High Peak CVS 2010 AGM

Karl Wilding, Head of Research National Council for Voluntary Organisations gave a talk entitled 'Civil Society in 2010: surviving or thriving in the Big Society?' >> Download the presentation

The video 'Great Goal! Tackling Rural Poverty' was launched. Written and produced by Alistair Macdonald, this shows how Gamesley Villa football club has developed with the support of the Small Group Project and helped the local community.

Great Win for Gamesley Villa – Celebrating People Award

Congratulations to Gamesley’s trophy-winning children’s football club which won another prestigious award at our AGM.

Gamesley Villa, with five cup final wins and a host of other trophies in just eight years, has now lifted our coveted annual Celebrating People Award for significant contributions to the local community.

The judges described the club’s contribution to the community as ‘absolutely outstanding’. It was unanimously voted No 1 from five finalists selected from our 377 member organisations. Villa was the runaway choice of all the judges because it had achieved so much with so few resources in so short a time.

‘We were particularly impressed by its strict disciplinary code on drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. Its firm values are already having an impact on schools where teachers report improved behaviour from team members.’

Villa’s chairman and chief coach Peter Aldred said he was stunned and delighted by the award.

‘We feel really honoured. We just set the club up to keep the kids off the streets and we had no idea it would have such an impact.’

Villa’s co-founder and ex-Blackburn Rovers star Danny Jenkins said the new award was ‘fantastic’.

‘The only thing we need now is a new playing ground. This is really essential if the club is to continue its work on and off the field.’

Gamesley Villa, founded in 2002, has 120 boys and girls in training each week. It lost its playing field earlier in the year because the local primary which owns it decided to turn it into a community farm. The club needs a playing ground close to the estate. We will continue to work with the Villa to create a new training ground soon.

Mr Aldred says the club generates considerable community pride in an area of great deprivation and high unemployment. An 800-name petition has already been raised, supported by the police and every local shop, pleading for a new training ground.

See also the video 'Great Goal' about Gamesley Villa

The runners up also received special mention - Buxton’s Wednesday Luncheon Club for senior citizens. Only a week after its founder Kathleen Wharton won a Derbyshire County Council Excellence in the Community Award, the club has won a second prestigious prize.

The Wednesday Luncheon Club ran a close second because so many elderly people had benefitted inside and outside the club. Seniors in rural areas face tremendous isolation because remote communities often have poor public transport. The luncheon club has become a beacon of hope for the elderly around Buxton. The company, kind words and activities are sometimes the only contact these most vulnerable people have in the community.

Founder Kathleen Wharton said she was delighted by the award. She founded the club four years ago and it now has almost 50 regular diners. All are over 70 and many are in their 80s and 90s.

‘We’ve got a fantastic team of volunteers who turn up faithfully each week to put on a great two-course meal for the elderly. It’s very much a team effort.’

The luncheon club is now expanding its activities to support elderly people at home who are unable to travel to the weekly meals.