How The Old Fire Station in Gipton tackled the lockdown crisis

The Old Fire Station (TOFS) is home to six charities and tenants, who help people in a myriad of ways. Support ranges from health, families, welfare issues to a place where people can usually meet socially and do cookery and crafts.

But when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in March the former firefighting building had to change tack. TOFS development manager Fran Etherington said: “I’ve always felt being at The Old Fire Station is like being on a juggernaut, It fires down the road and we are going at a million miles an hour. There is a lot going on. Suddenly, having the brakes put on like that was a real shock and everyone was quite worried and anxious at the time.”

But the six charities pulled together to pool ideas about helping people remotely. One of them, People in Action, is an example which is typical of the efforts of all the groups. During lockdown the charity, which helps people with learning difficulties and autism, has so far made 18,477 phone calls to its members and volunteers. On top of that, it has run nearly 1,000 face-to-face support sessions and done 688 video calls via Zoom.

Fran added: “A real highlight for me was seeing how the relationship of those charities within the building was so strong. It made us so good at responding to a crisis like this. We were fast, we did it together and we were really good at responding and very strong at doing that.”

Another high point was the wellbeing packs that TOFS put together with Children’s Services for some of the most vulnerable youngsters in East Leeds. Social workers, who delivered the packs, told how the envelopes of “fun things to do” helped brighten up the day and brought excitement to children who were experiencing tough times.

Plans are also afoot to hand out 500 “Bags Of Joy” this Christmas to people in East Leeds, The bags are packed with gifts, ideas for activities and things to do for all ages. Leeds City Council has funded this through The Old Fire Station, East Leeds Project and Space 2. TOFS also hopes to team up with York Road Local Care Partnership to deliver Winter Warmers meals to isolated people in the new year.

Like many community groups, lockdown has had a terrible effect on TOFS’ ability to fund its work. Fran said the lockdown had “completely decimated” its income streams. One of the ways it raised money was by renting out its conferencing and event space. But that has been adversely affected by two lockdowns.

The Old Fire station is still allowed to rent out its facilities for work-related meetings and other exempt activities like adult education.

Fran urged businesses and people to rent out its safe and socially distanced space so it can continue its vital work. She added: “Without the income we can’t do what we do. There are other avenues for us to get income. But the best one is the room hire and for people to come and hire the rooms. It’s such a direct way for people to almost give something back. If you are going to hire a room for a meeting then come and hire it here rather than at a nameless, faceless conference centre. We are really good and we look after people really well. They are giving something back by paying us the money.”

To find out more information about hiring conferencing space email: [email protected] or ring 0113 2136813.

CASE STUDIES:
The Old Fire Station’s (TOFS) resident charities have been working hard for people during the health crisis.

GIPSIL, which works with children, young people and families to realise their potential, is one of its tenants. Its top priority has been to keep all of its services fully functioning and to support local schools. IT equipment has also been given to those without. A new housing support service for young people in Leeds, Our Way Leeds, was launched in June. Work has also continued at property maintenance arm, Elevate.

Zest, a not-for-profit organisation, is also located at TOFS. During the pandemic Zest continued to offer support, activities and cookery skills classes to people living in Leeds. This provided much needed contact to people through difficult times. And the cafe at TOFS, which did well during the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, reopened this week to do takeout services.

Another tenant, Healthwatch Leeds, has had to change the way it works dramatically in the absence of face-to-face. It has been creating a series of short surveys called Weekly Check Ins. A recent one looked at people’s attitudes to Covid-19 vaccines.

Meanwhile, Space2, an arts and social change charity based at TOFS, designed wellbeing packs for children in East Leeds after TOFS secured Healthy Holiday funding, which it shared with Space 2 and Zest.