Get Berkshire Active Awards – get nominating!

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 The 6th annual Get Berkshire Active Awards will take place on Friday 23 February 2018. The awards will recognise the people that have excelled in a sport or physical activity setting throughout the last year. The Get Berkshire Active Awards are a celebration of the people and organisations that promote, volunteer, work, support and take part in all types of sport and physical activity within Berkshire.

If you know a person, organisation or school who deserves recognition for their dedication to sport and/or physical activity, make sure to nominate them.

The 12 award categories this year are:

  • Sports Personality of the Year
  • Junior Sports Personality of the Year
  • Lifetime Achievement Award
  • Workplace of the Year
  • Health Project of the Year
  • Volunteer of the Year
  • Coach of the Year
  • Community Club of the Year
  • Youth Engagement Project of the Year
  • Active Primary School
  • Active Secondary School
  • Team Performance of the Year

Click here to see the award criteria and click here to nominate. Nominations close 10pm Friday 1st December 2017

Stay Well This Winter

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Stay Well This WinterThe Community Council for Berkshire is supporting the 2017/18 Stay Well This Winter campaign.

The Stay Well This Winter campaign is a joint initiative from NHS England and Public Health England, to help people with long-term health conditions and those over 65 prepare for winter and ward off common winter illnesses.

Winter can be seriously bad for the health of these people, increasing the risk of blood pressure, heart attacks and strokes. There are a number of things you can do to prepare against the cold weather:

  • At the first sign of a cough or cold, get immediate advice from your pharmacist before it gets more serious
  • Speak to your pharmacist about medicines you should have in stock over winter
  • Pick up prescription medications before the Christmas holidays start as many GPs and pharmacies will close over the holidays
  • It is important to keep warm in winter, so heat your home to at least 18°C (65°F), if you can, you might prefer your living room to be slightly warmer
  • Make sure you get your flu jab
  • If you need help over the holiday period when your GP surgery or pharmacy is closed, call NHS 111 or visit nhs.uk

The Stay Well This Winter campaign can help you and your family prepare for winter. For more information including leaflets in alternative formats visit nhs.uk/staywell

Community Business Bright Ideas Fund Opens for Final Round

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This is the third and final round of the £1.85 million fund which provides business support and grants to not-for-profit organisations that want to set up their own community business in England.

New guidance notes have been published for the final round, and groups should refer to them before they start the application process.

There is one significant change to the eligibility criteria. The community organisation applying must not have been constituted for more than five years at the time of making an application. This is to ensure that only new groups are being considered.

This is also reflected in the level of funding available. Previously grants of up to £20,000 were available for established stage projects, but as this round is focused on new groups, the funding now consists of:

Ideas stage – grants of between £1,000 and £10,000.
Pre-venture stage – grants of between £1,000 and £15,000.
It is anticipated that 15 to 20 projects will be funded. They will join the 70 community businesses that have already received funding over the course of the two-year fund. These include a community transport scheme to link isolated rural villages and give elderly people more independence; an indoor skate park for a forgotten coastal community with few activities for young people and poor health; and a community food club tackling food poverty through pop ups.

The deadline for applications is 1 December 2017.

Further information can be found on the Locality – My Community website.

Source: j4bcommunity.co.uk

Glass Recycling Initiative – prizes for community groups in Reading up for grabs

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Community groups could be in with a chance of winning up to £1,000 in a new glass recycling campaign prize draw from re3. To take part in the prize draw, re3 is encouraging schools, charities and voluntary and community sector organisations to make a commitment to increasing glass recycling at bring banks.

This could be by collecting hot drinks jars after a fundraising coffee morning and taking them to a re3 glass bank; telling others about the initiative through social media; encouraging supporters to use a glass bring bank on their way to work; or to give a school assembly or write an article in a community newsletter on the benefits of glass recycling.

In return, groups will be entered into the community fund prize draw. At the end of the campaign in October 2018, prizes will be allocated to 15 schools, charities or community groups in the re3 area. The more glass recycled through the campaign, the bigger the community fund, up to the value of £15,000 or £1000 per individual prize.

To register your group’s participation in the campaign and to be eligible for the community fund prize draw, please visit www.re3.org.uk now for the application form and a full list of terms and conditions.