It’s just over a month since our last weekly e-bulletin went out. If you’ve missed those weekly updates, sorry. But we’re now moving to a approximately monthly news cycle instead.

There are various reasons for the change, but here are two key ones. Firstly, the effort required to research and share news on a weekly basis has to be balanced by the size of our readership and the feedback we receive. Although feedback has always been positive, we track the emails and know that our readership is not huge. So we’re keen to spend our staff time on our direct support with members and groups and on our networks and project cohorts. We know this is valued by our Members and Friends so we’re just refocusing our efforts on more direct support.

Secondly, we live in a world where information and resources are available rapidly and easily online. Much of the news and information we used to share on a weekly basis you can find yourself as and when you need it. (More about suitable resources below). So we’re going to share resources and news we come across in a more focused way. If your Trustees and Committee want governance related news then you’ll find it in monthly “View from the Top” blog articles. If you’re interested in volunteering resources then hopefully you’re connected in to our Volunteer Managers Network. And other resources are shared with our team so that when you’re engaging with us we’ll make sure you’re keep up to date with what is relevant to you.

So in the meantime, enjoy reading this monthly bulletin. It’s a catchup from the past month or so and a sharing of stories from our projects and people. In the meantime of course if you’d like some specific information or support or have feedback on our news, please contact us via 01472 231123 or office@vanel.org.uk or contact me via editor@vanel.org.uk

Changes in IGNITE

For three years now VANEL has delivered our IGNITE programme to support young people with their social action projects and campaigns in our area. Just as our National Lottery funding that supported this project comes to a formal end, we’re pleased that we’ve found other funding approaches that allow us to the keep the programme running in a slightly different format. IGNITE continues.

So we’ve just said goodbye to our third year cohort of youth mentors - Jessica, Kirsty, Jean-Louis and Shaun - who move onto other paths in employment or education. And it’s time to say thank you to all the other team members over the past three years who have made the IGNITE programme what it is. We’ve had a great time and it’s been very successful. There have been many young people involved, funding secured, events help, money raised for good causes, and many, many social actions projects delivered. Have a read of an article on our blog which wraps up the project.

But IGNITE continues and embraces other approaches to youth social action through other projects too. If you’re aged 16-30 and interested in social action locally then you need to contact Jenny Hodson or Victoria Russell, both of whom carry on with IGNITE in this new phase.

Keep an eye on our social media platforms and our blog to find out what IGNITE has planned going forward.

VANEL office changes

Over the past couple of months, some VANEL staff have been working more and more out of the new community offices of Big Local North Cleethorpes (BLNC) at 82 Grimsby Road. We’re partnering with Big Local to provide specific support and services to Cleethorpes, and what this means is that if you need an appointment or meeting with VANEL staff then you can now meet us in Cleethorpes if that is easier for you.

It also means that as a general rule, VANEL offices at Bargate are now closed on Fridays. Instead, the Friday VANEL team work out of 82 Grimsby Road.

As a general rule you should try and make appointments with us anyway before popping to the office, but please be aware that our Bargate office is now closed Fridays. We’re open Monday - Thursday as normal.

Any questions contact us on 01472 231123 (office@vanel.org.uk) or you can call the 82 Grimsby Road, Big Local office on 07523 772516.

BLB summer update

If you’ve been following Blue Lights Brigade on Twitter or Facebook then you’ll be aware of just how busy they are at the moment. If not, then take a moment to read this summer update about the project. Steve and Lucy have been busy at various events with the CERT volunteers over the past few weeks. Whether it’s Armed Forces Weekend, Brocklesby Fair, the 10k Tape to Tape run, they’re there.

From the Blog

Our Young Reporters continue to write their articles every week for their Tuesday column in the Grimsby Telegraph. If you ever miss an article, they are all republished each week on the VANEL website. Over the last few weeks we’ve had articles about; the true meaning of LGBTQ, romanticising mental illness by the media; discrimination against minorities continuing; calling out the bad habits of catcalling; talking about Autism; and reproductive rights being a human right. Each article is very personal for the young writers and they make an interesting read. A few new young people have now joined the reporting team and their articles will be published over the coming weeks. Keep an eye on the Telegraph and on our website.

We do a monthly Members update now on our blog. You can read the July update here. It’s our Members and Friends sharing their events, projects, news and more. Your news could feature in there too (email editor@vanel.org.uk).

Cleethorpes Police Station opened in 1932 and finally closed its doors a few weeks ago as the Police team in Cleethorpes transferred to the Knoll. VANEL were invited to attend the event to mark the closure to showcase our “Cleethorpes Community Cops” project. This Heritage Lottery funded project has now come to an end, and the history of the Police Station featured heavily in our research. It was a great opportunity to meet ex-Police who had know the Police Station in the past and we were able to sell our merchandise from our project and show off the website. Read all about this event and update from the project here. Visit our website at www.cleethorpescops.org.uk.

One of our newest projects is our connection to the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust where we are encouraging younger people to connect with sports, perhaps for the first time. We’ve got a full story about the project and how to get in touch on our blog. If you’re a young person who does no regular sport then check out the exciting offer and contact Victoria to discuss.

A reminder too about Big Local North Cleethorpes (BLNC). There’s work continuing on the website at the moment with a lot more regular news articles on there. So if you’re not up to date with Big Local, check out the website at www.biglocalnorthcleethorpes.org.uk. On the blog you can find out about the new IGNITE programme starting up in Cleethorpes or about the new IT support available to groups and individuals in Cleethorpes. There’s an explanation about the Stride youth support programme and much more about Big Local supported initiatives such as the planters that recently arrived to brighten up North Prom.
 

Resources...

There are a lot of resources and news out there on the internet! Rather than us review it all and share it bit by bit hoping that you find it useful, we think it’s more helpful (to you) for you to hunt down the news and information you need at a time when it is relevant to you.

You can find plenty of general advice for running your organisation on KnowHowNonProfit. And the Resource Centre is hugely helpful too.

If you need grant options then FundingCentral is invaluable (and free for smaller organisations). We’ll still publish a funding roundup every so often, keep an eye on our calendar for local funding events, and if you’re a Member or Friend get in touch with us as we’ll help you do your funding searches.

And I always recommend subscribing to the e-newsletters that are most valuable to you. Charity Commission. NCVO. Civil Society etc .

If you need support with volunteering then VANEL run the Volunteer Development Service and the Volunteer Managers Network for that purpose (contact Liz at VANEL).

If you've got a specific query then please make the most of your membership and get in touch. We’ll try and answer and we’ll signpost you in the right direction for the information you need.

See you next month