Equals News

Equals IW held a Committee Meeting on Tuesday 07th February 2023

Various financial and fund raising issues were decided including ways to keep general account healthy. Fund raising ideas include

A sponsored walk
One or more activity nights.
Taking part in smaller island community events

The latter having the benefit of Equals IW becoming more involved in the community and also encouraging people to join.

The Channel 5 Isle of Wight programme which has a slot about Equals IW is to be called “Isle of Wight Britain’s Busiest Island”. The first episode is provisionally on 24th March 2023.

The Green Time session in January 2023 was visited by the Isle of Wight Council Adult Community Learning service. The session went very well taking place at Utilita linking their Energy Saving Award Winning High 5 Workshop with Green Time Multiply. Equals iW will continue to support the Green Time project as it has proved so successful. Equals IW is receiving requests from other community organisations regarding collaboration.

Mark encouraged others to take a lead as Equals IW activities are increasing beyond what is reasonable for one person to manage.

Proposals for 2023 were discussed for a range of for events and activities leading to decisions on several moving forward.

The change of name agreed at the AGM of the Friendship Group for Women to Ladies Friendship Group was noted. (Update: now just Ladies Group). Group sessions in 2023 will run every other Monday 10am to 12 Noon and every other Tuesday 6pm to 8pm meeting at the WOW Centre in Newport.

The change of name agreed aat the AGM of the Friendship Group for Friends and Family to Friends and Family Group was also noted.
This group is open to

Females and males
Children accompanied by parents or a responsible adult
Friends and family members
Some activities will also be open to the general public.

Date of Next Meeting: The meeting will take place in the middle to eend of September 2023. The actual details to be confirmed early in September 2023.

A copy of the minutes of this meeting is available on request by email to our Secretary.

The Equals IW Annual General Meeting for 2023 was held on 7th February 2023.

The agenda and a report presented to the meeting is available to all by contacting our Secretary.

The Festival of Learning 2023 recognises and gives a chance nationally to celebrate adult learners' journeys and achievements.

Festival of Learning awards celebrate the best in adult learning and the wide-ranging benefits for individuals, families, communities and employers. Award winners demonstrate the impact adult learning can have, and their stories can encourage more adults to participate in learning.

Jayne O’ Harrow from the Green Time Programme has been nominated as an inspiring adult learner for one of the national awards for 2023.

We wish Jayne the best of luck and will share how Jayne's nomination progresses.

The Green Time Programme is a partnership between Equals IW, MCEnhancement and the Isle of Wight Council Adult Community Learning service.

Creative Crafts with a Splash of Fun Maths. The next Green Time Green Skills Multiply workshop takes place

Monday 6th March 2023
10.15am to 2.30pm
Adult Community Learning Centre, Westridge, Brading Rd, Ryde PO33 1QS. Near Tesco.
Free Parking

Join Mark for this fun craft session where you can develop your creative skills by making a wooden planter out of recycled wood. Relax with others whilst having fun using various themed templates to create, draw and paint your own decorative design.

Your wooden planter can be used to grow herbs, plants or flowers. It is ideal for a window sill and perfect for a balcony or garden.

You are encouraged to bring some food to share with the group over lunch.

Green Time Multiply workshops are a place to relax with others while increasing your confidence with numbers. Developing maths skills in a fun informal way through the use of crafts and arts activities increases positive emotional well-being, self-confidence, self-esteem and mental health.

Multiply is a government funded programme to help adults improve their numeracy skills. Good maths skills can help find more job opportunities and lead to higher wages, or they can help prepare for further study. They also help in everyday life, such as helping children with homework and budgeting money. Participants can join other workshops or progress to other maths skills units building towards a City and Guilds Maths qualification.

Please book your place as soon as possible so your wooden planter kit can be prepared in advance.

Text or call Mark today on 0785 485 2518 to book a place but hurry as there are not many spaces left.

The International Festive Celebration held in December marked the end of a successful year for Equals IW.

People came together from a rich and diverse culture to bring the year to a close. The evening was lead by the ladies of the Equals Ladies Group teaming up with the Green Time Project. This first ever joint adventure provided a blend of healthy food with international cultural dishes all freshly homemade.

A presentation on the success of Green Time throughout 2022 was delivered by Mark the Green Time Project Lead. It featured photos of people taking part in the many activities who were clearly enjoying themselves.

Many of the people attending kindly donated a variety of wonderful raffle prizes which, thanks to the effort of Eden and Jayne, raised £125. It was lovely to see the children all helping to draw the winning raffle tickets.

The evening included a Filipino and an Indonesian cultural singing performance with both using their languages in a seasonal festive celebration.

What a beautiful sound from both groups and simply music to the ears.

Later everyone joined in by having a go at the Poco-Poco and Maumere Gemu Fa Mi Re Indonesian Dances. The evening concluded with everyone enjoying the Banana Dance.

The door sales raised £245.00 and the Green Time Project allocated £175.00 funding towards the event. After all the expenses the evening ended in a profit of £165.00. that has been put aside to use and support any similar future event. Fifty one attended while 17 people who signed up for the event were unable to do so on the night.

The next Green Time activities take place in March 2023 and you can find out about them on this website very shortly.

Special Thanks

What an amazing job was done by all members of the catering team who prepared dishes from these cultures

in alphabetical order:

American
Asian
Chinese
English
Filipino
Korean
Indian
Indonesian
English

We took photos

Equals IW Green Time recently teamed up with Utilita Energy who help households use less energy. The result was the first of small group workshops linking maths with the need to manage household energy costs. The two aims are to enable participants to plug into managing their energy well-being and also to develop their maths skills in a fun and informal way.

The first part of the workshop was lead by Jacob Cleary, the Team Leader for the Isle of Wight Hub of Utilita. Participants learnt how to make five simple changes to the way they use energy at home and consequently save hundreds of pounds a year.

The group

The group's engagement was outstanding with many conversations focused on cultural differences between the UK, Philippines and Indonesia. The session normally takes 30 to 45 minutes but on this occasion, enhanced with cultural enrichment, it took 1 hour 45 minutes to complete.

After a short break, Mark Cox, of Equals IW and MCEnhancement, lead the Multiply maths skills development session by taking the participants through an informal and fun maths workbook. The group learnt how to find and identify energy savings from information in a number of tables and to successfully complete addition and subtraction calculations with and without the use of a calculator.

The group

They progressed to learning how to calculate average savings from the various of steps they can take to reduce energy cost. The Multiply Workshop culminated with participants learning how to work out percentage savings and make a comparison on three different ways of reducing energy usage and bills while being great for the planet.

Mark said “All those participating in the workshop progressed through the maths workbook with ease and confidence. Each maths skill required a slightly more complex maths calculation. The energy, enthusiasm and support for each other by the participants was fantastic and wonderful to have been a part of.”

Jayne O’Harrow, who is the Energy Expert of The Isle of Wight Hub of Utilita, is delighted with how everyone plugged into managing their energy well-being and how they developed their maths skills in a fun informal way. Jayne was pleased to learn how participants have already started to make changes and put into practice their new knowledge.

The group

Jayne said “Green Time Utilita’s High 5 Multiply Workshop was so full of energy from all taking part. It was also a great way for all to come together and maintain emotional well-being and mental health during these challenging times”.

Jayne is looking forward to developing the partnership further between Green Time, Equals IW and Utilita throughout 2023.

Ten friends recently took part in the first of the new Green Time Multiply Workshops.

Those participating created wooden festive plates decorated with their own design. We took photos which will appear here later.

We took photos

Green Time Multiply workshops are a place to relax with others while increasing confidence with numbers.

Developing maths skills in a fun informal way through the use of crafts and arts activities increases positive emotional well-being, self-confidence, self-esteem and mental health.

Multiply is a new government funded programme to help adults improve their numeracy skills. Good maths skills can help find more job opportunities and lead to higher wages, or they can help prepare for further study. They also help in everyday life, such as helping children with homework and budgeting money.

Participants can join other workshops or progress to other maths skills units building towards a City and Guilds Maths qualification.

This award celebrates individuals who have benefited from participating in innovative adult learning courses or projects within the community. Individuals may have overcome barriers to learning and gone on to make significant personal achievements.

Highly Commended in is this category is Jayne O’Harrow. Jayne spent 2017 to 2020 as a self-employed lone worker and became very isolated. Having older teenagers and a son with additional needs, she had no connection with other parents and no family support on the Island.

Sixteen friends joined together for the last Equals IW Green Time Walk for 2022 on a beautiful 5 mile round trip across Shanklin and Sandown Bay.

The walk started from Rylstone Gardens in Shanklin then through Shanklin Old Village to admire the old thatched buildings. The route continued through the wooded park which was in vibrant autumn colour. Leaving the park the group joined the coastal cliff path that curls around the bay to Sandown. With clear blue skies and warm sunshine the friends experienced the cliff top views of the golden sandy beaches below reaching to the white chalk cliffs of Culver Downs. The walk continued through Lake Cliff Gardens and Ferncliff Gardens to Sandown for a free drink or ice-cream at Pebbles Café on the seafront.

The return walk went back along the sea wall path to Shanklin with sounds of the sea and breaking waves. The walk finished with a short climb up Chine Avenue overlooking Shanklin Chine back to Rylstone Gardens.

Statistics: 5.23 miles 11,832 steps, burning 489Kcal.

We took photos

Green Time Walks return in 2023 with the first walk being announced on these pages in January 2023

Green Time - The Natural Way to Good Emotional Wellbeing and Mental Health

The first Equals IW Green Time, Crafts in the Park took place on Saturday 16th July 2022 at the Gift to Nature site “Medina Riverside Park” led by Rachael Ardley, Gift to Nature Engagement Officer and Mark Cox, Green Time Project Lead.

The afternoon session started with a guided walk around the riverside meadow path to learn and look at the wildflowers. The group took part in the National Butterfly Count for 2022 while walking around the meadow and took photos of butterflies on mobile phones. They used the Wildlife Watch Butterfly Spotter Cards and the Butterfly Conservation’s England "Big Butterfly Count Identification Card" to identify and officially record the following butterflies

1 Small White
1 Common Blue
3 Holly Blue
1 Speckled Wood
4 Meadow Brown
5 Gate Keeper
2 Brown Argus
1 Peacock Butterfly.

The Big Butterfly Count is a UK-wide citizen science survey run by Butterfly Conservation. This year the Count ran from Friday 15 July until Sunday 7 August. It provides a yearly snapshot into the changing fate of the butterfly population. It helps Butterfly Conservation’s science and research evaluating the status of butterflies and daytime moths in the wider environment. The result is effective conservation action.

Last year over 100,000 people took part, submitting over 152,000 counts of the 1.2 million individuals of the 20 target species that were seen nationwide. Big Butterfly Counts are carried out in gardens, parks and the countryside to complement the data from other surveys and has other worthy attributes

It It raises awareness of people to the beauty and wonder of butterflies and for some it will ignite a passion for nature and the environment.
It provides a break from routine and by doing something positive to help the environment can improve mental health and well-being.

Following on from the butterfly count Rachel from Gift to Nature led the craft session, whereby group members enjoyed making pictures using dried flowers and then framing them with twigs.

The Green Time Crafts in the Park afternoon concluded with a group picnic, each friend brought a range of healthy food, some home cooked as well. Everyone was relaxed in the shaded sunshine and gentle breeze on the bank of the River Medina. The perfect natural way to maintain positive emotional well-being, reduce stress and enhance mental health.

We took photos