 new members since Christmas 2003, Carole identified the successful spread of the scheme as mainly through word of mouth. She stressed the importance of involving local organisations and mentioned that two Credit Unions had joined and they were mutually promoting each.
She also offered a weekly drop in morning for lets, which did not attract many people at first, but as word of lets spread more people began using this drop in service. Carole stressed the issue of resources, and the importance of Core Group members supporting and undertaking tasks as she had increasingly become overloaded with tasks, and was involved also with various other MIND projects. What had helped here was devising work schedules for core group members, allocating roles so that people were clear on what their roles were, and what they needed to do.
Other aspects which had proved really successful were ‘Lets Buddies’, who were rewarded for bringing in new members and helping new members to trade. On socials a pizza and quiz night was a great success, as were beer and curry nights.
Carole gave me a copy of Steel City Lets’ latest newsletter which goes out quarterly and is packed with news of forthcoming socials, new member offers and requests, trading tips for new members, contact point details and who to call for help, as well as offering advertising space for local business lets members and projects at 10 sthingys per advert. The newsletter format was gained from the SamLets computer package.
(ps. I would add that East Lancs Lets is seriously saving my bacon at the moment as I have a big plumbing pipe leak which would be costing me a bomb to fix, but a lets member is helping me sort the problem out for Lonks, and I'll be doing lots of leaflets for him in return. This kind of practical support is invaluable in the day to day. I'm not gonna be thinking of activism if urr I'm knee deep in water in me kitchen - if you get my drift. Practical support, not punative values are very much need in our communities in Burnley & Pendle first, coming back together as a community - East Lancs Lets is a real start - indeed I'd suggest that it's integral to my survival, and to my friends locally. But I would say that about co-operation as a woman wouldn't I!)
Have a lonkin' xmas. Best Mitch
