Here you can keep up with the latest from Reading’s 1000+ voluntary organisations and other voluntary sector news from around the area.
Free workshops offer advice to parents and carers of autistic adults
24 April 2025The Berkshire Adult Autism Support Service is running two free online autism advice workshops for parents and unpaid family carers of autistic adults next month. The aim of these sessions is to help participants increase their understanding of aspects of autism and their confidence when supporting their relatives. The workshops are open to all family carers of ...
Tell us what you think and win £100 to spend at the Rising Sun
17 April 2025Connect Reading would like to hear from YOU about how we can improve cross-sector partnerships in Reading, and how we can improve our offer for local organisations. Our aim is to making Reading better, connected! We’re offering the chance to win £100 to spend at the Rising Sun for everyone who takes part in our 3 ...
Dying Well Matters Event 7.5.25
16 April 2025
Many people feel unprepared and uncomfortable talking about death and end-of-life care, especially when it involves themselves or loved ones. Join Reading Healthwatch and Reading Borough Council for a free community conversation about end-of-life care – a safe, welcoming space to share thoughts, ask questions and to learn more.
RVA Social Prescribing Link Worker
10 April 2025RVA is looking to recruit a full-time Social Prescribing Link Worker SPLW to provide social prescribing for people in south, central and east Reading. Social Prescribing enables people to take action to improve or sustain their quality of life based on what matters to them and their individual strengths. The SPLW will manage a caseload of residents ...
Befriending Forum 24 June
9 April 2025
Walking, stretching, dancing, cycling and running together – how physical activity in the community supports people facing loneliness and social isolation Hear from a range of local VCOs about their local offer including seated exercise, heritage dance and other physical activity. Look around our VCOs ‘trade show’ of local community groups offering a wide range of physical/social ...
AskSARA RBC online learning lunch 10.4.25
7 April 2025
AskSARA for advice, support and products that make daily living easier Reading Borough Council is pleased to announce the launch of a new self-help tool on the Council Website called AskSARA. Please click here for website AskSARA is an award-winning online self-help guide providing expert advice and information on products and equipment for older and disabled people. AskSARA: ...
On the fifth anniversary of the first Covid lockdown
26 March 2025
Like many others this week, we are reflecting on the fifth anniversary of the first Covid-19 lockdown in the UK We are thanking once again the volunteers and staff who provided support and reassurance to some of the most vulnerable members of our community through the pandemic. Volunteers and volunteering at the forefront of the response Voluntary sector ...
The Earley Charity – Building for the Future Capital Grants Programme – Deadline 20 June 2025
26 March 2025
The Earley Charity has launched a new capital grants programme for 2025. The Building for the Future programme has a budget of £250,000 and is open to local organisations that work in or predominately serve the Earley Charity’s area of benefit*. By Capital they mean bricks and mortar such as new builds, extensions and large-scale ...
NEW training: Understanding Charity Finances for trustees and managers
25 March 2025
RVA is pleased to introduce this NEW training for charity trustees/ committee members and managers. This training has been gratefully funded by Berkshire Community Foundation, which means we can offer FREE of charge spaces to local groups. We will be repeating this training later in the year. The aim is to help charities and community groups ...
Do you offer corporate team day volunteering?
25 March 2025Here at RVA we have seen an increasing demand from local businesses for one-off volunteering days for teams of employees. Although RVA does not provide a brokerage service for one-off team volunteering, we do always endeavour to signpost organisations in the right direction. Alongside providing guidance on how businesses can work with local groups in more enduring ...
A Warm Welcome: Fuel Poverty, Health Impacts and Assistance
20 March 2025This fully funded half-day training course is designed for front-line staff and volunteers who work with expectant parents and families with children aged 5 and under. The 2.5 hour course looks at the causes and impacts of fuel poverty with a focus on the health impacts in pregnancy, newborn babies and children aged 5 and under. ...
Life Changers – Therapeutic Gardening
20 March 2025Thrive, the gardening for health charity, runs Life Changers, a free, four-month gardening programme for those living with a life-changing illness or injury to enable them to improve their health and wellbeing. Whether recovering from a stroke, cancer or surgery, or living with a long-term condition like diabetes, multiple sclerosis or Long Covid, people experiencing ...
Improving Physical Activity in Reading – Can you help us?
13 March 2025Get Berkshire Active, along with other partners, are working with colleagues at Reading Borough Council to improve the physical activity landscape in Reading. We have formed a Physical Activity Action Group and are working in a whole systems way to determine the barriers currently preventing Reading residents from being as active as they’d like. We ...
Get involved with the Reading Windrush Parade and Festival
13 March 2025Reading Caribbean Nation CIC (RCN) is a local Reading organisation incorporated in 2024 to organise the Reading Windrush Parade and Festival (formerly Reading Carnival). As the organizers of the Reading Windrush Parade and Festival, a widely recognized community-wide event, RCN already has strong relationships with numerous community groups. Many of these groups are represented on the ...
World Social Work Day – 18 March 2025
13 March 2025RBC’s Directorate of Communities and Adult Social Care are holding a joint event with Brighter Futures for Children on World Social Work Day – 18 March 2025. This is a day that Social Workers around the world we celebrate the amazing work that we do. We would be honoured if you could join us in our ...
Bite-size Volunteer Management – “Keeping it Legal” – May 2025
12 March 2025
Do you manage volunteers in your role in one of Reading’s diverse voluntary and community sector organisations? You may be a volunteer yourself, or a paid member of staff, or even a volunteer Trustee/Committee member. RVA is running bitesize training for those who manage volunteers. These sessions are designed to give you an introduction/ refresher into ...
Promote your National Volunteers’ Week (2–8 June 2025) activities
12 March 2025
As we approach National Volunteers’ Week (2–8 June 2025), we would love to hear about your plans and activities. Volunteers’ Week is a fantastic opportunity to highlight the impact of your work and to engage with the wider community. Whether you are organising events or launching new initiatives, we would like to promote your efforts. Please share ...
Introduction to social prescribing at RVA: 19 June (on ZOOM)
11 March 2025
Find out about RVA’s social prescribing service. RVA will be running these sessions twice a year for local community groups, charities, NHS and local authority sector colleagues. This session will include: what social prescribing is (and isn’t!) how it works at RVA and how people access it how we measure its impact how we work in partnership with local sercvices ...
Reading Social Prescribing Forum: 9 July
11 March 2025Reading’s Social Prescribing Forum is open to anyone from local community, voluntary and statutory sector organisations. It brings together Reading’s social prescibers and allied health and wellbeing staff and volunteers to share information and improve partnership working. The theme for this event will be announced shortly, and if you would like to book, please CLICK HERE Any ...
Reading Volunteer Fair – June 14 2025 – Register your interest in having a stall now!
11 March 2025
**Registration is now closed, email volunteering@rva.org.uk to be added to a waiting list** We are delighted to confirm that we will be hosting a Volunteer Fair at Reading Biscuit Factory on Saturday, June 14. Coming hot on the heels of Volunteers’ Week, the fair will be an opportunity to engage with members of the public looking for ...