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Welcome to the latest edition of the Halton & St Helens Voluntary and Community Action E-Bulletin...

Social Innovation – Doing Things Differently in Halton & St Helens

Join us for Social innovation – Doing things differently in Halton & St Helens on 24th September at the Totally Wicked Stadium in St Helens. We will hear from Jackie Le Fevre, Values Expert on the importance of values for innovation and thinking differently and Mark Swift, Wellbeing Enterprises CIC Ltd on social innovations and their potential to empower communities and transform public services. Afternoon workshops will focus on Social Pioneering – navigating something new. The aim will be to prompt different thinking within the local sector, to promote the sharing of innovative services and approaches that help groups respond to the changing environment, survive, thrive and respond to local needs. Finally, we have invited a range of local funders and support organisations for a marketplace and you will get a number of opportunities to get information and talk to them about your work and projects...

Healthwatch St Helens Director Vaccancy

Healthwatch St Helens helps to strengthen the collective voice of local residents across health & social care. It is rooted in communities and responsive to their needs. It also mean working collaboratively, operating as part of community networks, drawing on information, trust and local knowledge that already exists. Healthwatch St Helens is looking for a dynamic person of the highest calibre to join the Board of Directors, who shares our passion for further developing Healthwatch St Helens as a trusted, challenging and publically accountable body for local people. You will need to have ambition, drive and energy and will need to demonstrate that you have the skills, knowledge and experience to run a company, working with VCA and the Healthwatch St Helens support team to deliver a vibrant local Healthwatch, underpinned by robust corporate governance arrangements...

Volunteers Needed - Closing Date 25th September 2018

Refugee Action provide support to Syrian and other vulnerable refugees who have been resettled by UNHCR in three Local Authorities within the Liverpool City Region (Liverpool, St Helens and Wirral), they are looking for Resettlement Arrivals and Advocate volunteers to assist and support their work. The arrivals aspect of the role is to provide assistance to an individual or household group of newly arrived resettled refugees for their first week in the UK. The Advocate element of the role is to support refugees to carry out specific tasks as part of their on-going 12-month resettlement journey...

Funding Bulletins from Halton Borough Council – September

Our colleagues from Halton Borough Council’s External Funding Team have prepared some Funding Bulletins containing valuable information for voluntary organisations looking for grants to get projects off the ground. The Monthly funding bulletins offering information on funding opportunities in the following areas: Arts, Community & Voluntary, Environment & Heritage, European, Faith, Health, Schools, Sports and Youth...

Bag A Bargain At Hospice Car Boot

Willowbrook Hospice is holding a car boot sale on Saturday 22 September at The Living Well on Borough Road, St Helens. With a maximum of 50 pitches offering a wide range of pre-loved goods from clothes and books to soft furnishings and bric-a-brac – there’ll be something for everyone! The Living Well’s Sunflower café and charity shop will also be open. So if you’re clearing out your attic or garage and fancy making a bit of spare cash, why not book a pitch at just £10?...

Community Networking Morning - Macmillan Coffee Morning

Fancy a natter, a coffee, community networking and raising money for a great cause? Well Halton Borough Council and a generous café, based in one of its community centres can help! Macy’s Café at Grangeway Community Centre, in Runcorn will be providing tea and coffee for small donation to Macmillan on Wednesday 26 September from 10am to 1pm (so don’t be ‘latte’), and there will be a selection of cakes donated by invited organisations, again available for a small donation...

Invite to the Sahir House New Volunteer Open House Evening

Sahir House is the HIV support, prevention, information & training service in Merseyside. They need your help with World AIDS Day campaigns and fundraising, buddy support, reception and front of house as well as general support for the charity. As a volunteer you can learn and try new things, make new friends and make a positive change for those living with HIV. You are welcome to go along to their New Volunteer Open Evening to find out more about Sahir House and all the opportunities to volunteer, on Thursday 27th September, 6pm start at Sahir House. If you can’t make the open evening you are still welcome to book in for an interview...

Local History Evenings In St Helens

Local History Evenings on a Wednesday at MOMO's Coffee Shop at 8 Cotham Street, St Helens (Opposite Wilco). 6pm to 7.30pm.  All ages welcome. Admission free. Presented by local historian Chris Coffey. 5th September :Another local X files evening with tales of local ghosts and creepy mysteries. 12th September: 1868, the year the four townships became a Borough. 19th September: The lost railways of St Helens. 26th September: "Silent Clowns", this is a rare opportunity to see silent films by Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Stan Laurel solo, and other silent clowns...

Halton Heritage Open Days 2018

Halton’s Heritage Open Days is an annual, national event that sees groups, organisations and buildings open up their heritage treasures to the public. All events and activities which run from 5th September to the 16th September as part of the Heritage Open Days programme are FREE to attend, so what’s not to love? From guided tours to pop-up museums, there are lots of heritage activities for people of all ages and interests to explore across the borough. Take a look and see what you can discover...

Advice Team Leader / Training Coordinator

Established in 1999 Raise is an advice service that supports clients within their own home with welfare benefits, debt and financial capability advice at a specialist level. This is an opportunity to be involved in the running of the RAISE Welfare Rights service to clients in the Greater Liverpool Region. In order to achieve this they need a highly motivated individual who is passionate about motivating and managing a team of advisors. You will be experienced managing and supporting staff as well as having knowledge of Social Security Law. You will have excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to relate and work with a large variety of different people...

In Kind Direct - Product Giving for Social Good

In Kind Direct (IKD) was founded in 1997 by HRH The Prince of Wales. IKD distributes new, usable consumer goods, donated by some of the UK’s best known manufacturers and retailers, to charities, not-for-profit organisations and social enterprises working in the UK and abroad. They are a lifeline to thousands of charities helping vulnerable people across the UK, allowing them to spend more of their money on support, not supplies. Companies have a lot of products they no longer need which they donate to In Kind, from over-stocked toiletries to last season's fashions to branded cleaning products from an expired campaign to unbranded toys. They also offer sportswear, cooking equipment and personal hygiene products and have teamed up with a number of companies to offer large savings on photocopiers and office stationery...

Safeguarding Officer - Halton Disability Partnership

Halton Disability Partnership (HDP) is a charity, founded in 2010, which provides information, advice and support for disabled people, and their families, in the Borough of Halton. HDP is a Disabled People User Led Organisation (DPULO).  A majority of their Trustees are disabled people. They currently have a vacancy for a  Part Time (21.5 hrs) Safeguarding Officer...  

Annual Taylor Park Kite Festival - Friends Of Taylor Park

On Sunday 16th September 2018, between 1.00 and 4.00, The Fantastic Taylor Park Kite Festival is presented to you by The Friends of Taylor Park. So come along to the Big Hill in Taylor Park on Sunday 16th September between 1.00 and 4.00, where the Northern Kite Group will be giving wonderful displays of stunning kites and kite flying. Best of all though, you can make your own kite in the Kite Workshop and what’s more, they will fly majestically over one of St Helens’ most beautiful parks. Don’t miss this chance to enjoy one of the best family events in St Helens and it’s all free...

NHS Long-Term Plan Regional Engagement Event

Do you want to shape the future of the NHS? Please come to a conversation about the NHS Long-Term Plan, hear about what is planned, and have your voice heard!Because we now know that the NHS will receive guaranteed budget increases for the next five years, it can think about how it will work towards improvements in services, which will mean delivering more for patients with that money than it would have otherwise been able to. To achieve this, the NHS is now working on a plan for the next ten years, and it is vital that all those who work in or alongside the NHS can contribute ideas, experiences and insights. This event, run by VSNW together with NCVO and NHS England will gather views of people from local charities...

Vision Support Mobile Unit Visiting The Area

The Vision Support Mobile Information Unit will be visiting on Tuesday 11th September at the Select Security Stadium, Lowerhouse Lane Widnes at 10am to 12pm and also at the Co-operative Food, Runcorn Old Town at 1pm to 3pm. they will also be at Widnes Market (by Morrisons) on Thursday 20th September, 10am to 3pm so you can call in to see what support they can offer...

Temporary Outreach Worker TAZ

St Helens Council’s TAZ Outreach Team is a high performing, well established team who deliver innovative and creative programmes to young people to enable them to make positive and informed decisions about their sexual health and relationships choices. The TAZ Outreach Worker will form a large part of a small team and provide interventions to help continue to reduce teenage conceptions, sexually transmitted infections and improve young people’s awareness of these. You will have good knowledge of young people’s development, how their sexual health is an important factor in their overall wellbeing and lifestyle. In addition to this you must be able to discuss extremely sensitive issues without embarrassment or judgement and creatively communicate with young people in order to meet their sexual health and relationships needs...

One Halton Just Do It Award

Halton Carers have been announced as the first winers of the One Halton Just Do It Award for the work they have done at the Integrated Community Care Workshop – engaging people. The award is awarded to Halton people and organisations who “Just Do It” and make a difference. Everyone at Halton & St Helens VCA would like to offer their congratulations to Halton Careers on being the first to receive this award...

Funding Closing Soon...

Now's The Time Small Grants Programme From The Justice And Equality Fund

Closing Friday 28th September at 5pm. Grants of up to £25,000 available through the Justice and Equality Fund’s ‘Now’s the Time’ small grants programme. Now’s the Time is the second programme from the Justice and Equality Fund managed by Rosa. The programme aims to amplify the voices of individuals and groups who are calling for an end to sexual harassment and abuse, in their workplaces and in their communities...

Don't Forget...

Volunteer Co-ordinators Forum Halton

The Next Volunteer Managers/Co-ordinators Forum will be on Tuesday 2 October 2018 - 11.30am-2pm, at St Marie's, Widnes. The Forum meets six monthly to share information, discuss issues, monitoring and anything else to do with volunteering. The meetings are informal and enjoyable. We hope you will feel able to participate. Should you feel it would be helpful or appropriate for your role as a Volunteer Manager/Co-ordinator, please come along on the above date...

Volunteer Recruitment Fair

Volunteer Centre Halton are holding a Volunteer Recruitment Fair on Tuesday 9 October from 11-2pm at Riverside College, Kingsway Campus, Kingsway, Widnes WA8 7QQ. The event is open to both students and the general public. If you would like to book a table at the event please, contact Linda on: 01928 593112 or email: lgoodier@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk. Places are limited, so book your table asap...

VCSE Connect

Information about the voluntary, community, charitable sector still remains one of the key issues raised by professionals and clinicians when you ask the question “What could the voluntary sector do?” or “How can I refer this person to something more appropriate?”

As the gateway into the sector, Halton & St Helens VCA holds lots of information and data about local voluntary action.  We have produced that in great detail, in “Here to Help”, provided a search facility on our website, share information with key organisations and have many different ways of sharing what groups do, but still people say they don’t know what groups exist, what they do and how they get to them or refer to them.  So Halton & St Helens VCA has been working on an extension to our database which will display information about groups in an easy format, tell you what they do and when, allow clinicians and other key professionals to log-in directly and make a referral directly to the group (as long as they have agreed to receive referrals).  This means for the first time there will be a single place where referrals to the local voluntary and community sector can be made.

If you would like your organisation to be included in the VCSE Connect directory...

Please feel free to forward this email onto any other organisations/individuals who you feel would be interested. Apologies if you receive this email more than once.

If you have any comments you would like to tell us about this e-bulletin, please send an email to ldaffern@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk or if you have any news/events you would like us to publicise, please complete our News/Events webform: https://www.haltonsthelensvca.org.uk/vca-newsevents-template

Halton and St Helens Voluntary and Community Action