News & Developments

Run by Derby Diocese in partnership with colleagues from Financial Action and Advice Derbyshire, and with the support of Derby University. Chaired by Steve Fisher, Churches Together in Buxton.

Beginning with short presentations from colleagues from Manchester and Erewash (Derbyshire Community Bank) Credit Unions at 1pm followed by a buffet lunch. There will also be displays and information stands.

Wednesday 30 September 12.45pm at the University Dome, Buxton

Book by 23 September. Go to www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/credit-unions-community-banking-for-all-tickets-17585393385 or tel Rita Brierley on 01332 388684.

Team Entry (4-6 members) to Rotary Club of Buxton’s Fundraising Swimathon is FREE. Swim for half-an-hour and raise money for your cause or charity and ours! 50% of your sponsorship goes to your cause/charity, 50% to our Trust Fund for PEPAIDS, a charity fighting HIV/AIDS in Zambia via education. We are supporting their Growing Futures Project (educational camps for Zambian children 9-12 and 13-16 in Zambia to equip these children with knowledge and skills for the future)

Entry, sponsorship, and parental consent forms can be downloaded via the link below or obtained by contacting organiser David Hopkins (t: 01298 23359; e: djhvet@aol.com) or any Buxton Rotarian. 

If your cause is not a charity, do please still use the sponsorship form and encourage your sponsors to Gift Aid as we can claim Gift Aid on our half-share. Entries should be in by 22 August.

Swimathon Forms:
www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/page.php?PgID=500023&ClubID=272

If health and care services in the Glossopdale area matter to you, come along and find out more about the changes and contribute your ideas!

Tuesday 21 July, 10am – 12 noon at Bradbury House, Glossop

To give an idea of numbers, please book with Rebecca Hyde at Volunteer Centre Glossop on 01457 865 722 or email rebecca@vcglossop.org.uk 

Staff from High Peak CVS and Volunteer Centre Glossop will be helping to facilitate the event, so expect to see friendly familiar faces!

This course provides an introductory level of training in money management and budgeting skills, how to deal with personal debt and where to seek assistance.

It is suitable for front-line staff to understand good personal budgeting skills and how to avoid domestic fuel debt.

COURSE OUTLINE

• Money management and personal budgeting 
• Income maximisation 
• Causes of debt 
• Priority and non-priority debts 
• The consequences of different types of debts 
• Where to seek assistance with debt 
• Attending a money advice appointment 
• Avoiding fuel debt – consumer responsibilities 
• Common meter issues causing debt 
• Understanding gas and electricity bills 
• Different fuel payment options and tariffs 
• How to find the best domestic energy deal 
• Grants and assistance available 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

As this is an introductory level course it is aimed at front-line staff with no or very little experience of money management or debt advice. Likewise if you have specialist staff within your organisation that focus on these areas this course won’t be relevant.

COURSE DATES / LOCATIONS 

The following open access dates / locations have been scheduled, however sessions can also be delivered in-house if you have a group of people to train.

• Nottingham - 15 Sep 2015
• York - 22 Sep 2015
• Liverpool - 22 Sep 2015
• Birmingham - 29 Sep 2015
• Manchester - 1 Oct 2015
• Manchester - 27 Oct 2015

If you are interested in booking a free place on one of the above one-day open access courses or an in-house course please contact Lynsey Thompson for further details: Tel: 0191 2615677 / Email: lynsey.thompson@nea.org.uk

www.nea.org.uk

Manchester Credit Union is a not-for-profit financial co-operative serving people who live or work in Manchester, Tameside, Trafford, Rochdale, Bury and the High Peak.

You might not have heard of credit unions before but in many parts of the world, including Ireland, the USA and New Zealand, they are very important and successful financial institutions. 

Credit unions exist solely to provide affordable financial services to their members. Manchester Credit Union offers savings, loans and a whole range of other financial services.

They are run by their members, and for their members. Their range of innovative financial products includes ethical savings, affordable loans and Christmas club accounts to name but a few. All these services are supported by the excellent service of a dedicated, well-trained staff.

www.manchestercreditunion.co.uk

Energyshare has partnered with with M&S Energy to run their first ever Community Energy Fund, a competition to distribute up to £400,000 in grants to renewable energy projects that benefit the community.

www.mandsenergyfund.com

New clip art has been created which helps illustrate how smear tests are conducted and the type of instruments used during the test. The guide also covers some of the barriers that prevent women with learning disabilities from attending their invitation to screening.

The guide can be ordered free of charge from the charity’s website. In addition women can also access ‘The Smear Test Film’ a health education film resource for women eligible for cervical screening who have mild and moderate learning disabilities.

For more information visit the Jo’s Trust website at: www.jostrust.org.uk

Citizens Advice is running Scams Awareness Month 2015 (SAM15) in conjunction with the Trading Standards Institute with the aim of encouraging consumers to seek support from trading standards teams to help them deal with unwanted calls, mail or visits and find out what action they can take themselves.

This year’s month-long campaign starts Thursday 2 July and will focus on four key scam channels:

Telephone scams: (week one launch Thurs 2 July): Including nuisance telephone calls claiming to be from reputable companies and offering to sort out issues like computer viruses or insurance.

Online scams: (week two beginning Mon 13 July): Highlighting online copycat websites which charge fees for services like passport renewals, driving tests and tax returns.

Mail scams: (week three beginning Mon 20 July): Mail about lotteries, prize draw catalogues, psychics and other similar schemes.

Doorstep scams: (week four beginning Mon 27 July 2015): Tackling doorstep cold callers offering services like free boilers, insulation or solar panels.

Residents can find out how to spot and tackle scams and find information about relevant support services to help older and vulnerable people at: www.derbyshire.gov.uk/community/consumer_advice/scams

The fund, which will be delivered by the Big Lottery Fund will provide grants that will enable recipients to implement organisational changes and access professional advice that might currently be out of their reach. It will give VCSEs access to a wider range of skills and support, with all grant recipients establishing a strong volunteering relationship with a local business. These cross sector relationships will help grant recipients to strengthen their resilience and long term sustainability.

The Local Sustainability Fund will be £20 million of government funding delivered over 2 years, and will be available to medium-sized VCSE organisations that deliver vital support to vulnerable and disadvantaged people. Alongside working with local businesses, recipients will also work with skilled advisors so that the fund generates maximum impact.

It is expected to help around 250 high-impact charities and social enterprises in England to secure sustainable futures for themselves, including supporting them to bid for public service contracts and to diversify their incomes. Eligible organisations will be able to apply for funding when the fund opens today. Details of how to apply will be on Big Lottery Fund’s website and will be widely circulated throughout the sector.

For more details and information upon fund visit the Cabinet Office website.

Only women and girls organisations will be eligible to apply - defined as one whose primary purpose is to deliver services to women and/or girls. It is also expected to have a strong track record of delivering services to women and/or girls. They can either be organisations that focus on specific issues (for example, domestic and sexual violence or mental health) or run community-based services such as a women’s centre or youth group.

In order to achieve this we will fund projects that can meet all four funding outcomes: 1. Increased provision of holistic, integrated, person-centred approaches for women and girls at risk;   2. Increased involvement of women and girls in the design and delivery of the services they use;   3. A greater number of women and girls are supported through the provision of improved specialist support;  4. Better quality of evidence for what works in empowering women and girls.

BLF want to support projects that are ambitious and help to create capacity in organisations. Organisations will be able to apply for up to £750,000 for up to five years. The funding can be for some or all of the project costs. There is no restriction on the overall project cost. BLF expect most of the funding will be for revenue costs but some may be for overheads and capital costs. 

This is a competitive application process. BLF expect to be able to fund approximately 65 projects through this initiative. If you do not meet the eligibility criteria or cannot meet all four of the programme outcomes then they will not be able to fund your application through this initiative. For more details upon this initiative please visit the Big Lottery Fund website.