Interview Spotlight- Sarah Duncan-Jones FAN
FAN was set up to provide a friendly and relaxed way for local people and those from around the world to meet, talk and listen to each other. Find out about what they do and how to get involved from FAN Manager Sarah Duncan-Jones.
Tell us about FAN and what its aims are?
FAN stands for Friends and Neighbours. In 2003 a Teacher of English for Speakers of Other Languages called Gill wanted to give her students more chances to speak English informally. So she brought together some of her English speaking friends and the women in her class in a group. She knew that if everyone just met in a room to ‘chat’ then the women who spoke English would speak to each other and the women who didn’t would speak to their friend. So she decided to arrange things so that everyone had a chance to talk and everyone was listened to. This became the first FAN group and we still take it in turns to speak 18 years later. We listen with respect and value people whether they are from around the corner or around the world. Nowadays about a third of our participants have English as an Additional Language and lots of people come to FAN because they are lonely, feel a little low, want to give back to their community and enjoy the weekly conversations. In 2010 we became a charity – here is our mission statement https://www.thefancharity.org/about-us/our-mission-statement/ and from that one group FAN grew…now 27 groups meet weekly.
What projects and services do you offer in Wales?
We have grown from our Cardiff base and now also have FAN groups in Barry, Bridgend, Swansea, Llanelli, Newport and Usk. All groups meet for an hour or so – currently on Zoom but we will reintroduce face to face groups as soon as the regulations allow. Groups meet every day of the week.
Tell us what the power is about people simply meeting, talking and listening to each other?
FAN is a very simple concept. We start our meetings by reading out our ground rules which set the tone for the meeting – see our Open and Close https://www.thefancharity.org/about-us/what-is-a-fan-group-like/ then we take it in turns to introduce ourselves, talk a little about our week and talk about a topic – these change each week. I think the power comes from the respectful listening. How often are we told what we have to do and feel that we are not listened to? In FAN if there are 6 people in a group when you speak, 5 people will listen. They won’t interrupt and they will respect your ideas or thoughts. Even if you are not very confident speaking in public or speaking in English (or Welsh – we also have a Welsh language group) then you will be given the time and courtesy to be heard. This is very powerful.
What can community organisations do to support FAN?
We would love to see you in FAN – come along to a FAN group – there are lots out there! Tell your friends about us, perhaps you might think of having a FAN group as part of the Single Persons Wellbeing network? FAN offers training to facilitators and peer support for facilitators and new groups.
How has FAN tackled loneliness during the pandemic?
In March last year everything stopped overnight but our Volunteers and Staff worked hard to learn all about Zoom and get FAN back up and running once again. We knew from the feedback from our participants that coming to FAN was an important part of their lives e pandemic and in 2020 loneliness, lack of structure, lack of opportunities to see friends and lack of informal English support meant that FAN became an important part of the week for our FAN family..
What does 2021 have in store for FAN?
Well, like everyone we want to get together face to face! So as the regulations ease we will be working with our host venues to restart groups in as safe a way as possible. We will also be maintaining many of our FAN groups on Zoom as we know that they bring opportunities to people who can’t get out for any reason, live in a place where there is no FAN or even if they live abroad. The final part of our plan is to grow FAN Plus – these are FAN groups that keep the essence of FAN but may be for particular groups of people, or take place outside or have a theme such as history or culture. All very exciting stuff!
How can people find you on social media or online:
fb.com/thefancharity
Twitter @thefancharity
Interested in featuring as a Community Organisation or want to know more about our networking meetings? Then get in touch!