Learn to Lead Walks in the National Forest

Volunteer Walk Leader Training Course

The training, which is free, will take place at Rosliston Forestry Centre, South Derbyshire on FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26^th  2010 : 9.30 – 16.00    

This full day will aim to provide you with the skills needed to become a successful walk leader. We will be doing a health walk on the day, so please bring suitable clothing in case of bad weather.    

Refreshments and lunch provided.    

On the day you will be able to meet other members of the team, share ideas and most of all have some fun. We will also be able to set a date for the next ‘team meeting’ and give you details of opportunities for you to undertake your first aid training.    

This is a very exciting project and I look forward to working with you in the future.    

If you need any further information please feel free to contact me.    

Best wishes     

Debbie Chesterman.
Walking the way to Health Co-ordinator

Get the Vibe from vinvolved

Derbyshire’s Youth Volunteering team, vinvolved, which works with young volunteers in partnership with the Volunteer Centre South Derbyshire, published the first edition of their newsletter just before Christmas. You can download your very own copy of The Vibe by clicking the link.

Christmas Catch-Up

 I’m not sure why we didn’t shout about the South Derbyshire Volunteers’ Thank You Event before the festivities took hold, but as they say, better late than never. Chris, from the Volunteer Centre Team reports:

The Council offices once again were packed to capacity with 100 volunteers from South Derbyshire.

The event and invitation list was an initiative of the South Derbyshire Strategic Volunteering Partnership.  The Chair of South Derbyshire District Council, Councillor Pat Murray hosted the event and it was his opportunity to show appreciation for all of the work of volunteers. 

Volunteers from groups involving sports, disability, the environment, lunch clubs, community safety, under 25’s were represented.

A buffet lunch was enjoyed and a great deal of networking took place.  Name badges were given out on arrival which worked well as it gave people an opening line to communicate with each other. 

This jointly organised event – by Dawn Bircher from SDDC and the Volunteer Centre was a great success.

Positive verbal feedback was received both during and after the event.

Volunteer Thank You Event at South Derbyshire District Council

 

Small Meeting / Service Delivery Room Availalble

DOES YOUR GROUP SUPPORT PEOPLE WITH A HEALTH OR SOCIAL NEED?

 WOULD YOU LIKE TO PROMOTE YOUR GROUPS’ WORK TO A WIDER AUDIENCE?

DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE VOLUNTARY SERVICES RESOURCE ROOM AT SWADLINCOTE HEALTH CENTRE?

Did you know that the voluntary sector has a room allocated in the Health Centre for the use of local community and voluntary groups?

The room is available on a regular basis for groups to promote their services, hold drop in sessions, meet with clients etc and can be used for free.

South Derbyshire CVS co-ordinate the use of this room and we do our best to make sure that groups are allocated use of it at the most appropriate times. For example, groups working with families and young children might wish to use the room at times when paediatric clinics are running. 

If your group is interested in using this facility, please contact Chris Wagstaff at South Derbyshire CVS on 01283 219761 or email chrisw@sdcvs.org.uk

Micro-Volunteering

Dave McGuinn, in Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, publishes a fascinating analysis of volunteering, comparing the approach of many organisations to volunteers with forming personal relationships. How many of us want a long-term, open-ended relationship with someone we have never met. Most of us would something with less commitment for a first date.

See http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/too-busy-to-volunteer-not-if-youve-got-a-spare-couple-minutes/article1408140/

Dave tells us about Ben Johnson, of Vancouver-based website Ubanistic who promotes “Micro-volunteering“.

OK, this is nothing really new, we’ve called it “Episodic Volunteering” or “One-Off Volunteering” for years, but whatever we call it, it’s a great way to get things new volunteers to get things done for your organisation.

If you’ve tried Micro-volunteering, let us know how it went – we’d love to hear good and bad experiences.

KnowHow Nonprofit

I don’t normally go surfing, especially while it’s snowing!

However, a chance encounter online pointed me at KnowHow Nonprofit, a brilliant website that is packed with some practical, down to earth information, ideas, case studies and good practice that will be of use to volunteer managers, volunteers and other people involved in any kind of voluntary organisation. At first, I thought this must be an American site because of its use of “Nonprofit” rather than the more UK words like “voluntary” or “third sector”.

I have just spent half and hour on the site and bookmarked it to return for a better look later.

Refreshed Compact Out Today

The long-awaitied Refreshed Compact has been issued today. This is a far more succinct version of a document that has been around since 1998. It sets out guidelines that govern the relationship between the public and third sectors and has quite a lot to say about volunteering.

You can find out more – and download your own copy of the Compact itself and the useful Introduction to the Compact from Compact Voice.

Drawing The Line – Vetting & Barring Report is out now

Sir Roger Singleton’s report, “Drawing The Line”, has been issued. You can download a copy from http://publications.dcsf.gov.uk/eOrderingDownload/DCSF-01122-2009.pdf.

This report has been widely publicised in the media as relaxing the requirements of the new scheme for some volunteers, but before we celebrate too extravagantly, perhaps it would be a good idea to read what he actually said.

Please let us have your thoughts about this report.

Office Space Available At South Derbyshire CVS

You may know that South Derbyshire CVS and the Citizens Advice Bureau have shared a premises now for some time, but in the early months of 2010 the CAB will be moving on to pastures new.

This gives us a great opportunity to offer space out to other groups that might be working in the community of South Derbyshire.

Are you looking for a room in the centre of Swadlincote for a couple of hours a week? Are you looking for a place to hold meetings or display your information?

You are invited to attend an open meeting on Monday 18th January 2010 between 8:30am and 12 noon (here at the CVS building) to discuss different uses for the space.

Please come along with your suggestions and join us for a cup of tea or coffee and a cake.

Thanks to SDCVS Development Team Blog for this item

Volunteering Update

From time to time we get a big pile of useful information to pass onto you all at once; usually at the same time and just as things are really hectic here in the luxurious Volunteer Centre accomodation. So here’s another of our periodic mass update posts. If you want more information about a particular topic, click on its title in the contents list to be taken to the item with more details and (for most of them) a web link.

Contents

• PDSA Call For Christmas Volunteers
• Derbyshire VCI Roadshow Coming Our Way
• South Derbyshire CVS Development Team Blog
• Volunteer Rights Inquiry
• Our Shared Resources
• Clinks Guides for Volunteering & Mentoring with Offenders
• Volunteering England and TUC draw up ‘volunteer charter’
• Volunteers Needed for Sport Relief Mile

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PDSA Call For Christmas Volunteers

 Animal lovers are being urged to donate some of their free time to the vetinary charity. More details on Community Newswire’s website

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Derbyshire VCI Roadshow Coming Our Way

The South Derbyshire roadshow takes place on Monday 1 February 2010 between 9:00 and 13:00 at Woodville Youth Centre, Moira Road, Woodville, Swadlincote  DE11 8DG

You can download a Booking Form and Agenda.

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South Derbyshire CVS Development Team Blog

Our colleagues in the Development team here at South Derbyshire CVS have their own excellent blog which is updated regularly. Their blog is of wide interest to voluntary organisations, whereas this blog is supposed to specialise in volunteering matters. Please take a  regular look at their home page for lots of great information.

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Volunteer Rights Inquiry

Volunteering England is holding an inquiry to examine the issues and potential solutions around the subject of volunteer rights. The inquiry will meet three times between November and April 2010 and a report will be launched in spring 2010. You can have your say online on the Volunteer Rights Inquiry Webpages

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Our Shared Resources

This is a new web site where those who work in the field of volunteer management can add useful resources and others will be able to access them. “With many people contributing a little we avoid re-inventing the wheel time and time again”.

OurSharedResources Website click here

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Clinks Guides for Volunteering & Mentoring with Offenders

Clinks, a Volunteering and Mentoring organisation that  works with offenders and ex-offenders is launching four guides for mentoring projects. They have produced four guides on

1. Managing Volunteers
2. Demonstrating Effectiveness
3. Setting up a Project
4. External Quality Standards.

These guides aim to deliver the best possible support, advice, and guidance to prisons, probation and the third sector involving volunteers and mentors in working with offenders and ex-offenders.

The Volunteer Centre is trying to obtain copies of these guides when they are published early in the new year.

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Volunteering England and TUC draw up ‘volunteer charter’

One of the volunteering issues that rears its head during a recession is “Job Substitution” - where volunteers take on work previously done by paid staff. 

Volunteering England and the Trades Union Congress have signed a ‘volunteer charter’ that says volunteers should not be used to displace paid staff or undercut their pay and conditions. More details are in an article on Third Sector Magazine’s website.

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Volunteers Needed for Sport Relief Mile

Lewis Adams, Community Sports Coach at South Derbyshire District Council invites you to take part in volunteering for the above event.

The event is on Sunday 21^st March from 9.00am until 1.00pm.  The Swadlincote Woodlands will be the venue for this local Sports Relief Mile and we will need a team of volunteers to take part in a variety of tasks on the day.

Activities for volunteers to get involved in will include marshalling, manning the welcome desk, registration procedures and giving completers their goodie bags.

If you would like to take part and volunteer on the day please get in touch with Lewis as soon as possible, telephone 01283 595772 or email lewis.adams@south-derbys.gov.uk.

If however you aren’t available to volunteer then why not take part in the event with your friends and/ or family!  Sign up on www.sportrelief.com and take part in this national event!