Aneglected allotment site in St Helens, Merseyside,was deteriorating, and suffering from vandalism. Young families in the surrounding community wanted a safe outdoor play area for their children. The maths wasn't difficult, and two years on, both problems are happily solved. As Sure Start programme manager Jackie Lowe says, 'Some things are down to good management, but some are definitely down to luck!'
And, whether by good luck or good management, the scheme to create a young children's allotment and partnership cabin led to Sure Start Central Link in St Helens, with partners the Pilkington Horticultural Society, Windle Pilkington House, and local parents, winning a Sure Start Partners in Excellence award.
The project has encouraged early learning, exercise and healthier lifestyles and involved the wider community in a range of social events.
Parents in the area prioritised an outdoor play area in a consultation exercise in 2001. Many families had no access to gardens, nor to any safe outside spaces. Sure Start Central Link started looking around at possible solutions, and contacted the Pilkington Horticultural Society. Their Alder Hey Road allotment site was derelict. Jackie recalls, 'We said we wanted somewhere for families to play and learn together. The society was at the same time looking at regeneration. Our request was like music to their ears!'
By April 2003 a service level agreement had been drawn up between the society and Sure Start, and by October 2003 a 'Tots' allotment' was opened.
To begin with, they used only half of the site, erecting a polytunnel for all- weather use. Some small planting of spring bulbs was started. Then, parents and Sure Start workers began visiting other similar projects, and among the ideas they spotted was a willow tunnel. They established one of their own at Alder Hey Road in a joint planting project in February 2004 involving children and parents. Jackie describes it as 'a roaring success'.
Less immediately successful were some of their gardening efforts - confusing daffodil bulbs and allotment holders' onion sets was one early error! But now a core of 25 families regularly attend the twice-weekly sessions when Sure Start staff are on hand. Numbers increase for special events like Christmas lights, Easter egg hunts, barbeques, teddy bears'
picnics and so on.
There is now a partnership cabin (built in partnership with the Windle Pilkington House, for adults with special needs) that provides toilet facilities and a kitchen area, as well as space for craft activities.
Jackie pays tribute to the vast input in volunteer hours from allotment holders. 'We couldn't have done it without them,' she says. 'The result is unlooked-for, relaxed integration between these mostly older people and the young families, from parents-to-be upwards.'
During Tuesday afternoons and Saturday mornings, the gates are left open so that families can turn up whenever they like, whatever the weather. Jackie says, 'It's so quiet and peaceful. Rain doesn't put people off. If they wrap children up, it's just like going to the park.' NW
More information
* Contact the Sure Start public inquiry unit on 0870 0002288
Two Sure Start troubleshooters
The children's centre at Peterlee in County Durham was concerned about why so many children from their Sure Start wards were starting school with a developmental delay. They set up a multi-disciplinary working group of representatives from education, psychology, speech and language therapy, health visiting and nursery nurses.
That led to creating a screening tool to measure a child's development against age, and highlight specific areas of delay. A one-year pilot identified speech and language as the main problem areas. Such specific information placed less demand on high-cost specialist services by targeting children with the greatest need with the help they needed.
Special training for Sure Start staff and childcare teams helped parents with learning difficulties gain access to services more quickly when Nottinghamshire Clinical Psychology, learning disabilities services and Sure Start Ashfield identified problems that prevented parents accessing services.
The partnership initially gave awareness training to Sure Start staff and childcare teams. Four years on, the programme has developed a screening tool so professionals can identify parents with potential learning disabilities quickly. It means a quicker, more integrated referral process between clinical psychology, learning disabilities services, Sure Start and linked childcare services.
