Our Society – A timeline

There are a lot of networks, toolkits and people who want to help build a
Big Society. Many have very specific objectives or advocate a particular means
www.oursociety.org.u
of achieving community benefit. k

Our Society is different…

We formed Our Society in July 2010, not to duplicate existing work, but to network the
existing networks and signpost people to a wide range of tools, options, resources and
support. We aim to maintain constructive relationships with all who are seeking to
promote social action. We work to connect people and organisations, and help
communities take real power over their lives. We are an independent, voluntary
network, with members from a wide range of backgrounds and organisations across the
UK and beyond.

Our Society grew out of Big Society in the North. We wanted to acknowledge that, in
our society, local social action is already taking place in communities of place, cause,
identity and interest across the country. We wanted also to broaden the classification of
‘communities’ to include online or digital communities.

We are a network for honest exchange of resources and ideas, grounded in and focused
on real communities. We have acted as a critical friend (or friendly critic) to those
involved in promoting the Big Society ideas, and provided a sounding board on much of
the associated activity.

We have also:

• Run five of our own events -

o ‘Big Society in the North’ in Sheffield on 27 July 2010, attended by 100
people
o ‘21st Century Community Organisers’ on 21 September 2010, for 20 people
in Sheffield
o ‘Big Society: Equalities & Social Justice’ Manchester, 8 December 2010,
attended by 40 people (in association with CDX)
o ‘Co-design Our Society’ 20 January 2011 in Leeds, attended by 50 people
o A Big Society Reality Check, held in London on 31 March for 40 people

• Set-up an on-line Big Society ideas forum which generated 51 ideas for
developing our societies

• Established an open and inclusive Ning platform – www.oursociety.org.uk

o With 467 members (as at 30/3/10)

Social action. Honest exchange. Grounded learning.

 o 25 discussion groups
o 85 forum topics
o 48 blog posts
o A calendar listing 143 local Big Society related events
o A national map of projects and local maps of projects in Dudley

o Spoken at numerous workshops and conferences

o @oursocietyuk on Twitter has 491 followers
o A presence on Facebook and media on YouTube and Flickr
o Produced a ‘book in eight minutes’ capturing the mood of the
o ‘Co-design our society’ event
www.oursociety.org.u
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For more information contact Our Society which is co-ordinated voluntarily by:

Sophie Ballinger  07970 154 810 sophie@bigsocietynorth.org.uk

@sospot
Emma Lees  0114 241 2760  emma@bigsocietynorth.org.uk
@ladylowe
Julian Dobson  07545 874556  julian@bigsocietynorth.org.uk @juliandobson
John Popham  07802 781673  john.popham@johnpopham.com @johnpopham
Tanwir Rauf  07889 980554  tanwir@bigsocietynorth.org.uk
Paul Webster  07876 743096  paulwebster43@gmail.com @watfordgap
David Wilcox  07970 621696  david@socialreporter.com @davidwilcox

Big Society: some milestones

Over the last 12 months there have been a number of Big Society related events,
announcements, launches and re-launches. Here are a few of the key dates and events:

2010
31 March Big Society launched by David Cameron as a flagship coalition policy
31 March Big Society Network launched by Paul Twivy, Nat Wei and David
Cameron
April Trials begin on models of Participatory Budgeting
9 June Communities First fund launched, to ‘lead your charity through a time
of change’
July Big Society in the North launched
19 July Big Society bank announced, which will draw on dormant bank
accounts
19 July Four vanguard communities are announced to trial Big Society
12 August Public Service Mutuals launched in 16 locations

Social action. Honest exchange. Grounded learning.

5 October After three events Big Society Network calls off planned ‘town hall
tour’ series
28 October The first 24 of the Local Enterprise Partnerships announced
3 December Big Society Network appoints Steve Moore as Director
11 December The Localism Bill is introduced in Parliament

2011 www.oursociety.org.u
k
3 February Liverpool City Council pulls out of being a Big Society vanguard
community
16 February National Citizenship Service announced to get 11,000 16yr olds
volunteering
19 February Locality announced to lead the project to train 5000 Community
Organisers
25 March Your Square Mile, led by Paul Twivy, launched in 16 local communities
(after local workshops during February)

Social action. Honest exchange. Grounded learning.