Jo Ling Kent

4 weeks ago | bbc.com | Jo Ling Kent

Award winner Pauline keeps people dancingJo KentBBCPauline Steel has raised more than £90,000 running her weekly tea dancesAs a dozen couples twirl on to the floor Pauline Steels tells them: "The next dance is the Tina Tango."Pauline may look an unlikely DJ, but she has been running weekly tea dances like this one at the Titchfield Community Centre in Hampshire, for 40 years.

1 month ago | bbc.com | Jo Ling Kent

Award winning cafe brings community togetherBBCIt was Tutu Melaku's dream that her cafe would bring the community togetherIt is a Wednesday morning and Tutu's Ethopian Table in Reading's Palmer Park is busy. The coffee machine is in constant use, a home-learning session is taking place in the quietest corner and the other tables are full of chatter from the various groups which occupy them. There are now 16 groups that call the cafe home.

1 month ago | bbc.com | Jo Ling Kent

Award-winning 'Chickpea' project teaches British valuesBBCMahmut Gunaydin devised the Life of a Chickpea project, which won him a BBC Make a Difference award"Imagine you are a chickpea," says the speaker. A hall full of children at John Henry Newman primary school in Oxford are eagerly listening. "Would you rather be in a soup, a salad, or a Noah's pudding?"This is not a cookery lesson, but a scheme which teaches children about the values of equality, diversity and inclusion.

1 month ago | bbc.com | Jo Ling Kent

Award-winning mini horse brings joy to care homeBBCThere were smiles all round when Mr Kelloggs visitedMr Kelloggs had to "reverse" into the lift at Eagles Mount care homeThere cannot be many horses that can fit in a lift, or would be happy to travel in one, but Mr Kelloggs takes it all in his stride. The 10-year-old British miniature horse works as a therapy animal, and the lift he is reversing into is at Eagles Mount Care Home in Poole.

1 month ago | bbc.com | Jo Ling Kent

Cherished items saved at award winning repair cafeJo KentBBCOne of the challenges for volunteer Charles Bone was repairing a model shipIt is Winchester's answer to the popular BBC programme The Repair Shop and on a grey Saturday morning it is a hive of activity. The Repair Cafe is held at the Badger Farm Community Centre in the city once a month. Despite starting just over a year ago, word has quickly spread and its popularity was further boosted after it won a BBC Make a Difference Award.