A local activist is setting up a community initiative for people in the area, with the aim of discussing interests and social concerns.

David Joughin believes that following on from the pandemic, community spirit has grown and people are more eager to engage with local events.

His initiative ‘Heart of Douglas’ will give local residents a place to talk.

He said: ‘It’s a community building initiative. There have been a couple on the island already.

‘I’d done some training in asset based community development on a peer mentoring programme at New View.

‘I was helping promote asset based communities in four centres around the island so you had different meetings at community centres.

‘I’ve been following that up from there with members of my community. Myself and a few neighbours thought of the initiative “Heart of Douglas”.’

Mr Joughin thought of the name when asked if he lived in east or central Douglas.

‘They’re actually political references,’ he said. ‘Locally we’re in the heart of Douglas and it matches the sentiment of the project.’

He added: ‘While I was at New View, Jane Glover MBE [Arbory and Castletown commissioner] is involved in community building in the south west and I was picking her brains on how to do it in Douglas.

‘We started a few weeks ago getting to know people in the neighbourhood. We asked people if there was something they’d like to do for their community with the help of their neighbours.

‘In the area I live around Peveril Street I’ve gotten to know what people want to do. Lots of people wanted to help the elderly, promote mental health awareness, find things to do for children and tidy up around the area to make it more attractive.’

He said that the point of the initiative was to make the most of the assets Douglas has, while also creating new opportunities for residents.

‘One of the assets we have is a family library, it’s one of the places I can take my daughter and she can get involved in arts, crafts and events,’ Mr Joughin said. ‘It’s about identifying what we have in our neighbourhood.’

Mr Joughin helped to organise a Platinum Jubilee event on Mad Sunday to bring people together.

He said: ‘We got in touch with Department of Education to open up Fairfield School. It was a great day. Lots of people in the community brought along food and drinks.

‘We also opened up the playground and it was a joy to see children making use of that.

‘We are hoping to do it again in the future. We’d like to do more events, perhaps some community walk and talks, anything that promotes mental wellbeing.’

Heart of Douglas is currently looking for a social hub to use as a base of operations, where people can meet and discuss local topics.

Mr Joughin added: ‘Willaston has got a good community association and they do a lot on social media but they’re missing a hub up there as well so it seems to be a prominent issue.

‘I’m hoping to find a facility where people can sit and talk with confidence about what they’d like to do within their community and for each other.

‘The council has been very helpful so far, so we’re hoping to make this an initiative in our area.’

If you would like to get involved with community building within Douglas, contact [email protected]