Are you a charity, community organisation, voluntary group or community interest company that delivers activities and services to support people in understanding and improving their mental wellbeing?

In the middle of National Mental Health Awreness Week which this year is focussing in on Anxiety, at this in person meeting (17th May), we will be exploring how we measure and evidence impact for our mental health and wellbeing services. We will also spend sometime exploring standards and quality marks to support our everyday practice along with training and learning offers.

It will be an opportunity to network and share examples of how we evidence our impact, what are the various measures we use to demonstrate how each of our activities make a difference to individuals.

The MS Society and Everton in the Community are hosting a Walking Football session for anyone affected by MS (including family and friends).

Walking Football is a great way to keep active, make new friends and learn new skills. This is a fun, inclusive session for people affected by MS. Sessions and is open to all regardless of age or ability.

Following on from their pledge on National CE Awareness Day 18th March, Halton Safeguarding Team are delighted to announce some sessions being delivered this month (May) on Child Exploitation Awareness.

Child Exploitation is a type of abuse. When a child or young person is exploited they’re groomed by being given things, like gifts, drugs, money, status and affection. This is usually in exchange for carrying out a criminal activity, known as Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE) or performing sexual activities, known as Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE).

WEA has aunched its next round of funding for Multiply Community Grants 2023/24 through a contract with Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for organisations with residents of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.

Grants of between £10k and £25k will be made to eligible VCSE organisations to support residents with numeracy skills needs for project delivery up to 29th February 2024.

Applications close Tuesday 16th May 2023

Don't miss this opportunity to hear from the WEA (Workers Education Association) on 5th May  in regard to how VCFSE organisations across Halton & St Helens can apply for a grant up to £25k to support residents with numeracy skills needs for project delivery up to 29th February 2024.. 

St Helens BABS (Building Attachment & Bonds Service) will soon be coming to the St Helens Borough, as a jointly funded partnership (Commissioned by St Helens Council/Best Start for Life programme & Merseyside Violence Reduction Partnership (MVRP) & delivered by Mersey Care NHS Trust).

 BABS is made up of a passionate, committed MDT team of Clinical Psychologists/Psychotherapists, Mental Health Practitioner, Specialist Health Visitor, Admin, Clinical Team manager who will be working in collaboration with Family Hub staff, early help workers, children’s social care, health visitors, midwives, other mental health services and 3rd sector/community services to offer a quality parent infant mental health offer to families across St Helens.  

To support the new King's Big Help Out initiative, Billinge Parish Council are holding a Celebration of Volunteering Day on Monday 8th May, starting at 2pm at Billinge Public Hall Main Street. Everyone Welcome. Light refreshments served.

By working together with Halton borough Council, the Disabled Children's Service and the Direct Payments Team, PFC are looking to recruit Personal Assistant's (on behalf of families) for children up to the age of 17 years who may have learning difficulties/disabilities. Any successful candidate with be directly employed by the family. A personal assistant works directly with one or more individuals, to support them with various aspects of their daily life so that they can live it in a way they choose. You will be employed directly by the family of the person who needs care and support.

Funded by the National Lottery, Halton Connected is a new project hosted by Halton & St Helens VCA.
The Halton Connected team is made up of two Community Connectors, Jessica for Widnes and Joanne for Runcorn; and Development Officer, Laura, for Halton. The Community Connectors aim to link in with local organisations, to understand what you do, and the difference you make to reducing health inequity in the community. Jessica and Joanne will help foster partnership working, promote what you do and actively encourage local people to engage with your services.

Working closely with Jessica and Joanne, Laura will be supporting local organisations to develop and grow. This will include developing resources, and facilitating activities that enable the sector to actively demonstrate the difference made in reducing health inequity across the Borough.

Did you work for ICI, Castners, Pilkingtons or Rocksavage? Do you have memories of working in the chemical industry in Widnes, Runcorn or Northwich? If so Catalyst Science Discovery Centre & Museum would like to hear your story!

Catalyst Science Discovery Centre & Museum have been awarded a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to update their heritage exhibitions. They are exploring what should be included in the new displays and recording stories from local people who worked in the chemical industry.

Do you have experience of Adult training and skills; managing the finances of a voluntary group; successful bid writing? or perhaps you have even assessed grant applications elsewhere?

If so, would you like to be involved in the assessment of applications for the LCR Multiply Community Grants?

A Better Tomorrow Halton C.I.C would like to invite you to join them at "Halton's Got Talent", a community event designed to promote social inclusion and reduce tensions between locals and newcomers within the Halton area. This is an incredible opportunity for the newcomers in the Halton area to show off their unique talents and receive recognition for their hard work.

By joining them on the day, you will be contributing to the creation of a welcoming and diverse community, and they guarantee that it will be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. The event will be held at The Foundry in Widnes on Monday 15th May from 4pm to 8pm.

The External Funding Team at Halton Borough Council have produced their latest monthly Funding Bulletin covering recent grants alerts.

Fortuna Female Society would like to invite you to nominate your Queens of Halton in the 3rd women’s awards celebration.

They are accepting nominations in the following Categories: Volunteer of the Year; Ray of Light; Rising Star; Entrepreneur of the year, And brand new for this year the "Jo Cox Make a Difference" Award.

St Helens Bereavement Services, Willowbrook Hospice Teams, St Helens Library colleagues and Friends of St Helens Cemetery are holding an Afternoon Tea on Friday 12 May 1pm to 2pm at Eccleston Library Community Room, to discuss dying matters at work and how we can open up the conversation about dying and why it's really important to talk about death together and plan ahead.

Halton Borough Council has commissioned The University of Chester Department of Public Health and Wellbeing to conduct a health and wellbeing survey. By understanding what residents feel is important to them in their health and wellbeing, Halton Borough Council can better shape their health and wellbeing support services in future.

This survey is for adults living in Halton. One person in the household over the age of 18 is invited to complete the survey. Please complete the survey by Friday 26th May 2023.

The Cheshire & Merseyside State Of The Sector Survey

As a thankyou from Halton & St Helens VCA for your time, we will enter all Halton & St Helens survey respondents into a prize draw for £100!

The Cheshire & Merseyside State of the Sector survey is part of a collaboration with the VS6 Partnership, Cheshire and Warrington Infrastructure Partnership (CWIP) and Voluntary Sector North West (VSNW). If you are a voluntary, community, faith or social enterprise organisation operating in Cheshire and Merseyside we invite you to be part of this exciting research project!

The survey is a crucial part of a wider State of the Sector project designed to develop a deeper understanding of the VCFSE sector across Cheshire and Merseyside in order to improve our knowledge of the size and scope of the sector, understand needs and challenges, and develop data and insights that can be used at a regional and place level with commissioners, funders and to influence policy and decision making.