Volunteers’ Week 2020

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Today marks the start of Volunteers’ Week 2020 and in these difficult times, volunteers all over West Lancs have risen to the challenge to provide help wherever it’s needed. This year more than ever, we feel it’s important to recognise and celebrate the positive impact that volunteers have on our community.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there have been lots of neighbourhood initiatives set up to support the vulnerable in our communities. These initiatives rely solely on volunteers, and we send a big thank you to every single volunteer who has stepped up during the last few months.

One of these schemes is Westhead Neighbours helping Neighbours. Here’s what some of their volunteers have had to say:

‘It’s been lovely getting to know my neighbours better and helping some of them in a small way through these trying times. They are thankful and am I grateful to be able to make a difference’.

‘Volunteering in Westhead has provided a wonderful opportunity to make new friendships and work in partnership for the good of others. It has also resulted in a deeper connection with where we live and the people who live here. On a broader level our work has contributed to local strategies relating to health, wellbeing and social isolation and freed up the capacity of key workers to manage the COVID outbreak at this time’.

Getting medications out to people has been a challenge which staff from West Lancs Community Leisure have risen to by becoming medication delivery volunteers.

’24 staff from West Lancashire Community Leisure have volunteered to deliver much needed vital medical supplies to residents in West Lancashire whilst the leisure centres have been closed and the staff are on Furlough. A massive thank you to everyone involved’ (Mark – Serco)

Another organisation that has benefited greatly from their volunteers recently is The Sewing Rooms:

‘We can all agree that all of our West Lancs volunteers have been absolute heroes during the last few months. We are so incredibly inspired by the commitment and talents of our volunteers, their contribution to the Sewing Rooms is immeasurable, especially these difficulties we face through covid19’

Finally, Hesketh Bank and Tarleton Helpers are a local, volunteer led scheme set up to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Here’s what all of the volunteers mean to them:

‘Grateful thanks to all the volunteers and people of good-will who are helping out in these strange times. It’s so good to know that so many groups like ours are reaching out to those who need assistance. We are in this for the long haul. Stay well, God bless us, everyone.’

New funding round opens for voluntary groups in West Lancashire

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West Lancs CVS is pleased to announce a new round of grants for the local voluntary sector, made possible by funding from West Lancs Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

The CCG investment of £100,000 into the West Lancs voluntary sector will create a series of grant pots for organisations to apply into for funding. Groups can apply for projects which use behaviour change approaches to improve health and wellbeing across the three Primary Care Networks (PCN) areas of West Lancashire: Skelmersdale and Upholland; Ormskirk and Aughton; and Burscough, Parbold and the Northern Parishes.

This funding round is a repeat of last year’s grants, when CCG investment first enabled the creation of a grant funding pot for the West Lancs voluntary sector. In that 2018-19 funding round, CCG grants were awarded to a wide range of organisations working to improve health and wellbeing across West Lancs. These included a Connected Counselling service, a partnership involving the Birchwood Centre, Yewdale Counselling Service and West Lancs Bereavement Counselling Service which supports people undergoing counselling locally to also tackle life issues such as debt, housing problems, family problems, thereby enhancing the impact of counselling on the individual. Among the small grants awarded was one to Upholland Scouts for a canoeing project to engage hard to reach teenagers, another to a Wellbeing Cafe in Burscough run by Burscough Community hub, and an innovative outreach project by SWICAN offering welfare rights advice to isolated areas of the Borough.

Greg Mitten, West Lancs CVS Chief Officer says,

‘We are delighted that the CCG has committed to invest in the voluntary sector again this year through these grants. I have no doubt that the projects developed by voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups will be highly effective in finding new ways of working in partnership with our community to support health improvement. This is about developing partnership working, utilising our local community assets and thinking ‘outside the box’.

The total grant pot is £100,000 and there are three sizes of funding pots available to local charities and voluntary groups:

  • Funding Application A – Partnership proposals – from £10,000 to £20,000.
    Read the guidance for Fund A and download the application form for Fund A.
  • Funding Application B – Individual grant proposals – from £1,000 to £10,000.
    Read the guidance for Fund B and download the application form for Fund B.
  • Funding Application C – Small Funding Pots – up to £1,000.
    Read the guidance for Fund C and download the application form for Fund C.

The closing date for Funding Application C is 5pm on 20 November 2019

The closing date for Funding Applications A and B is 5pm on 4 December 2019

 

Larger organisations will be encouraged to work in partnership alongside local smaller organisations, as well as making good use of community venues and services.

If you would like to apply please read the summary document.

Please read the guidance for each pot carefully and adhere to the word limit (use it as a guide to how detailed the answers should be).

If you have any questions please contact Vicky Attwood.

New CVS training programme

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Details of our 2019-20 training programme have just been published. Courses include:

  • What’s your digital plan?
  • Step up into volunteering
  • Your group, your neighbourhood (ABCD)
  • Recruiting and retaining volunteers
  • Introduction to volunteering
  • RSPH Level 2 Understanding health improvement (Health Champion training)

Full details can be found here.

In addition to the above courses, we can also offer training on request to groups on:

  • Accurate Record Keeping
  • Health champion ‘bite-size’ tasters
  • Introduction to Fundraising
  • Safeguarding Children

We can also supply information on availability of  Emergency First Aid at Work and Food Hygiene courses.

For information on any CVS training opportunities, please contact Helen Jones on 0165-733737 or email helenj@wlcvs.org

CVS presented with LGBT Quality Mark

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CVS Annual General Meeting

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You are warmly invited to the West Lancs CVS’ AGM to be held on Wednesday 3 April 2019 at Evermoor Community Hub, Skelmersdale from 10am (9.30am registration) until 11.30am. 

To book your place, please complete the booking form and return to Vicky Attwood.