CVS Arunwide

Volunteers’ Week (1st – 7th June) will be here before we know it and of course the Queeen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebration falls within this week.

This is an opportunity to say thank you to our volunteers and make a special presentation at one of our thank you days.

Services for Older People
is the Focus of our Community Lunch
on
Tuesday 31st January 2012, 12-2pm
at
St Mary’s Church Hall, Clymping

We would like to Invite you to come and join us and Diane Henderson of AgeUK West Sussex, who will be talking about the losses and gains for the service.

Do you know a young person aged between 11-19, who deserves to be recognised in the local community for either their bravery, voluntary or charity work? There is still time to nominate these deserving young individuals for a 2012 Arun Youth Community Award!

You can nominate as many young people as you like, whether this be individually for as a group. Please follow the link for further information on the awards and to download a nomination form:
http://www.inspireleisure.co.uk/communitydevelopment/arunyouthcommunityawards.html
Alternatively, if you would like hard copies of the nomination form please let Charolotte Anning know on 01903 890316

This year’s awards ceremony will take place on Wednesday 28th March at The Windmill Entertainment Centre in Littlehampton. The awards are organised by Inspire Leisure in partnership with Arun District Council’s Youth Council. The Chairman of Arun District Council and a Trustee of Inspire Leisure will be among those presenting at the awards. All nominees will receive recognition on the evening. We are delighted that this year’s awards are being supported by Littlehampton’s Rotary Club and our local Waitrose store.

Please take just a few minutes out of your day to complete a nomination form to ensure that the young people of Arun get the positive recognition that they deserve in their local community.

A new era beckons for the voluntary and community sector in the Arun and Chichester districts with the joining together of our services.

On 24th November 2011, Council for Voluntary Service Arunwide (CVSA) and Voluntary ad Community Action Chichester District (VCACD) held Special General Meetings to agree the merger of the two organisations from the 1st April 2012. Members of both organisations voted unanimously to merge the two organisations and to name the new organisation Voluntary Action Arun and Chichester (VAAC).

VAAC will have its administrative office in Bognor Regis, with a project office in Bersted Green and satellite offices/meeting places across the two Districts including Chichester, Littlehampton, Selsey, Midhurst and Petworth. The top priority of staff and trustees when looking at the merger has been to ensure that our services continue to be delivered locally to you, our members. We will still have two volunteer centres and will ensure that we provide outreach services to you across the two districts.

Thank you to all of our members for their input into the merger process, filling in questionnaires, attending the AGM and SGMs and commenting on our propossals. We will be working on our business plan over the next few months, taking on board the comments received at the AGMs on your support priorities. We look forward to working with you as VAAC.

Hilary Spencer (Chief Executive, CVSA)
Kate Scales (Chief Officer, VCACD)

Our Chichester support group meets on the first Thursday of each month at the Judith Adams Centre, St. Pancras, Chichester from 6.00pm – 8.00pm. 
We offer support, advice, speakers and social occasions to both survivors of Acquired Brain Injury and their carers.
New members are always welcome, so if you would like to join us, why not come along to our next meeting on Thursday 5th January when Louise Spong from the Carers Support Service will be talking to the group.
If you would like more information then please contact Gwyneth Sangster on 07531 146 516 or email gwynsangster@btinternet.com

There are an estimated 950,000 trustee positions in the UK, so there are plenty of diverse and interesting opportunities for first time trustees.

‘They are people like you, sharing their passion, skills & experience for just a few hours – and getting a real buzz back’

The following pack has all the information you need to find out about becoming a Trustee and those all important frequently asked questions.
Trustees leaflet Dec2011 

FIND SKILLED VOLUNTEERS

Skillshare West Sussex is a new web based tool to complement the volunteer centre service. This new service is aimed at those wanting to give a small amount of time, between 1 and 10 days.

Are you looking for volunteers with a particular skill for your voluntary  and community organisation or social enterprise?

Visit the Skill Share West Sussex website today- the gateway to hundreds of skilled volunteers in your area!

Whether you need legal or PR skills or just someone to get muddy in a community garden register for FREE today: www.skillshare-westsussex.org.uk

Before advertising the site to companies and individuals in the community we would like to fill the site with opportunities, we would like your support to register opportunities. Please don’t register an opportunity with a start date before the 1st December as we will start the publicity campaign to find volunteers over the coming weeks.

Remember to think what skills a business or skilled individual could bring to your organisation…do you need support with marketing, web design, business planning…it only takes a minute to register and already we have several large companies with 100s of professionals signed up to this scheme.

This is a project of the West Sussex CVS Network, funded by West Sussex County Council.

Like many organisations West Sussex County Council has recently been through a restructure and Richard Perry (who was Head of Partnerships) has now left.

Duncan Barratt and Sharon Hurr will now be a point of contact for VCS colleagues and will be available in circumstances where you have been unable to find an answer to your query through your usual channels of communication with West Sussex County Council officers.

Duncan can be contacted on
01243 777559 or Duncan.Barratt@westsussex.gov.uk and
Sharon can be contacted on
01243 753546 or Sharon.Hurr@westsussex.gov.uk