Team Talk

THE collapse of Redcar-based SSI in 2015 left more than 2,000 directly-employed staff without work and affected hundreds more in the supply chain. As a community it was important to the local area to work together and offer a unique project which could help support those affected by recent redundancies.

‘Team Talk’ was joint funded by Middlesbrough Council and Redcar & Cleveland Council along with additional support from Middlesbrough FC players who donated proceeds from their charity topless calendar. The proceeds went directly towards the programme, which significantly helped to launch and run Team Talk.

Team Talk is aimed at engaging males recently made redundant across Teesside, targeting mainly men aged 40+ who have been impacted by the recent closure of SSI Steelworks.

This model looked at engaging local champions in communities that would assist with tackling social isolation and loneliness by supporting individuals to maintain latent functions such as time structure during the day, continued shared experiences with others, goal setting and continuing to be active. It aims to build community resilience using evidence based mental health improvement interventions.

Empowerment is at the heart of the weekly meetings (called ‘Boot Rooms’) with participants being practical and proactive; aiming to help them to fulfill both group and individual goals. The most important feature of the boot rooms is that the members drive the agenda and activities.

The group have engaged in a number of activities including volunteering on Sporting Memories ’66 event at the Riverside Stadium, attending Newcastle Airport for fire safety training alongside talks on seasonal contracts and are also currently voluntarily renovating the environment surrounding their boot room hub site.

The group have received guest speakers from organisations such as Pension wise, Job Centre and National Careers Service, while they have also attended healthy eating workshops ran by Middlesbrough FC’s 1^st Team Chef, as well as assisting in the running of the annual steel gala day at Redcar. Aside from this they have taken part in interviews and reports for BBC One, The Politics Show, The Northern Echo, The Evening Gazette and BBC Radio Tees.

Contact Oliver on liam.watson@mfcfoundation.co.uk or call 01642 757674

A packed Legends Lounge celebrated another year of service to the communities of Teesside at the MFC Foundation dinner.

Sponsored by Vistech and hosted by Gary Philipson, the inspirational evening mixed fun with hard-hitting stories of our work throughout the area, captured in words and pictures in the programme for the event which once more was kindly sponsored by Middlesbrough College.

Head of Foundation Lynsey Edwards spoke of her pride in the work of her team, Vistech’s Paul Heeran outlined why he was so keen to sponsor the dinner for a third successive year and guest speaker Richard Kilty movingly outlined his own journey which could so easily have gone down another route, not one which took him to the Olympic Games and become the European indoor sprint champion.

Two awards were presented. The Foundation Programme of the Year went to Roary’s Academy. For the little ones, this is a football development school for children aged between two and six aiming to build self-esteem and confidence while developing fine and gross motor skills.

There were joint runners-up in this category, Football Welcomes, a programme for refugees and asylum seekers who have fled oppression and war in their own country. Many participants have gone on to work for the Foundation, keen to give back to a welcoming community.

The other joint runner-up was Think With Your Feet. A football-led programme that brings together people who have been affected by mental illness.

It was a participant from that programme who was named Participant of the Year. Darren ‘Frankie’ Renshaw has overcome significant personal challenges to now be in a position to help others. Clearly emotional, Frankie probably received the loudest applause of the night when, well out of his comfort zone, he went up to receive his prize.

Award-winning photographer Tom Banks captured the essence of it all on an evening where there was a greater appreciation of our work and vital funds were raised for the Foundation through auctions and a raffle. Have a look through the extensive gallery below to see if you feature on an evening which was rounded off in style with a set from local band Flat Back 4.

Thank you to everyone who played some part in making this a very rewarding and very successful event, especially the catering and service staff from the club who were, as ever, on top form.

For a bigger version, click on each image.