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ENGAGING West Somerset The Newsletter of the West Somerset Voluntary

Sector Development Agency

ISSUE 9 SPRING 2010

There are several new faces at Engage, since our move.

One is Gyp, the Irish Red and White setter, who spends his days keeping guard over the office, while his master, Glenn, manages the furniture re-use project. Do pop in and meet everyone, if you are passing.

Welcome to ENGAGING West Somerset the newsletter from Engage – The West Somerset Voluntary Sector Development Agency. This publication is designed to keep you informed about what we are all up to, as well as developments in the wider Voluntary Sector, which can impact on how we work and how we are funded. Please let us know what you think about the layout and content, so we can develop a really great newsletter. Don’t forget to let us have any pictures of your group’s activities for the front page.

Our core work is supported by:

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IN THIS ISSUE:

Contents: Page

Engage CVS News 3 Volunteer Centre News

Furniture Re-use project 4 Social Car Scheme Recycle news 5 New Development worker 6 News and Updates 7

Inserts: 1 Funding News 2 Sector Updates

If any pages are missing, please contact us and we will forward them with our apologies

Please circulate this newsletter…. The newsletter is written for everyone concerned with voluntary organisations—volunteers, committee members, trustees and paid staff. Please copy and pass around to your organisations. There is something for everyone, so don’t keep it to yourself!

This newsletter is free of charge to West Somerset's voluntary and community sector for information purposes. Articles and information should not be

considered full or definitive. The information contained is not a substitute for professional advice. Whilst every care has been taken in producing this publication, Engage accepts no responsibility for any errors that may have occurred. Mention of goods and services does not imply endorsement. If further information or clarification is required, please call us.

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Engage News

We made it to Alcombe!!! On 21 September, Engage opened its doors on the Ground Floor of Alcombe Village Hall. Since then we’ve hardly had time to draw breath. For many years, the ground floor space was a social club, so the Village Hall trustees removed the bar counter and put up a stud wall to create an office. The new site means that many more people can find us, so our new home has a vibrancy that Quirke Street did not. There have been lots of other changes since our move: In September, we said good bye to Tom Winsborough, who has taken up a new post as Volunteer Manager for Somerset Sight. Jan Ross has joined the team as a Development Worker. Jan is available to work with groups to help and advise them. Glenn Powell is our new Furniture Project Manager. Paulina Kaliska is our new Of-fice and Finance Administrator. We are currently recruiting a Projects Assistant. Marie Thaw, Sue Ashcroft, Louise Greenhaugh, Wayne German, Stan Taylor, Nick Holt, Neville Savage, Patricia Pridmore and Peter Braund have joined us as volunteers, working in the office and Furniture Project. We all love to see visitors, so do pop in and have a look at our new surroundings when you are passing.

Is the Credit Crunch Affecting Your Group? We are collecting information about the knock-on effect of the credit crunch on Voluntary Groups. It could be that your major funding has been hit, or that small donations have dried up, or maybe your services are in greater demand. We want to know, so we can feed back to funders and statutory colleagues. Please let Katrina know about your experience of the current economic conditions.

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Engage Volunteer Centre News

The Big Lottery grant for our Volunteer Centre ended in August and, sadly, we had to say good bye to Tom Winsborough. Tom is now Volunteer Manager for Somerset Sight and we wish him well for the future. We are determined to keep the Centre in Friday Street, Minehead open if at all possible, so are looking for continuation funding. On a brighter note, the Volunteer of the Year competition, piloted in West Somerset in 2008, was taken up by all the other Somerset Volunteer Centres in 2009. All the district winners were then put forward for the Somerset Volunteer of the Year Award and, on March 3rd this year, Bob Betts was named as Somerset’s first ever Volunteer of the Year at a presentation at the Somerset County Cricket Ground in Taunton. The event celebrated the dedication of volunteers across the county. Bob was nominated twice in the South Somerset district event, once for his work with the night shelter over the last 11 years, and for being the founder of TRASHBASH, and he was also nominated for his work with the migrant community. The other district winners were Liz Shepherd, from Mendip, who volunteers as a secretary for Frome Youth Council; Paul Holtam, from Sedgemoor, who volunteers with Sedgemoor District Council and other organisations, such as Citizens Advice and Credit Union; Mrs Shirley Gibbs, from Taunton, who volunteers for Taunton Deane Audio news -Shirley has been performing these duties week after week for over twenty years. Here in West Somerset, our Volunteer of the Year was Shirley Dee who volunteers for Age Concern doing Flexcercise classes (Fit as a Fiddle) and has also been the volunteer co-ordinator for Williton Hospital for many years. The judges for this county-wide event were Mike D’Rozario, Co-ordinator for the Volunteers in Policing programme with Avon and Somerset Constabulary; Cllr Christine Lawrence, Somerset County Council cabinet member for Community and Justin Sargent, Director of Somerset Community Foundation. The awards were presented by Dave Cudlipp, Chair of Age Concern (Somerset) Trading Ltd. Cllr Lawrence said:“I am delighted to have been involved in this initiative: it is a way to celebrate the selfless dedication of all volunteers. The nominations were for people who all give their time to help others. It was extremely difficult to choose an overall winner.” The event was funded through the Capacity Builders, Improving Reach programme.

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Furniture Re-use Project The Furniture Store has particularly benefited from the move from Quirke Street to Alcombe Village Hall. Some-one recently came in and said that it looked like “a real furniture shop”! There is so much more space to exhibit the furniture with an area for all the sofas and armchairs, another area for the dining room and bedroom furniture, and further areas for the beds and white goods. There has been a great turn-over of furniture and people should try to come in regularly to see what is on offer. “ It is great to see this opportunity for decent second-hand or nearly new furniture being re-used and not having to go to land-fill sites”, said Jan Ross, Engage’s new Development Worker. “I am amazed by the quality and quantity of goods – each time I come into the office, furniture has been moved out to new homes, to be replaced by more from the offers from across the District”. Glen and his team of volunteers are doing great work fetching and carrying and making visitors to the showroom feel welcome, and pointing out all the bargains.

People with evidence of receipt of benefits, such as Income Support, Housing / Council Tax Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance, Child Tax Credit and Working Families Tax Credit, and Pension Credit are able to enjoy payments at lower rates. The store is currently open on Mondays, Tuesdays and

Thursdays from 10am to 2pm, and on Wednesdays

from 11am to 2pm. Glenn hopes to be able to extend

the hours soon so that more people can view the

furniture

Social Car Scheme Social Car Schemes were originally designed to help people living in outlying villages, without access to their own vehicles, to visit friends or relatives and go shopping. Occasionally people used it to get to medical appointments. Now, as people find it harder to access traditional hospital transport, we are increasingly asked to help people get to hospitals, especially to Musgrove. We are now looking for volunteer co-ordinators as well as more drivers to help us maintain and improve this much-needed service. So if you know anyone who might be interested in helping people who cannot access conventional transport, please put them in touch with us. We currently pay 40p per mile and cover

other out of pocket expenses.

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NEW DEVELOPMENT WORKER FOR ENGAGE Engage West Somerset has been awarded Big Lottery Funding, via Somerset Voluntary Sector Network, for a new Development Worker who will help local voluntary groups, organisations or charities for a period of two years. Jan Ross, who lives in Dulverton, has been appointed and started work at the beginning of October. Jan has worked for many years with voluntary groups across West Somerset. She will assist people wanting to set up a new group as well as existing organisations that want to sort out their constitution, obtain charitable status, need help with their future plans or support with their funding bids. Development Workers have also been appointed in each of the four other districts in Somerset, thanks to the Big Lottery Fund. Jan will be working in partnership with them to increase the expertise available across the county. Katrina Midgley said, “We are delighted that this joint funding has come to West Somerset. Jan has an excellent track record of supporting voluntary and community organisations. This role signifies an exciting expansion in Engage’s work in the district.” Jan can be contacted at the Engage office, by phoning 01643 707123, or by emailing jan@engagews.org.uk JAN’S FIRST FIVE MONTHS As you will see from the article above, I started work in October and wanted to make sure people saw the post as one which will give practical help straightaway. Following one short article in the local papers, and two small articles in local Parish Magazines, I have been contacted by 27 different groups, with a whole variety of issues. I now need to concentrate on further support for these groups, but will then make sure that other areas of the District are aware of the support we can provide. In the meantime, please let people now about the project, particularly if you know that they are struggling with issues. Many of the organisations with which I am working do need help with their future funding needs and this will be a challenge for so many other groups too. We may have a greater chance of success if we link similar projects together into one bigger bid. Thanks to all the groups which have already completed the short Needs Analysis - this can be the starting point for my work with some of you. If you have not received a blank copy of the form to complete, please let me know. Jan Ross

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Member Pages

News and Updates

HOME-START WEST SOMERSET

Home-Start West Somerset has recently welcomed nine new volunteers to the home visiting team following their successful completion of the volunteer preparation course which ended in December. During the Autumn term, 6 volunteers accredited their learning achieving level 2 credits awarded by the Open College Network. As the team has increased in size, skills and experience so has the range of referrals received. Many families are now self referring to the scheme for support through difficult times. They find the informal and confidential nature of the support reassuring and the practical and emotional aspects of the friendship that is given can be life changing. One family recently commented about their volunteer - “She provided the care and support when I needed it the most – thank you!” Families can be referred to Home-Start by any other agency that they are involved with or can refer themselves directly by phoning the Home-Start office on 01643 707304. Further information can be found on our website www.homestart-westsomerset.org.uk

ViSTA/Capacity Builders - Modernisation Programme

FREE Human Resource and Financial Management Support for Voluntary and Community Sector Organisations in Somerset

ViSTA is offering the Voluntary and Community Sector in Somerset brand new FREE Human Resource and Financial Management support services funded through Capacity Builders. The Project aims to support organisations to make improvements or changes in their practice which will help to:

≈ prepare for the future

≈ be well placed to attract funding and new contracts from Statutory Sector Commissioners

≈ be ‘fit for purpose’ and improve public accountability

≈ strengthen managers’ capacity to manage performance This support is available free of charge to Somerset based voluntary, community and charitable (VCS) organisations. Our highly experienced and qualified team of consultants will help you to:

≈ Take stock

≈ Identify pressure points and areas for development in your organisation

≈ Plan and implement effective solutions

≈ Find further sources of help and information

≈ Identify further training and development needs We can provide:

≈ Up to 12 hours of Human Resource and Financial Management support. This will be delivered through a health check audit leading to a diagnostic report and action plan. You may then access further support from our consultants on priority areas for attention

≈ Access to really useful guidance notes and templates that you can download and use for free ≈ HR and Finance training and seminars

≈ Conferences

≈ Signposting to other sources of help and information

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION VISIT: http://www.vistajobs.org.uk/management_support.asp

or call 0845 358 0372.

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Engage – The West Somerset Voluntary Sector Development Agency Incorporating: CVS and Partnerships (01643 707 123) Volunteer Centre (01643 704 041 ) Furniture Re-use Project (01643 707 484) Social Car Scheme (01643 707 484)

Ground Floor, Alcombe Village Hall, Marshfield Road, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 6AQ

Opening hours: 10am to 2pm

Monday to Friday

Chief Executive Katrina Midgley katrina@engagews.org.uk Furniture Re-use Project Manager Glenn Powell info@engagews.org.uk Volunteer Centre Nicole Hawkins volunteercentre@engagews.org.uk Development Worker Jan Ross jan@engagews.org.uk

Office and Finance Administrator Paulina Kaliska

Engage West Somerset is the working name of West Somerset Council for Voluntary Service, registered charity number 297 839

Contact details