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Voice has developed a new training session in partnership with the Volunteer Centres to raise awareness amongst the VCS of their contribution to both the Children and Young People’s Plan and the LAA; valuable information to communicate to stakeholder and funders.

Three sessions will take place in September in Bakewell, Chesterfield and Belper:

Attend one of these very practical workshops to help you define and record how the activities carried out by your organisation (using both staff and volunteers) contribute to Derbyshire's key strategic documents.

Booking via Diane on 07920202595 or email d.scott@ruralactionderbyshire.org.uk

13 September at Stonegravels, Chesterfield
15 September at The Medway Centre, Bakewell
16 September at Amber Trust, Belper

Hallmark Scheme Surgery 5 October

Tuesday 5 October at High Peak CVS between 2.00 and 4.00 pm

Hallmark is a national quality standards scheme especially for charitable village halls. It is open to any charitable village or community hall management committee with the aim to:

reward and establish good practice;
encourage improvement in established customs and procedures; and
gain recognition fro obtaining good standards in the management of your hall.

There are three sets of standards to the Hallmark scheme that halls can work towards. Hallmark 1 assesses whether your hall complies with charitable status requirements and there is a basic standards checklist to follow. Once Hallmark 1 has been achieved and recognised with an official plaque, halls can work towards achieving Hallmark 2 (assesses compliance with legislative issues) and Hallmark 3 (examines the role of the hall in the wider community).

If hall management committees wish to learn more about the Hallmark standards scheme, they have the opportunity to meet with Helena Stubbs, Rural Action Derbyshire’s Village Halls Advisor, on Tuesday 5 October at High Peak CVS between 2.00 and 4.00 pm. Helena will be able to answer any queries for halls both new to the scheme and those already registered and working towards the assessment stage. For further details and to reserve a 15 minute slot please contact Helen Faraday on 01629 821928 or email: h.faraday@ruralactionderbyshire.org.uk or refer to www.ruralactionderbyshire.org.uk

RAD also welcomes new volunteers interested in becoming a trained Hallmark assessor. Please let us know if you wish to learn more about this exciting volunteering opportunity.

Communities Assets Enterprise 2010

Inspiring places: the art of the possible
12-14 September 2010, The Quad and Assembly Rooms, Derby

This year's DTA national conference will showcase community enterprise best practice found in communities across the UK and internationally. The DTA conference is the largest community enterprise event in the calendar, attracting 500 delegates from the fields of community enterprise, social enterprise the wider third sector, local and national government, academia and the private sector.

Once again, an exciting line-up of plenary speakers, workshops, visits to local community enterprises, networking opportunities and much more is planned.

Confirmed Speakers include:
Heathcote Williams - Jericho Living Heritage Trust
Peter Holbrook - Social Enterprise Coalition
Stan Crawford - Sherwood Energy Village
Margaret Lee - Cresco Trust
Katherine Knox - Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Peter Couchman - Plunkett foundation
Rob Hopkins -Transition Towns UK

A limited number of bursaries are available to assist development trusts who would otherwise be unable to attend. Bursaries are primarily intended to help meet costs for volunteer community-based board members or staff at smaller trusts and enterprises. If you wish to apply for a bursary please contact Deepa Mistry on 020 7336 9408 or email: d.mistry@dta.org.uk.

For more information, please visit www.dta.org.uk/conference or contact our bookings team on 01633 411 732 or by email at: dta@eesolutons.co.uk.

Clock Ticking for Cowdale

Developers have resubmitted controversial plans for a bottling factory in a much-loved landscape near Buxton.

Countryside campaigners and local people remain angry at proposals from Express Park Buxton to build a five-hectare water bottling plant at Cowdale Quarry. The developers initially applied to High Peak Borough Council in the spring, but were sent away to get more details about the impact the project would have on the environment.

“This new information is muddled and inconsistent – and it makes no difference to our arguments,” says John King, Planning Officer at Friends of the Peak District. “The clock is ticking now for Cowdale, and we are urging people to oppose the development. It goes against the council’s own planning policies, and will destroy a tranquil spot of local countryside.”

Cowdale Quarry is popular with local people for walking, climbing, picnicking and other recreational activities. It has not been quarried since the nineteen fifties and the site has reverted back to nature. Any large industrial buildings there would be visible from the Peak District National Park.

Friends of the Peak District is also worried that proposals for the five hectare water bottling plant at Cowdale Quarry will eventually be part of a larger 20 hectare industrial estate including extensive offices, business units and car parking.

The planning application is now being considered by High Peak Borough Council. Friends of the Peak District is among many local people and groups, including Keep High Peak Green and Cowdale Parish Council, lobbying to get it refused.

Culture Fit to The Big Society, Localism and Making Neighbourhoods Better

A one day masterclass, Sheffield, 15 September 2010 featuring nationally acclaimed experts

How does culture fit within the Big Society, localism, and making neighbourhoods better? Is there room for culture within the local authority improvement agenda? How can creativity help to engage people? In lean times, what is the argument for embedding culture within renewal work? Is the role of the arts in public realm bigger than public art?

This one day conference, supported by Arts Council England, will draw upon a successful and nationally unique three year programme called ‘Creative Places’ in Sheffield.

The conference is aimed at local authority planning, housing, culture, regeneration, economic development and arts officers, elected members, staff from registered social landlords, housing associations and HMR pathfinders, developers, consultants, artists and creatives.

As this is a masterclass places are limited. You can view the full programme and book your place at creativeplaces2010.wordpress.com or call 0114 281 6130 for further information and to book. The masterclass is organised by Sheffield-based social enterprises Eventus and New Start.

Environmental Activist Becomes Young Achievers Trust First Ambassador

Celebrity climate campaigner Tamsin Omond has become the first ambassador for The Young Achievers Trust. Tamsin was included in The Sunday Times’s ‘Top 30 Power Players Under-30’ and the Daily Mail’s list of people to watch in 2010.

The Awards recognise young volunteers, activists and social entrepreneurs aged between 16 and 25. Individuals can self nominate or be nominated by downloading the form online, filling it in and emailing it back to info@youngachievers.co.uk or posting it to 1st Floor, 50 Featherstone Street, London EC1Y 8RT

If you know an exceptional young volunteer and would like to find out more about the awards and how to make a nomination go to www.youngachievers.co.uk The deadline for nominations is 30 September.

Update: VAT on Supply of Buildings for Charitable Purpose

A further update from HM Revenue and Customs on VAT changes in relation to buildings to be used solely for a relevant residential or charitable purpose. This is when the ‘option to tax’ can be excluded on supplies of a building or part of a building that is to be used 95 per cent or more for a relevant purpose.

More at www.hmrc.gov.uk/briefs/vat/brief3310.htm

The Future of Workforce Skills Development

The Government is consulting on the future direction of skills policy contained in its 'Skills for Sustainable Growth' document. Skills – Third Sector, the body promoting skills development in voluntary organisations, is encouraging early responses so that the sector's views can be considered within the comprehensive spending review. See their news item or go direct to interactive.bis.gov.uk/comment/skills/ Responses by 14 October.

Proposals for Benefit Reforms

The Department for Work and Pensions is consulting on '21st Century' reforms to the benefits and Tax Credits system, including the idea of a single integrated Universal Credit, www.dwp.gov.uk/consultations/2010/21st-century-welfare Deadline 1 October.

Updated Web Content for Communities Department

The Communities and Local Government Department has now updated its website to reflect the Government's priorities and direction, www.communities.gov.uk The Communities section has an area about ‘Building the Big Society’, www.communities.gov.uk/communities/bigsociety There is also a search facility for old material archived on the National Archives website.

Developing the Idea of Volunteering Using a Mobile Phone

Using mobile phones to do small chunks of volunteering while out and about is being explored by phone company Orange. The company is inviting ideas for tasks that could be completed in this way, with some initial suggestions such as giving charities opinions on requested topics, mapping local community services, or assisting blind people by recording audio snippets. The best ten will become part of a volunteering app to be launched later in the year. See Civil Society Media news item at www.civilsociety.co.uk/it/news/content/7117/ or go direct to www.mobilevolunteering.co.uk Ideas by 23 September.

Introduction to Quality Standards

A second, updated edition of 'First steps in quality' from Charities Evaluation Services provides a "plain English" introduction to quality standards and the potential benefits of being a quality organisation. It compares the most popular quality standards and kitemarks in the sector and helps with choosing the right one.

Go to the CES publications page www.ces-vol.org.uk/publications or direct to www.ces-vol.org.uk/index.cfm?pg=161 to download (pdf format, 180KB).

Improving Health through Art

A new website which promotes "using the arts to improve the nation's health" has launched at www.cultureandwellbeing.org.uk Culture and Wellbeing signposts individuals and organisations which are using the arts to influence health, plus research, guidelines and other useful sources of information. (Source: Voluntary Arts England newsletter).

NCVO/GMCVO Autumn Conference

18 November, Manchester

As we approach autumn the Government's priorities will become clearer; join us to ensure we help shape and deliver the Big Society agenda. Hear from high-profile keynote speakers including Sir Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive, NCVO and Sir Howard Bernstein, Chief Executive, Manchester City Council. Attend focused workshops giving you practical learning and make essential new contacts. Prices from just £99.00.

Visit www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/autumnconf2010 or call Matt on 020 7520 3160.

Legal Aid Changes Put Access to Justice at Risk

Thousands of the most vulnerable people risk being denied emergency access to free advice from lawyers following major changes to the way legal aid is delivered, family law experts warn.

Ninety per cent of family lawyers surveyed by Resolution, the family lawyers' association, say they believe access to justice is seriously under threat after the recent shake-up of the tendering process across all civil legal work which now revolves around bidding for three-year contracts.

www.guardian.co.uk/law/2010/aug/17/legal-aid-family-law

Big Lottery Fund Gives £8m to Community Advice Providers

The Big Lottery Fund’s Reaching Communities funding stream has given 33 voluntary organisations in England a total of almost £8m in the last month, including Derbyshire Housing Aid, Framework Housing Association, Home-Start South-West Lincolnshire and Loughborough Women’s Aid in the East Midlands.

The Reaching Communities programme makes monthly awards of between £10,000 and £500,000 for up to five years. The latest funding round has focused on organisations that are providing community advice in the wake of the credit crunch.

The Reaching Communities programme is open to all types of not-for-profit organisations and operates on a rolling basis, so that organisations can apply at any time. The programme funds projects that “help people and communities who are most in need, and can really make a difference” and has up to £100m available each year until 2013.

For more information visit www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

V Fears 90 Jobs to go as £8m Schools Volunteering Programme is Axed

Ninety staff at volunteering charity v have been told they might be made redundant after the Department for Education abolished the charity's £8m schools volunteering programme. V received all of the funding for its vschools programme, under which schools were allowed to make community work part of their curricula, from the Department for Education. The programme was launched in January, with one-year government funding worth £8m.

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