With some funds from the Big Lottery BASIS program, Colebridge Communications has produced a short film which demonstrates the breadth, depth and quality of services the voluntary sector provides. The film features a cross section of the 600 or so Voluntary and Community Sector organisations supporting people in Solihull and provides some enlightening facts about the sector

You can watch the video on the Colebridge Communications Vimeo Channel

Due to popular request the two talks on Powerpoint slides given at the seminar on May 18th are now available for sports clubs to download.

Emma O’Dowd: CSW Sport Development Manager (Clubs and Volunteers)
Her talk can be downloaded here: Solihull Sports Council Presentation Emma O’ dowd

Russell Cartwright: Solihull Active, Places Directorate, Solihull Council
His talk can be downloaded here:Solihull Sports Council Conference 18 May 2011 – Solihull Active

They are both PDF files. If you require the talks in a different format please contact: Monty Thorp
montyt@solihull-sustain.org.uk

The Colebridge Trust Annual Report was published this month at our Annual General Meeting, held at The Fordbridge Centre on 19 May.

It provides a summary of our key achievements in the 2010/1 financial year, a record that we are proud of, delivering a substantial and broad range of outcomes for groups and people in our communities.

The report can be found here.

(Note: The Colbridge Trust is the organisation – legal entity – behind SUSTAiN. Visit the Colebridge Trust parent site for more)

A new volunteer centre is now  open in Chelmsley Wood

Volunteers are needed to help provide information and support to members of the public seeking volunteering opportunities.

Voluntary Advisers will provide direct face to face services to enquirers and need to be able to offer at least 4 hours a week.

This role requires good communication skills as well as being able to use a computer.

Training will be provided and travel expenses will be paid.

For more information please contact Maureen Shepherd on 0121 711 3148, e-mail volunteering@svcuk.org or visit www.do-it.org.uk

On May 18th, a Sports Seminar was held at the Solihull Arden Club for all sports clubs in Solihull. The guest speaker was Dave Moorcroft OBE, who gave an inspiring talk about managing your club effectively, and making sure your club could ‘Be the best that it could be.’

There were also talks by Emma O’Dowd from CSW Sport and Russell Cartwright from Solihull Active on funding and grant opportunities for clubs and local marketing opportunities for sports clubs in the Solihull area.

A large part of the seminar was to re-launch Solihull Sports Council as Sport Solihull, with a brand new logo designed by local Solihull College design student, Luke Sparrowhawk. He was presented with a Touchwood gift card for his winning logo:

A new Small Grants Scheme by Sport Solihull was also announced.

Feedback from the event was positive, and hopefully much useful information  was gained and many contacts were made by all.

Thanks go to Dave Moorcroft, Sport Solihull members, Solihull Active, CSW Sport and Solihull Arden Club for hosting the event.

For anyone wishing to give feedback on the event please email Monty Thorp at montyt@solihull-sustain.org.uk

Applications are now open for the new Small Grants Programme run by Sport Solihull. New changes include:

• An increased level of funding: now up to £1000.
• No individual applications. Applications must be made by the club.
• A club must produce a future development plan for their club: where the funding will go and how they see it helping the club in the long term.
• An interview process: successful clubs will meet with Sport Solihull Committee members to determine the best course of funding for them.
• Funding will have to be matched: clubs must raise funds themselves to match grants awarded.
• Funding will also be drip fed, and clubs will be monitored and progress reviewed against funding given.

The first deadline for applications is: 22^nd August 2011
Any applications received after this date will go to the next round of applications.

Applications should be sent to:

David Acton
Secretary Sport Solihull
Po Box 18
Council House
Solihull, B91 9QS

or email:

dacton@solihull.gov.uk

Application form can be found here: Sport Solihull application form
Notes on grant applications can be found here: Sport Solihull Guidance Notes

For queries please contact: montyt@solihull-sustain.org.uk

We are pleased to announce that a new funding officer, Alan Crawford has joined the team at SUSTAiN. Alan has extensive experience of the voluntary sector having previously worked at BVSC in Birmingham.

Alan’s role will be to work in conjunction with organisations in the borough to help them identify suitable funding opportunities and work with them to produce quality funding applications. In addition Alan will be running regular training sessions to help enhance your organisation’s bid writing skills (further information on these sessions to follow in subsequent bulletins).

If you would like to have a meeting to discuss receiving support in accessing funding, please email  alanc@solihull-sustain.org.uk or ring Alan Crawford on 0121 711 3148.

Please note due to the expected demand, we cannot guarantee that we will always be in a position to provide you with support, as we will be operating on a ‘first come first served basis’ and within the context of bidding deadlines.

SUSTAiN, in partnership with Warwickshire Association of Youth Clubs (WAYC), are delighted to have secured funding to open two new Volunteer Centres.

The first centre will be open in Chelmsley Wood town centre in the summer with a second office in Solihull town centre in the autumn. Offering information and advice on a wide range of volunteering opportunities, advisers will be available at the new offices as well as by telephone and e-mail.

Anyone interested in volunteering as a Volunteer Centre Adviser or any organisation wishing to advertise their volunteering opportunities on our database are invited to contact Maureen Shepherd, Volunteer Centre Manager. Maureen can be contacted  by phone on 07919 577475 or by e-mail maureen.shepherd@wayc2.org.

Enable-Solihull have published the findings of a study on Personalisation which will be of interest and value to anyone affected by these changes to funding of Social Care.

The report is available to download, below.

Personalisation survey Feb 2011

How many times have you come across small gestures of generosity, the help and support that changed somebody’s life? We all experience and know about it. The nice neighbour who holds our spare keys in case we get locked out, the person on the bus or in the queue who starts an encouraging conversation on a bad day, the many nice smiles strangers give us, the neighbour who takes our parcels in when we are at work.

Come and visit us at http://volunteeringinsolihull.blogspot.com/ and add your stories of small acts of kindness that have made all the difference.