Nominations are now being sought for the following categories:

• The Neighbourhood Safety Award
• Walsall Citizen of the Year
• Young Walsall Citizen of the Year
• The Overcoming All Odds Award]
• Walsall’s Outstanding Sporting Achievement
• Walsall’s Creative Spirit
• Improving Walsall’s Quality of Life
• Walsall’s Green Award

All of the finalists will be invited to a special Awards Evening at Walsall’s Banks’s Stadium on Friday 26 November.

To obtain a nomination form, please contact either:

 John Garner on 01922 653500 garnerj@walsall.gov.uk

or

Jo Whitehouse on 01922 652025 whitehousejl@walsall.gov.uk

Organised by RAWM, the event takes place at The Crossing at St. Pauls, in the heart of Walsall town centre, between 10:00am and 2:00pm.

To book your place, follow the link here.

The surgery is an opportunity to get advice and support to develop your project ideas from Rachel Evans, Development Officer at the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).  Alternatively, you can simply come along to find out more about HLF funding!

Funding is available from £3,000 upwards for all kinds of heritage projects; it’s not just about old buildings!  Heritage can mean things that people value from their past and want to preserve for the future; such as local cultures and traditions, memories or historic places. 

Projects the HLF have already funded have included:

• Older people sharing their experiences with younger people.
• Education packs on how to identify wildlife in the back garden.
• Events exploring the history of carnival.
• A book on mining heritage with a touring exhibition.
• A DVD showcasing the history of local DJ’s. 

If you would like to book a 30 minute slot for one to one advice please contact Lesley Shorthouse at Walsall Voluntary Action on 01922 619840 or email lesleys@walsallva.org.uk.

WHASAC is owed thousands of pounds for training and services provided to the High Wycombe based company CM Training.

WHASAC’s Director of Services, Ian Peters, said:

“It was a bitter blow to learn that CM Training had gone into voluntary liquidation without notifying us and leaving a trail of unpaid debts for the training that we had provided for them and the use of our facilities. We are a small self sufficient Charity that generates our own income to provide our totally free work related health and safety help, support and advice to small businesses, the self employed and in effect, anyone who needs our help with their health and safety at work issues”.

The Advice Centre, which is based in Bellamy House, Willenhall, has just celebrated a year of providing the kind of health and safety services which are out of reach to a lot of individuals and organisations because of cost and resources.

“We have helped so many local businesses over the last twelve months to manage their health and safety in these difficult times and I know that we have contributed to their survival because we have saved them a great deal of worry and money. Our philosophy is based on the premise that by removing or reducing  the resources and cost element of health and safety management and activities, then employers, for example, are more likely to have safer systems of work in place…this is where we come in”.

The Advice centre relies on the income that it generates from providing health and safety training at Bellamy House, Willenhall and throughout the UK to bring in the income that enables it to serve the West Midlands.

Asked if the loss of income would affect the services that the WHASAC provides, Ian Peters replied:

“I am unsure, it may do, but we will have to try to manage the Charity accordingly, but I would hope that we would not turn away anyone with a health and safety problem”.

He also added that if any employers or organisations are looking for health and safety training then the WHASAC would certainly appreciate a call to see if their lost income could be replaced.  WHASAC can be contacted on 01902 609674, by email at whasac@btconnect.com or online at www.whasac.co.uk”.

The Ministers have issued an open letter, which you can read by following the link here.  Organisations can email their views to the Cabinet Office at sectorchallenge@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk or post their views on the Cabinet Office website here.

A new Child Protection Referral Form, WSCB1 has been introduced, which should be used for all referrals to the Initial Response Service (IRS).  The form also contains a feedback section, so that the IRS can inform referrers about the outcome of enquiries.  Copies are available in the appendix to the Safeguarding Children Board’s procedures manual, which can be found on their website here.

The session is aimed at voluntary organisations delivering services for children, young people and families.  It’s an ideal opportunity to find out more about personalisation within children’s services and to share and learn from the experience of others from across the region.

Mark Molloy, who is the West Midlands Lead on the Commissioning Support Programme and Emilie Whitaker, Children England’s Personalisation Support Officer, will be providing expert advice at this session.

The event takes place at the offices of Action for Children, Princess Alice Drive, Chester Road North, Sutton Coldfield B73 6RD from 9:30am to 12:30pm.  To book your place, please contact Sue Spencer, Children England Linkworker on 0121 504 2431 or susan.spencer@barnardos.or.uk by Wednesday 1 September.

Developed by the Financial Services Authority, in partnership with Citizens’ Advice and leading youth charity Fairbridge, the course gives those working in the youth services field a greater understanding of the issues and supporting toolkits to help their young people make more sense of their money and increase their financial capability.

The core subject areas covered in the course are: 

• The psychology of young people and money.
• Income, budgeting and banking.
• Costs of credit and comparing credit deals and options.
• Debt Management including when, where and how to refer young people for money advice.
• Skills to engage young people in financial matters.
• Identifying practical ways to use and embed the exercises/materials in your existing work.

A4e are currently delivering this training programme in the West Midlands, with sessions scheduled to take place on the following dates:

26th August – 75 Harborne Road Birmingham B15 3DH

8th September – Bromsgrove District Housing Trust, Bromsgrove, B60 3DJ

4th October – Thistle Hotel, St Chads Birmingham B4 6HY

To book a place on one of these courses, please visit www.a4emoney.co.uk.

Developing sustainable Social Enterprise with the voluntary sector

16^th September 2010, 9.30am – 4.30pm at  The Crossing at St. Pauls, Walsall .

Eastside is running this practical and hands-on workshop event in conjunction with Walsall Voluntary Action and The Vine Trust.

Eastside specialise in setting up and building social enterprises in partnership with voluntary sector organisations throughout the UK .  Finding new ways to create alternative revenue streams in the current climate of public sector cuts is now a very high priority.

The sessions are part of the Trade Walsall programme – which aims to support the development and growth of social enterprise in the local area. The programme is funded by Walsall Partnership and Walsall Council Economic Regeneration Team.

 Funded one-to-one follow up sessions available

Every organisation which attends will be eligible to receive follow on one-to-one sessions with a specialist social enterprise adviser for each of the delegate organisations to help them further imbed and develop social enterprise.

Workshop Aims

This workshop aims to inspire Walsall Voluntary Action members around the possibilities of how to:

• Develop sustainable schemes
• Improve current knowledge levels
• Evaluate current ideas and test their robustness
• Access external funding
• Understand what others are doing  through case studies
• Create a new vision of how social enterprise can be implemented

Workshop Format

The workshop is split into 2 distinct am and pm sessions.

AM session

• Creating a better understanding of social enterprise.
• How social enterprise best supports social inclusion.
• How voluntary groups can best support social enterprise.
• Video case studies of good social enterprise.
• Great best practice tips.

PM session

• Brainstorm social enterprise ideas that members of the group want to analyse.
• Use business analysis techniques in groups to work on ideas.
• Share findings.
• Work on individual next steps in moving social enterprise forward.
• How might one-to-on advice support each member’s progression.

 There are limits on places and booking will be done on a first come first served basis. We have already filled a few and demand for the remainder is expected to be high. If you would like to attend, please contact Andy Haynes for further information on 07720 850864 or by email at tradewalsall@eastsideconsulting.co.uk.

The event is an opportunity to obtain advice and guidance about living with a stroke, preventative measures, the care and support available to people and much more.

Guest speakers from Walsall Health Through Warmth and The Stroke Association will be giving presentations during the course of the day.

The event runs from 10.00 am to 1.00 pm at the Centre’s offices in Bridge Street Walsall.  Please call 01922 650790 for more details.