Love Your Planet Day - 11 Feb 2012

The Melksham Climate Friendly Group's annual Love Your Planet Day event will be held at 

The United Church, High Street, Melksha

 on

Saturday 11th February 2012

11am to 3pm.  

Entry is FREE and homemade soup, cakes and hot drinks will be available to purchase throughout the event.

There will be 18 information stands covering varied topics including - growing your own, keeping chickens, composting, beekeeping, wildlife, canals and waterways, recycling and fairtrade.

4 speakers on the subject of: Allotment Gardening, Beekeeping, Backyard Chickens & Guerrilla Gardening.  

Award winning singer/songwriter Talis Kimberley will be performing live on stage at 12 noon and 1.30pm

To download a poster see the Melksham Climate Friendly Group's website:

www.climatemelksham.co.uk

 

Dementia training course for carers

PEOPLE caring for a relative with dementia at home can find out more about coping with the illness at a free training course starting next month. (February 2012)


Six weekly sessions will include a look at the different types of dementia and how they affect people, how to deal with everyday situations that might arise, and practical advice on the legal and financial aspects of caring.


The course is run by independent Wiltshire charity Alzheimer’s Support and funded by Wiltshire Council. All the speakers are experts in their fields.


Anna Littlechild, AS Principal Manager, said: “Carers will learn more about the illness and hopefully feel much better equipped to deal with its effects.  A diagnosis of dementia is a very difficult thing to come to terms with for both the person affected and their families. However, there are coping strategies and things that people can do to make living with memory loss more bearable for the person with dementia and their families.


“We have run these courses in the past and one of the best things is that people meet and make friends with others who are going through similar experiences.”


Councillor Jemima Milton, portfolio holder for adult care from Wiltshire Council said “We recognise the huge contribution that carers make to our communities and the importance of ensuring that they have the skills they need to manage their caring role on a daily basis. We are committed to supporting carers and are pleased to fund this training. We hope it makes not only a difference to carers, but also to the people with dementia that they care for.”


The course will be held at Fullingbridge Farm, off the A350 between Westbury and Trowbridge. If you would like to come along or to find out please contact Stephany Bardzil on 01225 776481.

How to persuade a Funder to give you some money!

Are you passionate about what you do?    Could you do with more money?

Come and join us for . . .

How to persuade a Funder to give you some money!

 on

Tuesday 24 January 2012

9.30 am – 12.30 pm

Venue:  Quaker Meeting House, Sussex Wharf, The Nursery, Devizes, SN10 2AE

Cost:  Just  £25! 

To book your place ring Jackie on 0845 034 5250 or visit our website  by clicking here

Building Capabilities Fund : BIG Lottery Fund

•       Ongoing aim to enable voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises to get the support to develop their capabilities and navigate the challenges and opportunities posed by the current environment in which we are all operating.

•        January 2012 : BIG has put out a tender for a £6 million investment over three years to improve the quality of support services for voluntary organisations. The investment aims to develop the capabilities of local and specialist support providers so they can offer higher quality support to frontline voluntary and community organisations and social enterprises to increase their effectiveness as well as respond to changing needs and a changing funding environment.

•        The Office for Civil Society in the Cabinet Office and BIG are running a joint survey to seek views on how the web is used by civil society organisations to access advice and support, funding information and networking opportunities. They want to know how online services help organisations build learning, and develop skills and capabilities and hear the views of both suppliers and users. 

•        The survey is on the website, takes no more than fifteen minutes to complete - closes on Friday 20th January 2012.  http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/building_capabilities

 

•       A discussion paper has also been put together. It is intended to stimulate debate and thinking, giving an opportunity for voluntary and other organisations to influence their approach and inform future investment. This paper is for voluntary sector and social enterprise managers working in both frontline and infrastructure support and development organisations. It sets out the approach to ‘building capabilities within voluntary organisations’, and gives an opportunity for voluntary and other organisations to influence this approach.

•       This discussion paper includes a number of questions, which you can respond to through an online survey on the website. Deadline to respond : 15^th March 2012.

•       If you have any questions Email : supportingcivilsociety@biglotteryfund.org.uk

Have a Go skills Taster Sessions - Growing a skilled workforce for Wiltshire

Wiltshire Council, working in partnership with the Wessex Association of Chambers of Commerce, the National Apprenticeship Service and Jobcentre Plus will host two “Have a Go” skills taster events to provide a ‘hands on’ opportunity for young people to try out new skills in February 2012.

The events to be held in Chippenham on Wednesday 8th February and Salisbury on Thursday 9th (during National Apprenticeship Week), will provide ‘bite size’ tasters of different skills in a range of occupational settings. The overall aim of these events is to inspire young people to think about their future jobs, career path and study options as well as develop their understanding of and preparation for the world of work.

As part of the two events, we will also be holding a Business Breakfast for Wiltshire businesses with the objective of stimulating discussion and activity around:

·         Enabling employers to recognise the potential Apprenticeships hold for meeting their skills needs and thereby increase their participation in Apprenticeships

·         Broadening the sector distribution of employer participation in Apprenticeships; boost Apprenticeship take-up by SMEs in occupations and sectors with the greatest growth potential.

·         Boosting Apprenticeship take up by large employers through introducing Apprenticeship programmes into their organisations or by growing existing programmes across all areas of the business.

If you feel might want to attend as an exhibitor and provide young people with an opportunity to “Have a Go”, or come to the Business Breakfast please contact paul.gaunt@wiltshire.gov.uk or call 01225 718 314

For more information please see link. 

Budget Consultation Forums

Wiltshire Council are holding a series of Budget Consultation Forums to discuss the council’s budget setting for 2012. The dates are as follows;

Monday 23 January 6:00pm refreshments for a 6:30pm start at St John’s Parish Centre, Trowbridge

Tuesday 24 January 6:00pm refreshments for a 6:30pm start at The Corn Exchange, Devizes

Monday 30 January 6:30pm refreshments for a 7:00pm start at The Neeld Hall, Chippenham

Thursday 02 February 6:30pm refreshments for a 7:00pm start at The Guildhall, Salisbury

Training course to help carers cope with dementia

PEOPLE caring for a relative with dementia at home can find out more about coping with the illness at a free training course starting next month. (Feb 2012)

Six weekly sessions will include a look at the different types of dementia and how they affect people, how to deal with everyday situations that might arise, and practical advice on the legal and financial aspects of caring.

The course is run by independent Wiltshire charity Alzheimer’s Support and funded by Wiltshire Council. All the speakers are experts in their fields.

Anna Littlechild, AS Principal Manager, said: “Carers will learn more about the illness and hopefully feel much better equipped to deal with its effects.  A diagnosis of dementia is a very difficult thing to come to terms with for both the person affected and their families. However, there are coping strategies and things that people can do to make living with memory loss more bearable for the person with dementia and their families.

“We have run these courses in the past and one of the best things is that people meet and make friends with others who are going through similar experiences.”

The course will be held at Fullingbridge Farm, off the A350 between Westbury and Trowbridge. If you would like to come along or to find out please contact Stephany Bardzil on 01225 776481.