This year the Solihull Volunteer Forum is  organising two events to celebrate National Volunteers Week and to give you an opportunity to thank your volunteers for the contribution they make.

Volunteer thank you event

On Wednesday June 6th the Solihull Volunteer Forum  will be hosting a Volunteer Thank You event at the Council House, Solihull. The event which will be held between 7pm and 9pm will include reception drinks with the opportunity to meet other volunteers and share experiences, followed by presentations by the Mayor of Solihull and hopefully the chance to tour the Mayor’s Parlour. Now in its fourth year, our volunteer thank you evenings have proved very popular and booking is essential to avoid disappointment.

Please visit the SVF website and register your volunteers for attendance and presentation of thank you certificates at this event by no later than Wednesday
16^th May 2012 to thank them for their contributions.

Jubilee volunteers’ tea party

In celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee and National Volunteers Week, the Solihull Volunteering Forum will be hosting an informal tea party from 4pm to 6pm on Friday June 8th 2012. The event which will take place at the Loft, Bluebell Centre, Chelmsley Wood is a thank you for people who volunteer in Solihull. Volunteers attending the event will be treated to a traditional British tea party with the opportunity to chat  with other volunteers. The event will also feature  a fashion show hosted by George at Asda and a free raffle with a West Midlands Safari Park Family Ticket as first prize.

If you would like your volunteers to attend this free event,please complete the application form on the SVF website by Wednesday, May 16^th 2012  as registration is essential and places are limited.

The Jubilee Hour campaign is urging people to give 60 minutes of their time in celebration of the Queen’s 60 years of service.

An electronic book will be created where organisations and people will enter their pledges and record through words and pictures what they have done.

The campaign will be officially launched in the first week in May, and the full website will offer ideas for giving time and link to existing sources of information including Your Square Mile.

Help Scope with its research into barriers to volunteering. Scope is asking for the views of both volunteer involving organisations and disabled people (both those who volunteer and those who don’t).

The organisational questionnaire should take no more than 15 minutes to complete, and the deadline is Friday 18 May 2012.

Volunteers Week is nearly here and provides an opportunity for organisations to celebrate their successes and say a big thank you to all their volunteers who give up their time and share their skills to make a difference in the community.

Are you holding any events during Volunteers Week to celebrate volunteering or raise the profile of your organisation with potential volunteers?
If you are please let us know. We would love to hear about how organisations in Solihull are celebrating volunteering.

Not arranged anything yet?  You still have time to organise something. Visit the Volunteering England website  for ideas and resources to help with planning and holding your event.

Contact Maureen Shepherd, Volunteer Centre Manager on 0121 704 6789 or email maureen.shepherd@wayc2.org to share your events or for more information.

Macmillan Cancer Support is looking for a buzzing  volunteer to join our local Fundraising Team over a 3 month period as an intern to help and support in the preparation for our biggest fundraising event the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.

This event takes place on the last Friday of every September and in 2011 raised over £10 million throughout the UK. This year with the help of a dedicated intern we want to make the event even bigger and better!

Not only is this opportunity a superb platform to build essential skills working on the ground with the local fundraising team,  but the candidate will also be part of a UK wide intern training programme. Skills developed will be a great stepping stone for the future in a variety of sectors!

Please download the document below for more information.

Our WBCM internships in a nutshell

For further details and to apply please go to www.macmillan.org.uk/internships.

The deadline for applications is Sunday 13 May 2012. 

The Association of British Insurers has published a list of motor insurers who will not generally charge extra for driving for the purposes of volunteering.

The list is on the ABI website and a press release about the list is available.

The list is the result of months of negotiation between Volunteering England, the Community Transport Association at the ABI. Volunteering England is monitoring how the list works in practice. Comments should be sent to dan.summers@volunteering.org.uk.

Volunteers drivers can receive ‘passenger allowance’ free of tax and national insurance when driving other volunteers.

From 6 April 2011, the passenger payment allowance was extended to volunteers. HMRC guidance on volunteer drivers says this can be claimed for all passengers driven in the course of volunteering.

A new financial institution set up to finance charities and community groups has been launched.

Big Society Capital will have £600million, of which the majority comes from unused cash in bank accounts that had been dormant for more than 15 years. The fund will back social enterprises that prove they can repay an investment through the income they generate.

The fund has already agreed investments worth £3.6m in a number of schemes including:

• Think Forward Social Impact, which helps young people into work and education
• Franchising Works, which trains the unemployed how to run a franchise business
• Community Generation Fund, which supports the development of renewable energy infrastructure, such as solar panels and biomass boilers, for local communities.

Visit Big Society Capital for more info

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has announced the launch of a new £1million small grants programme for people to get involved in their heritage.  Called  “All Our Stories”, the programme will provide grants of £3,000 – £10,000 to support charities, community groups and heritage organisations running local history projects.  The type of activities that can be supported include:

• Visits to places like historic buildings, landscapes, parks, burial grounds, museums, archaeological sites or industrial heritage sites like railways.
• Using collections like archives, libraries and museums, including collections held by people in the community.
• Talking to people who know about heritage or holding workshops, talks and sessions exploring people’s memories.
• Recording things like people’s memories or local wildlife.
• Scanning old photographs and documents; archaeological digs or surveying historic buildings.

To be eligible for funding organisations will need to share what has been learnt by holding or producing things like:

• Community events
• Digital things like smart phone apps, DVDs or websites
• Display boards
• Exhibitions
• Guides/trails
• Leaflets or books
• Packs for schools
• Performances.

HLF is working in partnership with universities throughout the UK to offer support with activities.

The closing date for applications is the 31st July 2012.

Visit the Heritage Lottery Fund website to apply

The Big Lottery Fund has announced a new round of Village SOS funding – totalling £4million – to support rural community enterprises across theUK.

Through Village SOS grants of between £10,000 and £50,000 will be available for projects in rural villages or small rural towns with fewer than 3,000 people.  Organisations that can apply for funding include Voluntary and community groups or organisations as well as parish, town or community councils, provided local residents have clearly shaped the project.  Examples of the type of projects supported through the previous Village SOS funding round include:

Applications should be submitted against one of three assessment rounds with the final deadline being 2pm on the 12th September 2012.

Visit the Village SOS website for details