Oldham Community Development team

What is your role?

Operations Manager

I lead the Community Development Team and the Volunteering Team for Action Together Oldham. I lead on the Move More Programme for Oldham alongside colleagues from Public Health.

What drew you towards working with Action Together?

Making a difference to the well being of local people and communities.

What excites you most about your role?

Seeing groups and individuals develop and grow, making a real difference in the communities they support.  Working with a great team, who are passionate about the work they do.

What are your hopes for Oldham?

That people feel happier in the place they live and work.  That they feel more connected with their local community meaning they thrive.

Get in touch

To get in touch with Karen, email karen.mclauchlan@actiontogether.org.uk

What is my role: 

Community Development Worker covering Oldham South which cover Failsworth, Hollinwood and Medlock Vale wards. 

The groups, and the volunteers who keep them running, are changing lives for the better across Oldham. It is my role to support these groups/organisations to enable them to do more of what they are doing already, help them to get resources in, to plan their services, link them up with other groups and organisations and enable them to get their voices heard at a strategic level to influence decision making locally. 

What most excites me about this role: 

No one day is alike, different challenges and opportunities come daily. This job gives me the pleasure of meeting and working with great people making a difference to the lives of people in their communities in such a selfless way. I’m constantly learning from the people I work with and I get to make a difference - even if that’s in a small way daily. How many people can say that about their job! 

What drew me to work at Action Together: 

Back in 2009 the role of engagement worker on the embedding equalities project came up and this is what drew me to VAO (now Action Together) as this gave me an opportunity to work with a diverse range of people from the communities of Oldham. From the first day I came, I felt I was doing something positive and fulfilling and felt energised and inspired by the passion I felt from the people we work with to help make Oldham a better place to live, work and play in. 

My hopes for Oldham are: 

My hope for Oldham is that it is transformed into a place where: - people want to live, work and play in - the voluntary sector is strong, vibrant, sustainable - no-one goes to bed hungry, everyone has access to a place they can call home and diversity is celebrated - everyone appreciates that it’s only by working with a wide range of people, stakeholders and partners that we will ever achieve our collective ambitions.

What is my role: 

Community Development Worker covering North Oldham (Royton, Shaw and Crompton) 

To work as a key part of the Action Together team to lead, develop and deliver place-based approaches that:

• Maximise opportunities to create positive social change, promote social justice and harness social benefit in a place.
• Strengthen the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector to respond to local need and make them more robust.
• Engage local stakeholders to identify challenges and opportunities and develop collaborative solutions that improve the lives of residents.
• Identify, develop, and support thematic work that reaches across the borough to support equality. 

What most excites me about this role: 

To actively engage individuals, groups and organisations to enable them to set goals, make improvements and respond to various asks and respond through empowerment and active participation. To identify local community skills, assets, issues and needs to ensure positive outcomes. To believe, you can make a lasting change. 

What drew me to work at Action Together: 

I have worked within the VCFSE sector for over 27 years for a local medium sized charity based in Oldham. Throughout my various challenges in seeking funding, accessing training, sharing resources, creating partnerships and networking I used the services of Action Together. I always wanted to, one day be able to share my experience, knowledge, skills with other individuals, groups and organisations to develop a passion, idea, project and bring it to LIFE through Action Together. 

My hopes for Oldham are: 

To see passion, ideas, challenges come to life that will have a lasting impact within the Oldham community. Make Oldham a prosperous, adventurous and happy place to live in.

What is my role: 

Community Development Worker covering Alexandra, Coldhurst and St Mary’s wards.

Hi, I’m Jane Glaysher-White but as that is a bit of a mouthful, many people know me as Jane GW. I cover the ‘Central’ area of the borough – Alexandra, Coldhurst and St Mary’s wards. My role is to help the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprises based and working in these areas in any way I can. This could be help with finding the right source of funding, supporting groups with developing project ideas, linking groups up with others, helping with writing bids or with being a sounding board when you need impartial advice or a listening ear. My decorating skills are not the best but if you need some help and have plenty of dustsheets for the spillage - ask 

What most excites me about this role:

I love knowing that no two days are the same and that everyday I learn something new from the people and groups I’m interacting with. I love knowing that with my support, Action Together is helping to change people’s lives for the better. We are working with communities, sharing our knowledge and skills and making communities better places to live, work and play. 

What drew me to work at Action Together: 

Prior to working at Action Together, I worked as a business advisor to new women led organisations in the Rochdale borough. I moved over to work in Oldham over 10 years ago and even then, knew that this was an organisation that believed in its core values. They were not just letters on paper, filed in a drawer, they were actions that even now, after quite a few changes (the name being the most visible) are carried out constantly. The passion, that all of my Action Together colleagues bring on a daily basis and their commitment to supporting the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector is infectious and the reason I’m still here. 

My hopes for Oldham are: 

Oldham has so much potential, we have the most fantastic people living and working in the borough and there are interesting times ahead. My hope is that we continue to work together, to improve our surroundings and thrive.

Community Development Worker for East Oldham

What most excites me about this role: 

I’m excited about working to directly support the fantastic work and initiatives across the VCFSE sector in Oldham and how innovative it is. I’m excited to meet local individuals who are so dedicated to the vision and their local community and facilitating them in any way that they can and watch their incredible ideas take shape and grow.

What drew me to work at Action Together: 

The ethos of the organisation and how clear it is that everyone loves what they do. Action Together really stood out to me as being shaped by the community and as co-creating with community members aswell as partners. 

My hopes for Oldham are: 

I hope that Oldham continues to grow in it’s diversity and supporting it’s residents to excel. I hope that individuals continue to feed back into the community and support their local groups who continue to offer their amazing services. 

What is my role: 

Community Development Worker for East Oldham, covering Saddleworth, Lees, St James and Waterhead

Hello, I'm Adele Thomson, my role is to support the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector in Oldham East to support social change and the development of their organisations as well as the services and activities they deliver. This can be in a number of ways including sourcing funding, access to relevant training and events, working with them to develop policies and procedures or just talking through an idea for a project or service. 

What most excites me about this role: 

The work we do for Action Together reaches the very heart of communities in Oldham, whether that’s taking and idea and supporting individuals to bring it to fruition, supporting an established organisation to develop a project idea or campaigning to make changes for the sector at a strategic level. To have the opportunity to be a part of those opportunities on a daily basis is not only exciting but shows the passion and commitment from the people of Oldham in ensuring our communities are better places to be. I also love working with a wide range of people who amaze me daily with their enthusiasm and motivation for making a difference. 

What drew me to work at Action Together: 

My role with the Voluntary Sector Childrens Hub brought me to Voluntary Action Oldham (now Action Together) over 12 years ago. I was co-located with the team as an addition to their infrastructure support services and later became employed in a very similar role. Action Together have very strong values when it comes to working with the VCFSE sectors in Oldham. Tameside and Rochdale and everyone shares the same passion and drive to see the sector develop and thrive. 

My hopes for Oldham are: 

My hope is that VCFSE organisations in the borough continue to develop and thrive for many years to come and through collaborative working, we get to the real heart of some current and future challenges to provide solutions for those that really need it.

What is my role: 

Community Development Worker covering Chadderton and Werneth 

My name is Ruth Madden and I work in the west area of Oldham. Chadderton and Werneth is an area in Oldham that has some fantastic community groups and voluntary organisations that work and support people in the local area as well as across Oldham. It is my role to support these groups and help them to get funding in, help them to plan their services, link them up with other groups and organisations and to help get there voices heard at a strategic level, including the council. 

What most excites me about this role:

I am passionate about the community and the difference that groups can and do make to people’s lives. Whether that’s a parent and tots group, football club, uniformed group right up to supporting people with health issues or people of faith or groups that have a specific interest. I know that with the right support these groups can make a huge change to individuals lives and help them make their community a better place to live. 

What drew me to work at Action Together: 

I began working for Action Together in 2005. I took a short break of 2 years and returned 7 years ago. I continue to work for Action Together because they have the community at the heart of what they do. Everything is geared towards making Oldham, Tameside and Rochdale a better place to live and work. Action Together is passionate about the voluntary sector and about making sure they get their voices heard at a higher level and the recognition they deserve for all the services they provide in all of those areas. 

My hopes for Oldham are:

My hope is that all the groups I currently work with have the necessary skills to look out for themselves. That they know where to go for support, know where to look for funding and how to complete the best application forms. I hope that all the groups continue to work together to improve the areas where they live and work. We need community and voluntary groups because the people of Oldham, Tameside and Rochdale need them to thrive and survive.

What is my role: 

Community Development Worker (Move More) South and West Oldham. To be successful in this job I need to be passionate and practical . It is crucial to believe in the power of communities to shape healthier, more active lives. This role is about working collaboratively, strengthening the VCFSE sector to support Oldham residents in becoming more active, improving their wellbeing, and reducing health inequalities. 

What most excites me about this role: 

Being able to engage communities in co-developing health and movement initiatives that reflect their needs and priorities. I am excited to work alongside local people to understand what matters to them and turn ideas into action that supports healthier, more active lives through a 'done with' rather than a 'done to' approach. I have the opportunity to make a difference to individuals and communities in two different districts / areas of Oldham and contribute to reducing health inequalities. 

What drew me to work at Action Together: 

My personal values very much align to the values of Action Together "Believe it's possible, Strengthen others, Be true", which suggested to me that this organisation would be a place that I would enjoy working at , where the work ethos of my colleagues would be similar to my own so that together we can improve the lives of Oldham, Rochdale and Tameside.

My hopes for Oldham are: 

To see the residents of Oldham have the chance to move more in a way that is suitable to them, to help them live healthier,  happier lives.

What is my role: 

Community Development Worker Move More - working in East and North Districts and sitting with the Community Development Team at Action Together and the Move More Public health team.

What most excites me about this role: 

Move More is a newly  funded 3 year place partnership approach to support communities to create and embed sustainable change to be more active, led by and for communities, because of this it will look different in each ‘place’ but the goal is the same to move more in a way that works best for you / your family  which will help improve overall health and wellbeing. 

This feels exciting and refreshing in terms of how we approach people around lifestyle change and make it positive, community led and an integral part of our daily routine. 

What drew me to work at Action Together: 

I have worked for action together since 2015 in the Healthwatch Oldham and feel that their core values “Believe it's possible, Strengthen others, Be true" are so important in the work we do,  -   Anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about the importance physical activity in our lives . There are so many uncontrollable factors that influence how likely we are to be active to a level that will be beneficial - these include :  where you live, income, disability, gender, sexuality , ethnicity, age . 

So when I saw this role it stood out to me as something I would love to be part of as it provides an opportunity to work with local people to help change how people access, view, consider moving more and embed it into everyday life because they feel empowered to do so - whether that’s alone, with family or friends in a leisure facility, in the outdoors, in a community setting  or in our own home,  the point being we can all do something to make us more active, find something that we can enjoy and can feel the benefits of being more active on our  mental, physical, emotional and general health.

My hopes for Oldham are: 

I love the diversity, community strength and kindness within Oldham and want these things to remain. 

I hope that we can build on this and work together so that everyone has the same opportunities to live well. thrive and be happier. healthier and more active Oldham.