The Living Room – Rowanfield
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Our work in Rowanfield started with listening. We knocked on every door in the area and had conversations with more than 600 residents about what they liked about their community, what concerned them and what they would like to see change. One of the things we kept hearing was that people had nowhere locally where they could meet their neighbours, take part in activities or simply spend time together. People talked about feeling that Rowanfield had been forgotten.
 
There was an empty shop on Rowanfield Exchange, and through the conversations we began to explore with residents what could be possible if that space was brought back into use. Residents chose the name The Living Room, reflecting the idea of creating somewhere welcoming and informal that felt like it belonged to the community.
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The conversations were also helping us meet people with their own ideas, interests and skills. We supported them to explore what they wanted to do and what might help them get started, whether that was connecting with other people, finding a small amount of funding, developing an activity or building the confidence to try something new.
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The Living Room became a place where those ideas could grow.
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Regular social mornings and activities gave people opportunities to meet and build relationships, while residents also began developing their own projects and activities. Rather than Community Roots deciding what should happen in the space, our role was to listen, connect people and support them to take their own ideas forward.
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One of the projects to grow from this was The Revival Room. Residents saw the potential in unwanted items and developed an idea that combined reuse, learning and generating income. People learnt how to photograph items, write adverts, sell online and keep track of what they sold, sharing skills and learning from one another as the project developed.
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The Living Room also became an important base for our Community Organising training, including Level 2 and Level 3 Awards. People who trained there went on to use those skills in their own communities and within Community Roots; two of our Directors, including our current Lead Trainer, came through that training.
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The space also gave us a base from which to continue listening beyond Rowanfield, including supporting some of the early engagement around St Peter’s and the Moors Big Local.
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The Living Room showed us what can happen when a community space grows from conversations rather than beginning with a programme of activities. We started by listening to what people wanted, supported people to explore their ideas, and the space developed around the people who chose to use it.