Rochdale Connections Trust celebrates International Women's Day

Local cakemaker and successful businesswoman Natasha Brown, of Brown’s Cakes, Rochdale, led an International Women’s Day event at Rochdale Connections Trust on Monday (9 March).
Natasha provided female service users with a cake icing demonstration, using the International Women’s Day Logo as the feature. She then showed the ladies how to make buttercream and showed them how to pipe and then decorate cupcakes. Participants were then provided with an opportunity to give it a go for themselves.
One Billion Rising 2020

Thank you to all the people that came today to dance and help us take part in the One Billion Rising campaign.
It was touching to have our MP Tony Lloyd join us and give an inspiring speech. Next year he has promised to join in the dancing. I am sure you will all agree we have some fabulous dancers 😊
This is a global mass action initiative that takes place on 14th February with the aim of highlighting that 1 in 3 women across the planet will be beaten or raped during her lifetime – that equates to 1 billion women and girls – and we are proud to demonstrate our solidarity and to help raise awareness by “rising” to show we are determined, in Rochdale, to play our part and to help create a world where violence is no longer acceptable.
https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/132847/rochdale-connections-trust-supports-one-billion-rising-campaign
​On the 19th November we celebrated the National Lottery 25th Birthday with a big birthday bash. We were very fortunate to have support from Maqio Toys who designed and created this video to highlight the work of RCT on the Lottery funded project.
​Jamie was unable to join us for our celebration event so our Coordinators went to surprise her at home with our Volunteer of the Year Award.
Jamie is always up for a challenge and is always willing to volunteer and help wherever she can, she is enthusiastic and passionate about anything she applies herself to. She has supported mentors, day trips, youth groups and even helped out in the office.
We only went and did it!
RCT were the winners of the Business of the Year Award 2019 (turnover under one million). We are super proud to be recognised. We were given a special plaque and award on the 8th November to recognise all our work in the community. 

Thank you to Recruitment Solutions, Carol Hopkins and the team at Rochdale Development Agency for a night to remember!
Today the team have tested out our newly refurbished downstairs room joining in some training delivered by Living Well Rochdale. Useful training focusing on strength based approaches and positive ways of working. Lots of creative ideas from the team. (04/09/19)
Well it's back to school week, so we thought perfect time to remind our youth group of all the fun trips they have had over the holidays :-)

Activities include, Tandle Hill, Sponsored Walk, Odeon Cinema, Blackpool, Celebration event and Flip Out.

The young people raised a fantastic £250 on their sponsored walk which has helped them to buy a brand new pool table.
Rochdale Connections Trust benefit from generous Freemasons grant

A grant of £1,289 from East Lancashire Masonic Charities has helped Rochdale Connections Trust expand their much-needed services in the borough.
Secured by Rochdale District Freemasons, the grant will help with the refurbishment of the community charity’s premises on Drake Street, which will allow them to expand their services and support more people who are most in need.


​https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/129630/rochdale-connections-trust-benefit-from-generous-freemasons-grant
On 31st July RCT had a team building day looking at our workplace policies and procedures. We also welcomed two new members of the team Asma and Poppy enjoying a lunch out together. 
Great to be supported by the Mayor, Cllr Rowbotham and Cllr Cocks at the Volunteers Fair organised by Action Together on Friday 26th July. 

The turn out was great. Well done to all involved
Mayor helps Rochdale Connections Trust celebrate Volunteers Week

The Mayor and Mayoress, Billy and Lynn Sheerin, attended Rochdale Connections Trust (RCT) Celebration event for all their volunteers on Monday 3 June.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/128285/mayor-helps-rochdale-connections-trust-celebrate-volunteers-week
FIFA19 raises £170 for Rochdale Connections Trust

Congratulations to runners up Ralph Ambrose, Dayton Lawson, Daniel Hayes and Bradley Evans who have all won signed copies of FIFA19.”

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/128221/fifa19-raises-£170-for-rochdale-connections-trust
Gamers are being invited to test their mettle at a new eSports tournament in the Exchange Shopping Centre on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 May.

Entry costs just £1 and all proceeds will go to Rochdale Connections Trust.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/127732/gamers-invited-to-test-their-mettle-at-new-esports-tournament
Community charity Rochdale Connections Trust is undergoing extensive refurbishment to their premises after receiving funding.
An investment from the National Lottery Awards For All fund and The Clothworker’s Foundation has enabled works to go ahead at 60 Drake Street, Rochdale.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/127620/renovations-at-rochdale-connections-truste
Amazing celebrating International Women's Day 2019 on Friday 8th March. A huge thank you to all who have taken time out of their day to help us celebrate and a special thanks to the ladies who participated in the mornings events. 
Here are some pictures of our young people who had a great time on their Half Term forrest walk! Hot chocolate and ice cream was a lovely treat at the end after all their hard work.
#getoutside
Our Happier Children's programme have been spending time teaching children in local primary schools how to be more emotionally literate through expressive arts. At the start of the project the children decided they wanted to build a den so as promised they made a positivity den full of inspiration and happiness 😁👌👧👦 #powerofpositivity #inspirational
Picture
Rochdale Connections Trust receives over £9,000 in lottery funding
​https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/126609/rochdale-connections-trust-receives-over-£9000-in-lottery-funding
It was an absolute pleasure to welcome Councillor Jillian Collinson from Salford City Council to RCT. She had heard good things about our work and wanted to have a look for herself. Needless to say she went away extremely impressed and with lots of ideas for services that could be developed for residents in her Ward in Salford.
We managed to get a picture of Jillian with our fabulous dancers for the annual One Billion Rising Dance. 👍😁
Visit my mosque open day.
Service users and staff from RCT attended the Neeli Mosque on Sunday 03/03/19 for their annual #visitmymosque day. The volunteers and staff were very welcoming with lots of knowledge and sharing. We had an amazing few hours thank you to all who organised 😊👍 Building a Stronger Britain Together - Network Community
We are so pleased to be working in conjunction with the Co-op Food Store in Milnrow in our capacity as a Round 4 Co-op Local Good Cause. We have lots of promotional activities planned over the coming months. Watch this space!
Remember you can chose to donate 1%to RCT every time you shop by selecting us as the Local Good Cause you would like to support - follow the link : Coop Membership 
#thecoopway
We took a group of our Building a Stronger Britain Together service-users to the Holocaust Memorial Day Act of Commemoration and Re-dedication of the Holocaust Memorial Stone at Middleton Arena.
The event was extremely emotive and all of our ladies were deeply moved by the experience.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/125781/rochdale-connections-trust-attend-the-holocaust-memorial-commemoration

#werememberthem
Please take a minute to watch this inspiring video made by Maqio Toys who have supported RCT this year giving toys to some of our most vulnerable families and children ❤
Bev, who has worked closely with Maqio, and all the RCT staff want to extend a special thanks and wish the Maqio team a very Merry Christmas.
Our Heywood coffee morning continues to go from strength to strength. We are extending this provision so that it operates as a Place of Welcome for local people to attend for additional information and signposting.
New attendee's are very welcome. Just bob in to the Magic Room, Heywood Magic Market every Friday at 10am - 12pm. 
We have received notification from Awards for All that they are allocating funding to allow us to revamp our Ground Floor here at RCT. Work will start in the New Year and will make this area a much more welcoming, user friendly location for our young people and adult participants.
We have just received notification that we came second in the recent Tesco's Bags of Help voting round and have been awarded a fund of £2,000 to undertake some community social action work with our young people.
Thank you to everyone who voted for us.
Now it's time for the youth group to dig out their wellies!
As a charity we see lots and lots of example's of the kindness of local people and it's not that often that we are left lost for words, but this has just blown us away!
Jason, a local bobby has donated a brand new Playstation 4 and a Playstation 3 with games to RCT to allocate. He has even taken the time to wrap them up and write cards.
Jason your generosity and willingness to support local young people in need is commendable and we can't thank you enough.
#belikejason
It's Toy Distribution Day here at RCT! We will be handing out the toys so generously donated by Maqio Toys to lots of children that we work with after school today. We are so fortunate to be the ones getting to see the smiles on the children's faces. 😃🎄😃🎄😃
Maqio Toys
#makeadifference
#belikeMaqio
A huge thank you to our lovely friends at Barclay's Rochdale. They have kindly donated £815.41 matched funding following our Christmas Tombola and Lucky-Dip.
Special thanks to Simon and Rachel for all their hard work and for choosing to support RCT.😁🎄😁🎄😁🎄😁
We are pleased to announce that we have received funding through Ambition for Ageing to hold a weekly Coffee morning for over 50's from our premises in Rochdale, commencing in January.
The lovely Wendy will be facilitating the session on a Monday morning between 10am-12pm.
Thank you so much to local Police Officer Cherie Castle who purchased the Aldi "Kevin the Carrot" family and auctioned them off at Rochdale Police Station, donating the proceeds to RCT. A fabulous £60 was raised, which Cherie hand delivered with her colleague Dana, below. Thanks so much to Cherie and everyone at Rochdale Police for your continued support and Merry Christmas!😁
Weekly Column: Mayor Mohammed Zaman

Rochdale Connections Trust (RCT) is one of many organisations that we are proud to have in Rochdale. They carry out so much amazing work with young people, to help improve their lives.

I attended RCT’s volunteer and young people celebration evening, where I presented certificates and awards to young people who had improved their life chances from 1:1 mentoring support provided by the charity.

Thank you to RCT for all the work that they do within the borough, especially the youth intervention work that provides a brighter future for our next generation.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/124797/weekly-column-mayor-mohammed-zaman
Man of Rochdale 2018 - John Kay
We are thrilled that our long standing Trustee, John Kay, has received this prestigious award.

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/124203/man-of-rochdale-2018-john-kay
Our CEO, Kathy Thomas and Operation's Manager, Jane Honeyford are at GM Police Headquarters participating in a briefing session for Operation Encompass. This initiative involves the Police notifying Schools the next morning if an incident of Domestic Abuse has occurred in the family home overnight where a chid is present. Schools can then arrange and ensure the most appropriate support is allocated.
RCT were at the forefront in ensuring the briefing has taken place in GM and look forward to supporting implementation in Rochdale.
A huge congratulations to the 15 mentors who have successfully passed the 2 days training in September 2018. They are an absolutely fantastic group - the room was buzzing! We can't wait to get you started - Holly & Debra 😁
As part of our Heritage Lottery Programme we have been working closely with Rooley Moor Neighbourhood Forum:

https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/138/community-news/119828/neighbourhood-forum-set-to-produce-first-rochdale-neighbourhood-plan
Some of our Haven ladies have been involved in the production of a short film about their experiences of Domestic Abuse which has been included as part of the Sandretto Exhibition that is being held at Touchstones Rochdale. The collection includes many pieces of art work that are of a feminist persuasion and it is wonderful that our ladies have been selected to share their thoughts and experiences. 
Rochdale Connections Trust in old £1 coin appeal

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/138/community-news/120842/rochdale-connections-trust-in-old-£1-coin-appeal
Co-op raises over £150 for Rochdale Connections Trust

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/news-archives?type=News&searchtype=Phrase&Criteria=rochdale+connections+trust
Learners who triumphed adversity recognised in community awards night
​
http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/138/community-news/119998/learners-who-triumphed-adversity-recognised-in-community-awards-night
Community Volunteers Festival
​​http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/138/community-news/119316/community-volunteer-festival
10th July 2017
​Rochdale Connections Trust were thrilled to be awarded £1,000 from former Mayor and Mayoress, Cllr Raymond Dutton and his wife Elaine from the funds raised by the Mayor of Rochdale’s Charity.

Rochdale Connections Trust provides a range of valuable support services, including work with vulnerable families living across the most deprived communities throughout the Borough. The funding will be used to allow the families we work with who are in greatest need to enjoy a fun day out during the school Summer holidays.  Gulliver’s World has been selected as the most popular option and the trip is scheduled to take place in mid-August.
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