Here you can keep up with the latest from Reading’s 1000+ voluntary organisations and other voluntary sector news from around the area.
Do you have a vision impairment that can’t be corrected with glasses? RNIB wants to hear from you!
15 May 2022
Help improve the lives of vision impaired people in the UK by taking part in our telephone survey and helping us understand what life is like living with a vision impairment. To register your interest, call 0800 009 6066 for free, or follow this link: https://forms.office.com/r/bR2pvbZXTK All surveys are kept anonymous and confidential. Royal National Institute of Blind People ...
RBC Small Grants Fund 2022/23 – round 1 deadline 20 June 2022
11 May 2022
Reading Borough Council has opened Round 1 of its Small Grants Fund 2022/23. £100k is available for community-led activities that support inclusion and connectivity for the most marginalised groups and most vulnerable adults and children in our communities. This could be activities that: break down barriers of prejudice, discrimination, language, culture raise awareness, understanding and empathy; engender hope ...
Fink Street Food and No5 team up – Mental Health Awareness Week 2022
10 May 2022
No5 Young People and FINK Street Food have joined forces to help tackle mental health stigma FINK’s mission is to blow the mental health conversation wide open and encourage their customers to be more conscious of their own mental wellbeing by creating epic food experiences. Directly supporting No5’s work by donating 50% of their profits to local ...
Compass Reading supports Mental Health Awareness Week 2022
10 May 2022
This week, we’re talking about Loneliness. Let’s explore the experience of loneliness, its effect on our mental health and how we can all play a part in reducing loneliness in our communities. Everyone is welcome to join us. Coffee and Chat An opportunity to meet people, have a coffee and chat at The Biscuit Factory, Reading on Tuesday May 10, ...
Sport in Mind supports Mental Health Awareness Week 2022
10 May 2022
And as you may know, it is Mental Health Awareness Week from 9-15 May 2022, with this year’s theme of ‘loneliness’. To help build connections & combat loneliness we’re delivering & supporting a number of events that week. Get in touch to find out more about our special events. Please click here for our May Timetable ...
Sport in Mind launches new taster session for Mental Health Action Week 2022
9 May 2022As part of Mental Health Awareness Week in May we’re very excited to be hosting an Adult Women’s Football Taster Session! It’s a chance for local women to join a really fun, relaxed and safe & supportive session, to enjoy a kick around and meet others within the Sport in Mind family! What: Adult Women’s Football Taster ...
Reading Mencap holds double Jubilee celebration
4 May 2022
Reading Mencap is holding an extra special double celebration in June to mark both Her Majesty The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and its 60-year Diamond Anniversary. Founded in 1962, the charity which supports people with learning disabilities and their families, has been awarded £3,765 from the Arts Council’s Let’s Create Jubilee Fund by Berkshire Community Foundation. The ...
Resilient Communities Fund – Central Southern England – deadline 1 June 2022
4 May 2022
The 2022 Resilient Communities Fund is now open for applications. This year’s fund is worth £1 million and will focus on responding to emergency events, in particular improving the resilience of vulnerable members of the community. SSEN has established this fund to support communities in their power distribution network area to improve local resilience. This ...
Loneliness: the theme for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week
3 May 2022
Next week is Mental Health Awareness Week 2022 (9-15 May) Mental Health Awareness Week is an annual event when there is an opportunity for the whole of the UK to focus on achieving good mental health. The Mental Health Foundation started the event 21 years ago and each year they set the theme, organise and host ...
Mental Health Awareness Week 2022 – resources for young people
29 April 2022
This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week will run from 9–15 May and the theme is the impact of loneliness and how we can tackle it. Recent research by the Mental Health Foundation has found many people have increasingly been suffering from feelings of isolation and loneliness and this can affect people of all ages. The campaign will ...
No5 Young People launches #5KinMay challenge!
29 April 2022
After the success of their 2021 campaign, No5 is back with their #5KinMay 2022 challenge No5 provides free and confidential counselling and mental health supporting for young people aged 11–25 who live, work or study in the ‘RG’ postcode area, and during last year’s lockdowns No5’s Young Ambassadors devised the #5KinMay challenge to help support people ...
Safe spaces for young people in the community
29 April 2022
The Safe Places and Signposting working group is looking at how it can set up and run safe places and activities, like youth clubs, for young people in Reading, utilising spaces within our communities. This work has been set up in response to the rising knife crime incidents locally in recent years and the feeling ...
Overcoming the barriers to participation – what stops people taking part in nature-based activities?
29 April 2022
Overcoming the barriers to participation – what stops people taking part in nature-based activities? On Wednesday 27 April, Reading Green Wellbeing Network (RGWN) hosted an event at MERL to share answers to this question and work out how to overcome barriers to participation in Reading. RGWN is a network of local community gardens, horticultural therapy groups and ...
Making Every Contact Count: free training in Berkshire West
14 April 2022Making Every Contact Count (MECC) is an approach to behaviour change that uses the millions of day-to-day interactions that we have with people to support them in making positive changes to their physical and mental health and wellbeing. It supports the delivery of consistent and concise healthy lifestyle information, enabling individuals to engage in conversations ...
Grow Wild Funding for Young People – deadline 25 April 2022
14 April 2022
Grow Wild is offering small grants for young people (aged 14 to 25 years) in the UK to deliver a creative project that celebrates UK native plants and fungi in exciting and engaging ways, and shares why UK native plants and/or fungi are so special. The project and funding are provided by Grow Wild, a national ...
Farmers’ Market seeks group to cook breakfasts
13 April 2022
Thames Valley Farmers’ Market Co-operative is keen to find a community group that would be willing to cook hot breakfasts at Reading Farmers’ Market as a regular fundraiser. The stall would be free of charge, they would waive the annual fee and they would also be willing to pay for a Level 2 food hygiene ...
Summer Internship Scheme is open for applications
13 April 2022Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) is seeking motivated young people from ethnic backgrounds that are currently under-represented within the workforce, to take part in the Chairman’s Internship Scheme. As RBFRS continues to work towards an inclusive culture of equality and diversity, the Service wants to encourage people who may not have considered a career ...
Community Participatory Action Research showcase
8 April 2022
A showcase event for the Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR) project took place at MERL on Monday 4 April 2022 CPAR is a local partnership project investigating the impact of Covid-19 on health inequalities. The partnership between Reading Borough Council (RBC), Reading Community Learning Centre (RCLC), Reading Voluntary Action (RVA), the Alliance for Cohesion and Racial ...
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service 2023 – nominations open
8 April 2022
The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) is the highest award given to local volunteer groups across the UK It was created in 2002 to celebrate the anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation. It is the MBE for volunteer groups and is awarded for life. A list of past winners in Berkshire can be found here. The ...
Homes for Ukraine Scheme
7 April 2022
The first UK government-funded scheme linking sponsors with Ukrainian refugees has been launched. Phase One of the scheme opened for applications on 18 March 2022. The guidance is currently limited, but the main points of the Homes for Ukraine scheme are: ‘sponsors’ may offer a room in their own house or a separate house; the accommodation must ...