News & Developments

Invitation to the launch of Cherish Family Support on Wednesday 29 June 8.00pm at Trinity Church, Hardwick Mount, Buxton, SK17 6PR. Cakes and refreshments will be served from 7.45pm.

Cherish Family Support current projects include:

a) Choices Counselling Service, providing counselling for perinatal anxiety and depression, parenting difficulties, miscarriage, stillbirth or termination.

b) Little Blessings maternity and children's store in Buxton - a nursery store enabling the local community to recycle and resell good quality baby equipment.

c) Cherish Family Support Fund - providing free baby clothes and equipment to parents in financial hardship.

Dr Graham Todd is the new Chairman of the charity and a new management team led by Jo Parsons will take over from Heather Woodward, founder and current manager, who is leaving in July after 11 years running the charity.  Jo Parsons brings a wealth of expertise to Cherish from her 12 years experience running a charitable organisation in Kenya.  She will speak about the new vision for Cherish at the launch event.

Potential referrers can also book a guided visit to Cherish premises at The Source and Little Blessings on Monday 27 June or Friday 1 July (between 10am - 3pm) to find out more about Cherish Family Support.  Contact Heather or Jo on 07851 284575 to arrange a visit.

New website: www.cherishfamilysupport.org.uk
New facebook page: www.facebook.com/cherishfamilysupport/  in addition to the existing little blessings Facebook page www.facebook.com/LittleBlessingsShop/

The Big Difference Scheme is funded by Severn Trent and offers significantly reduced water rates to customers with a monthly disposable income below £120. Awards will vary but low income families are most likely to meet the criteria and could be eligible for a reduction of 10 to 90 % off their water bills for a full twelve months.

The scheme is designed to help those customers who are struggling to pay their bills, whether they are reliant on income from benefits or in work. It can be applied for alongside the Severn Trent Trust Fund which can help clear any arrears the client may have. 

For the purposes of these funds, the Severn Trent area includes around half of the High Peak, including Buxton, Chapel en le Frith, Dove Holes, Chinley, Hayfield (including Little Hayfield) and the Hope Valley.

Derbyshire Districts Citizens Advice are offering a free assessment service. An adviser will complete a quick assessment and will submit the application on the clients behalf making it a quick and simple process. The assessment can be requested  by phoning Paula Marek-Roe on 07730 089665, mailing to cia@ddcab.org.uk or by visiting Buxton or New Mills Citizens Advice.

Research from the British Dental Journal in 2015 shows that drinkers receiving a brief intervention were twice as likely to reduce their drinking over 6-12 months compared to those who received no intervention

Find out more about the new unit guidelines and why these have been changed for the first time since 1995.

The one day course covers:

• Facts about alcohol, myths, units and safe limits
• The physical effects of alcohol both short term and long term
• Definitions such as binge drinking, high risk and dependency
• Brief Interventions
• Support available and how to refer

Dates available:

• 19 July 2016
• 9 August 2016
• 20 September 2016

Click the dates above to book your place via the website. All held at First Floor Dents Chambers, 81 New Square in Chesterfield Town Centre. Registration at 9:15am for a 9:30am start - 4:00pm finish.

The 'YOUTHINC, We Grant' scheme, was devised with the help of Derbyshire Youth Council and will award grants of up to £1,500 to develop youth activities in Derbyshire which deliver the youth councillor's priorities each year.

The funding could support traditional activities and projects such as youth clubs, sports, music and games clubs, media workshops, such as dance, drama or art sessions but can also support innovative projects too.

Members of the youth council will help decide how the money is given out and will consider:

• if the project or campaign is accessible to all young people
• how many young people will benefit
• how long the project will run
• whether it is value for money
• the long-term impact of the funding
• what the money will be spent on.

The closing date for applications is Friday 1 July 2016.

www.derbyshire.gov.uk

www.derbyshire.gov.uk

There is still time to fill in the questionnaire. 
Consultation closing date is 24 July.

High Peak CVS urges anyone who is affected by potential cuts in voluntary sector services to access the short questionnaire and record your views to let DCC know the impact cuts in voluntary sector services will have. 

High Peak CVS Members will receive separate notice of the consultation in the next few weeks. We encourage our Members to give feedback to Derbyshire County Council about the proposals and highlight the valuable work of the voluntary and community sector in the High Peak.

It is unclear at this stage what cut High Peak CVS will experience, but anticipate we will have a reduction in funding which will inevitably affect the level of services we can continue to offer.

Contact High Peak CVS for further information.

The event takes place during Volunteer Week in the School Library on Friday 10 June 2016 from 2pm - 4pm.

Ed Mountifield, Centre Manager of NM&DVC, said "This is our first joint event with New Mills School and we are delighted to have their support. We both feel strongly that showing young people the benefits of volunteering at a young age is the first step in them giving time to their community in the future."

Debbie Enever, a Governor at New Mills School, said "Knowing about volunteering and what it entails will help our students become more rounded individuals. Volunteers already give 17,000 hours of their time every year at the volunteer centre and we need this to continue for the good of our community." 

If you would like to join us at this event please Email:
adele@nmvc.org or jbull@newmillsschool.co.uk

An active life with regular engagement in physical activity, sport, volunteering or coaching can have a hugely beneficial impact on people's lives, local communities and Derbyshire as a whole.

Towards an Active Derbyshire seeks to achieve the vision of more people in Derbyshire engaged in physical activity and sport, with the ambition of engaging an additional 50,000 people in active lives by 2021.

They are seeking a cultural transformation to 'turn the tide' of inactivity by providing choice, motivation and support in a co-ordinated way to change the behaviour of inactive groups by engaging them in physical activity and sport.

Derbyshire Sport are currently in the process of finalising the strategy and welcome contributions from all parties who wish to input.

To participate in the consultation process and make your comments using the online questionnaire by midday on Monday 20 June go to:

www.derbyshiresport.co.uk/derbyshire-physical-activity-plan

The advice  covers best value contracts for mobiles and utilities, prioritising bills, finding good deals and bargains, customer rights, pensions and insurance.

They also offer money saving advice regarding changing gas/electric suppliers or tariffs, accessing the Warm Home Discount scheme to reduce electric bills and reducing  water bills through the Big Difference Scheme.

Clients say that they have learnt new skills and gained confidence to make the financial choices that are right for them, saved themselves money which in turn helped them avoid crises.

If you would like to talk to an adviser about how you can save money contact Paula Marek-Roe at Citizens Advice Derbyshire Districts:
Mobile: 07730 089665
Email: cia@ddcab.org.uk

The Trust Deed sometimes including a Lease, Articles of Association for village halls wanting to incorporate as a company limited by guarantee and more recently a model constitution for halls that decide to use the new Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) structure. A few village halls have taken the Community Interest Company (CIC) structure.

In the current move towards social enterprise and social investment and away from reliance on grant funding ACRE needs to consider what legal structure would be appropriate for charitable village halls looking at alternative forms of fundraising and investment. As such, ACRE has put forward a discussion paper that outlines the proposal for village halls to operate as Community Benefit Societies which would enable them to raise share capital from the wider community.

ACRE & RAD are not advocating that existing village halls all convert to this new structure, but rather will welcome your comments on this issue in principle and the merits of using this governance as a preferred option for the future.

This discussion paper is being circulated to the ACRE village halls network and village hall associations and to a number of national organisations and government officials that have shown an interest. This is an important discussion because it proposes a move for village hall charities away from the traditional legal and operational structure that has been embedded since the 1930s.

If you would like to comment, please feedback by 22nd June 2016 to h.stubbs@ruralactionderbyshire.org.uk. 

www.bcvs.org.uk/latest-news/item/village-halls-and-the-community-benefit-society-a-discussion-paper

Each Councillor has £750 to support projects in their ward relating to:

• Small scale environmental improvements
• Community safety issues
• Beneficial community based projects

Please refer to www.highpeak.gov.uk for further information.