February 2010

REACH is a new Big Lottery and LEADER funded project to enable rural community and voluntary groups in Herefordshire to grow and develop. The team can provide high quality information and guidance to help groups set up, grow and/or develop. Specialist support in areas such as young people, faith groups, community buildings and environmental issues can also be provided along with effective signposting to

Examples of topics that the team can help with include:

• Starting a Community Group.

• What is a constitution and do we need one?

• Recruiting and keeping volunteers.

• Registering as a charity

• Looking for and applying for funding

• We need a new building– where do I start? The team is: Vicky Barnes - Golden Valley & surrounding area, based in Peterchurch:vbarnes@herefordshireva.org or 07827 775699

Terry Osborn - North-east Herefordshire, based in Bromyard tosborn@herefordshireva.org or 07896 629540

Hannah James - North-west Herefordshire, based in Kington: hannah@herefordshireva.org or 07827 775701

Elizabeth Pimblett (CVALedbury) - Ledbury and surrounds: reachledbury@yahoo.co.uk or 01531 633083

Vicky Hamilton - for volunteering support and opportunities: vhamilton@herefordshireva.org or 07827 775700

Ann Hyde (HCVYS) - support for youth groups: ann@herefordshirecvys.org.uk or 07917 113555

Shelagh Callaghan (Kairos) - support for faith groups: paul.eden@dsl.pipex.co.uk or 07904 345532 Rob Grunsell (Community First) - support for community buildings: robg@comfirst.org.uk or 0797 6824397 So, if you would like to know more, need help or would value a chat about your ideas,

then please give us a call.

Computer Corner

Managing emails in Outlook 2003 How big is your inbox? Do you have trouble finding emails? Outlook has a few little tricks that can help you.

Create a folder. You can create folders in your inbox to organise email by person or project. To create a folder click on the inbox and then right click and select – Create Folder; type a name for your folder and then click OK. You can now manually drag and drop any emails from your inbox into this new folder. You can create as many folders as you wish. You can also automatically put incoming email directly into the folder by creating a rule.

Create a Rule A rule will let you tell Outlook what to do with a particular email. For example, if you have a folder for all emails sent by Community First

Changing Lives - ‘Stepping Stones’ to Social Enterprise

31st March 2010 at Herefordshire College of Technology

Did you know that there are over 100 social enterprises already changing lives in Herefordshire? A social enterprise is a business with a social purpose whose “profits” are reinvested in the business or in the community, rather than being given to shareholders and owners.

If you are

• Thinking of starting a Social Enterprise (SE) and need help

• Already delivering some form of enterprise and want to take the next step

• Interested in learning about what others are doing and want to meet with like minded volunteers,

trustees or members

Then this event is a must as it includes practical support to help get your project moving in the right directions. Workshops include:-

1. Developing your business planning -The business plan is the cornerstone of any successful organisation. How do we get started and keep on track?

2. Getting the governance right - What are your options and how do we effectively structure our project and group?

3. Selling as well as telling -How can we communicate our message and can ICT help?

4. Seeing is believing - Expert knowledge and insight from local organisations in Herefordshire delivering excellent services through a social enterprise approach.

The exhibition hall will provide an opportunity for social enterprises and third sector organisations to showcase their work.

To find out more about exhibiting, workshops or booking tickets (2 free if you book by 28th February) please call Heather Leeks on 01684 312738 or email: heatherl@comfirst.org.uk.

then you can automatically add those emails when they arrive into that folder. Right click on any email you wish to add to the folder and select create rule In this example I have said that any email I have received from Clare O’Grady should be moved to the folder ‘Hereford VA’. Click on OK gives you a success message and the option of running the rule against all emails in the inbox. I do promise myself to have an empty inbox at the close of play every day, and sometimes I make it. You can also have sub - folders, which allows you get truly organised. Good luck and don’t forget to check out the ICT Champions website. http://www.wmictchampion.org.uk

If you would like to include an article in the next issue of HVA News, our deadline is 10th June 2010.

Please contact Clare O’Grady on 01432 343 932 or

outreach@herefordshireva.org

News from HVA by email

Did you know that HVA has an email newsletter that goes out fortnightly with events, news and useful information? We are currently swapping over to a new system of sending out our e-newsletter. The one downside is that sometimes it may arrive in your junk mail folder. So if you haven’t received anything via email since December 2009, please check your junk mail folder or contact Clare O’Grady, Information Officer (details below). If you would also prefer to receive the quarterly edition of HVA News by email rather than by post please contact Clare. If you represent more than one organisation, it would be helpful to know if you need a copy for each one so we don’t bombard you with paper!

Clare O’Grady, Information Officer 01432 343 932 or outreach@herefordshireva.org

Fircroft College of Adult Education in Selly Oak, Birmingham offers a wide range of

residential short courses, many of which are tailored to meeting the needs of the voluntary and community sector. Fircroft is now enrolling for short courses running between now and July 2010. Many courses are FREE of charge, particularly for people claiming certain benefits, and include accommodation, meals and tuition. Call Fircroft College on 0121 472 0116 or visit www.fircroft.ac.uk to find out more and to apply.

In this issue, HVA member Anne Adams who is an active member of the Transition Movement, tells us more about their work.

This movement arose about 5 years ago in order to make people more aware of the fact that the production of oil is about to peak and then decline quite steeply. At present we rely on a great number of things for oil, e.g. transport, heating, agriculture, packaging, computers, electrical equipment, etc. So we shall have to learn to manage with alternatives, or cut down our use drastically.

Rob Hopkins was the initiator of the movement, and got his students in Ireland to design "energy descent plans" for all the various aspects of oil use. Since then the movement has spread to many other places and there is also a book in Herefordshire Libraries called "The Transition Handbook" which gives many examples of what can be done locally.

We in Leominster have started a group and are holding regular public meetings and other activities. The meetings are on the 4th Tuesday of each month at the Community Centre in School Road and anyone is welcome. The next one will be on Community Supported Agriculture. On 27th Feb (a Saturday morning) they are holding a seed and plant swap at the Community Centre, at which there will also be some displays and talks. We want to encourage people to grow more of their own food, to save importing so much. We have also organised training in household energy surveys with Lightfoot in Bishops Castle. This will help people to cut down on their use of energy and therefore on their bills !

Contacts:for Leominster: Anne Adams 01568 780886, email anneadams626@hotmail.com

The Hereford Transition group is also very active, holding talks and discussions, contact hello@transitionhereford.org "Green drinks" are held on 23rd of each month at the Volunteer Inn, Harold St, Hereford.

Member Focus

£300 a year web service free of charge if you are a member of HVA

Charity Builder UK (CBUK) is a new online service which has the potential to transform administrative tasks in your organisation. It provides advice on lots of important topics such as human resources, health & safety, volunteering and governance.

At its core is an interactive section that actually works with you to write documents such as employment contracts and health & safety policies; this section is kept up to date by experts and lawyers and sold to commercial organisations for a subscription of £300 a year. As a member of HVA you can use the whole site totally free of charge.

To get Charity Builder UK simply go to www.charitybuilderuk.com and register, if you are confirmed as a member of HVA you’ll then receive your user name and password within 48 hours.

We hope that you’ll enjoy this benefit of being one of our members. If you wish to become a

member of HVA contact Clare O’Grady for a membership form on 01432 343 932.

On 10 February Wendy Coombey, Chair of the Interim Third Sector Board, welcomed over seventy delegates to a packed meeting of the new Herefordshire Third Sector Forum.

Wendy set out the background to the New Third Sector Forum, explaining that the restructure of Herefordshire Partnership in 2008 had led to a review of how the Third Sector engages with the Partnership and other statutory bodies, which concluded in June 2009.

The Third Sector Forum is being set up to provide better strategic coordination of the sector and will take over the representational roles of the VSA (which is ending), The Alliance and Herefordshire Infrastructure Consortium. This new forum will be the main route for selecting and supporting Representatives, for coordinating responses and keeping people informed.

“Golden Age for voluntary sector…”

Wendy then introduced keynote speaker Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations. Stuart proposed that the past decade, during which the sector has doubled in size (to £35 billion in 2007-08), will be seen as a ‘Golden Age’. However, in the past two years the recession has had an impact, with philanthropy down 11%; government-funding level declining; and increased demand for services especially debt counselling. Looking to the future, Stuart proposed that in the face of government spending cuts, local councils would either try to protect their own services and contract less, or would outsource more public services. None of the main political parties has a clear policy direction for the sector so it is uncertain what will happen whoever comes to power later this year. Stuart concluded his speech by emphasising the resilience of the sector and

was sure that whatever the future holds, the Third Sector will play an important role.

“Need for a strong, independent third sector…”

Julie Gethin, the new Head of the Herefordshire Partnership Support Team, also saw a strong role for the sector. Julie proposed that what Herefordshire needs is a ‘strong, independent, accountable and vibrant third sector that gives ‘a voice to all’ so that the profile and influence of the sector is raised, thereby sustaining and growing the contribution that the sector plays in improving local people’s lives.

Julie touched on the Review of Infrastructure Services, currently underway, and challenged existing infrastructure organisations to follow the lead of Herefordshire Council and NHS, and work more closely together to make existing funding go further.

Julie Gethin and Stuart Etherington were joined by Barbara Parkinson to answer questions from the audience. Sustainable funding was raised and Julie gave an undertaking to look at existing arrangements to see if they were in line with the spirit of the Compact. She pledged to look at information about contracting and provide greater clarity about future funding of projects where possible.

The future of the forum….

Table discussions followed the break where delegates discussed the structure and proposals for the new Third Sector Forum. Some people thought that the new Forum would be another layer rather than the new inclusive structure which is being proposed. Questions were asked about where locality-based issues will be discussed and how the needs of small organisations can be met.

The challenge for the Third Sector and Herefordshire Partnership is how to support members of the Third Sector Board and the Forum to make sure that they can deliver real benefits for both the sector and the people of Herefordshire. A full report of the conference will go to the interim Third Sector Board, which meets on 11 March 2010 to

discuss next steps.

Stuart Etherington in full flow

Third Sector Forum Springs into Action

Julie Gethin and Wendy Coombey

YOUTHBANK FUNDING UPDATE

Since April 2009 Herefordshire YouthBank has been providing young people in the county with small grants of cash. Supported by the vinvolved team and Community Foundation, YouthBank is run by young people for young people. A panel of young people have been at the heart of the decision-making from the beginning. To date it has given out over £11,000 out in small grants, helping young people to turn their good ideas in the community into reality. Moving towards the end of the financial year, Herefordshire YouthBank has a small amount of money left to fund projects until the end of March. They will then be moving into year 2 with a whole new round of funding. Applications are welcome from young people and extra help or support is available if necessary. Any young people interested in becoming a Grantmaker and joining the youth panel are encouraged to contact James on the details below. It is an excellent opportunity to learn new skills and gain experience, with the added benefit of accredited training and outdoor activity trips thrown in! For more information or to apply for a grant contact: James Rogers –vinvolved Youth Volunteer Advisor Tel: (01432) 343932 Email: james@herefordshireva.org Mob: 07500448257

Why Herefordshire schools deserve better funding

Herefordshire is the third-lowest funded area of England for education and the gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have not’s’ continues to widen.

The education of children and young people in our county is being affected by the low level of funding schools receive from central government. Following Herefordshire’s meeting with the Minister for Schools, Vernon Coaker MP, ‘Hands Up For Herefordshire’ is continuing the campaign to get fair funding for our county’s schools. With the Minister’s admission that he has recognised the need for extra funding in rural education comes the best opportunity for them to achieve this goal. This meeting is not the end, but the start of the campaign. It is now up to us as a county to show that we will continue to push this issue until action is taken to address funding levels. In the coming weeks, the Hands Up campaign will continue to rally support for our schools, and to this end are asking all Herefordshire residents and schools to join their campaign, collect signatures to their petition, and take part in ‘Hands Up For Herefordshire’ Day on Saturday 20th March. They are organising mass displays on March 20th, consisting of pupils’ hand prints from across the county collected together. This will show the huge number of children who would benefit from fairer funding and will give a highly visible display of intent. The campaign needs your support to make this a success. To make the point, all schools have been asked to take part by getting their pupils to all create a colourful hand print (on card, if possible). These will then be collected from the schools by volunteers, brought together and then displayed at sites being arranged with Herefordshire Council in Hereford, Ledbury, Leominster, Bromyard, Kington and Ross-on-Wye. Sticks or garden canes are needed to help display the hands and as we have a lot of children we need a lot

of canes! If you can help please get in touch.

They would welcome your support and the chance to talk to you further about their plans so please give Lucy

Hurds an email at lhurds@aol.com

www.handsupforherefordshire.org.uk or join its Face book group.

Charity Annual Returns REMINDER Did you know that charities have ten months from the end of their financial year to send their accounts and Annual Returns to the Charity Commission? However, nearly one in five charities that are required to send their accounts do so only after the ten month deadline. Charities that are late in complying with this requirement receive a red ‘flag’. This also means that if someone is a trustee of another charity, their name would appear in red against that organisation as well! The most convenient way for charities to submit their details is online at www.charitycommission.gov.uk. 80% of charities are now using the Commission’s online services to submit their Annual Returns, and 65% use online services to submit their accounts.

Ewyas Harold Memorial Hall

Looking for a venue to run a workshop, seminar or similar event; with plenty of parking and an option to include catering? Look no further, talk to us about your requirements – Ewyas Harold Memorial Hall has the following facilities at reasonable rates: a large hall to seat up to 220 people and a smaller room to seat up to 50 people, tables, chairs, kitchen and licensed bar facilitiesare also available, along with

projection screens in both spaces. Call Ann Bradley on 01981 240710 or Carey Godwin on 01981 240416

Don’t forget about our website www.herefordshireva.org

for all of our news and events

Climate Change on NCVO website

Voluntary and community groups can now find advice on how to explore the possible effects of climate change on their beneficiaries and the work they do, along with tips on ways to respond to this challenge on NCVO's website.

www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/climatechange.

Do you know about the

Knowledgebase?

If you have an IT problem and there is no one around to help, the lasa knowledgebase can come in useful.

The knowledgebase is a comprehensive set of articles dealing with all aspects of information technology.

The content is specifically written to help community and voluntary sector organisations.

You can access the knowledgebase at www.ictknowledgebase.org.uk

Sandy Adirondack’s Legal Update

This update service provides information of a general nature for management committees/trustees and staff of voluntary organisations about legal changes over the past year, and forthcoming changes. It is in two parts:

EMPLOYMENT, covering all aspects of employment, volunteering, equal opportunities, health and safety.

MANAGING THE ORGANISATION, covering charity law, company and related law, data protection, internet, intellectual property, human rights, finance, property, licensing etc.

To register for an update, visit www.sandy-a.co.uk/legal.htm

You can also find legal updates for voluntary organisations on the website of the Charity Team at Russell-Cooke Solicitors at www.russell-cooke.co.uk and information about changes in tax and finance law on the Sayer Vincent website at www.sayervincent.co.uk.

“Herefordshire Voluntary Action works with people, groups and communities to make a positive difference to quality of life in the county”

Berrows Business Centre, Bath Street, Hereford, HR1 2HE

Charity No. 1096451 Company No. 4625595

Hospice Angels Riding High Mike Pullin has a long history of fundraising in the county with a variety of events including birthday parties, jazz nights at Kentchurch Court and a parachute team “the Golden Valley Flyers”. Inspired by a trip riding a motorbike across India in 1999 for Global Cancer Concern, Mike began the Hospice Angels Team in 2003 and since then they have raised some £95,000 for charity. To date their annual motorbike tours have visited France, Germany, Sweden, Ireland and the Orkneys and they are always looking for new challenges. Whilst in Northern Ireland, Mike contacted Northern Ireland Hospice Care and suggested if they could get the Angels into the paddock of the “NW 200”, a famous motorbike race, they would raise funds for their Children’s Hospice. In one afternoon they raised £3,500 – a certificate in Mike’s possession is a most prized one. Last year the Angels visited the war graves in both France and Belgium and at Ypres in Belgium they were part of the “last post” ceremony at the Menin gate – a very moving ceremony indeed. They also paid their respects at several of the war cemeteries. Mike gives presentations to organisations including WIs, retirement clubs, Probus & U3As with a variety of talks and films; with “Frank’s Journey” a film of a fundraising trip with Frank the horse from Ledbury to London, being a great favourite. There are also films of motorbike trips to Ireland, the Orkneys and Sweden. The 2010 tour is still in preparation stage but anyone with a good idea is most welcome. If you have any suggestions for fundraising trips, want Mike to give a talk to your group, or would like to join the Hospice Angels please contact Mike Pullin on 01981 240 544.

Mike and his Bike

This new edition of the Good Practice Guide, commissioned by the Herefordshire Infrastructure Consortium and funded by Capacity Builders, has been produced by Herefordshire Volunteer Centre for all those organisations involved, or considering becoming involved, in working with volunteers. It provides basic information on all the main areas of good practice ranging from practical issues, such as insurance, to more complex issues, such as screening and retention. The guide draws on the information and good practice provided by Volunteering England, the national body for volunteering.

If you wish to collect your copy please contact Angela Legg on 01432 343 932 or angela@herefordshireva.org