Halton Havens Hospice’s Twilight Walk


Saturday, 3rd July 2010 FROM 7:00PM


Halton Haven Hospice are inviting all to join in the fun at the Twilight Walk, which returns for its second year and this year proves to be bigger and better than the last.

With the walk increasing from last years 8K to 10K this year the walk will be lots of fun and you’ll be raising much needed funds for the Charity.

Celebrity guests Mario and Lisa from Big Brother and Snelly from BBC Merseyside will be in attendance, along with the cheerleaders from Everton Football club, who will also be there on the night.

The walk will start this year from key sponsor Halton Stobart Stadium in Widnes. From there walkers will cross the Runcorn-Widnes Bridge – and then back to the stadium for refreshments.

The Hospice is a registered charity and receives only limited funding – relying almost entirely on the generosity of the local community and businesses, and monies raised by events such as the Twilight Walk to provide much-needed
specialist care for local people who have life-limiting illnesses.

Walkers must enter individually, and the cost is £15.00. Once registered you can walk with a group of friends, family colleagues, or walk with friends you meet on the night.

If you would like to register for the walk, entrance forms can be sent to you by calling 0151 495 2111 and leaving your name and address with a member of the events team. If you have any queries please call the Fundraising Office on 0151 495 2111 or email either Ciaran@haltonhaven.co.uk or Amy@haltonhaven.co.uk.


We look forward to welcoming you on Saturday 3rd July for what’s set to be a fantastic event.

Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities Grant 2010 -2011

  
Dear Colleagues

Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities Grant 2010 -2011

Would your organisation like to develop learning opportunities for people in Halton?

Is your group good at engaging with people who are disadvantaged or marginalized? Do the activities you deliver prepare participants for employment, further learning or community activity? If the answer to either of these questions is "yes", this funding could be right for you.

Please visit http://tinyurl.com/33fumhe to find out more information about the Neighbourhood Learning in Deprived Communities fund as well details of how to obtain the Expression of Interest form.

Please note that the Expression of Interest form must be completed and returned to Halton Borough Council (not Halton Voluntary Action).

Please e-mail your completed form to Alison Bowen before 10 am on Monday 28th June. Alison's e-mail address is alison.bowen@halton.gov.uk.

For any further information regarding any aspect of the application process, please telephone either Alison Bowen (0151 471 7486) or Siobhan Saunders (0151 906 4804).

Thank you.

Matthew Roberts

Halton CAB's experience of Future Jobs Fund

      
Here's some extremely useful information that HVA recieved from Hitesh Patel (Halton CAB CEO).

Introduction:

In January 2010, the CAB made the decision to take advantage of the then government’s “Future Jobs Fund” initiative. The CAB already had an established volunteer training programme and so it was relatively easy to write formal Job Descriptions and Person Specifications for these roles.

The jobs were advertised through the Job Centre via Halton People into Jobs (HPiJ). In total we interviewed around thirty applicants and we offer “FJF jobs” to six people, most of whom were Halton residents.

Lessons learnt:

- Prepare a proper job pack so that everyone (i.e. the applicant, HPiJ, Job Centre Plus) knows exactly what skills you are after and what the job entails.

- Don’t tolerate any interviewees with a poor attitude no matter how good their CV; they will only be with you for 6 months it is not worth disrupting your team spirit.

- Be alert and try to spot “an individual’s potential”. A lot of applicants had very low self-esteem and did not perform terribly well at interview, but within a few months of being with us they have blossomed into fantastic hard-working colleagues.

- Make sure you do a proper induction and have a pre-planned training programme for the new recruits. Unlike volunteers, they are with you full time but many organisations do not have the management resources to watch over them full time.

- Although full-time positions, those recruits that had to travel long distances to get into our office were allowed to reduce their worked hours per week.

- Make sure you have the “desk space” to place all your new recruits. We risked alienated a few our existing long-serving volunteers because recruited too many FJF workers all in one go. Also, make sure there is enough work to go around… otherwise they will get bored and could disrupt other workers.

- Treat FJF workers as employees…not volunteers! They are being paid to be with your organisation and so there is a higher level of expectation of them. If you find the FJF worker is not suited to your organisation then you can terminate the position just as you would with any other new recruit on their probationary period.

- Be imaginative as to how you can use the FJF people; you can use them as receptionists, etc. But we also used them to conduct telephone customer satisfaction surveys, which did not require much training.

- Give the FJF workers some time off for job-search and do keep encouraging them to scour the job pages… unless you plan to offer them a permanent job.

- There are costs involved… e.g. training, supervision, travel etc. and you need to work out if having FJF jobs offers your organisation enough “return on investment”.

Hitesh Patel

Listen Again to The Voluntary Sector with HVA

           
Would you like a second chance to hear the latest episode of "The Voluntary Sector with HVA" on Halton Community Radio?

This episode (initially broadcast on Thursday 20th May) included interviews with Susan Humphreys (Norton Priory Museum & Gardens) and Jaki Florek (Loose Music Collective). Lee Goodier (HVA) joined me for “Voluntary Opportunity of the Week”.

To listen to the show (or to download a copy to your PC), please visit http://tinyurl.com/2d6gf8c.

If you'd like to promote your voluntary organisation on a future episode of the show, please contact me on mroberts@haltonva.org.uk or (01928) 593 118.

Many Thanks.

Matthew Roberts

CAB’s Pilot Older People’s Advice Service Needs Volunteers

      
NHS research has shown that there is growing problem of older people suffering from depression and other mental illnesses. Often this is made worse by stress and worry caused by a social welfare problem. That’s why, following on from the success of the CAB’s “Sure Start and Extended Schools” dedicated advice for parents with children, the CAB wants to launch a new dedicated legal advice service just for Halton’s older population.

To this end, Halton CAB is looking for volunteers to join their teams in Widnes and Runcorn, and train to be Legal Advisers or Information Officers. No prior experience is necessary as full training and support is available…but you do need to have OK reading and writing skills and you do need to be a caring person.

We welcome volunteers of all ages but because this new service will be aimed at people aged 55+ we would particularly encourage people aged 55+ themselves to consider joining our team.

All we ask is that, because of the training and support we will give, you be able to volunteer 1-2 days a week…but the more the better. Not only will you gain a fantastic sense of self-achievement by helping others in the community, you’ll also make lots of new friends.

For more information please contact the CAB on (0151) 257 2449 or email jointheteam@haltoncab.org.uk.

Listen Again to The Voluntary Sector with HVA

   
Would you like a second chance to hear the latest episode of "The Voluntary Sector with HVA" on Halton Community Radio?

This episode (initially broadcast on Thursday 13th May) included interviews with Ged Flynn (Catholic Children’s Society), Becky Taylor (Halton Borough Council Transport Team) and Jennie Beechey (Asda in the Community). Lee Goodier (HVA) joined me for “Voluntary Opportunity of the Week”.

To listen to the show (or to download a copy to your PC), please visit http://tinyurl.com/25eqga7.

If you'd like to promote your voluntary organisation on a future episode of the show, please contact me on mroberts@haltonva.org.uk or (01928) 593 118.

Many Thanks.

Matthew Roberts

Listen Again to The Voluntary Sector with HVA

Would you like a second chance to hear the latest episode of "The Voluntary Sector with HVA" on Halton Community Radio?

This episode (initially broadcast on Thursday 6th May) included interviews with Andy Shard (Valliant Gym, British Special Olympics), Adam Foster (Runcorn Wrestling Academy) and Pauline Riley (from Halton Village Millennium Green). Lee Goodier (HVA) joined me for “Voluntary Opportunity of the Week”.

To listen to the show (or to download a copy to your PC), please visit http://tinyurl.com/36uy6gz.

If you'd like to promote your voluntary organisation on a future episode of the show, please contact me on mroberts@haltonva.org.uk or (01928) 593 118.

Many Thanks.

Matthew Roberts