Healthwatch East Berkshire covers Ascot, Bracknell Forest, Maidenhead, Slough and Windsor. We exist to listen to residents’ voices when it comes to their health and social care experiences and views.

To better understand the community’s health and social care needs across East Berkshire, we have created our ‘What Matters Most’ survey. The survey will help us understand residents’ views and experiences as well as their health priorities for 2021-2022. The survey will provide us with a foundation of information to use for future work, as well as a chance to capture residents feedback (good or not so good). We take this feedback to decision makers who have the power to make positive changes happen. 

Our work relies on people telling us what they like about health and social care services, and what they think could be improved. We need your help to do this by completing the survey linked below. If you, or someone you know, need support when completing the survey please call our Healthwatch Hub on 0300 0120184 (Weekdays between 10am-4pm). The survey is available in English, Polish, Punjabi and Urdu.

What Matters Most survey: What Matters Most (smartsurvey.co.uk)

We are keen to engage with all communities across East Berkshire to gain an accurate picture of how health and social care services are performing for individuals. To do this we kindly ask for you to share it amongst your friends, colleagues, and family members so that we can reach as many people as possible. The more people we reach, the better idea we have of where to focus our priorities.

The ‘What Matters Most’ survey is running until the end of April and we will be compiling our report in May. Once this report is available, it will be published on our website and shared with key stakeholders.

As always we would like thank Berkshire’s wonderful CVS’s for in the information contained in this article, namely – Slough CVS, Wokingham & Bracknell InVOLve, West Berks Volunteer Centre and Reading Voluntary Action.

Give a Child a Chance
This fund by Berkshire Community Foundation is now open. Grants can be made to individual children and groups that work with children up to and including the age of 18 (and up to the age of 25 with Special Educational Needs (SEN)). Groups based in Berkshire that can demonstrate the difference their project will make to local children can apply for up to £5000. Individuals meeting the award criteria can apply for an award of £1000.
For further details and to apply, click here. Apply by 10th May.

People’s Postcode Lottery Society Trust Funds
The aim of the Trust is to support small charities and good causes in the South of England to make a difference to their community for the benefit of people and planet. Charities can apply for up to £20,000. Other constituted community and voluntary organisations can apply for £500 to £2000. Funds are available for various causes such as:

• Improving mental wellbeing

• Enabling community participation in the arts

• Reducing the impact of poverty

• Supporting marginalised groups & promoting equality

• Improving biodiversity & green spaces

• Enabling participation in physical activity

• Responding to climate change & promoting sustainability

• Increasing community access to outdoor space.
  Funding rounds will be running each month until October. See the guide and apply.

Lord Barnby’s Foundation

Lord Barnby’s Foundation offers grants to charitable organisations in England and Wales for general charitable purposes, the advancement of health or saving of lives, disability, the prevention or relief of poverty, environment, conservation and heritage.
Grants are normally between £1,000 – £5,000, but no maximum amount is specified. Applications should be made in writing and include a brief description of the organisation and project plus a copy of the organisation’s most recent accounts. This is a continuous rolling programme, and the Trustees meet in June, November and February. For more information and how to apply please contact lordbarnbyfoundation@gmail.com.

Grants to Repair, Build and Maintain Facilities
Grants of up to £5,000 are available for all kinds of projects, from repairing buildings and improving facilities in deprived areas, to decorating the homes of people living with sickness and disabilities. Applications welcomed from charities and not for profit organisations for projects that will fix, repair, maintain and improve the properties
and community facilities of those in need by reason of financial hardship, sickness, disability, distress or other disadvantage throughout the UK. Click here for more info.
The next closing date for applications is the 14th May.

2021 Stop Loan Sharks Community Fund
Deadline: 30 June 2021
Grants are available for local charities, community and voluntary groups, schools and statutory agencies in England for projects that target illegal money lending.

Toy Trust
Deadline: 30 June 2021
Grants are available for registered charities undertaking projects to support disadvantaged and disabled children who are under 13 years of age within the UK and abroad.

Music for All – Community Project Funding
Deadline: 1 July 2021
Grants are available to UK-based community groups that aim to bring musical projects to their local communities

Magic Little Grants Fund 2021
Deadline: 31 October 2021
Small one-off grants are available to small local charities and community groups for community projects in Great Britain that address themes set out by the funders.

Charity & Community Group Covid Hardship Fund

From 1^st March 2021 to 31^st May 2021, the Arnold Clark Community Fund will be open to all UK registered charities and local community groups who need financial assistance due to the coronavirus pandemic. At the end of each month, 500 applications can receive grants of up to £1000. One application per organisation. Unsuccessful monthly applications will be rolled into the following month(s). Apply on line  https://www.arnoldclark.com/community-fund

Supporting people affected or suffering from breast cancer

The Pink Ribbon Foundation makes grants to £5000 to charities and constituted organisations which relieve the needs of people who are suffering from, or have been affected by breast cancer, or for organisations working in its early detection and treatment. Many of those supported are smaller charities which operate on a shoestring.  Funding is for specific projects, but can include an allowance for core costs.  To apply see https://www.pinkribbonfoundation.org.uk/getsupport-apply Apply by 28th of May 2021

Shape the future of your area 

The Neighbourhood Planning Grant Scheme, enables local communities to apply for grants totalling £10,000 to help shape the future of their local area through the development of neighbourhood plans or neighbourhood development orders. This can include issues such as the location of new homes, shops, offices and green spaces. See https://neighbourhoodplanning.org/ and apply by 17^th May 2021.

Funding for Allotment Gardens

The Trust awards funding of between £250 to £2,000 to allotment gardens that meets the following criteria:
• The committee must be officially recognised by the landlord of the site.
• Must have a written and signed constitution.
• Have a bank account with three signatories.
• Have a forwarding address and named contact.
Apply by 1st July for the next funding round. See http://nagtrust.co.uk/grant-application/

The Bringing People Together Fund

The National Lottery Community Fund has launched their Bringing People Together Fund which will support projects that will build stronger connections across communities, and improve the infrastructure and conditions that are needed to strengthen these connections.

They said that they recognise that most community-led projects will bring communities together in some way. However, in this programme, they are specifically interested in funding projects that meet at least one of the priorities listed in ‘What we’re hoping to fund’.

Read more

The School Holiday Activity Fund
This fund is designed to enable organisations to deliver fun and accessible activities for children and young people during the school holidays through our School Holiday Activity Fund. This includes all term breaks, Easter, Christmas and the summer holiday. Charities may apply for the running costs of holiday programmes that provide young people with activities in supportive and accessible environments. The maximum grant amount available 
is £4,000.  Application forms may be submitted at any time but no later than:  
Summer Holidays – 1st June 2021
October Half-term – 21st September 2021
Christmas Holidays – 16th November 2021
February Half-Term – 18th January 2022  
To learn more, click here.

Tesco Community Grants 
These grants are always open for applications from charities and community organisations to bid for up to £1,500. Three projects in 575 local communities are voted on by customers in Tesco stores throughout the UK, with projects changing every three months. Grants will be awarded to voluntary or community organisations (including registered charities/companies), schools, health bodies (e.g. Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), NHS Hospital Trust, Foundation Trust), Parish/Town Councils, local authorities and social housing providers.  To learn more, click here. 

Clubs in Crisis: Sport for Development
Thanks to national charity Made By Sport, the #ClubsInCrisis fund supports small grassroots sports clubs and organisations working in the sport for development sector in need of funds due to the impact of COVID.  Grants up to £2021 are available through the Berkshire Community Foundation. Click here for information and to apply. Apply by 17th May.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2022 Queen’s Award for Voluntary ServiceThe Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK. Created in 2002 to celebrate the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation, it is the MBE for volunteer groups and is awarded for life.The QAVS is awarded to outstanding groups of volunteers whose level of initiative and impact are truly exceptional. Any group of three or more people can be nominated. The group must have been operating for at least three years and provide a specific local benefit. The nominator needs to be an independent member of the public, and not someone from the group.