Anne Ramshaw - Project Manager, Houghton Racecourse Community Access Point
Anne Ramshaw is Project Manager for Houghton Racecourse Community Access Point in Houghton le Spring.
She first joined the centre as a full time volunteer when it opened in 2000 and since then has worked as treasurer, Community Health Support Worker for the Coalfield area and Volunteer Coordinator.
Before joining the Access Point, Anne was a nanny and childminder who stopped working to raise her children. After moving to the area 9 years ago she became bored of staying at home and decided she needed a new challenge. Becoming a volunteer at the local playscheme for 8-12yr olds during the summer holidays, she soon started providing a playclub for the Community Association, helping to raise funds and organise day trips and camping activities for local children.
In response to the 1994 Crime Report for the area, Anne was part of the local residents steering group that established the Houghton Racecourse Access Point. The aim of this new organisation was to help remove barriers to training by improving accessibility and reducing cost as well as providing creche facilities and free transport for local residents. Anne joined the board of directors in 1997, taking part in Companies House training and working with architects on the plans for the new centre.
Over the years Anne has had a wide range of informal training at the Access Point or similar local facilities in subjects such as creche work, childminding, playwork, health and safety and first aid. On a formal level, she has also recently completed a University Certificate in Professional Development in Community Development at
Anne says that training has not only been very helpful in developing her skills at work but has also boosted her confidence as a person. Previously shy and unable to speak in public without getting embarrassed, the training and experience she has gained from working at the centre has made it much easier for her to deal with other people, and with a 7307 Teaching Certificate she is also able to deliver teaching for adults and share her knowledge with others.
When asked about her views on training, Anne describes it as 'amazing'. She loves seeing local residents grow in confidence as they develop new skills and enjoys watching people go from non-accredited to accredited courses, becoming volunteers at the centre, moving onto college or university and even finding full-time employment as a result.
Looking back, Anne says one of the most important things she has done in her career was become a volunteer which has been the catalyst for everything since. Originally she had planned to work in the creche but as she couldn't stay on the board of directors and still work at the centre, she decided she would prefer to continue developing the project and Access Point.
A typical day can be very varied for Anne but generally includes implementing the business plan for the centre, managing the day to day running of the Access Point and staff, writing funding bids to keep the project running and keep people in post (even if their role changes slightly), trying to access new funding, delivering occasional training sessions, supervising student work placements, working closely with the board of directors, and working with other organisations to share best practice.
Anne says she loves everything about the work she does, especially watching local people come into the centre to develop new skills and fulfil their potential. She enjoys writing funding bids and working with a great team of staff on developing new ideas and projects. Unfortunately, like most people in the sector she says there is never enough money to support everything which means that too much time is spent applying for funding which could be better spent on delivering work at a grass roots level. Ideally she would like to see more direct support for voluntary and community organisations from local government, especially if they are happy to use them as an example of good practice when delivering services in the community.
Her advice for anyone wanting to work in the sector is 'Go for it' and never believe that you can't do something. If you take it one step at a time you can achieve anything and you won't know what's possible unless you try. Anne says her outlook on life has completely changed for the better since getting involved. Before that she didn't believe she would ever work again although she knew she didn't want to stay at home forever. The local area had a lot of problems but since helping set up joining Houghton Racecourse Community Access Point there has been a massive improvement to the area and the lives of people who have come through the door to learn new skills and even new jobs.
