Changemakers: Supporting young people to improve their lives

Ten years ago, the National Lottery Community Fund embarked on a big, bold experiment, to put money directly into the hands of communities who had previously ‘missed out’ – leading to the creation of 150 Big Local partnerships. A decade later, in the face of austerity, a global pandemic, and a cost-of-living crisis, many of these partnerships act as an immediate lifeline to local residents, whilst also creating long-term change. 

Lawrence’s story

Operating in the Teams and Racecourse estates in Bensham, where Lawrence O’Halleron has lived for almost 50 years, Big Local Gateshead has opened a community shop, a community allotment and a cycling club, among numerous other initiatives.  

Under Lawrence’s leadership, it is now set to expand the footprint of its activities by moving into two new buildings.  

“The community should be about trying to help each other to get a better way of life and get on,” Lawrence insists. “I was always told by my dad that you can be anything you want to be, as long as you put the work in.”  

The community should be about trying to help each other to get a better way of life and get on.

Q: When did you get involved in Big Local and why?  

Lawrence: It was nine years ago. I had retired early because I’d been in a car accident. A leaflet was put through the door asking people to do a survey of their skills, so I filled it in and was asked in for an interview. I’d had 30 years as a foster carer and as an assistant manager of a social work team. I was also ex-army. I was asked if I’d help to get it started.  

The hardest thing in an area like ours is getting people to commit to anything, to take part. There’s not much for kids and families around this area. It’s pretty run down and there’s lots of people unemployed or with mental health issues. There’s been more suicides than anywhere else in the country.  

It comes down to how people are having to live. They’ve cut back on the parks and the youth services so what we tried to do at first was to get young people engaged. It was really hard with the teenagers because they took to the streets, nearly all of them. 

Q: How did you address that particular issue? 

Lawrence: To get ourselves started we got into the four schools in our area and put on activities and got them engaged. Around five years ago, we did a programme called Park Life where we got an artist and a storyteller going into three of the schools.  

There’s a railway wall on a piece of derelict ground so I got in touch with the railways and used some contacts from the council. The railways ended up paying about £20,000 to repoint and paint the wall. The children produced pictures on the history of the area and we blew them up, put them in frames and mounted them on the wall. We put some money in to pay for the artists, it was about £20,000. 

Q: How did you go about getting local residents involved? 

Lawrence: To engage with them you’ve got to keep plodding and plodding until they trust you. I decided I needed to get people on my side so I started a membership scheme for the Big Local. It got people engaged.  

We emailed all the members and did a draw every month for £300, which was ten £30 vouchers. Anybody who was a member got the chance to win. When it was really bad during COVID-19 we did a draw every week. There were loads of positive comments. I got emails and telephone numbers and addresses and as long as they lived in our area, I could send out information about everything that was happening. I think the mailing list is about 520 now. 

Under Lawrence’s leadership, Big Local Gateshead is now set to expand the footprint of its activities by moving into two new buildings. [Photo credit: Richard Richards Photography]

Q: What are you most proud of? 

Lawrence: Probably the pop-up shop, which we started just before COVID-19. We get free food from Marks and Spencers and Sainsbury’s. We also buy stuff from the charity Fareshare. We have a couple of tables where we ask if people can give a donation if they can afford it. I used to do a run every week Thursday night but I’ve got some volunteers that now help us.  

The food’s all put out on the Friday. We open at 2pm but people start queuing at 12 because they want to get the best stuff! We probably get around 60 people through each week. People know now that if they’re short of cash they can come and have a chat with one of the staff who will go round the back and give them a couple of bags of food for nothing.  

Anything we make we put into a separate account so when the Big Local money runs out we can still carry on doing what we’re doing. 

If you see any small bits of change, it just makes your job worthwhile. To me, that’s just a nice way to spend your life.

Q: What else have you used the Big Local money for in your area? 

Lawrence: There’s not a lot of garden spaces in many of the schools around here, so we decided on a community allotment. I went and had a chat with the secretary of the local allotments and he agreed to give us one. It was a right mess when we got it. I got in touch with an old army friend of mine who was a builder and I offered to work alongside him for free to get it cleared.  

We got volunteers at the beginning. It took a year from getting the allotment to it being ready to open up. Now the schools and the three residential homes in the area use it. We try to be inter-generational so we tell the homes when the kids are there.  

Before COVID-19, the kids used to come in groups of 30 at a time. They’d get to know the old people. They were just like their grannies and their grandads. It’s great watching the older ones with the kids.  

We have a horticulturist that takes lessons there. When it comes to that time of the year, we take the horticulturalist around the homes to get the older people potting plants and we get the schools to give them to the kids to take home and start growing them. They then bring them back to the allotment.  

I’ve got good contacts with FaulknerBrowns Architects and their students designed the wooden classroom building we have, which had to go through planning permission at the council. Now we’ve got other groups that go there.  

We get referrals from the doctors for people with mental or physical health issues. We get a good turnout. It could be 60-80 people a week if we have a couple of school groups. 

Q: You’re a man who knows how to get things done. How easy has it been to spend the Big Local money? 

Lawrence: It’s been difficult to spend it because we got a lot of things done for nothing. We’re moving into two new buildings. We’ve got the keys. One is going to be a bike hub and sports club.  

The Teams Wheelers bike club we set up is now constituted as a charity. I want all our groups to end up being constituted as charities so they can look after themselves when the money finishes. I wasn’t really into biking when we set it up four years ago but now I’m leading three rides and doing 90-odd miles a week. 

Q: Have you ever stopped and wondered why you do what you do? 

Lawrence: It’s just me. I like helping people. That’s why we fostered for 32 years. As a captain in the army, I was helping people to learn, helping people to get better and to feel better about themselves. To become something.  

It’s like when you work in care. I used to do a lot of work with young people who had problems with drugs, didn’t attend school or their families were split up. I would work with the difficult ones most of the time.  

If you see any small bits of change, it just makes your job worthwhile. To me, that’s just a nice way to spend your life.

Interview by Dan Davies.

Series two of the Community Power podcast features Lawrence discussing the Big Local Gateshead cycling club, Teams Wheelers. Listen now here.