So we've finished our busy Volunteers' Week for another year. That's not to say that we (and you) shouldn't be celebrating our wonderful volunteers all year round! Last week we started with a Beach Sports Day, ended with an activity event based around World Oceans Day and in the middle VANEL and our VDS members were out in Grimsby with Hattie the Community bus talking to people about volunteering. There are plenty of photos from the week on Facebook, and we'd shared a few more updates below.
This week it's Carers Week and we're back to a more normal news bulletin. Hope there's something useful or interesting below for you.
Editor
Dates for your diary
June
15th - Small Fakers event at Moon on the Water
16th - Brocklesby Country Fair attended by BLB
16th - Cleethorpes Blues, Rythm and Rock Festival at Moon on the Water
17th-21st - Small Charity Week
21st - It’s Make Music Day and IGNITE have a Music event organised at Grimsby Minster.
21st - Funding: closing date for round 1 of the Crime Reduction Fund 2019/2020
21st - Summer Solstice Ska Party at Moon on the Water
28th-30th - Cleethorpes Armed Forces Weekend. Lots of our team will be there over the weekend & BLB CERT volunteers are marshaling and supporting the events.
Full details of these events and more further ahead are all on our calendar here.
(Liz getting ready to welcome people at the start of our Volunteers' Week event in Grimsby. Thanks Liz for all your hard work in getting this organised)
Volunteers' Week
... is now over for another year. Thanks to everyone who participated and thanks to volunteers everywhere.
Last week our newsletter reported a few bits from the week but we continued on to round off the week with our final event to celebrate World Oceans' Day. The weather was disappointing, but everyone who came along had a great time. We had plenty of volunteers helping out. We had arts and crafts happening, environmental messages being shared and recycled plastic sculptures being made! Blue Lights Brigade volunteers were demonstrating lifesaving techniques and the 'photo booth' proved extremely popular. Thanks to everyone who came along.
Take a look on the IGNITE Facebook page for a whole lots of photos from the week. Start here for dozens of photos from the week.
Following on from Volunteers’ Week, here’s a list of open, local volunteering opportunities. There are always plenty of opportunities on offer from our Volunteer Development Service (VDS) subscribers. If you’re interested in the opportunities or in becoming a VDS member then Liz is the person to speak to.
And a final follow up, during Volunteers’ Week, the Centre for Ageing Better released a new online guide to supporting, recruiting and retaining older volunteers. Download the new guide here and read the story behind it here.
From the Blog
This week’s article by a Young Reporter is by Charlotte. It’s about age and not stereotyping. Read “60 is the new 16” on our blog here.
Meet Lydia. Lydia Day did a placement at VANEL in the IGNITE team for a few months recently and as well as getting involved in various events and activities she was (and still is) active volunteering with CYC The Hangout Youth Group in Cleethorpes. You can read about her experience of her time with us on our blog here.
The IGNITE team is building up to our Make Music Day event on 21st June at Grimsby Minster. The bands and groups have now been arranged and we just need you all to turn up and have some fun! Read the whole story and meet the bands in this article from Kirsty on the blog.
In short
This week (10th-16th June) is Carers Week. There are 6.5 million people in the UK who are carers. It is estimated that there are 15,993 carers in North East Lincolnshire. The purpose of the week is to raise wider awareness of Caring and Carers, their vital role and how to better support them. Get involved or make a pledge.
A report has been published this week too as part of the Carers Week initiative. “Getting Carers Connected” can be read here. The background to the report is here.
Next week (17th-22nd June) is Small Charities Week. The main website is here. An introduction and overview is here. There’s a different theme each day and it’s all about celebrating smaller charities (that’s most of them). If you’re smaller then get involved. If not, then still get involved as we need to celebrate!
The Labour Party published their Civil Society Strategy - “From Paternalism to Participation”. Download it here. Might be worth reminding yourself of the current Civil Society Strategy too - here.
Not long to go. Applications for the current round of funding for the Crime Reduction Fund (CRF) need to be in by 21st June. Details here. Contact Richard at VANEL if you need advice.
NCVO has appointed Karl Wilding as the new Chief Executive to replace Stuart Etherington. Read about the new appointment to this sector body here.
Wild Swimming raises funds for the Gardiner Hill Foundation. Read the story here.
The Fundraising Regulator has issued the updated Code of Fundraising Practice. You can download it here. There’s a new structure to it and it comes into affect in October 2019. Explanation of the changes here. If you fundraise then start reviewing it now.
The Charity Commission published a major report into major issues at Oxfam. Read it here. Much of it is specific to Oxfam, but there is guidance in there for all charities and especially for those leading charities including Trustees. NCVO have a blog discussing the report and these wider lessons here. Very important for all trustees to consider the context and to decide if lessons need to be put into practice.
Glyn Atkinson wrote an article called “Building a better relationship with your bobby” as part of his Neighbourhood Watch Network role and it featured in the April edition of the national Neighbourhood Watch newsletter. The newsletter is here. Take a look for his article. Interested in Neighbourhood Watch? Contact Glyn.
Very well done to St Andrews Hospice for their success in winning retail team of the year at national awards. Read the whole story on their website here. VANEL proud to be mentioned to in our partnership with St Andrews helping to recruit volunteers.
A useful resource to share with others: HealthWatch NEL have compiled a directory of all of the GP practices in North East Lincolnshire including downloadable guides to each. Access it here.
NELC is inviting local groups to host their own “Skip it” events during the Summer. Expressions of interest can be put forward from local communities and groups. Information and the EoI forms are on the NELC website here.
A reminder that the Blue Lights Brigade CERT team is fundraising for equipment. Visit the GoFundMe page here.
The office of the Information Commissioner published “GDPR - one year on”. How has your own organisation managed with GDPR?
How do they do it? The Winners of the 2019 Charity Awards have been announced. Read about them here. What are they doing right?
A reminder about the various June events taking place at
Moon on the Water. They have events on
14th June –
DFIFI featuring The Darlies, The Confines and Dan James.,
15th Small Fakers Live,
16th Cleethorpes Blues, Rhythm & Rock Festival. Ft. Live performances from Mungo Jerry, Connie Lush Band, John Ottoway & Wild Willy Barrett, The Cinelli Brothers, Connor Selby Band and Gary Grainger! and
21st Summer Solstice Ska Party . All will be well worth attending. Details and booking
via their website.
Moon on the Water also have a new e-newsletter.
View the first one here and
add yourself to their mailing list here.
(The latest Blue Lights Brigade CERT team have finished their training and are ready for action. Here receiving their certificates and their emergency kits).
