Welcome to Connecting with you, where we update you on some of the latest news across our services. You can view our latest March 2025 issue, or look through previous editions for stories you may have missed. You can also use the filters to find stories in different topics.
We are proud to support a wide range of projects and events throughout the region, as well as helping residents to thrive. Bringing communities together is important to us.
If you have an idea for a community event or project, or would like to find out more about what is going on in your area, our community connectors can help.
Torbay Foyer, the home of up to 20 young residents, recently celebrated the completion of a new kitchen.
Transforming the space from an industrial-style kitchen to one that’s more comfortable and homier, our residents are delighted with the new space to enjoy cooking and socialising with peers.
A young resident who lives at the foyer, Talika Wright, said: “It’s really good. There’s dishwashers here, we are young people, we are teenagers and at the end of the day we hate doing our dishes.
“It will help people who want to work as a chef by being in a more professional kitchen. It will be good for more socialisation and cooking groups, helping young people how to cook and life skills. It will be really good.”
Jenny Endean, our Service Lead for Young People, said: “The kitchen that’s just been refurbished has been a great partnership and showed true collaboration between a variety of contractors and our internal colleagues.
The Community Pantry at Bowering Court is helping to provide residents with useful items like household cleaning products, food, baby items and toiletries.
Simon Cohen, Community Connector, has supported with the pantry. He said: “The Tenancy Support Housing team have stocked the Community Pantry with a small amount of items, that can be replenished as and when needed. The shelves are stocked with food such as pasta, rice, tins and jars that can help with cooking. The team thought carefully about what to purchase through the social value funding, and the pantry not only holds food but household cleaning products, essential baby items and toiletries, which many of our young families find expensive, are required in an emergency, or they had not thought of buying before arriving at Bowering Court.”
A resident said: “The pantry is a great idea, I have used it, I have also put items in the pantry that I no longer need that I believe others could benefit from”. Bowering Court recently enjoyed Blooming Bowering Day was a great opportunity for residents, children and LiveWest colleagues to get to know each other a little better and brighten up the area and hang a basket outside their homes. A resident stated: “It is nice to sit outside on the picnic benches and put my hands in some soil, I do love plants and miss gardening, and my child loves getting her hands dirty.”
Tenancy Sustainment community drop ins
Since August 2024, the Tenancy Sustainment team have been running drop ins with the support of the Community Investment team. These are to help those customers who may not know our services are available to them or do not use digital channels to access our services. Our drop ins have been making use of community spaces, offering refreshments and inviting many external services along to benefit our customers. Services including Southwest Water, ECOE, Navigate, Citizens Advice, Devon Communities together, South Dartmouth Community Energy and many more have been involved to provide advice and support for customers. We have had great responses from our customers over this period and look forward to working with our customers using community spaces and the new Community Van.
Our Tenancy Sustainment Officer, Denise Scott and Community Connector, Lesley Browne have also facilitated door knocks with ECOE in the Exeter area to take services to customers doorsteps. Leaflets were sent out to our customers in advance to let them know of the event.
Furse Park Community Larder
Residents in Barne Barton, Plymouth, are continuing to make use of the Furse Park Community Larder. The affordable food club helps people to stretch their budgets and stop food going to waste. It runs 11am to 12pm on the second Thursday of every month, giving local residents the chance to buy 5 cupboard items for £1 with free fruit and vegetables, or 10 items for £2 plus free fruit and vegetables.
The project has built up slowly and there are now around 20 households using it every month. Two LiveWest residents kindly volunteer their time to make this happen, helping to bring the community together.
