Volunteering
VNews May 2023, Regional Roundup
Scotland
The Scotland Region held their annual Volunteer Conference in February. Congratulations to Aberdeen Area Association who won Area of the Year and Bob Harvey (Secretary of Ayr Area Association) who won Scottish Volunteer of the Year. Both very well deserved!
In March, a group of CSSC eco volunteers from Queen Elizabeth House and Scottish Government planted 200 trees! The next event will be a beach clean followed by a picnic. Details will be shared shortly.
North West
Central & East Lancs, along with Blackpool & Fylde will join forces on Saturday 24th June, offering a free event to both members & non-members to join in with a beach clean at Lytham St Anne’s. Families, friends, colleagues, neighbours, acquaintances are encouraged to come along and take part in this eco event supporting our local area and this beautiful beach. It will be a great opportunity to meet new, likeminded people, as well as promote the member benefits at CSSC and hopefully encourage potential new volunteers. There will also be some tasty treats at the end of the event to thank all our hard working, eco volunteers.
We would like to welcome both Toby & Pam to the Bolton Area Association volunteer team. Toby & Pam both attended our regional conference in January and will bring some new and innovative ideas for membership offers.
Shout out to Dave Wyatt – a longstanding volunteer who currently supports a lot of activity and events in Manchester. Promoting health and wellbeing, sport, inclusion and giving new activities a go, Dave is really embracing lots of the new changes being implemented. Dave is a great asset to the volunteer team, using Nutickets regularly and utilising all the different platforms that we have at CSSC to advertise events. He is always looking to improve his knowledge and keeps great communication with both VTL and his area.
All areas continue to embrace new ideas across the region and want to incorporate this into activities and events. Wellbeing for members is a huge focus for North West volunteers and planning has begun to include this on a more regular basis, including specific events and cashback on wellbeing activities that members participate in. Area’s discussed new ways of working at the recent AGM’s and how we can take these ideas forward for future activity. All areas are keen to also welcome new volunteers to their areas/committee and so are planning “Burger & Beer” evenings, “Tapas evenings”, “Family fun days” & “walks around English Heritage” and this will hopefully support recruitment of new volunteers within the area.
North East and Yorkshire
Friday 21st April was Eid, a Muslim festival celebrating the end of Ramadan and an opportunity to spend time with loved ones. To commemorate this special day, the West Yorkshire Area Association held an Eid Celebration on Friday 28th April at an Indian Restaurant in Bradford. The event had forty-eight sign ups of both members and non-members and was a fantastic success. Well done to the volunteers in West Yorkshire for hosting such an innovative and inclusive event.
The 22nd of April 2023 was World Earth Day and we wanted to say a big well done to Tracey Ware (North Yorkshire Area Association Secretary) for organising a litter pick event in York to mark the occasion.
At the end of February, CSSC held their Annual Volunteer Awards and another big shout out must go to the West Yorkshire Area Association who won The Russell Scott Trophy for Area of the Year!
Midlands
In the Midlands, we’re investigating doing a British Sign Language course to support our members who have a hearing disability and there’s lots of new activity coming online including paddleboarding, pottery, running city centre guided tours and Christmas cracker making planned for Christmas.
Shout out to Janet Welch for her first ever event, Pottery for North Staffs Area sold out in 48hrs, so she’s booked another one! Well done, Janet!
Shout out to Nicky Snaith for organising a member recruitment event at the new Government Hub 23 Stevenson Street in Birmingham and has been successful for Workplace Activity funding to put on Yoga Sessions – that’s how it’s done Nicky, well done! And thank you for all the Midlands volunteers for really picking up the baton and running this year your commitment and enthusiasm is awesome!
Also, the Midlands Big Band have set a date for their next rehearsal- 4th June in Shardlow Derbyshire…watch out for the e-shot to book if you’re musically inclined.
Eastern
Anglia have been trying to come up with some new, innovative events this year and with Michelle (the new Sports Liaison volunteer) in place, more sport is now on the calendar! They have Tubing event coming up in June where members can experience the thrill of whizzing down Norwich ski slope in the comfort of an inflatable tube!
Sadly, this month we have said goodbye to Yvonne Gaynor, Chair of Hunts, Cambs and Beds Area. We just want to say a big thank you to Yvonne for all her time and the effort she has put into CSSC over the past eight years. We will miss you, but we hope to still see you at local events in future 😊
Also, a big welcome to all our new volunteers that came on board during this year’s AGMs. We’re looking forward to working with you and hearing about your ideas to help us engage with more members!
At the end of February, CSSC held their Annual Volunteer Awards and another big shout out must go to the Suffolk and North Essex Area Association who received a highly commended award as runners up of The Russell Scott Trophy for Area of the Year. Congratulations to all the volunteers in this Area, and a big thank you for all your hard work and dedication to CSSC.
Wales
The North Wales Area Association have introduced Pickleball into the area with a view to pushing it across other areas in Wales and hopefully inspire areas across the UK to consider how they can introduce it! They ran a taster day in March which was attended by over 30 members and non-members. It was supported by the Anglesey pickle ball club and coaches and was attended by the CSSC CEO Matt Bazley. They have also introduced regular weekly sessions which they are hoping will grow and expand to other leisure centres across the area on North Wales. Pickle Ball is an indoor or outdoor game that is played on a level court with short-handled paddles and a perforated plastic ball volleyed over a low net by two players or pairs of players.
This was also a recruitment opportunity for non-members and will be used to engage with current members and hopefully with a partnership with local clubs gain new CSSC members in the area.
Well done to Anne Morris, who has led on the pickle ball initiative in North Wales, supported by North Wales area volunteers Sian Barnett and Helen Roberts. Lots of hard work put in to get the pickle ball taster and weekly session up and running. They are also in talks with Sport Wales to investigate the possibilities of getting funding to develop the sport in North Wales. Exciting – watch this space!
Cardiff Area, after a period of having minimum volunteers involved in running the area, now have a full complement of area officers and 4 co-opted volunteers onto the area group. As the biggest area in Wales this has been an important step forward. Despite not having many volunteers up until the AGM this year, the small group have done well to put on a varied range of activities and event. We hope that the new group will go from strength to strength in 2023.
South and South East
One of this year’s priorities across all regions is trying out new, innovative events. The East Kent Area has combined sports and leisure and organised a Speedway Disco Walk along the sea front. The event states “You can walk, you can dance, you can wave your arms in the air, bring your friends, come alone… you will LOVE this Disco Walk”. Find out more here.
Shoutout to Jessie S, Events Organiser at Brighton and Worthing AA. Jessie has been so incredibly proactive in supporting the area, the committee, and members. Such a star! Well done as well to Caroline A, Activity Organiser at Farnborough AA. Caroline has totally run with the prize draw for the Area which is incredible!
Teamwork makes the dreamwork! Recently, Chatham and Maidstone AA and East Kent AA joined together to offer a ABBA Voyage theatre and coach trip. Within 3 minutes of being online, the trip had sold out! Further dates have been organised for later in the year. Well done and thank you to Sam, and everyone in East Kent and Chatham and Maidstone for organising this for our members.
South West
The South West Region volunteers have blitzed the Blueprint funding pot with numerous exciting events planned, with many already underway for CSSC members throughout 2023. From County Cricket and International Rugby tickets to the theatre, county shows and a day trip to the Channel Islands; volunteers have been brilliant in coming forward with their ideas for events.
There is a ‘Coronation Themed Musingo’ event planned for 18th May hosted by Regional Chairman Berewyn Long. As well as a ‘Pub Quiz from Your Sofa’ scheduled for 24th May with host Mr Paul Danneau.
Volunteers from Yeovil Area Association have been busy lately getting involved in a brilliant local project that links with ‘School in a Bag’ and ‘Shelterbox’ by producing sanitary kits that are distributed around the world to women and girls in need through natural disasters, war, or poverty. Volunteers have connected with ‘Sustainable Sanitary Kits Yeovil’ and work to physically produce the kits through their sewing skills, as well as spreading awareness locally to seek donations for the materials required.
CSSC members at the Yeovil AGM raised some money through a raffle that was donated to purchasing materials for the group. Audrey Haskell Yeovil Area Chair said “The group is going from strength to strength with 700 kits having been completed and passed on already this year and at least another 200 in the process of being made. The plan is to continue to seek material donations from our Yeovil CSSC members subject to whatever news promotion we can do in our Area newsletters”. A huge well done to all for being involved in such a deserving cause!
We would love to hear more stories like this, please send them in to natalie.parry@cssc.co.uk.
