Help support your community by becoming a member of CCB

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Becoming a member of CCB is an effective and rewarding route to building connections, accessing information and support, and helping to ensure communities like yours are strong, successful and well represented.

How Membership Helps Us

  • Help protect and enhance village halls, community buildings and other vital facilities.
  • Research and improve work to reduce rural isolation and loneliness.
  • Support 405 families with advice and guidance on avoiding fuel poverty and trained 33 front-line workers on how to support their clients with energy advice.
  • Deliver a range of adult community learning training for those living and working in Berkshire on a range of topics that bought benefits communities likes yours. Topics included data protection, social media, emergency lifesaving skills, community organising, energy advice and trusteeship.
  • Continue to write and produce our monthly e-bulletin packed full of funding opportunities and other news articles of interest to Berkshire communities.
  • Act as a credible voice to represent the needs and priorities of rural communities to policy makers including local authorities and national government.

Benefits of Membership

Specific membership benefits you can expect to receive include:

  • Free or discounted training opportunities at our range of courses focused that ultimately focus on strengthening communities.
  • The opportunity to become a CCB Trustee and to nominate and elect members to our Board.
  • An invitation to attend our training conference and Annual General Meeting (1 vote per membership)
  • Monthly e-bulletins and updates on our work including services, events and training opportunities that may be of benefit to you or your community.
  • The opportunity to market your community events, news or local facilities via our e-bulletin and website.
  • Prompt access to the CCB team who will be available to discuss issues affecting your community.

If you decide to support us and our core work – to help Berkshire communities thrive by identifying, raising awareness of and helping tackle local issues and priorities cost of membership is £32 for parish councils and voluntary organisations of £16 for individuals.To become a member today please complete this form: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/ccb-membership-form/

Rural Economy Inquiry Report Supports the Call for a Rural Strategy

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The Rural Economy inquiry report was published on 27 April 2019, in it the Committee have called for a comprehensive national-level rural economic strategy, to be delivered locally via communities, councils and businesses.

The House of Lords Select Committee on the Rural Economy was appointed on 17 May 2018 to consider the rural economy, and while there have been studies of particular aspects of the rural economy, such as agriculture, and digital connectivity, the ad hoc inquiry sought to bring these issues together, considering the rural economy as a whole.

In July 2018 the Committee began taking written and oral evidence; CCB’s national body Action for Communities in Rural England (ACRE) was a contributing organization. They have today released a statement saying “ACRE and the ACRE Network warmly welcome and support the House of Lords Rural Economy Committee in their call for an England Rural Strategy and their commitment to ensuring that no resident or business should be disadvantaged unreasonably by their rural location. It’s imperative that Government respond quickly so the action to which they agree can be factored into the Comprehensive Spending Review currently being carried out by the Treasury.”

The Lords’ call is the latest in a clamour for an equal approach to public services in rural areas.  ACRE, the Rural Services Network, the Rural Coalition and many other organisations have already signed up to an online campaign calling for a Rural Strategy for England.

ACRE Chair David Emerson CBE said, “We are delighted that the House of Lords Rural Economy Committee has made the call for a Rural Strategy for England central to its report.  This adds great weight to the calls of the many rural bodies who see an urgent need for a more joined up approach to policy in rural areas.  The acid test will be not only be in Government’s response to their Lordships’ recommendations, but in achieving positive change for rural people who feel all too often that central Government doesn’t understand them.”

All eyes will now be on the Government who must respond to the recommendations made by the Committee. It is the hope of many that Government will rise to the challenge of an England Rural Strategy and unlock the sleeping giant of potential that rests in our rural areas.

Training Opportunities for Communities in Berkshire

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We have the following training opportunities available that will be of interest to a variety of individuals and people representing community and voluntary groups from across the county. A big thanks goes to the Adult Community Learning teams in Wokingham Borough & West Berkshire whose funding and support ensures that we can provide this training for low cost or for free. Click on links for more details and to book your place. All courses are filled on a first come, first served basis.

FOOD HYGIENE TRAINING

Achieve an Introductory Certificate in food safety, Saturday 1st June, 9am – 1pm, St Georges, Wash Common. £20 for CCB members (£30 for voluntary organisations or £50 for businesses)

Equivalent to a level 1 qualification. Certified by the CIEH (chartered institute of environmental health, Suitable for anyone works/volunteers in a food environment occasionally. For example, those helping at cake sales, scout camps, community events. PTA’s and church fetes. 

Booking is essential; https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/food-hygiene-training-newbury/

Your skilled trainer Ally has a post graduate diploma in dietetics, 25 years’ experience of working in the food sector, an affiliate member of the CIEH and a registered trainer with the CIEH.

EFFECTIVE CHAIRMANSHIP WORKSHOP

Wednesday 19th June, 10.30am – 12.30 pm (registation 10.15)

Thursday 20th June 10 am – 12 noon (registration 9.45am)

The Cornerstone, Norreys Avenue, Wokingham RG40 1UE (de Vitre Room). Free to CCB Members.

Are you the Chair of a committee, steering group,  or organisation?

Do you ever feel the meeting could have gone better? Was it de-railed? Do the same agenda items keep coming up with no resolution? Does it feel like just another meeting with no outcome? Do members sometimes feel frustrated, angry, not listened too?

This interactive training event will teach you some great skills and help you become a more effective Chair.

This event will cover:

Agenda setting, pacing, hosting guests, decision making, actions and what to do at the end of the meeting. Managing people: challenging behaviours, staying on topic, enabling everyone to have a voice, encouraging healthy debate

Booking link for Chieveley, 19th June: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/effective-chairmanship-workshop-chieveley/

Booking link for The Cornerstone, Wokingham, 20th June; https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/z1ap2pmw11qknsc/

PLANNING FOR CHANGE THROUGH COMMUNITY ORGANISING

Friday 21st June, 10am – 4pm, Woolhampton Village Hall. FREE

This training is aimed at anyone that is passionate about their local area and planning for its future. It introduces the basics of community organising and how to organise the community to enact a Neighbourhood Plan and enable positive built development which meets the needs of the community.

Participants will develop their understanding of how, through community organising, we can reach out and build consensus for change around a positive vision for the future of the community. We will analyse where power lies in the planning and development of housing and infrastructure, and start to learn how to use a Neighbourhood Plan to mobilise the community, build power and take action to get the development the community needs. Link to booking form: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/planning-for-change-through-community-organising/

VILLAGE HALL’S, RECREATION GROUNDS & PARISH COUNCILS WORKING TOGETHER AND UNDERSTANDING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Wednesday 3rd July, 2pm – 4pm, The Hawthorns, Charvil, Reading, RG10 9TR. FREE to CCB/CBAS members and £10 for non-members.

Sole trustee? Custodian Trustee? Management committee Trustee? Member for the Parish Council team? – What is your role in relation to the Village Hall, Recreation Ground, Parish Council Building? It can be very confusing to know who is responsible for what and why and this makes working/volunteering relationships challenging. Come along to this short course to get the facts and learn about how everyone can work together for the good of the community.

Booking online; https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/zediibg138su2e/

COMMUNITY LED HOUSING

Thursday 4th July, 7pm – 9pm, Calcot Community Centre. FREE to members (£10 for non-members)

To book your place please complete form: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/community-led-housing/

Community-led housing is housing built on a not-for-profit basis by a community to meet its own needs. There are a number of different approaches to community-led housing, all resulting in homes built for the community but with different processes and levels of involvement. 

This short course will enable participants to understand the differences between the various models of community-led housing. It is aimed at anyone from both rural and urban communities interested in exploring the options for providing affordable housing for people with a connection to their community.

Nominate now for West Berkshire’s Learner Achievement Awards 2019

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Nominations are now open for West Berkshire’s annual Learner Achievement Awards (LAA).

The LAA celebrate the outstanding achievements of adult learners in West Berkshire and cover apprenticeships, professional, academic and vocational courses and learning programmes to support families, communities and health and wellbeing.

Sponsored by Newbury College, West Berkshire Training Consortium, and the Newbury Community Resource Centre, the awards are part of the national Festival of Learning and are organised by West Berkshire Council on behalf of the West Berkshire Community Learning Partnership.

The LAA 2019 will be presented by local author and popular cartoonist Sam Davies in June at Shaw House, Newbury,  Sam is the talent behind the recently launched Hex Vet: Witches in Training children’s book.

To make a nomination and for further details on the 11 award categories go to www.westberks.gov.uk/laa2019. The deadline for nominations is 5pm on Friday, 3 May 2019.

Energy Prices for households to rise this month

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Around 15m households will see their energy bills increase by £117 a year from April after the regulator Ofgem said it was lifting two price caps because of rising wholesale costs.

Ofgem also announced a rise of £106 a year to £1,242 for a further 4m households on prepayment meters, who are typically more vulnerable customers.

Now is a really good time to compare costs and switch. Helen at CCB, who delivers the CCB Family Home Energy Education and Advice Project, recommends using Citizens Advice Energy Comparison tool as it shows the whole market. Other switching sites only show those companies they have commission deals with. See https://energycompare.citizensadvice.org.uk/

For more information on all aspects of reducing home energy cost see CCB’s energy advice web-page at https://ccb2017.wordpress.com/our-projects/energy-advice-and-fuel-poverty