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TORBAY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT TRUST
Welcome to the first newsletter from the newly established Torbay Community Development Trust (Torbay CDT).
One of our main aims is to encourage and facilitate better communication between the very many groups and organisations in Torbay’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector on a regular basis. We’ll be working in conjunction with others, too, including Healthwatch Torbay, seeing collaboration and co-operation within the sector as vital.
A great way to promote, publicise or advertise what your group or organisation are doing – events coming up, fundraising needs, Social Enterprise activities, volunteering opportunities – is through this regular newsletter.
Why not send us photos too, or video? Images grab the attention, they tell stories, and they make things memorable.
You can also reach a wider audience through our weekly Herald Express Torbay CDT column or our new monthly space in the Torbay Times. All you need to do is call us with your news at the above number or email bobjope@torbaycdt.org.uk
As many of you will know, Torbay’s Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise Sector has been experiencing a period of significant change, in response to those severe reductions in the public sector that are having such a major impact on local life - with more, of course, to come. A series of open discussions over a period of many months and involving more than 100 voluntary sector representatives has resulted in our establishing a Community Development Trust for Torbay, its intention being to make Torbay a place where all people feel included and become involved in growing a thriving local community.
Sharing and Communicating
One thing that the months of discussion and debate firmly agreed on was the need to encourage and facilitate communication, cooperation and collaboration within the VCSE sector and beyond, including business and public agencies, sharing resources and skills and avoiding time and resource-wasting duplication.
Torbay CDT, now that we’re fully established, will reach out to all groups and individuals, identifying what’s happening in the Bay, what support groups and individuals require, and what they in turn have to offer. That’s why, over recent weeks, Torbay CDT has been conducting a survey of all groups and organisations operating here to find out what you need from us and what you can offer to others, our priorities including the need to stimulate more volunteering and to set up a ‘skills timebank’ for local groups, something we’ll talk about more in the next Newsletter.
We’ll provide information and signposting alongside training and support, while continuing to develop and promote voluntary and charity activity in the Bay, supporting groups who need volunteers and, of course, potential volunteers looking for opportunities. The idea, again, is to encourage connections through better networking and links around areas of interest and, as a result, create a vibrant and active forum and a more coordinated approach within the sector. Working with groups and agencies to mitigate the impacts of spending cuts will be vital to all of this.
The Trust’s capacity-building activities will be based on the belief that community development is what people do for themselves, supporting groups in building on our communities’ strengths. What we call Asset Based Community Development is all about discovering a community’s skills and resources and encouraging people to recognise what they can offer. It isn’t primarily about looking for problems to solve but finding opportunities to develop, not about directing what goes on locally or imposing from without but nurturing development from within.
Fundraising and Financing
As well as all of this, the new Trust intends to develop a coordinated fundraising strategy for the VCSE sector, helping groups access external funding by creating a network of community fundraising experts, while exploring new ways of financing and supporting the development of more Social Enterprise.
Torbay CDT has evolved, as a result of some radical rethinking and intensive debate, from what was Community and Voluntary Action (CVA), and our new offices are in Temperance Street, Torquay, though we can still be contacted on 01803 212638, by email, or via our very soon to be up and running new website: again, more details next time.
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AGEING BETTER
A series of ‘community vision’ events in each of our towns earlier this month were tied in with Fulfilling Lives: Ageing Better, a Big Lottery Fund initiative aimed at reducing social isolation amongst the 50 plus generation in the UK. Overseen by the Torbay Community Development Trust (Torbay CDT), the campaign hopes that we’ll be one of the areas chosen to benefit from between £2 - 6 million to run projects for up to six years.
Leading up to these events, volunteers have been out and about collecting ideas and experiences about ageing. Ruth Ben-Tovim, working with Encounters Arts on behalf of Torbay CDT, tells us that our innovative Ageing Better Toolkit - a set of postcards each of which asks a different question and is then transformed into a 3D paper house – gathered tremendous momentum as volunteers used it to speak to people across Torbay. (The Toolkits are on display in Torbay Hospital throughout the month.) As well as the Toolkit, Encounters Arts have been setting up a living room on the high streets of all three towns, giving people sofa time to sit and chat – and lots took time out to join in.
As you might expect, the survey has highlighted a wide range of views, from the positive - age brings ‘liberation from work’ and ‘time to follow unfulfilled dreams’ - to financial and health concerns, while many were, like those I chatted with at the community events, adamant that people need to recognise that the older generations are young at heart and don’t need to be patronised or categorised.
Social Exclusion
Determined to find ways for people to lead fuller and more fulfilled lives, the campaign’s initial findings have allowed some revealing pictures to emerge. A major concern among 50 – 70 year olds, for example, is the issue of identity and social value, lots of people talking about feelings of exclusion and isolation as the result of – among other things – being suddenly out of work, or relocating to Torbay and losing touch with friends and relatives.
Something close to a loss of purpose can creep in, alongside fears of being marginalized, so one thing we’ll be thinking hard about as we analyse and reflect on our survey’s results is how community-based activity between the generations can break down barriers and encourage much more involvement in local life.
If you’d like to find out more or to share your ideas and experiences, email ageingbetter@TorbayCDT.org.uk, or simply call us here at Torbay CDT on 01803 212638.
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HOW TO ATTRACT MAJOR GIFTS COURSE
Robin Causley from Torbay Community Development Trust is providing a course for voluntary,community and social enterprise organisations.
This course is will provide an introduction in how to attract major gifts from individuals.
Having even a few committed major donors onside can make a significant impact on your organisation’s income but finding the right ones and bringing them on board can be daunting.
This one day course will cover the key principles of major donor fundraising,and help you to use the appropriate tools to attract significant support for your organisation and maintain long term relationships to benefit your group for years to come.
The course will take place at Torbay Community Development Trust,11 Castle Road,Torquay on 9th May,2014 from 9-30am-4-30pm.
For more information please contact Robin Causley,Community Funding Adviser: robincausley@torbaycdt.org.uk 01803 212638
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PLOUGH AND SHARE AT TQ TOGETHER
(ELLACOMBE COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP)
TQ Together, the Community Shop in Torquay’s Market Street, run a Plough & Share Credit Union on Thursdays from 12-2pm and on Saturday mornings 10.30 - 12.30pm. Credit Unions are not-for-profit organisations owned by their members who save in a communal fund from which they can borrow at low cost. The shop also need volunteers who can give a few hours each week, so if you’re interested, call 07961 942 402 or email ellacombecf@hotmail.co.uk
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CROSSROADS CARE
Always very active, Crossroads Care – caring for carers – have a number of events coming up in the next few weeks, beginning with an I.T and benefits drop-in at Paignton Carers’ Centre next Tuesday - April 29th - from 10am till 1pm. It’ll be held, they say, on a first come first serve basis, but if it gets too busy Mel and John who are running the session will give people other options to either meet separately or to find out information on other taster sessions and drop-ins.
On Friday the 2nd and Saturday 3rd of May from 10am till 4pm Crossroads will be at Tesco’s in Torquay handing out flyers and collection donations. If any readers have spare couple of hours to help on either of these days, Crossroads would love to hear from you.
Next, on Sunday May 4th Crossroads are holding another car boot sale at Sainsbury’s in the Willows car park. ‘If possible it would be really nice if I could have volunteers to attend from around 4 pm till 6pm approximately to hand out flyers and walk around the car boot talking to people,’ Jess Slade, Crossroads’ Community Fundraiser tells us, and you can call her on 01803 323510 or 07989 166202.
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THE BRIXHAM PIRATE FESTIVAL 2014 – bigger than Ben Hur!
The Brixham Pirate Festival is now one of the premier events of the Torbay year. The 2013 event created huge interest and goodwill from the Brixham community as well as from some 20,000 visitors, and now the Festival 2014 looks set to be bigger, better and even more fun - lots of visitors in 2013 pledging to return this year, many booking their accommodation immediately after the Festival.
With Captain Sparrow and his disreputable mates, and pirate groups from Holland, Germany and elsewhere, the Festival will take place on Saturday the 3rd, Sunday 4th and Monday 5th of May, its entertainment programme including two stages for at least 17 acts alongside numerous piratical street performers. A sea battle enactment (with real ships!) will give visitors an opportunity to experience the period in all its tempestuousness.
‘The Brixham International Festival can be said to have come of age,’ the Brixham Pirates tell us, ‘and provides a wonderful weekend for pirates of all ages!’ In their own cheeky words, Bigger than Ben Hur indeed!
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KIDS IN THE MUSEUM
The Brixham Heritage Museum, awarded the Family Friendly Museum Award last year and housed in the old Brixham police station, is an intriguing place to visit for all the family with its collection of exhibits relating to Brixham's history, from fishing to historic and recent local archaeological finds.
‘All members of the family will love the reconstructed Victorian parlour,’ they tell us, ‘as well as the nursery and model of the railway station.’
You’ll get the chance to look back in time as you explore, for example,
Brixham’s bone caverns and their importance to archaeology,
and the extensive exhibition of the town's maritime heritage.
You can also discover what life was like at the Napoleonic barracks and in Brixham during the two World Wars.
To find out much more, you can visit the museum’s website where you’ll find, among other things, a fascinating World War 1 archive, as well as a really informative slideshow.
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TORBAY LIBRARIES NEED YOUNG VOLUNTEERS!
‘Would you be interested in volunteering at your local library?’ That’s the question young people are being asked by the organisers of this year’s Summer Reading Challenge, a fantastic national programme delivered by local library services where children are invited to read up to 6 books and talk to library staff or volunteers about them, collecting stickers and other rewards along the way.
Why not, they say, be a Summer Reading Challenge Volunteer this summer? Our libraries need young people aged 13 – 17 to help at their intriguing-sounding Mythical Maze Fun Time activities for children in libraries during the school summer holidays.
Volunteers are needed during July and August 2014 to help the children with activities, play games with them, show them how to use the Summer Reading Challenge website, and encourage them to read and discuss what they’ve been reading, as well as helping them find books.
Summer Reading Challenge Volunteers are needed at all Torbay Libraries throughout the school summer holidays, but you don’t need to be available every week, they say, and if you have to travel by bus or train to the library your fares will be paid.
As far as skills are concerned, Summer Reading Challenge Volunteers need good communication skills, and they need, not surprisingly, to enjoy reading and to have a genuine interest in working with children. The organisers will give all the necessary training, of course, and help with any queries volunteers may have once they’re under way.
Looking to the future, young volunteers who help run the Challenge will gain great experience of working with children, meet new people, improve their communication skills and have loads to put on a CV or a UCAS application!
‘We’ll also give you a goodie pack to help you with your volunteering and a thank you certificate as a record of your work and experience,’ they tell us, so if you want to know more contact Andrea Medway on 01803 208289 or simply emailypsl@torbay.gov.uk
Having just read my university teacher’s recent autobiography, John Carey’s ‘The Unexpected Professor’, a celebration of the joys and the importance of reading, I’m delighted to hear about this year’s Summer Challenge and certain there’ll be lots of youngsters out there keen to get involved.
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We hope you've found this newsletter useful and informative. As it's the first we've sent out, we've aimed at all the community, voluntary and social enterprise sector groups and organisations that we could identify in Torbay.
If you don't wish to receive our newsletters in the future, you can unsubscribe via the link below. On the other hand, if you have any news or information that you'd like included in future newsletters, please contact us.
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