Co-op introduces gift card scheme for vulnerable customers


The Co-op supermarket group has launched a gift card scheme for those shielding or self-isolating and reliant on others to do their shopping or who are volunteering to help someone they know, including as part of a local support group.  

By calling a dedicated Co-op phone line on 0800 029 4592, they can purchase a gift card which can be shared with friends, neighbours or volunteers to pay for shopping in their local Co-op store. If a volunteer group wishes to buy multiple cards to support vulnerable people, they can do this by emailing their requirements to giftvouchers@coop.co.uk

Please do promote the gift card to vulnerable people in your community that it would benefit. Additionally the Co-op Health app connects people in England securely to their GP so they can automatically view and order the medications


Training Opportunities for Communities in Berkshire

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.


Funding Update December

Information sources: with thanks to Slough CVS, West Berkshire Volunteer Centre, Wokingham Involve, Norfolk Community Action

Big Lottery Fund — Reaching Communities 

Reaching Communities make grants of over £10,000 in England, supporting organisations with great ideas that enable communities to thrive.

The grants are awarded to voluntary and community organisations or social enterprises for up to five years. They can fund project activities, operating costs, organisational development and capital costs.

Find out more about the Big Lottery Fund — Reaching Communities

National Churches Trust – Foundation Grants Programme 2019-2023

Grants are available for listed and unlisted Christian places of worship of any denomination in the UK to support urgent maintenance work and small investigative works. To read more please click here.

UK Theatres Grants Scheme

The UK Theatres Small Grants Scheme is a capital fund that awards up to £5,000 to theatres across the UK, run by charities and not-for-profit groups that can clearly demonstrate the value capital improvements to their theatres would make to their work in local communities.

Priorities include projects that address urgent building repairs, improve operational viability, introduce environmental improvements, and enhance physical accessibility. Please note that applications for technical equipment and refurbishment of soft furnishings are a low priority for the scheme.
To be eligible you must:

  • Own or manage theatres with titles or signed leases of more than 5 years on buildings in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
  • Demonstrate that they run a regular theatre programme of professional, community and/or amateur work, presenting no less than 30 performances a year
  • Have a bona fide UK charitable or not-for-profit legal structure and be able to provide certified or audited accounts for at least two years

Applications for awards up to £5,000 can be made.

Round 13 of the UK Small Grants Scheme will close on Tuesday 8th January 2019 at noon.

Find out more about the UK Theatres Grants Scheme

Pocket parks plus: supporting parks and public spaces

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government is inviting applications from community groups interested in establishing a new pocket park or refurbishing an existing park.

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is providing a £1 million fund to support the development of new pocket parks and to refurbish existing parks that have fallen into disrepair where their restoration could have a significant positive impact on the local community and address a specific local need.

They expect to allocate grants of up to £15,000 for new pocket parks and £25,000 for refurbishment of existing parks split between capital and revenue.

The deadline is 5pm on Friday 25th January 2019.

Find out more about Pocket parks plus: supporting parks and public spaces

The Wolfson Foundation

The Wolfson Foundation is an independent charity that awards grants to support and promote excellence in the fields of science, health, education and the arts & humanities. They generally only fund capital projects (buildings/refurbishment, equipment) and only award grants to charities or organisations with charitable status (or equivalent).

The size of our grants vary greatly across different programme areas. For an idea of how much you might reasonably hope to receive, should your application be successful, you may wish to look at their recent Annual Reports to see what amounts similar organisations/ projects have received.

Find out more about The Wolfson Foundation

Centre for Ageing Better: Age-friendly and Inclusive Volunteering Fund

Grants to support charities and community groups in England with initiatives that will tackle the barriers that might prevent older people from volunteering and contributing to their communities, thereby benefiting from this positive interaction. The fund seeks to stimulate new approaches and identify good practice that other organisations can learn from and replicate. Please click here for further information.

Healthwatch Community Investment Fund 2018

Healthwatch Wokingham wants to invest in grassroots projects by individuals or groups that aim to improve the health & wellbeing of local people. There’s no need to be a registered charity or an official group. We’ll be judging applications on how well we think they could contribute to improving people’s wellbeing. It would be great if your project relates in some way to emotional wellbeing/mental health. Projects do not have to be expensive or complicated & the application process is easy and straightforward. If interested, send in a short description of your project idea & the amount of funding with a breakdown of costs to nicola.strudley@healthwatchwokingham.co.uk or call 0118 418 1418. Deadline for applications is 24.12.18.

Did you know that applying to the Big Lottery Fund is now easier?

If you would like to apply for funding between £300 and £10,000 you can apply online for our Awards for All Grants. See our website for more details:-https://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/funding/under10k

If you are looking for funding for over £10,000 and your project helps to:-

  • Shape the spaces and places in your local community,
  • Strengthens relationships and brings people together or
  • Enables people to work together to address issues at the earliest possible stage,