Harpers and the Chilterns MS Centre; Bucks Data Exchange

New partnership between Harpers Estate Agents and the Chilterns MS Centre

The Chilterns MS Centre has formed a new partnership with Harpers Estate Agent in Wendover to help improve the lives of people in the local community with MS and Parkinson’s Disease.

The formation of the partnership will lead to Harpers donating at least £100 to the Wendover-based charity for every instruction they receive from September to December at their Wendover office, rising to £200 if the person mentions the Chilterns MS Centre.

The partnership is also about awareness raising and helping to promote the Centre across the community so that many more people can benefit from the treatments and services it has to offer, services that are free of charge but go beyond what the NHS can offer.

“This is a really exciting partnership for the Chilterns MS Centre, not just for the valuable fundraising opportunity,” said Stella Kubale, Head of Fundraising at the Chilterns MS Centre. “It will also help get our name and our services more widely known in the local community and could lead to us supporting more people.”

“We are very proud to be supporting the Chilterns MS Centre, and look forward to a long and successful partnership,” said Max Rogers, Associate Director at Harpers. “The work they do is fabulous, and we are pleased to be able to play a part in that.”

“For me the Centre is priceless and I don’t know what I’d do without it,” said Pete Cella, member of the Chilterns MS Centre. “I just couldn’t get the support I do anywhere else. I’m here most days and it is a lifeline.”

The Chilterns MS Centre provides treatments and services to people with multiple sclerosis, empowering them to live healthier and happier lives. More recently they have begun a pilot programme to open their services to people with other neurological conditions, starting with Parkinson’s Disease.

To find out more about the work of the Chilterns MS Centre, visit chilternsmscentre. org

Everything you wanted to know about Bucks at your fingertips

A new website launched in September brings together a vast range of insightful and in-depth information and data on Buckinghamshire, its people and places, all in one handy location.

The Bucks Data Exchange is a collaborative project between Buckinghamshire Council, the Rothschild Foundation, Leap, Heart of Bucks, Buckinghamshire’s Local Enterprise Partnership, Thames Valley’s Office for the Police & Crime Commissioner and the Bucks VCSE (Voluntary, Community & Social Enterprise) Partnership Board. The website has been built by the Aylesbury-based agency, Framework Digital.

The website is open for anyone to access but it will provide unprecedented opportunity for the voluntary and community sector to access robust data on the needs of local people in order to help them make strategic decisions and target resources.

From population figures to broadband speeds and life expectancy to crime rates, the website will continue to develop and will be regularly updated as more data becomes available. Charities, community organisations and anyone with an interest in Buckinghamshire can visit the website and sign up for updates.

Steve Bowles, Cabinet Member for Communities said: “I am very excited to see the culmination of many, many months of hard work across all the different partner organisations, manifest itself into this oneof-a-kind website. It is a one-stop-shop for anything you ever wanted to know about Buckinghamshire and I’m sure it will become invaluable to many people but most significantly, to our local charities and community organisations in terms of planning their work and targeting their efforts where they are needed most.”

Ellie Stout, Head of Grants at Rothschild Foundation, who have provided funding for the project commented: “The Rothschild Foundation is proud to be supporting the Buckinghamshire Data Exchange through our

role as funder, project partner and contributor of data. We believe that through sharing our data we can help make grant-making and service delivery in the county even more effective and joined up. Through the process of gathering and publishing our data we can better understand ourselves and where we need to focus. That’s why we’re passionate about supporting more organisations to join the Bucks Data Exchange community.”

Mark Ormerod, Chair of Buckinghamshire VCSE Partnership Board and CEO of Leap added: “I believe partnership and collaboration is critical to address the most stubborn inequalities and challenges facing society today. The Buckinghamshire Data Exchange will enable key organisations across Buckinghamshire to distribute and share their intelligence, and collectively we can work on new solutions to address perennial problems.”

To access the website visit: www.bucksdataexchange.org