News & Developments

Small and medium-sized charities hit hard by cuts and changes to funding and commissioning can set their sights on more stable futures thanks to the ‘Enable’ development grants offered by the Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales. 

‘Enable’ is funding a range of activities related to the development and improvement of charities with an income of under £1m that help tackle multiple disadvantage. Examples include: business and service developments and plans; development of monitoring systems; investigation of mergers, partnerships, shared services, contract diversification; consultancy support; quality standards; development of new income streams and enterprise.

In addition to its Enable programme, the Lloyds Bank Foundation also funds core running costs for small and medium charities through its ‘Invest’ scheme, and provides ‘grants plus’ consultancy support and mentoring through its ‘Enhance’ initiative.

For more information on the charities funded, or the funding programmes available visit www.lloydsbankfoundation.org.uk

It will equip you to support learners as a tutor, trainer or facilitator, in a wide range of educational settings. You do not need to be working in a teaching role already to attend this course.

There are 3 units which are covered over 6 days of training. In addition you will need to allocate around 30 learning hours of your own time to complete a workbook and assignments, including preparing a 30 minute ‘microteach’ and delivering it to other learners.

The 3 units are:

• Understanding Roles, Responsibilities and Relationships in Education and Training;
• Understanding and Using Inclusive Teaching and Learning Approaches in Education and Training.
• Understanding Assessment in Education and Training.

Course Dates 2015

Friday 22 May l 9.30am - 12:30 (Introduction)
Thursday 4 June 9.30am - 4.30pm
Friday 12 June 9.30am - 4.30pm
Wednesday 17 June 9.30am - 4.30pm
Thursday 18 June 9.30am - 4.30pm
Thursday 2 July 9.30am - 4.30pm
Friday 3 July 9.30am - 4.30pm

COST: £95 for voluntary and community sector staff or volunteers within Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, £375 for Private Sector.

Bookings: please contact info@consortium.org.uk or telephone 01332 265960

The return of the art competition and exhibition celebrating the Buxton’s culture, natural beauty and heritage.

An opportunity for artists of all ages and abilities to work ‘en plein air’ throughout the beautiful Peak District spa town of Buxton.

Inspired by similar competitions in Bath and Bristol, The Buxton Spa Prize has a category for children under 11, an 11–17 year old Buxton Spa Teen Prize, The Buxton Spa Young Persons Prize for those aged 18–25 and an open category with a first prize of £5,000 from the Trevor Osborne Charitable Trust and second and third cash prize. A new sketchbook prize which generated great interest in 2014 and will be repeated this year with a prize of £2000.

Artists can register to enter online from 1 April until 18 May.They are then required to visit Buxton from the 1–18 May to draw their location by ballot and have their board or canvas stamped. The deadline for submissions is the 5 July.

Entries will be showcased in an exhibition at The Green Man Gallery in the town from 17 July until  31 August which will also provide artists with the opportunity to sell their work.

BuxtonSpaPrize.co.uk

Saturday 23 May at New Mills Town Hall 7.30pm – 10pm. Licensed Bar.

Tickets from the volunteer centre £6.00.

The voluntary sector collaboration for the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership Area – the Social Inclusion Consortium – aims to provide a vehicle for local organisations to deliver local solutions to meet the needs of local people in line with the targets and priorities identified by the LEP (Local Enterprise Partnership). 

If your organisation is interested in being part of the Social Inclusion Consortium then please come along to the event from 10am at Newstead Centre, Tilford Road, Newstead Village NG15 0BS.

During the morning we aim to:

• Ensure everyone is familiar with the bidding process and has an understanding of the contracts we expect D2N2 to launch;

• Start to map the delivery organisations who want to be involved;

• Hear from current consortium members;

• Discuss a Partnership Agreement and the process of Due Diligence.

Organisations attending will then have the opportunity to sign up to be part of the Social Inclusion Consortium.

Goods range from cleaning products, toiletries, toys, clothes and a range of other items that can be used to run services and give to the people you support. Items are all new and good quality but become surplus because they are short dated, have slight defects in the packaging or branding or are returns.

To access goods, charities register online for free, and can then order products via an online catalogue. Charities then pay a handling charge, which is generally 20% of the original retail price, and includes delivery.

For more information, contact In Kind Direct via their website: www.inkinddirect.org, tel: 0300 30 20 200 or email: charities@inkinddirect.org.

Whether you are part of a choir, knitting group, drama company or amateur orchestra, anyone who gets creative purely for the love of it can take part in Voluntary Arts Week and benefit from some extra publicity.

The idea behind the week is to showcase current activity and encourage newcomers to join in. There are lots of ways to get involved. See links for more details: 

• Take your talent outside and stage a Flashmob in a public space: www.voluntaryartsweek.org/flashmob 

• Get crafty in public as part of the nationwide CraftBomb and help launch Voluntary Arts Week on 15 May: www.voluntaryartsweek.org/craftbomb 

• Take part in Woollen Woods and have your work displayed in one of five outdoor craft exhibitions this May: www.voluntaryartsweek.org/woollen-woods 

• Hold a ‘come and try’ taster session to invite newcomers to join your arts group: www.voluntaryartsweek.org/run-event

• Already planning something that takes place during Voluntary Arts Week? Register your activity and invite new people to join you: www.voluntaryartsweek.org/list-event 

If you would like to volunteer for this but are not sure whether it's for you, then they can arrange taster sessions in an identical vehicle.

Alternatively, if you have already decided this is something you are definitely going to do and want to have a practice, it could be good for you as well.

Contact Ed Mountifield on 01663 744196 or e-mail at ed@nmvc.org

New members are always welcome, whether they are newly diagnosed with diabetes, or a family member, or maybe a carer.

Type 1 diabetes affects mostly children and younger people. There are no facilities in the High Peak, and the group helps to fill the gaps. Their "Pen People" go to clinics in Macclesfield, Stockport, Derby, Chesterfield, Sheffield, Stoke  and Manchester.

One of their greatest problems is the feeling of isolation. They aim to help. Conatct Sue Barber on sooby@rocketmail.com.

The day includes talks and updates by key health care professionals and is open to everybody living with MS. The event is free to attend; lunch and refreshments will be provided.

10am - Registration and refreshments

10.30am - Medical Management of MS - MS Specialist Nurse Helen Parry  

11.15am - Non Medical Management of MS - Community Neuro Physiotherapist Jenny Hutton

11.45am - Dynamic Orthosis in Lycra in the management of MS - Clinical Specialist Physiotherapist Liz Betts 

12.30pm - Lunch

1.30pm -  Fatigue Management  - Neurological Specialist Physiotherapist Tina Betts 

2.15pm - Counselling - Branch Counselling team

3pm - Relaxation -  Support Manager Louise Furmston 

To book a place on what promises to be a friendly and informative day please call Hazel Harrison on 01298 872431 or 01625 430933 (please leave a message if on answer phone) or email support@macclesfieldmssociety.org.uk