Here you can keep up with the latest from Reading’s 1000+ voluntary organisations and other voluntary sector news from around the area.
DHSC Suicide Prevention Fund-deadline at 5pm on 16 January 2022
4 January 2022
Introduction: The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has made available a £4 million Suicide Prevention Fund to support voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations that work to prevent suicide. the funding, applied for on a competitive basis. The funding is only available to support the delivery of suicide prevention activities in England. Background and ...
Wellbeing walk training with Dementia Adventure
22 December 2021Dementia Adventure, Reading Voluntary Action and The Caversham teamed up to organise, plan and run a wellbeing walk training event as part of the Thriving Communities Project. Based on his experience of sensory walks and outdoor experiences with those living with dementia, Gordon Malcolm from Dementia Adventure proved to participants that wellbeing walks are of benefit ...
RVA Social Prescribing Link Worker – closing date 7 February 2022
22 December 2021
Reading Voluntary Action (RVA) is looking for a part-time Social Prescribing Link Worker RVA has been delivering social prescribing in Reading for more than 5 years. 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 Social Prescribers connect people ...
Season’s Greetings from RVA
22 December 2021
Season’s Greetings from the RVA team At the end of another tough year, our thanks as ever to the amazing voluntary and community sector in Reading. RVA is closed from 25 December until 4 January 2022. This week out vaccine support helpline remains open and we have one more Get Online session, with support for booking vaccination ...
Do you have healthcare equipment you no longer need?
20 December 2021Due to Covid-19, Reading Borough Council and its equipment provider (NRS Healthcare) are in a critical position in relation to equipment available for service users. Please see the attached flyer explaining the situation and what action service users can take. At present there is an urgent need for beds, mattresses, hoists and commodes. If you have ...
Small Mental Health Grants for Community Groups – deadline approaching
16 December 2021Compass Recovery College is pleased to announce small grants for voluntary groups in Reading, who are embedded in and providing grass roots support to their communities. They are offering 3 grants of £1000 each. The aim of this funding is to support mental health and wellbeing in vulnerable groups in Reading, by enabling local voluntary ...
ABC to Read calls on schools to return volunteers to the classroom
16 December 2021Berkshire reading charity ABC to Read is calling on local schools to allow volunteers to return to the classroom following the interruptions of the Covid-19 pandemic. Only 70% of the schools that previously used ABC to Read mentors to support children struggling with their reading have reinstated those volunteers, despite government guidelines clearly stating that such ...
Community Consultation for Quality of Life: can you help?
15 December 2021At the University of Reading’s school of architecture we are involved in a research project called Community Consultation for Quality of Life (CCQoL). The aim of the project is to review approaches to community consultation across England , Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and to provide space for people to have a say in the ...
Compass Recovery College courses for January–April 2022
15 December 2021Compass Recovery College has published its prospectus and course schedule for January to April 2022 Next term sees the college continuing to offer both online and in person health and wellbeing workshops which are free and open to everyone. You can register quickly and easily and find further information on the Compass Recovery College website. If you ...
Vaccination support during December 2021
14 December 2021
Do your community/service users need support and reassurance to access the Covid 19 vaccine? Just over 50,000 people in Reading have yet to have their first dose. Scientific data shows that vaccines are our best protection from the dangerous effects of Covid-19, even as new variants emerge. Covid Information and Question and Answer Session – Online ...
The Big Give: Women and Girls Match Fund- deadline Tuesday 11 January 2022
10 December 2021
Introduction: The Women and Girls Match Fund is a match funding campaign for charities that are working to improve the lives of vulnerable, disadvantaged or underrepresented women and girls in England and Scotland. The Women and Girls Match Fund campaign is led by The Big Give – the UK’s leading platform for match funding – and supported ...
Rosa: Rise Fund for BAME women and girls groups- deadline 31 January 2022
10 December 2021
Rosa’s Rise Fund provides organisational development funding for Black and minoritised-led women’s and girls’ organisations across the UK. With the funding they have raised to date, they expect to be able to support between 25 and 30 organisations across the UK. Who is eligible to apply: Rosa’s Rise Fund particularly welcome proposals from organisations that: are ‘user-led’. Which ...
Updated NAVCA Covid ‘Plan B’ guidance for volunteers
10 December 2021NAVCA has met with representatives from DCMS about the latest ‘Plan B’ guidance, and here is a summary: The ‘work from home if you can’ guidance This also covers volunteering activity, so it’s ‘volunteer from home if you can’ as well. Activities such as administration, making or answering phone calls and updating websites should be done from ...
Winter community food sites 2021
9 December 2021
The commitment of Reading’s local community food hubs shines bright this holiday season. Many people across the country continue to struggle to make ends meet, including those in our town. Below is a selection of voluntary community groups working in neighbourhoods across Reading that will be in service over the holidays. Some sites specialise in ...
Reading submits city status bid
8 December 2021
Reading has submitted its bid for City Status as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in 2022 Designed in consultation with residents, the voluntary sector and the business community, the bid is a celebration of everything Reading which makes it such a great place to live, work and visit, in particular the people, the communities ...
Reading Youth Council elections and annual conference
8 December 2021
Elections to the Reading Youth Council are due to take place in January 2022 There are 20 spaces available which will be divided between the following four areas of Reading: North (RG4), South (RG2), East (RG1, RG6) and West (RG30, RG31). Any pupil aged between 11 and 18 on 1 January 2022 from any Reading school ...
Land for sale or to let: Bridge Street/Church Road, Caversham
8 December 2021
FOR SALE OR TO LET: LAND WITH HOARDINGS AT BRIDGE STREET AND CHURCH ROAD Caversham, Reading RG4 8AE The property comprises a triangular shaped parcel of land located at the corner of Bridge Street and Church Road in the heart of Caversham and lies about one mile north of Reading town centre. The surrounding property is of ...
Free seminar from NPC: Closing down a service or programme well
7 December 2021
NPC in collaboration with The Clothworkers Foundation are running a free seminar to explore what trustees should be taking into account when making decisions to close a programme or service, in order to minimise the impact of this closure on those the charity seeks to help. It is aimed at all trustees regardless of their ...
Updated Guidance: NHS Test and Trace in the workplace
7 December 2021
The Government has updated its test and trace guidance in response to the new Omicron variant. The guidance includes: Changes to self-isolation requirements for contacts of people who have been identified as a suspected or confirmed case of the Omicron variant of coronavirus (COVID-19). These contacts must stay at home and self-isolate even if they are fully vaccinated ...
Updated Safeguarding Guidance from the Charity Commission
7 December 2021
The Charity Commission has recently updated its guidance on safeguarding for voluntary and community sector organisations. All charities have a responsibility to ensure they don’t cause harm to anyone who has contact with them. Charities working with children or adults at risk have extra responsibilities. Read the guidance to find out about your responsibilities to keep everyone ...