It’s good to share – as hundreds of businesses and community groups across Kirklees are finding out.
Online sharing platform Comoodle has ambitions to double its sign-ups following an impressive 2017 which has seen nearly 700 exchanges made involving 250 Kirklees groups – saving organisations tens of thousands of pounds.
Comoodle encourages businesses and community groups to sign-up to its easy-to-use website and begin offering “stuff, space and skills” to other organisations in need.
Huddersfield Mission, St Paul’s Church in Mirfield and rugby league club Batley Bulldogs are among those to benefit this year.
Comoodle project manager Duggs Carre said: “We have now seen the new website live for nine months and in that time the offers available have increased rapidly – as have the number of signed-up members.
“What we can’t measure, but in many ways is more important, are the new connections that have been made and the increase in collaboration that has been borne out of helping others.
“We expect to grow further in 2018 and more than double our offers and membership. There is still so much more ‘stuff, space and skills’ out there that community groups and businesses can use to make all the towns and villages across Kirklees a better place to live. We really do believe in sharing.”
Through Comoodle, Huddersfield Mission in Lord Street has offered its rooms for keep-fit classes, support groups, IT sessions and community meetings.
Kayleigh Proctor, from the Mission, said: “We’ve been able to expand on what we offer for the people of Huddersfield thanks to Comoodle.
“Comoodle is about sharing things that are community resources. There’s no massive fees and no high expectations placed on people. It’s a really useful tool.”
St Paul’s Church in Mirfield has been offering its main space for concerts and arts festivals, as well as providing soft play items for children.
Churchwarden Tim Grace first borrowed children’s toys from Comoodle two years ago for Mirfield Arts Festival. Since then, he has been using Comoodle to borrow and share space and items on behalf of the church and a charity he is involved in called the Carers Trust.
He said: “It’s important that we all share. It’s about word of mouth, getting the word out there about what Comoodle offers. It’s about people, talking to other people and sharing things. I think long-term that will develop,” said Tim.
Batley Bulldogs RLFC’s community team said Comoodle had helped it borrow equipment including trampolines, sports equipment and spinning bikes to stage activity events for its community gym at the club’s Heritage Road Stadium and to stage “Mission Active Multi-skills Days” at local schools.
Jon Humpleby, Batley Bulldogs community manager, said: “The fact that we are custodians on the Comoodle platform and we’re able to use the equipment for free, is fantastic. From a club perspective, it’s really nice for the supporters to see you doing things within the community because the young people are the future fans of the club so we need to engage them.”
