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NEWS FROM THE HAMPSHIRE CVS NETWORK 

Action Hampshire

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Basingstoke Voluntary Action

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Communities

Local People. Local Solutions. Local Control From Action Hampshire

First Wessex 

Community First New Forest

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Gosport Voluntary Action

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Hart Voluntary Action

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One Community

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Rushmoor Voluntary Services

On 5 February, the Hampshire Community Housing Partnership launched the Community Led Housing Hub. The event was held at the Guildhall in Winchester Another Cardea and was aimed at anyone who is or could be involved in Community Led Housing milestone—p2 in Hampshire.

The event was very well attended with a wide range of delegates, including Bake Off community local groups interested in delivering community led housing, parish councils, event—p2 officers from local authority planning and housing departments, housing New equipment for associations and architects.

Andover Mobility Catherine Kirkham, Hampshire’s Community Led Housing Officer, led the service—p3 event and introduced community led housing, the many different options and the Lymington outreach support and advice available through the Hampshire Community Housing for New Forest Partnership. This was followed by informative and inspirational speeches about Volunteer Centre— possible routes to community led housing. p3 Adam Broadway of the Right to Build Task Force spoke about collaborative self and custom build housing and Geoff Philpots from Wickham Community Land One Community’s 

Unity

Fareham Discovery Fair—p3 Supporting equality in Hampshire—p4 Makeover for Fareham Shopmobility—p4

Produced by Hampshire Councils for Voluntary Service, who would be delighted to have your feedback. Please contact Julia Allan 023 8090 2457 jallan@1community.org.uk Featured articles represent the views of the contributing CVS

Trust, talked about his experience of delivering affordable homes for local people in Hampshire.

Maria Brenton spoke about the Older Women’s Co-housing Community in High Barnett and the obstacles they had overcome to deliver these homes, and Helen Bone from Homes England talked about the support and £163 million funding available from government for community led housing.

Delegates then attended themed workshops, for example on community land trusts, which generated discussion about how Local Authorities could support community groups.

The event was concluded with a closing speech from Catherine Kirkham and an invitation for local community led housing groups to get in touch.

Community led housing is when local people come together to deliver their own housing solutions, ensuring that the homes they feel are needed are built for those in housing need in their community. Volunteers within the community are actively involved throughout the process of providing this housing.

Anyone local to an area can be involved in setting up a community led housing scheme, for example, a group of residents or members of a town council. Community led housing schemes can also be set up by local people in housing need themselves.

Groups are able to mould a scheme to fit their aims. One group, for example, could help build affordable homes for people on low and modest incomes in their village, while another group may focus on providing self-build plots for people to get on the housing ladder in their town and learn a trade.

Community led housing is here to help people who have a “common connection”. This common connection does not necessarily have to be geographical. Community led housing could, for example, help a group of people local to a NEXUS PAGE 2

particular area, or help a group of disabled people who may know each other through college and want to live together in specially adapted houses, or a group of old friends may decide that they want to live close to one another so that they can look after one another in their old age.

Pictured is Helen Bone from Homes England talking about the £163m fund only accessible to community led housing groups.

If you are interested in finding out more about community led housing in Hampshire please contact Catherine Kirkham on 01962 857387 / catherine.kirkham@actionhampshire.org

Another Cardea Milestone Andover residents, Mr and Mrs Polley, recently received a bouquet of flowers from the Cardea Manager, Nicki, to mark a year in the life of the local Home Support Service, Cardea Ltd. John and Judith said, “Returning to Andover after 20 years absence, we were lucky enough to discover Cardea. We came here after a year of challenging health issues and really needed to work on improving our health and morale. From the beginning, we felt at ease with Nicki who effortlessly married our needs with her knowledge of the range of local opportunities.”

It is through Cardea’s link to Unity that clients have a value added opportunity to be signposted to one of the many local charities and community groups across Test Valley.

The Cardea service continues to grow, supporting people in their own homes, helping them to feel less isolated and enabling them to access the help they need to remain independent.

The Bake Off Community Event The Romsey Mayor, Cllr Dorothy Baverstock, along with Sally Farmer, Creative Cakes, judged the entries to the Abbotswood and Cupernham Bake Off event held 19 February at the recently opened Abbotswood Community Centre.

Along with the homemade cake competition, there were stalls from various community groups promoting services such as

mobility equipment, arts and crafts, preserves and jewellery as well as cake decorations.

This event marks the start of a number of community events Unity is planning to run during 2019 to raise awareness of the organisations and services operating across Test Valley.

Donations Purchase Equipment for the Mobility Service Unity has announced the delivery of four new pieces of equipment for their Mobility service based at the Bus Station, Andover. The centrally based organisation provides a range of equipment for Shopmobility customers but also offers the opportunity to hire equipment for short periods for those who may have been injured or are going away and need a scooter or a wheelchair for a matter of days or weeks.

The shiny new equipment includes a stateof-the-art powered wheelchair, three-wheel powered chair, wheelchair and portable wheelchair, purchased using donations received.

An awareness raising campaign to inform health professionals about the short-term hire services is due to be launched in the next few weeks and Unity Mobility is also planning an open morning on Wednesday 10 July to give people an non-obligatory opportunity to view equipment, try the equipment for themselves, ask questions or receive low key training if needed on using motorised scooters.

Volunteer Centre Expands Outreach

This year St Barbe Museum Café in Lymington has kindly agreed to host a regular two-hour volunteer drop in session. Local residents can meet a friendly volunteering ambassador from the New Forest Volunteer Centre and discover the different opportunities available. This is a friendly, informal session and there is no need to make an appointment. It is already proving popular and the Volunteer Centre is delighted to be extending its outreach service, allowing people one-to-one advice around local volunteering across the whole of the New Forest.

One Community’s Discovery Fair, Fareham

One Community’s Discovery Fair on Wednesday 6 March was held in Fareham Shopping Centre to attract as much passing trade as possible. The stalls represented a good range of Fareham voluntary and community groups, from the Royal Navy Royal Marine’s Children’s Fund to Friends Through Pain, and the Richmond Fellowship to Fareham Men’s Shed. Fareham Borough Council Choir sang, and the shopping centre made hourly announcements promoting the event.

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Supporting Equality in Hampshire When you are discriminated against or treated unfairly, it can be difficult to know how to proceed.

Characteristics including age, sexual orientation, religion, and more are currently protected under UK law. Nevertheless, if you experience discrimination in the workplace or in wider society, you may be concerned that you will not be taken seriously or that you will face further adversity for raising the issue. You may feel uncertain not just about whether to speak up, but who to speak to. Hampshire CVS Network will make this process more straightforward and comfortable for Hampshire residents with their online Supporting Equality Directory https:// www.hampshirecvs.org.uk/supportingequality/ Under the 2010 Equality Act, it is illegal to discriminate against anyone because of age, gender reassignment, being married or in a civil partnership, being pregnant or on maternity leave, disability, race (including colour, ethnic or national origin), religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. These are known as Protected Characteristics. The Supporting Equality Directory is designed to help you identify support in your area if you face discrimination or unfair treatment against a protected characteristic. The Directory features a digital search tool so that you can easily find the local services who are best placed to help you.

One example could be a person living or working in Eastleigh who has faced discrimination relating to Gender Reassignment. The directory search will return details of support services in and around Eastleigh. Results will range from local authorities to local groups who support transgender, transsexual, and gender nonconforming people. Likewise, if you search for support after unfair treatment based on Disability in Fareham, you can connect to services within the Borough Council or choose from services offered by local disability groups and charities. This means that you can select the support service you are most comfortable with.

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The Supporting Equality Directory is live now on the Hampshire CVS Network website.

Hampshire CVS Network is an alliance of nine Hampshire based CVS organisations who help Hampshire’s charity and voluntary sector to succeed and flourish. Originally known as Councils for Voluntary Services, CVSs offer support and advice to community and voluntary groups. They also deliver a variety of services for local residents across Hampshire. To find your local CVS, take a look on the Hampshire CVS Network website at https://www.hampshirecvs.org.uk/.

Fareham Shopmobility gets a Makeover Thanks to support from the local community, Community First in Fareham’s Shopmobility office has been given a welldeserved make over. The Shopmobility service is based in the multi-storey car park at the Fareham Shopping Centre in the heart of the town, and the team also runs the Carers’ and Disability Information Centre from the same location.

The reception area and offices have been painted, brightened up and decluttered thanks to the help, support and free time donated by the local Time Traders group, Chris Illman and Andi Angus; the electrical specialist Mark Morrison from Morrison Electrical; and the equipment and paint all donated by the Dulux Decorator Centre and Brewers Decorator Centre in Fareham.

Jessica Wooldridge, Fareham Shopmobility Manager: “We are so grateful and really thrilled with this fantastic community spirit and support from local traders and businesses. Groups like Time Traders really do make a difference.

We really appreciate their help”.

Charlotte Yonge statue complete with rainbow shawl.