Welcome to the Blackpool Researching Together community blog!
A space for the community co-researchers to document their Blackpool Researching Together journey and keep you up-to-date with the important work they are involved in to ensure community voices are heard throughout this project.
Find out more about the Blackpool Researching Together team
Reflection on my co-researcher journey - February 2025
"Being part of the Blackpool Researching Together team for almost two years has been a fantastic opportunity and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time as a community co-researcher. Before this I was a stay-at-home parent who lacked any confidence or self-belief. Being part of the team has opened an entire new world, not only for me but for my family as well. I received an initial six-week training program and then further training on research methods. As it was all alien to me I felt eager to learn more and being part of a team with so much expertise was a real advantage for me. My passion is supporting disadvantaged communities such as the one I reside in, where my children live and go to school. I want to create an environment where all children can feel safe and create better community spirit.
"I decided to go to college and complete my Level 3 Social Care/Pastoral Services qualification followed by functional skills Math’s and English qualifications, and now I'm approaching the end of my first year of university. I then had the confidence to start and facilitate a community group within Claremont called Chat and Play. The co-researcher position has provided me with confidence and knowledge on health inequalities and I felt I had enough knowledge to bridge a small gap. I have now been successful in gaining a new role with Healthwatch as a community engagement officer within Claremont ward. I felt after working with the group for almost twelve months I had built up some amazing connections, but more to the point I felt there is vital work that needs to be undertaken by someone who understands the diverse community.
"The Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) program is vital in collating vital health research in our communities; and I do believe it has already changed many lives within Claremont alone. The knowledge gained from HDRC has triggered a ripple effect, I am proud to say we have volunteers at Chat and Play, one of which has never undertaken any employment in many years. Our volunteer has gained level 2 in food hygiene and is undertaking work with Better Start.
"The HDRC program really has had a snowball impact and I am forever grateful for the opportunity to be part of it".
Siobhan, Community co-researcher
NIHR Peer Research Community of Practice event - January 2025
"I recently had the opportunity to be involved in a presentation for the peer research event held at Newcastle University and facilitated by Dr Bronia Arnott, NIHR PHIRST Fusion Knowledge Exchange Broker. The event ‘North East and North Cumbria Peer Research Community of Practice’ was a way for us to evaluate our research and reflect on best practices, barriers and enablers experienced by PHIRST and the Cosy Homes in Lancashire (CHiL) project, and feed these back to attendees.
"My role in the presentation was to pre-record my reflections as a community co-researcher within the CHiL project. This included what activities I had been involved in, what had worked well and any barriers we encountered and what I would change if I had to do the project again. I found the pre-recordings a bit tricky as I didn’t want to look away from the camera but had to refer to my notes so I didn’t forget to say anything.
"Whilst I didn’t attend the event in person, I was able to participate online and listen to the full presentation which included my pre-recorded reflections. There were a few questions from the audience specifically asking for our experience as a co-researcher and I felt I had confidently answered them to the best of my knowledge. I hope to be able to attend the a future conference in person next time".
Sharon, Community co-researcher
Chat & Play community group - January 2025
“Working as a community co-researcher has opened up a host of opportunities. As a mum myself I have an interest in supporting families, so last year I started a Chat & Play group within Claremont ward in Blackpool.
“The group is a safe space for local families of all ages to come together, we provide support alongside a hot meal, toys and arts and crafts. We also hold free clothing events and are very active within the local Claremont community.
“Gaining knowledge on health inequalities allowed me to see gaps in community spaces and provide support in communities that need it most. Developing skills and knowledge from co-research has enabled me to become an active member of the community and create places where our children can play freely and safely”.
Siobhan, Community co-researcher
Annual learning event workshop - December 2024
"Last month I got the opportunity to co-facilitate a Ripple Effects Mapping (REM) workshop at the Blackpool Researching Together year 2 annual learning event alongside Dr Bronia Arnott, NIHR PHIRST Fusion Knowledge Exchange Broker. The event was a way for us to share our learning from the last year and the work we are involved in with the local community, stakeholders and other HDRC teams from across the country.
"I found the experience co-presenting very uplifting and confidence building. I got to know the other co-presenters a lot more through working together to produce the workshop. It was difficult to cover all the areas of REM in the workshop as time was limited and we hadn’t envisaged the participants being so engaged and spending so much time in conversation with each other.
"My favourite part of the workshop was the participants reaction to the session and the positive feedback that was received. This has boosted my self-worth and confidence to help co-facilitate future workshops."
Sharon, Community co-researcher
Exercise referral scheme - November 2024
“I was recently involved in working with Active Blackpool to improve their exercise referral scheme. I wanted to be involved in this project because I am a keen advocate on the benefits of exercise for physical and mental wellbeing and regularly attend classes at the sports centre. I am also trying to encourage a family member with health issues to consider a referral to the scheme, so I have a personal interest in how it works.
“I acted as a facilitator at two workshops for exercise practitioners and community participants of the scheme. I felt comfortable in my role as I moved around the tables encouraging and supporting the participants to express their views and ensuring that everyone had their say. It was inspiring to see members of the community drawing on their own experiences to make a valid contribution and they voiced that they welcomed the opportunity to be involved and have their say.
“Overall, it was a very positive experience and I felt privileged to be a part of the project. I got to see first-hand the advantages of co-design and it reinforced how important it is to involve those with lived experience in the process to get the best possible outcome”.
Sandra, Community co-researcher
Creative Evaluation workshop - November 2024
"It was great to welcome Violet and Jess from the evaluation team at Lancaster University down to Blackpool to run a workshop about ‘creative evaluation’. It was a really fun session with loads of interactive parts to learn more about different techniques and software we can use to evaluate what we do.
"The most interesting part to me was learning ways we can adapt each technique to suit the different projects we work on. This would enable us to really allow the individual to have a tailored experience, rather than the basic, rigid evaluation types most research projects follow.
"I am hopeful from this session that we can tailor our evaluation methods for our community to ensure they can get their points across, and feel they’re listened to!"
Matt, Community co-researcher
Active into Autumn - October 2024
"I recently got the chance to go to the ‘Active into Autumn’ event, held at the iconic Winter Gardens venue by the Place Based Partnership.
"The event enables local community members to meet with loads of different services in Blackpool and find out about the help and support that is available. I went along with other members of the co-researcher team to promote what we’re doing to help address health inequalities in our town.
"We had lots of interesting and wonderful conversations with different service providers about what gaps in research and knowledge exist that need addressing. Some being glaringly obvious gaps and some were rather unique, but all offered an interesting value for us contemplate and reflect in our project based work.
"I think it was a really fun experience for the team to engage with various types of people, and hope to see some more community people at their next event".
Matt, Community co-researcher
Blackpool and the Fylde College Freshers Fair - September 2024
"We had a stall at the Blackpool and Fylde College Freshers Fair to promote Blackpool Researching Together to the students, informing them who we are and what we do. The response we got was mixed. Some students were quite interested, asking questions and making comments on our suggestion sheet, while others just walked on by.
"Comparing our stall to other stalls we questioned if we had enough literature and freebie giveaways to draw them in and we discussed how we could improve on this for future events. During the event we were able to network with other organisations, which was useful for the mutual sharing of information.
"On reflection I enjoyed the day. It was quite exciting to be back on campus and to see the excitement and enthusiasm of the students. It took me back to the start of my journey as a mature student in the 1980’s, and here I am 40 years later, still enjoying learning new skills and gaining new knowledge".
Sandra, Community co-researcher
NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration Annual Symposium 2024, Newcastle - July 2024
“It was great to attend and present at the Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) Annual Symposium in Newcastle and come together with the other HDRC’s that have now been set up nationally. It was inspiring to see so many dedicated and like-minded people committed to reducing the level of social harm that currently creates increasingly high levels of health inequality in the UK. The event was great and after a morning of public health professionals sharing their years of insight into the health of society the workshops began.
“At our workshop we updated people on what we’d been up to in Blackpool, the small steps we’ve been putting in place in our first year to have the biggest impact. As residents, we unapologetically spoke proudly of how things in our town need to change. We discussed the pioneering efforts we are taking in Blackpool to embed co-production and co-research within our public services, aiming to not just represent the community in our work but directly have community members involved in decision making processes that effect residents. We delivered a great workshop with many in the room really pleased to see the co-production and co-research model leading the way nationally.
“The trip to Newcastle didn’t just feel professional it felt authentic, something we are keen to implement throughout our work in the town, as residents ourselves. There is an opportunity with this work to be and create difference, a difference that we can all agree has been needed for too long but now we have an opportunity to implement resident voice into public services like never before".
Josh, Community co-researcher
Pride crochet class - June 2024
"I recently worked with local art business, Hexagram Designs, to run a crochet class celebrating pride month. The session celebrated pride within our blossoming LGBTQ+ community while helping to advocate for diversity with Blackpool Researching Together co-researchers and local charity workers.
"Members from the Blackpool Researching Together team and local affiliate Empowerment Charity were helped to create different types of pride flags and celebrate their uniqueness in or in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Attendees of the session were also taught how to do single, double and triple crochet so they can create even more from home.
"Sessions like this are vital to connect people within the community while also enabling them to learn a new skill. It’s important we prioritise and celebrate our LGBTQ+ community members, as well as our local artists".
Matt, Community co-researcher
Library engagement sessions - May/June 2024
"Over the past few weeks I have been helping local charity Healthwatch Blackpool engaging with the community to discuss menopause and perimenopause. During this time, I have been engaging with community members in places where they find important information to help their wellbeing, such as libraries and other community spaces.
"On my visits I spoke with community members about all sorts of different health related inequalities and struggles they were facing, also offering help with signposting to services that could offer support. Whilst meeting community members, I brought their concerns around our research projects to the Blackpool Researching Together team to ensure their voices are heard.
"Involvement is key to ensuring change happens and we support this vital message in our work and ongoing research".
Matt, Community co-researcher
The NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaboration (HDRC) Blackpool is part of the NIHR and hosted by Blackpool Council. The views expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the Department of Health and Social Care.
NIHR Health Determinants Research Collaborations enable local authorities to become more research-active, embedding a culture of evidence-based decision making.