Lowestoft Rising comes to an end

Posted by on 22 April 2024 | Comments

A Lowestoft partnership which has been working to improve people's mental and physical wellbeing, support the most vulnerable residents and increase aspirations in local young people for the last 10 years has now closed but key areas of work have transitioned over to other local partnerships.

Established in 2013, Lowestoft Rising was a partnership between East Suffolk Council, Suffolk County Council, Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care Board, Suffolk Police and the Police and Crime Commissioner. Several key voluntary and community organisations were also involved, including Access Community Trust and Community Action Suffolk.

With the aim of improving mental health and wellbeing, Lowestoft Rising has been instrumental in the introduction of mental health ambassadors, funding free Suffolk Mind training to voluntary groups and schools, establishing a support network for people struggling with self-neglect and hoarding, developing Walk and Talks to help people stay connected, organising the first mental health conference which was attended by 300 people and developing a positive mental health manifesto for Lowestoft.

Lowestoft Rising has also played an important role in improving partnership working across the town, including the creation of a physical health and wellbeing network, working closely with the Lowestoft and northern parishes Community Partnership, helping to establish the Lowestoft Ambassadors programme, working with the Lowestoft Time Bank and many more.

Through Lowestoft Rising, the Lowestoft Collaboration Academy was developed with 80 people trained in collaborative working. The project also secured £380,000 through the Big Lottery Community Fund to support the employment of three Community Enablers working for Community Action Suffolk in the town, as well as the launch of a street chaplaincy scheme, a befriending programme and involving schools in the opening parade for the First Light Festival.

Supporting vulnerable residents has been a key aspect of Lowestoft Rising's work, supporting Lowestoft Community Church to retain a food bank, introducing the Lowestoft Food Network which provides community pantries and fridges to help people struggling with food costs, working with street drinkers and rough sleepers through the Thin Ice project, helping to establish social prescribing, working with health partners and East Suffolk Council to set up the Bridgeview Vulnerable Person's Hub with a medical outreach service, and involvement with East Suffolk Council's Ease the Squeeze programme.

Lowestoft Rising also set out to raise aims and aspirations amongst young people, forming the Lowestoft Cultural Education Partnership, running the Lowestoft Daily Mile and Beat the Street projects to help children become more active, establishing a school uniform bank and supporting the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) and Food in School Holidays (FISH) programmes.

Phil Aves, who has been Lowestoft Rising's Change Manager throughout the entire project, is set to retire this summer, and the services provided by the project will be allocated to other organisations including the Lowestoft Place Board, the Community Partnership, East Suffolk's Communities Team and the Cultural Education Partnership.

Following the final meeting of the project on 18 April, Phil Aves said: "With some of the partners no longer able to fund Lowestoft Rising going forward, it has come to a natural end. We now have a number of key boards and functions that we did not have 10 years ago and those functions and boards will ensure that partnership working carries on for Lowestoft and its residents to make Lowestoft a better place. It has been a real privilege to serve Lowestoft in this role and help those people who were most in need of help. From school children to homeless people, from health matters to pride related matters, Lowestoft Rising has delivered across the system to help the town improve. I hope that with the opening of the new third crossing that the town is better united to take Lowestoft forward."

Nicole Rickard, Head of Communities and Leisure at East Suffolk Council said: "Lowestoft Rising has been instrumental in supporting and delivering a huge range of projects over the past decade, all of which have improved the lives of local people in a myriad of ways. The project brought public and voluntary sector organisations together to work collaboratively and provide joined-up services for the benefit of the town, introduced new services where gaps were identified and laid the foundations for many of the services supporting local residents in Lowestoft today. There is no doubt that Lowestoft Rising would not have been such a success without the involvement of Phil Aves who has worked tirelessly over the years, and we wish him well on his retirement."

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