Every so often, you hear of individuals who use their passions and gifts to help their community and there so many people like this right here in the Leys. Today, we look at the work of Natasha Summer, a long term resident of Greater Leys with connections in the Blackbird Leys area since her school going age.
Natasha works for Oxford Hub and volunteers during her spare time helping people set up activities in the community through OACMA (Oxfordshire African and Caribbean Association).
How did you get involved in community work?
My official role working in the community started in 2006, with OCC (Oxford City Council) in a project called AFYA to encourage/engage women into physical/sporting activity especially Asian and ethnic minority groups. I learned a lot organising and working with these communities. Some of the activities organised included yoga, jogging and walking netball - something most of the ladies had not taken part in before!
I then worked at the leisure centre with Fusion in a project called ‘Active Women’.
This solidified my passion for projects where I empower women and since then I have been involved in many such projects and developed a reputation here such that I get approached frequently by local residents to find out what I am working on, or by organisations to help develop and run projects in this community.
What do you love about working in The Leys?
I love the sense of community here in BBL (Blackbird Leys) and how people come together and look out for each other. GL (Greater Leys) being more newly built has a different vibe/dynamic and I think mainly the young people here have got stronger bonds than the older generation.
There are more activities and infrastructure in the BBL side compared with GL. We only have the Barn and it is closer to the BBL side, not the middle of GL. This wasn’t put into account when building the estate.
The bus service in BBL is great but not so in GL where you get a bus every half hour.
We could also have done with a safer through road from GL to BBL would have been great thinking about those not driving and dependent on public transport.
There isn’t a launderette in BBL or GL, you have to go to Cowley Road.
It’s sad that we lost the Leys news. The older generation especially have lost their means of knowing what is happening in the Leys
What projects have you run in the community?
During the Covid-19 lockdown we had funding from Active Sports; they provided boxes with sporting tools/activities that families could use in their homes, gardens and parks.
This drive of encouraging families to live a healthy active life birthed walking netball, Pilates in the Barn with Keilee, family exercise and what I am most proud of, women’s football . This was made up of women who had been excluded from sport during their childhood, they really benefited from these sessions. It was rewarding for them being part of a team and for their social lives playing friendly matches. There was a variety of women from different ages mid 20s to 40s having friendly matches with Andy and Donna as coaches that the women loved.
Next, we introduced roller skating “Active on 8”
We were getting people back into fun physical activities that they enjoyed when they were younger. I started to work with a lady called Charity (ChaCha) and we got Project 500 to fund her coaching qualification course. She ran the project after her qualification and enjoyed it so much she took it on as a business once the project time had ended.
With the aid of Active Reach, we made this activity cost effective so it can sustain itself. It is now called “ChaCha Skates” and is on every Sunday and Wednesday at the leisure centre. Active Oxfordshire helped provide skates for the business at the beginning as there were many interested users without skates, now our regular users have their own skates.
The children and parents who attend learn new skills/moves and have fun while exercising. The success of this shows there is a need for it and it pays to think outside the box! It also shows how different organisations and groups can come together to help fill a gap in the community. We had an 80’s theme disco over half term that was a great success.
We are now looking to introduce BMX sports in the Leys. We have a grandparent who was a BMX British champion back in the day and would like to run this project teaching safety and skills to our young people. You will be very surprised how much value and skills are untapped within this community, a simple chat at the bus stop can reveal so much and you can get people involved in lots of things that are needed here.
How has your work impacted the community/ what changes have you seen?
People coming out of their homes to do Pilates - Keilee still runs this and has gone on to start a business “Keilee School of Dance”. This was started during Covid and is continuing to-date. When we start a project we aim for it to have longevity and be sustainable so the impact to the community is greater and create profitable business opportunities in the community. There is a need for this approach to be adopted by all organisations working here!
I have also helped people network to help them along with their ideas so they can come to fruition.
I am currently working on a project to expose our young people to professional facilities where they can develop their track and field skills at the same level as other more privileged children in the county. We currently take children out of the Leys to Horspath or Tilsley Park for their athletics development.
We need to change the narrative for our children by exposing them to all possibilities of a successful life out there.
I would like to see the local high schools that are struggling with the young ones. Maybe change up the curriculum or think outside the box and find different ways to engage with our children. Could sports help with their discipline and stop them dropping out of school? For example, if they are struggling with maths but love football, get them to write a business proposal of their favourite football team and use that as a basis to teach them all the maths they need and also in English.
We need more people living in this community to get involved in what is happening and the decision making in their community. They can come and find out what funding is available, for example The PGM (Participatory Grant making) Project which is community led, we had 17 applications this round and nearly all of them were successful. The panel made up of local residents identified what needs and gaps are here and made the decisions based on that. All these projects can be successful long term profitable businesses, a lot of work needs to be done by the applicants and they need to be provided with the right support and have been partnered with the likes of Active Oxfordshire, Achieve Oxford, Aspire, AFIUK, Transition Lighthouse etc…
What does the future look like for the Leys
There is great uncertainty in the community due to the loss of the Community Centre which was a focal point for activities, connections and information in The Leys.
There is however good change coming from projects such as The PGM projects which will benefit the whole community.
Bad change from the CC being knocked down the uncertainty of the future is not good and unsettling for people planning ahead.
>>> Call to action >>>
“Get more community groups to work together.
Be represented at meetings that affect the community.
I like that we have come together in working with Ian Brookes, the leader of community services with the City Council to improve the leisure centre and the services it provides but we can do more for our young people.
Greater EDI spread among the groups and more sport provision in the area led by the local groups.
We need as a community to create these safe spaces for our children.
More activities being run by community groups that people know and trust would be beneficial.
We need good role models in the community for our children.
I have been thinking about the gap that is there for activities for children with special needs.
I would really like to be involved in creating and running this opportunity here in the Leys and I am actively looking into it.
We do however also need the spaces or commercial buildings to enable individuals in the community to run their businesses.
It would be great for this to be included in the regeneration of the Leys.
We need accessible spaces for these activities and also support them to be profitable.”
