In June 2026, Glusburn Institute ran its first ever Feedback Week — and the response was fantastic. Over 120 of you took the time to share your experiences, whether by filling in a postcard, scanning a QR code, or simply chatting with us during your visit.
We worked with Jen from Nifty Sustainability, who spent the week getting to know our regular groups and hearing directly from participants about what Glusburn Institute means to them. The project was funded through Participate Projects, and the results have given us a great snapshot of the impact we have on the local community.
The headlines? You told us Glusburn Institute is:
- A friendly, welcoming and inclusive community hub
- A place that strengthens community connections across ages and interests
- Somewhere that improves wellbeing — reducing loneliness, supporting mental health, and encouraging physical activity
- A space for personal growth, through learning, volunteering and building confidence
- An accessible, high-quality local resource that people are proud of and rely on
Of everyone who filled in a survey, 71 rated us “excellent” and the remaining 12 rated us “good” — and the informal conversations were just as positive.
One member summed up what so many of you said:
“Friendly, happy and welcoming people who make me feel valued.”
And we heard some wonderful individual stories too — including from one member who came to us in 2021 struggling with anxiety, found her feet at the Wellbeing Café, and now leads sessions in our Stitching Together Glusburn group. As she put it:
“I am feeling very much that I can be myself here after not being myself my whole life.”
What happens next?
This isn’t just a one-off exercise. Feedback Week has helped us start building better ways of listening to our community on an ongoing basis — so we can keep improving, keep celebrating what’s working, and keep making the case for Glusburn Institute when we apply for funding to secure our future.
A huge thank you to everyone who took part, to Jen at Nifty Sustainability and her colleague Jami Dixon from Bright Impact for their brilliant work capturing your voices, and to Paul from Participate Projects for making it possible.
Nifty Sustainability CIC is a social enterprise established in 2019 by Claire Bastin and Jen Dyer. Nifty support diverse groups and organisations who are creating meaningful change for the benefit of people, planet and prosperity. They bring expertise in and a passion for research and evaluation, education and training, engagement and co-production, activism and coaching.
Bright Impact CIC drive positive change through creative research and are on a mission to cultivate joy and creativity in evaluative work. They offer training, programmes and bespoke consultancy aimed at those who want to build their knowledge, skills and confidence using creative methods.
From small ideas that make a difference in a single community to big ideas that change the world, Participate supports people and organisations to realise their potential. They do this by providing support that helps to develop and grow their ideas sustainable projects and enterprises.
