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

New Start Up Workshop - 3rd December

Information workshop for anyone thinking about starting a new community group, CIC, charity...
This 2 hour workshop will help anyone thinking about starting up a new community group, charity or community business such as a CIC. We will explore the various legal structures, governing documents, financial requirements, essential policies and possible next steps. Individuals wanting to chat with a member of staff about setting up will be required to attend this workshop first...

Now You Have Your Grant Training - 9th December

Halton & St Helens VCA are proud to work in partnership with the External Funding Team at Halton Borough Council and are please to facilitate the opportunity for them to deliver this extreamly useful course for our members. This course will offer a basic introduction to the responsibilities of grant management for those who have not received external funding before, or who are relatively new to managing grant funding...

Hill Dickinson Foundation Merseyside

The Hill Dickinson Foundation is a fund administered and managed by the Community Foundation for Merseyside. Hill Dickinson is an international law firm which has been headquartered in Liverpool for over 200 years. The Hill Dickinson Foundation aims to make a positive contribution to the communities in which the firm operates by supporting local grassroots organisations and projects. Fund priorities are Homelessness, mental health, resilience and confidence (particularly among women). They are looking to support projects that tackle the issues of homelessness (cause or effect); encourage positive mental wellbeing; assist those suffering from ill mental health; encourage resilience and support self-confidence (particularly amongst women). The closing date is Friday 15 November 2019, however due to a limited budget, the fund may close earlier when sufficient applications are received...

Feedback from the One Halton Provider Alliance

Hitesh Patel (Chief Officer of Citizens Advice Halton and Trustee of Halton & St Helens VCA) is the voluntary sector's elected representative on the One Halton Provider Alliance and his feedback from the meeting on 9th October 2019 can be found here...

ACAS Free eLearning Training

Are you aware that Acas' free Acas Learning OnLine modules provide a useful e-learning resource for anyone wanting to refresh their knowledge and improve their approach to employment relations issues. Through a series of online courses, you will have the opportunity to work through the theory, explore practical case studies, and test your knowledge through interactive questions and a test...

Boot Room - Thatto Heath and Bold Miners

St Helens Council in collaboration with State of Mind and Saints, will facilitate Boot Room sessions in both Thatto Heath Rugby Club and Bold Miners Rugby Club, they'll be showing match replays of classic games - come on down to experience the excitement of games gone by, join in with former players...

New Guide on Menopause in the Workplace

Last week was World Menopause Day.  Those experiencing the menopause can find it has a negative impact on their working lives.   Acas has published new guidance to help employers and managers to support staff who are affected by menopause symptoms at work. 

Children's Centre Consultation Sessions

As part of the continuous journey of improvement within children's services and in light of additional financial investment into Children's Centres and Early Help provision St Helens Council plan to complete a process of consultation with children and families and key stakeholders. For the consultation to have maximum impact, it is vital they have engagement from a wide range of children and families and key stakeholders in order to inform the success of future service delivery. The consultation sessions will provide you with an opportunity to hear more about proposed plans and to have your say on the current offer and to shape the plans going forward in terms of the model of future service delivery...

Spooktacular Fundraiser For Willowbrook Hospice

Join Willowbrook Hospice on 1 November at Rainhill Ex Services Club for a spooky evening of bingo, fun, dancing and much more! Tickets are £15 and include bingo book, pen & accessories...

Self-Care Week

Self Care Week starts on Monday 18 November and runs through to 22 November. Halton CCG are providing CG staff/pharmacists, HIT/HBC colleagues to give information and support. If you are holding any meetings or get togethers during Self Care week and would like someone from one of the teams to attend please contact Des Chow...

VCA Membership

Halton and St Helens VCA are pleased to welcome our new and re-registered affiliated, non-affiliated and associate members.  We all look forward to working with you.

If you'd like to find out about your membership status, click on the link below which will take you to our current list of Affiliated and Associate members, or call Lynne Daffern or Debbie Morris on 01928 592405 / 01744 457100  for more information. 

https://www.haltonsthelensvca.org.uk/vca-membership-list

Don't Forget...

New Start Up Workshop - 6th November, 2019 

Information workshop for anyone thinking about starting a new community group, CIC, charity. This 2 hour workshop will help anyone thinking about starting up a new community group, charity or community business such as a CIC. We will explore the various legal structures, governing documents, financial requirements, essential policies and possible next steps...

Developing a Fundraising Strategy - 25th November

Halton & St Helens VCA are proud to work in partnership with the External Funding Team at Halton Borough Council and are please to facilitate the opportunity for them to deliver this extreamly useful course for our members. This course will help you to develop the basic elements or your fundraising strategy, including: organisational analysis, developing a clear case for support, identifying & targeting funders, presenting  & evaluating your strategy. Complements Business Plan session. This course is FREE for VCA Members that are  voluntary and community organisation based in HALTON, for groups outside this area there will be a £50 charge which includes membership to VCA...

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