‘Without Big Local I probably wouldn’t still be around’

Bourne Estate in Poole has a reputation for crime and antisocial behaviour. But to Donna Crutcher, it’s the best place on earth. Here, she explains how her work with Bourne Big Local at the new community hub is not only providing crucial support for residents, but also giving her something to live for.

People think Bourne Estate is no man’s land. On Facebook, they say: “You don’t want to go down there. It’s bandit country!”  

Some of my friends won’t even visit me here. But it doesn’t matter, for me Bourne Estate is the best place on earth. I’m really proud of where I live. I absolutely love it.  

It might have a crap reputation, but to me it’s magical because people care about you. It’s got a sense of belonging. I liken it to a spider’s web. It doesn’t matter how far away from the middle you get, you can still come back and it’s a safe place to be.  

We’ve got an eclectic mix of people. There are quite a lot of young families with lots of kids living in houses that are way too small for them, and an elderly cohort who have been here since the estate was built in the 1940s. We’ve got a large housed traveller community too. 

We’ve had a lot of antisocial behaviour. Kids roaming the streets destroying stuff. The buses were stopped for a while because the kids were throwing stones, bottles and eggs, and running in front of the vehicles. 

Growing up in poverty on Bourne Estate  

I was born and brought up on Bourne Estate in the 1960s. My family was penniless. We had three sets of clothes: our school clothes, our best clothes and our playing out clothes. That was it.  

But we had fun as kids. We had a youth club which was an old tyre factory that had been there for years. It was our only place to congregate because there wasn’t anything else here. We all remember when they bought the new sewage pipes in, we had a great time in them! 

My mum married my stepdad when I was 14 and we moved to Germany. I got married at 19 and had my son. Then we moved to Liverpool, where I had my daughter. I left my ex-husband on my thirtieth birthday in not very nice circumstances. We ended up in a women’s refuge in Portsmouth. A couple of years later and I was back in Bourne.  

I’d always wanted to go to university, so I did an access to business and law course. I was so proud when I graduated with a joint honours degree in accountancy and law. 

I went on to be a chartered accountant, working for the government as an auditor. Then my son went through a very bad patch, and I had a breakdown and left.  

When I was ready for work again, I became a teacher at the local high school. I taught from 2004 right up until the COVID-19 pandemic. That was a terrible, terrible time.  

I had been bullied out of my last job and nursed my mum for a year, right up to her death. I was at a very, very low ebb. I felt, what was the point? 

I’d been out of work for about a year when a community officer from the council spotted me walking across the green and offered me some bread and a cup of tea.  

Before Big Local, all we got was negativity.”

I explained what had happened to me and she told me about Big Local. She said she thought I’d be perfect for it. I said: “No, I haven’t got the energy.” But here we are!  

All of a sudden I was voted in as vice chair and then in 2023 I got the job of Community Voice Co-ordinator, working 16 hours a week and continuing to volunteer for many more. 

A shared space for everyone to come together

Right from the start, before I got involved, Bourne Big Local had always been about getting a shared space where everyone could come together.  

There were no facilities for the community except for the old youth club, which had become a symbol for how neglected everybody felt. Before Big Local, all we got was negativity. 

The community hub cost over £2million pounds and was the culmination of years of hard work between Big Local and the charity Poole Communities Trust. Big Local provided £550,000 and the rest of the funding came from other grant giving bodies, local people and small businesses.  

It opened in October 2022. It’s a beautiful piece of architecture – brick, with lots of glass, and built on a curve. It’s got a big sports hall with a high ceiling, multipurpose rooms, an office, kitchen and café.  

The atmosphere at the hub is buzzing. We have Tea and Toast every Monday, which is for older people, and at the same time there’s Stay and Play for the under-fives. It’s lovely because it’s a chance for different ages to come together. 

I help organise events at the hub, but mostly I talk to people and try to empower them.”

Once a month we have a craft group, which is mainly for the older people, but some Romanian and Bulgarian children have started coming too, which is really nice. We’re knitting blankets to give to homeless people in winter.  

We host NHS diabetes and health visitor clinics, and the pulmonary team use it for rehabilitation sessions twice a week. Citizens Advice come every fortnight and we also have a food poverty project where people pay £3 for ten items of food. 

We run a youth club four times a week and there’s football coaching and a dance troupe. The dancers are so cute – the youngest is two and the oldest is seventeen. Big Local just bought them t-shirts, they were so happy you’d think you’d given them all the sweets in the sweet shop!  

A central figure in the community

As Community Voice Co-ordinator, I see myself as an advocate for my community. I help organise events at the hub, but mostly I talk to people and try to empower them.  

I’m in the centre of things here. If we haven’t seen somebody for a while, I think, ‘What’s going on? Does anybody know anything?’  

There is a man who has just lost his wife and he’s really struggling. I was trying to think of all the things that we could put in place to help him, so I texted him and said: “I don’t want you to think you are on your own. We care about you.” 

Personally, the impact of Big Local has been massive too. It’s kept me going. It’s given me my mojo back.”

Bourne Big Local will close soon, but I won’t stop my work. I’ll keep going as a volunteer. We’re setting up a community group called Friends of Bourne. I’m going to be the treasurer and secretary and we’ll fundraise for events at the hub.   

The difference Big Local has made to the community has been huge. Its legacy is the hub, which will continue to be managed by Poole Communities Trust and will serve residents for many years to come.  

For me personally, the impact of Big Local has been massive too. It’s kept me going. It’s given me my mojo back because I’ve got something to fight for. Seriously, without Big Local I probably wouldn’t still be around. 

Interview by Sarah Raymond