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15th December

Welcome to the last edition of the Halton & St Helens Voluntary and Community Action E-Bulletin for 2021... 

St Helens VCSE Forum Meeting - 24th January 2022

The next St Helens VCSE Forum meeting will be on Monday 24th January 2022 at 10am. The meeting will be conducted online using Zoom (requires internet access only). We are bringing key partners together to connect with the sector to provide and share key developments and we will update on key work and initiatives in St Helens.  To book a place and receive joining details...

The Women and Girls Match Fund

Applications for the Big Give’s new match funding campaign, The Women and Girl’s Match Fund, are open from Monday 13th December to Tuesday 11th January. The Women & Girls Match Fund is a week-long match funding campaign which will launch on International Women’s Day 2022, Tuesday 8th March. Up to £25,000 of match funding is available per charity. Match funds have been provided by DCMS’ Tampon Tax fund. As well as accessing Champion funds, evidence shows that donors are more likely to give, and to give more in match funding campaigns. The Big Give also offers a free suite of resources, training and guidance for all participating charities... 

Phoenix Amateur Photographers Need Your Help

What do you know about the trades, the people and the industry along the waterways of Halton? Phoenix Amateur Photographers in partnership with Sankey Canal Restoration Society are producing a chronicled documentary about these waterways. Phoenix Amateur Photographers is an amateur photography group based at CHI cafe, Castlefields. Membership is open to anyone who wants to improve and share their knowledge of photography...

Vacancies For Relationship Fundraising Manager Posts At Macmillan

At Macmillan you'll find talented people working together to help those living with cancer find their best way through. The work you do will have a direct impact on people's lives, so if you're ready to explore your potential, this could be the place for you. They particularly welcome applications from disabled, minority ethnic and / or LGBTQ+ candidates who are under-represented in the organisation at this level. They currently have two vacancies in the North West for Relationship Fundraising Managers...

Winter HAF Programme 2021

The Holiday Activities & Food (HAF) programme is aimed at providing healthy food and enriching activities free of charge for primary and secondary school aged children who are eligible for benefit related free school meals during the holidays. This action-packed, festive fun guide shows you all the great things, big and small, that are happening over the holidays on your very own doorstep, right across St Helens Borough. If your child is aged 4-18 and eligible for benefit related free school meals and would like to attend, please see the list of providers on who will be providing the activities...

New Domestic Vacancy

At YMCA St Helens’, their vision is of an inclusive Christian movement, transforming communities so that all people belong, contribute, and thrive. An excellent opportunity has become available to join their team, in the role of Domestic Staff. This exciting opportunity is ideal for candidates who have good communication and organisational skills and a high level of attention to detail. The role is responsible for supporting the Facilities Manager to deliver excellent standards of cleanliness and service across the YMCA St Helens facilities. The successful candidate will report directly to the Facilities Manager and join a successful and established operations team...

PA Vacancy

Focus Employment is a social enterprise set up by John Perry, based in St Helens, to provide emotional and practical support for disabled people and people with long-term health conditions, and the whole community. John is totally blind, he is a qualified counsellor and experienced trainer on disability and equality issue working in the field for 30 years +, offering support for a range of clients who have physical, sensory or neurodiverse conditions. He is looking for someone who can help support him to run the business...

Samaritans Veterans App

The Samaritans have launched a new app to specifically support military veterans. The app aims to help veterans deal with the long-term emotional challenges of adjusting to life after the Forces and has access to volunteering and peer support by connecting people to the wider veteran community. In April 2020, Samaritans saw the largest volume of military contacts since it began to record contacts from the military community in 2018. The Samaritans Veterans app can be accessed on a desktop, tablet or mobile device...

Support For Halton Organisations

Ombudsman Services provides alternative dispute resolution for the energy, telecoms and private parking sectors. They are based at Daresbury Business Park and operate nationwide, supporting suppliers and consumers to resolve their disputes. They are updating their approach to corporate social responsibility, focussing on inclusion, supporting people in poverty and the environment. They would really like to hear from any Halton organisations that support their ambitions to make a difference for diverse communities and the planet whilst doing good in the community. They would like to support through volunteering and by collaborating on projects that deliver change and realise these ambitions...

Children and Families Community Hub - Update

NHS St Helens CCG is working with its partners to develop a Children and Families Community Hub at Lowe House incorporating a freestanding midwifery-led unit (MLU). Lowe House Health Centre will undergo remodelling work to make existing space within building suitable, so that more services can move into Lowe House and care can be delivered to women and children in a community setting, away from hospital. This will result in better integrated working across all teams and services, and a better experience for women, children, young people and their families. The hub will be the only one in Cheshire and Merseyside to have both a MLU and children’s services co-located, meaning better integrated working across all teams and services, and a better experience for patients...

Bounce Weekender

Cultivate presents Bounce Weekender Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th December 2021 for ages 10-15. Events taking place across Widnes and Runcorn.  Bounce Weekender is a chance for you to get creative!  Featuring workshops and performances from Drama to Music, Dance to Art and many more! This is a fantastic opportunity to experience cultural activities in your local community with local artists. Make sure to be following on social media to be kept up to date, tickets available now...

Christmas 2021 Webpage - St Helens Council

Teresa Mercer,  (Community and Business Health Promotions Officer) at St Helens Council has once again lauched their Christmas webpage. This years theme is Christmas dinner 4 ways, fresh, frozen, tinned and ready made, the page also has pre Christmas planning, recipes and family activities. They are all free to preproduce...

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  members, or contact Lynne Daffern (ldaffern@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk) or Debbie Morris (dmorris@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk) for more information

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

Christmas Message From Everyone at Halton & St Helens VCA

We would like to thank all our volunteers, member organisations and partners for all their outstanding hard work, in what has been an extremely difficult year for everyone.  It has been very much appreciated.

We hope that everyone has a very peaceful and safe Christmas. We look forward to working with you 2022.

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