Nexus december 2016

NEWS FROM THE HAMPSHIRE CVS NETWORK 

Action Hampshire



Nexus V O L U M E

3 ,

I S S U E

1 2

1 2

D E C E M B E R

2 0 1 6

Basingstoke Voluntary Action



Communities First Wessex



Community Action Fareham



Community First New Forest



Gosport Voluntary Action



Hart Voluntary Action



One Community



Rushmoor Voluntary Services



Test Valley Community Services

Encouraging neighbourliness in Hampshire —p2 North Hampshire Volunteer Managers Forum—p2 Celebration of Leigh Park—p2 Gosport Community Voice Conference—p3 Rushmoor Celebrates Volunteering—p3 Test Valley Volunteers Recognised—p4 MP Launches minibus in Fareham—p4

Merry Christmas to all our readers!

Gospel Phonics and Young Carers Choir Christmas Concert Eastleigh’s Gospel Phonics Choir joined up with Hampshire Young Carers Choir on 3 December in aid of the Mayor of Eastleigh’s charities in a Christmas concert extravaganza organised by One Community.

The event, which was held at the Masonic Hall in Eastleigh, included performances from both choirs, a raffle, and an array of refreshments. While admission was free, over £250 was raised for the Mayor’s three charities which are One Community’s Carers Centre, Countess Mountbatten Hospice, and Cerebral Palsy Sport.

Over 130 people attended the concert, including One Community Dial-A-Ride service users, some from local care homes.

One Community’s Family Carers Service Manager, Joanne Miles said: “The event was a really nice way to unite people of all ages and experiences from across Eastleigh, reflecting the true spirit of Christmas. It was a great opportunity for our young carers to share what they have been working on and was a real confidence boost for them. It was a great day thoroughly enjoyed by all in attendance and we thank everyone who helped make it a success.”

Produced by Hampshire Councils for Voluntary Service Contact Julia Allan 023 8090 2457 jallan@1community.org.uk Featured articles represent the views of the contributing CVS

Encouraging Neighbourliness in Hants Building thriving local communities in which people actively support each other lies at the heart of a new initiative to encourage more neighbourliness in Hampshire.

Key to the work started by representatives from five local community groups with the support of Hampshire County Council, is the desire to make it easier for local people to build stronger, safer and friendlier places to call home, helping local communities to thrive.

Led by Basingstoke Voluntary Action, the group seeks to work with local communities across Hampshire to find ways for local people to be able to do more for themselves and each other.

Neighbourliness means different things to different people, but at its heart lies a consensus that it’s about getting together, listening, and supporting.

Neighbourly communities are generally ones which can improve people’s feelings of wellbeing, can facilitate mutual aid and support between people, improve life chances and even help to cut crime The Neighbourliness Task Team is aiming to find ways to create a “movement of change” to build on some of the great things what already happen within Hampshire communities, and find ways to encourage more people to become more active locally.

North Hants Volunteer Managers Forum Basingstoke, Hart and Rushmoor Volunteer Centres have been working in partnership to develop a new forum for managers of volunteers.

During 2016 three forums have taken place, one in each of the districts, inviting volunteer managers in North Hampshire to come together to receive training, network, share issues, problems and queries and discover opportunities to work in partnership. In March the training covered DBS checks, who needs them and who doesn’t, along with information on the Update service. In June, the forum explored using social media more effectively, and in October, the Volunteer Centres demonstrated their new website and volunteer management system: NEXUS PAGE 2

www.volunternorthhants.org Attendance has remained high, feedback has been extremely positive, and representatives from various groups have been prepared to travel across North Hampshire, which is a good indication that managers value the forum.

Celebration of Leigh Park Community First (Communities First Wessex) acquired the lease of Leigh Park Community Centre earlier this year. Plans are now in place at the Centre for a Celebration of the Local Community of Leigh Park, a free event in the Spring of 2017 thanks to a grant awarded by the Big Lottery for Fund’s Celebrate programme.

Presentation Eastleigh Volunteering Youth Award 2016 Celebrate is a new £5m grant programme that launched in July 2016 from the Big Lottery Fund for communities across the UK to celebrate what makes their local neighbourhood great. They found that “more than half of people asked, reported they have never or cannot remember ever coming together to celebrate with their local neighbourhood” and after successfully applying to the programme, Community First has secured an incredible award of £8,528 for the Community Centre to bring the neighbourhood together and to celebrate the past, present and future of a community so many people hold dear.

All corners of the Community will be invited to come together to Celebrate the services, groups, schools, history and all importantly, the people of Leigh Park. Leah Moore, Centre Coordinator says, “With a spread of food provided by local businesses, performances on stage by the schools of Leigh Park, and a family movie complete with free popcorn and hotdogs, we are really excited about providing the people and families of the Community a day to Celebrate, remember, and come together.”

There will also be the opportunity for local people to have a say in the future of their

Community Centre.

Helping to make the Centre look its best for the event, employees from local business Lockheed Martin UK (in the picture) came along as part of Community First’s Employee Volunteering Scheme to help re-decorate parts of the Centre.

This followed a similar event held previously when a team from the local 12th Regiment Royal Artillery, spent two days helping to re-decorate.

Community Voice Annual Conference Formerly called the ‘Compact’ Conference, the Gosport Community Voice Forum was held on 16 November with a theme “Who do we turn to in turbulent times?”

The day celebrated the strengths of partnership working between the public and voluntary sector, and the importance of strong lines of communication, particularly in such turbulent times with extensive cuts to public services.

The event was funded by Gosport Borough Council, planned by a committee of representatives from voluntary and community groups across Gosport, co-ordinated by Gosport Voluntary Action and attended by 45 representatives from 31 organisations.

Rushmoor Celebrates Volunteering

Volunteers who provide essential support to local voluntary groups and charities in Aldershot and Farnborough were celebrated at a special awards ceremony on Wednesday 9 November.

More than 50 volunteers from 30 different

groups and charities were nominated and attended the event held at Rushmoor Borough Council’s offices in Farnborough.

The ceremony is organised annually by Rushmoor Voluntary Services (RVS) and the council to thank local volunteers for their important contribution to the community. The event was hosted by the Mayor of Rushmoor, Councillor Jacqui Vosper, who gave each of the volunteers a certificate of thanks and paid tribute to the work they do to support the community in Rushmoor. Councillor David Clifford, Leader of Rushmoor Borough Council, and the council’s Corporate Director, Ian Harrison, also gave words of thanks to the volunteers and RVS. Greg Alexander, Chief Executive of Rushmoor Voluntary Services, said: “Volunteering in Rushmoor continues to thrive, with people supporting many causes. The contribution of local volunteers cannot be underestimated – we have willing and skilled people who are regularly giving their time to work with older and disabled people, children and families and many other community projects. As services provided by Government fall, we in the voluntary sector are committed to working with other agencies to help fill gaps and develop new ways of working.”

Councillor Gareth Lyon, Rushmoor Borough Council’s Cabinet member for Concessions and Community Support, said: “Volunteers are the lifeblood of the community and it is no exaggeration to say that our borough could not function without them. We are immensely grateful for everything they do and are determined to do more to support them and to partner with them.

Anyone can be a volunteer and we would strongly encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to get involved.

“A recent volunteer survey showed that at least 3,300 people are actively volunteering in the borough, making an annual contribution of over £6 million to the community – this is an incredible contribution.”

Terry Snuggs, volunteer centre coordinator with RVS, who helped organise the event, said: “We have met many volunteers today who have been involved with their organisation for over 20 years each – this shows the dedication and loyalty of local people who want to make a positive difference to others.”

NEXUS PAGE 3

Local Volunteers Recognised at TVCS AGM

MP Launches Minibus at Helicopter Base

Local volunteers received awards at Test Valley Community Services AGM held at Longstock Village Hall on Friday 4 November.

Following the official duties of the AGM, the winners of the three categories were announced. From the nominations received by TVCS, an independent panel of judges selected the following people.

Volunteer of the Year 2016, sponsored by Ansvar Insurance, was awarded to Tim Keenan (pictured) from Andover Trees United, whose commitment to providing young people with opportunities to connect to nature is exceptional.

Through activities and events, Tim helps the youngsters gain a better understanding of the interdependence between themselves and the environment and the need to care for the environment.

The Volunteer in Health Award sponsored

by Simply Health was won by Elise Taylor, Emma Noakes, Claire Van Stone, Kim Brown and Olga Raspopina from the Knowing Us Group. The women run a weekly group at the Andover Children’s Centre, offering vital support for mothers in the area who have suffered from perinatal health difficulties.

A new award for 2016 was the Volunteer Team of the Year Award, an award made possible by the skydive and fundraising efforts of TVCS staff member Dawn Elson and volunteer Ruth Williams.

This was awarded to all the volunteers at Jane Scarth House, Romsey, who provide emotional and practical support to anyone whose life is affected by cancer.

Following the awards there were talks from Ali Lambie at Hampshire Mindfulness and Liz Murray at Valley Leisure. After which Valley Leisure and the Eastleigh Tri-locality team provided health checks for the delegates including blood pressure monitoring, personal fitness MoTs and for those who wanted something marginally lively, Choga (chair yoga).

Community Action Fareham was delighted to take delivery of a new minibus this month, which means that local groups will have greater access to good quality accessible transport in Fareham. Fareham MP Suella Fernandes presented the keys to the bus to volunteer driver Tim Hendon at Vector Aerospace in Gosport, where the charity’s bus fleet is kept securely.

“We are delighted that the government has recognised the difficulty that Community Transport Services are in nationally and has provided £25m funding for minibuses.” said Paul O’Beirne, Chief Executive of the charity.

Community Action Fareham successfully bid for a bus to help them to support communities in Fareham. The minibuses are fitted with a tail-lift and so can be used by people in wheelchairs. This ensures that people can get out and about to enjoy company and visit interesting places.

Fareham Community Transport relies on support from many areas: volunteer drivers, who not only drive but attend training sessions and do their part in maintaining the buses; from Hampshire County Council which funds the coordination and promotion of the service, and from Vector Aerospace for enabling the fleet of buses to be parked securely on their site.

Cllr Chris Mathews, speaking on behalf of Cllr Rob Humby the Executive Member for Environment and Transport, said, “Hampshire County Council recognises the importance of alleviating isolation among older people and is pleased to be able to support community transport in Fareham, Gosport and across Hampshire.”

The majority of the fleet is now over 10 years old and still in good working order thanks to great driving and rigorous maintenance supervision. Nigel Amphlett, Government Business Executive at Vector Aerospace said, “We hope that the buses will enjoy the support of Vector Aerospace in 10 years’ time.”

NEXUS PAGE 4