ABS Anniversary Fund Series – November: Phoenix Radio

Congratulations to Phoenix Radio who were the November recipient of the ABS anniversary fund!

The ABS Foundation and our charity partner Community Foundation for Calderdale will be supporting 12 different charities who deliver vital services in Calderdale. Every month, between May 2019 and April 2020 the ABS 19/20 fund will make an award to one fantastic local charity.

Who are Phoenix Radio?

Phoenix Radio are a local community radio station based in Halifax with a reach of over 200,000 listeners.

Phoenix work closely with two special educational schools, William Henry Smith School and Ravenscliffe High School. They also have several secondary schools who use the station to offer work placement experience as well as individuals who may be experiencing problems at school.

Phoenix Radio were shortlisted for the local community spirit award in 2017 and have won two national community radio awards in the past two years.

What will Phoenix Radio do with the Donation?

Phoenix Radio recently invented the ‘Our Time and Place…Halifax’ board game which is a memory game project co-developed with the Forum 50+ group.

The nostalgic board game is designed to support individuals with additional needs, physical disabilities or mental health issues. The game is also great for families that have lived in Halifax.

They have used the £950 to produce 100 board games and delivered over 80 to care homes and families leading up to Christmas.

Building A Future

Hoping to increase the reach of the game and develop it into other regions, Phoenix Radio would like to expand the game to support:

People who may have lost friends or family members
Isolated people
People with terminal illnesses
Others who face social isolation
The development of the board game for Calderdale and wider areas

As an example, Phoenix Radio would create a ‘Our Time and Place… Calderdale’ board following the Trivial Pursuit model which has one board but then also allows various themes such as Baby Boomer games. There would also be expansion packs available as future generations play the game.

Howard Priestley, managing director of Phoenix Radio comments: “Sally Roberts from ABS was visiting Fletchers Mill and I was introduced to her by the Mill’s manager. She was very interested in what we did and asked if she could come back to spend more time discussing the community activities we run. Sally suggested we apply for the ABS Fund as we were looking at how we could make and distribute the game.”

Dave Lees, trustee of the ABS Foundation and director at ABS UK said of the recent donation, “Phoenix Radio have a wide variety of ongoing projects supporting vulnerable and isolated people across Calderdale. The board game project is unique and we have already seen first-hand how it can help people remember areas of Calderdale they may have lived or worked in. We are more than happy to support its expansion to reach more people.”

If you’re a charity in Calderdale and like what you see, check out our blog post introducing the fund and to find out how you can apply.