At CCB, we have been considering how we can provide more frequent opportunities to bring people together across Berkshire to learn more about community consultation, engagement and empowerment and to offer opportunities for learning, networking and peer support. One way that we can do this is by setting up a Local Organising Group for Berkshire. The following information is from the Community Organisers Ltd website:

Local Organising Groups comprise of a minimum 21 members (of Community Organisers), who have come together to facilitate the use of community organising principles and practice, to tackle issues that matter most to them. The group works together, listening to their community, building their collective power and developing community-led solutions. Local Organising Groups underpin the community organising practice already happening within communities across England. The groups ensure that priorities for actions directly emerge from our neighbourhoods. This guarantees that Community Organisers continues to remain authentic – acting locally and nationally on issues that people care about.

We are in the process of establishing a group called Community Organisers Berkshire. The first step in achieving this is to encourage as many people as we can to become a member of Community Organisers. Membership is free and the application form can be completed online. The link to the website is below and I’d like to encourage you all to sign up, as well as to share this invitation with friends and colleagues.

The Local Organising Group for Berkshire will have a constitution, an Organising Action Plan and an annual programme of events. Our vision for Community Organisers Berkshire is for it to become a vibrant and growing community of people that act on the issues that are important to them and their communities. We will commit to providing regular opportunities to bring people together to develop new skills, hear about how other communities work and to share experiences and concerns.

You can read more about the benefits of joining Community Organisers and complete the application form here: https://www.corganisers.org.uk/get-started/membership/become-a-member/ If you have any questions about this, or have ideas for how the Local Organising Group for Berkshire could support you in your work within your community, please get in touch.

Tim Parry

Tim.parry@ccberks.org.uk

Keep Britain Tidy are running a national campaign from 20th March to 13th April to encourage people to pick up litter and be involved in the country’s biggest mass-action environmental campaign.

This campaign is something that CCB fully supports and we encourage communities in Berkshire to take part. Last year 560,000 people in the UK took part and they are aiming for over 600,000 to join in this year.

Taking part will help towards not only help to transform the UK for better by keeping streets clean and protecting wildlife but also, you will help stop damaging materials entering the ocean which is ultimately causing worldwide pollution.

By heading to the Keep Britain Tidy website you can host a clean-up or join one near you. There are a number of resources available to enable you to host such as risk assessment forms, email templates and social media packs.

There are also awards for a variety of categories during the campaign. Awards such as ‘Most bags collected during the campaign period’, ‘Outstanding contribution to the Great British Spring Clean’ and ‘Best Team Effort’ as well as many more are up for grabs so be sure to check out what you could win by taking part.

If you would like to find out more then click here.