Reopening of Stanford Dingley Clubroom

Leave a comment

The villagers of Stanford Dingley celebrated the reopening of their Clubroom on Saturday 23 September.

It was formally  opened by the oldest and youngest residents of the village. The Club Room, which required major refurbishment and is the only communal meeting place in the village apart from the church and pubs, is an old building in the centre of the village. A local team led by parish councillor Chris Dent, raised funds and carried out most of the work themselves. Wendy Dacey, CBAS Advisor from CCB advised as to where to apply for grants which were obtained from Greenham Common Trust and West Berkshire Council.

The Club Room is now light and spacious with a new kitchen and disabled toilet and up to date audio visual system. A meeting place for villagers to be proud of.

CCB’s Annual General Meeting – Come join us!

Leave a comment

The NEW President of CCB, Richard Benyon MP, is inviting CCB supporters to come join us at our 2017 Annual General Meeting.

Our AGM is taking place on Thursday 19th October at Shaw House, Newbury, RG14 2DR. Refreshments and registration will be available from 5.45pm with the AGM commencing at 6.00pm prompt.

CCB (Community Council for Berkshire) is an independent charity and Rural Community Council that has been working throughout the county for over 43 years.

Our vision is for all communities in Berkshire to be strong, sustainable and able to take control of their own futures. Our mission is to inspire communities in Berkshire to thrive. We do this by providing information, advice, support and training to individuals, groups and other organisations. We work as enablers, raising money locally and nationally to deliver projects that have positive, long-lasting effects.

To learn more about us and our work we would be thrilled if you could join us at our 2017 AGM. In order to reserve your place please contact Gemma Pearce at admin@ccberks.org.uk or telephone 0118 9612000 by Wednesday 11th October.

FREE TRAINING – Defibrillator & Emergency First Aid

Leave a comment

When – 7pm – 9.30pm, Wednesday 15th November at Acland Memorial Hall, Cold Ash
Does your community have a defibrillator? Would you know how to use it in an emergency? If you don’t have one in your village, have you considered having one – either by fundraising as a community to buy one or obtaining a grant from the British Heart Foundation?

All these questions will be answered at the Community Council for Berkshire (CCB) training event. The meeting will be run by Heartstart Thatcham and will include a practical demonstration of how to use defibrillators. This training is FREE to attend and light refreshments will be provided.

Access to rural areas can be time consuming for community first responders and emergency services, particularly if the weather is bad, so the knowledge of local people could save a life! The meeting is being funded by Adult Community Learning West Berkshire Council. If you would like to attend, please book a place by completing this form: https://ccberks.wufoo.eu/forms/defibrillator-and-emergency-first-aid-training/ or for further details please e-mail wendy.dacey@ccberks.org.uk

NEW TRAINING – Marketing Your Village Hall

Leave a comment

LUMICRON DIGITAL STILL CAMERA

When: 7.30 – 9.30pm Wednesday 18th October @ Padworth Village Hall

This training is mainly aimed at volunteers that run village halls or community buildings and will be focusing on how to successfully market these community hubs. The training may also be useful for those involved with running community groups or events as well.

The training is being provided by Sara Charlesworth, CCB Trustee and marketing expert. Sara is ‘an entrepreneur with boundless enthusiasm to help others to start, grow and market their businesses’, has a strong track record of mentoring and advising new business owners and is an Enterprise Mentor at the Prince’s Trust. It will focus particularly on how community buildings and village halls can market themselves successfully to be used regularly and become key community hubs.

Training is FREE to attend for CBAS/CCB members and £10 for non members. Places are limited and booked on a first come, first served basis. Training is supported by Adult & Community Learning West Berkshire Council.

To book your place please please click here:https://ccberks.wufoo.eu/forms/marketing-your-village-hall-workshop/ or contact wendy.dacey@ccberks.org.uk

This is a repeat of the session we held in June at Tidmarsh, feedback from that workshop included:

‘An excellent speaker who knew her subject and was very engaging.’

‘Hands on and interactive approach for the delegates.’

‘Good ideas to increase hall hire potential.

New funding for woodlands – biodiversity in Berkshire & Oxfordshire

Leave a comment

In 2014, Network Rail Infrastructure Projects committed to a “measurable net positive contribution towards biodiversity in the UK”. The Greater West Programme pledged to be a pilot project to put this principle into practice by compensating for the unavoidable loss of habitats (mainly young semi-natural woodland and some scrub) that has occurred during the electrification programme.

TOE2 is working with Network Rail around the delivery of No Net Loss (NNL) funding in Oxfordshire and Berkshire.  The funding is to be spent on creating or enhancing similar wildlife habitats in the locality, a process known as biodiversity offsetting.  This is a voluntary commitment by Network Rail, not bound to any planning obligations or client requirements.

Trust for Oxfordshire (TOE2) are looking to create new woodland, provide better links between woodlands, and to enhance existing woodland and scrub mosaic, though other habitats could be considered (ancient woodland is not eligible). They believe this is a great opportunity to make a significant difference for wildlife.  They are particularly interested in supporting landscape scale projects and collaborative working where local organisations come together to create larger projects.

Parish councils, local charities and not-for-profit organisations, local authorities and landowners are all eligible to apply. The programme is to be delivered over a four-year period. Stage 1 applications for outline project proposals can be received at any time

If this of interest to you please visit the TOE2 website (www.trustforoxfordshire.org.uk) for more details of how we intend to operate the funding programme. If you would like to register your interest in the programme, please contact Lynn Parker on admin@trustforoxfordshire.org.uk or 01865 407003.