Happy International Day of Education!

'Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.' Marian Wright Edelman

We start the year with the workshops from the REAP project. We learn about educational and professional progress; we explore and gain educational experience; we show the career opportunities and Roma role models in the community.

The Roma families and the young people gain knowledge about the educational opportunities that are here and how they can be able to be confident and to have aspiration for better life. After we finish the workshops Denisa 17 years said 'Now I know how to use all this information to help others that are in need in my community).' This is exactly what we need from the participants to share the information and to be champions in their community.

Getting Healthy at John Archer

In partnership with CHATS (Community Health Ambassadors) we held a Health and Wellbeing event at  John Archer Hall.  It was a good opportunity to talk  about keeping warm and staying healthy during the winter months. Everyone had the opportunity to get a Health MOT, have a Therapy treatment and receive a large range of information from Healthy Homes on keeping your home warm and Energy Plus on how you can save money on bills. Everyone who attended received a goody bag from Chats which included health tips and menu cards and a big bag of vegetables to compliment and provide ingredients for a delicious warm and filling meal. We plan to hold regular events with partners at John Archer throughout the year with different themes.

Line Dancing in Riverside

We have started off this decade on the right foot at Riverview Development Trust by tackling our health and well-being and social isolation by coming together on a Tuesday 1-2 pm, to be introduced to the world of line dancing with our lovely teacher Helen .The group were nervous as we all lined up but with Helen's confidence and reassurance after the first ten minutes we were all singing along and concentrating hard to pick up the steps . The hour went so quick and we are all so looking forward to meeting up next week again .  If you  fancy having a go at something new, fun and meeting new people please come and join us every Tuesday at River view Development Trust , 109 Upper Mann Street.
All Welcome.

Learn something new this New Year!

Have you set yourself a New Year's resolution?  What about learning something new?  We have a number of community learning courses starting in various venues during January.  Everything from Line Dancing (Health & Wellbeing) to Driving Theory.

Our planned courses to date include....

Arts & Crafts - simple everyday crafts including card making and book folding
Digital Skills - get yourself online safely
Driving Theory for Employment - get to grips with the skills need to pass your driving theory test
Employability Skills - get help with your CV and job hunting skills
ESOL - English skills for speakers of other languages
Gardening - get to grips with growing your own
Health & Wellbeing - get active this new year - we have different courses at different venues including line dancing, yoga, thai chi, etc..
Parent Toolkit - skills to help parents including paediatric first aid, health & safety and choices & consequences
REAP - a Roma programme to raise educational aspirations
Understanding Public Services - for non-English speakers to help access to Public Services

Other ideas we have and would like to know if you are interested in are - Glass Work, Book Clubs, Health & Beauty, Arabic, Cooking on a budget, Business Planning for Finance, Social Media for Business, Mobile Film Making, Knit & Natter and Salsa Dancing

We are also always keen to hear your ideas for new courses and groups that we might work with - so if you have any ideas or know any groups get in touch and let us know!

All of our courses are FREE.  You need to be 19+, unemployed and a Liverpool City Council resident.

If you would like to register for any of our courses pop in to our centre at 129d Lodge Lane, L8 0QF.

Transformation of the Seven Street Garden

Back in June 2019 GTDT signed a lease with Riverside Housing Association for the use of the former Cullen Street garden. Since then we have employed part-time Pete, who has worked on the newly named Seven Streets Garden, every weekend since August with his son who is also a GTDT volunteer.  They have transformed the site from an overgrown green space back into a local community garden.

Over the next couple of weeks we will be looking at mending the raised beds and clearing them out. We will also be running different projects from now till spring such as planting out a hedge row, painting our new garden sign, making a vertical garden and constructing a poly tunnel, so if you would like to get involved learn new skills and make new friends why not get involved and get in touch?