Hello from our new Chief Executive

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We are delighted to welcome our new Chief Executive, Jane Colthup.

I feel very fortunate to have been appointed Chief Executive of Community First Yorkshire following the excellent leadership of my predecessor, Leah Swain, and I am lucky enough to have inherited a magnificent, focussed and hardworking team and a supportive board of trustees. I can’t wait to work with them alongside the dedicated groups, volunteers, residents and colleagues who do so much to keep their communities thriving across Yorkshire.

I have a background in management consultancy, working with local authorities and previously worked in the training, skills, charity and recruitment sectors. I am an army brat, wife and mother, and as a result, I’ve lived in lots of different places. I have always considered Yorkshire home and where my heart is – both my children and I went to school here, my parents and siblings are here and we now live here permanently as a family. I am excited by the opportunity to give back to the place that has given so much to me personally.

My nomadic upbringing brought home to me the importance of local communities in contributing to people’s happiness and wellbeing. I’ve been very fortunate to be able to belong to a number of different communities over the years and they have often been the lifeline sustaining me when things were tough.

The pandemic has brought home more than ever the vital role local communities have in keeping community venues working when possible, transporting people to medical appointments, ensuring our young and older populations don’t feel lonely or isolated, and doing what we can to protect and look after each other. During this time, voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations have continued on delivering above and beyond expectations to make sure people aren’t left behind or forgotten about amidst the global crisis.

I am proud of our teams at Community First Yorkshire and the incredible work they have done, stepping up to some unforeseen and serious challenges. May I take this opportunity to say a huge thank you to everyone for all your work and support in keeping local communities thriving throughout this unprecedented time. It will have made a big difference to many people and you can rest assured that your efforts touch many lives, helping keep our communities happier and healthier.

As we emerge from the pandemic, it is more important than ever that we work together to make our communities the happy, bustling places we want them to be and I look forward to meeting and working with many of you over the coming months.

It is a great time to join this organisation and look ahead to some of the exciting projects and work we have planned. Keep an eye out for our newsletters for more information on our upcoming Leadership Mentoring and Coaching, Funding Summit, Community Led Housing, climate action and even a new website!

Sheds come in all shapes and sizes

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One of the questions I am often asked is:  “how big does a men’s shed need to be”.  This is a difficult questions to answer, as it depends how many people will be working together at the same time.

One men’s shed project that does bike recycling has only a small workshop. They see this as an advantage as it means that working with just teams of three or four people; there can be greater social interaction and support among members of the team.

These smaller sheds may only have a space about the size of a garage workshop; however they will usually have access to a more social space such as an existing community room and perhaps a garden.

The workshop space is only part of the story as there is also a need for social space.  If the workshop has a number of noisy machines or hand tools.  Then sheds will often impose a rule that everyone stops work at lunch or for tea coffee brakes so that people can chat and don’t keep working.

Men’s sheds that offer a variety of activities will also need a clean space for computing or clean crafts. Some times this is combined with the social space with benches around the outside of the room and easy chairs in the middle of the room.

This was the pattern adopted by Northallerton shed when they were operating from a former school site.   The social space also had a kitchen facility to one side with a cooker. This was used for cookery demonstrations, which was much appreciated by guys who had been widowed.

In my experience for these larger sheds an ideal space would be about the size of two school classrooms or a tennis court i.e. about 2000sq foot.

What is clear is that the size and style of space will affect how people interact and the possibilities of what activities can be offered.  Its clear that often a shed will have to make do with the space that they have been offered so this does affect the character of the shed.

So on the one hand a shed in a village might only be the size of a double garage on the other end of the spectrum a shed in a larger town or with a big catchment might have the whole of the basement of a former mill.

There are number of men’s sheds across Yorkshire for contact details of your nearest shed visit the UK Men’s Shed Association Find a Shed page.

Can men’s sheds help people recover from long Covid?

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The Guardian newspaper reports on the 4th of June that:

“The Office of National Statistics estimates 1 million people in private households in the UK were experiencing symptoms of long Covid in the four weeks to 2 May. About 650,000 people had their day-to-day activities affected by long Covid, with 192,000 of these saying this had been limited a lot”.

This is a significant number of people who may be experiencing a weird group of symptoms such as brain fog, fatigue, headaches, fibromyalgia, poor sleep etc.

As many of these symptoms are continuing for months, and in some cases over a year now, both researchers and individuals are exploring how to bring relief.

Some of the lessons learnt suggest that a holistic approach is important with both diet, exercise, lifestyle and a positive mental outlook all playing their part as aids to recovery.

In a recent talk on RMC’s YouTube channel  by Professor Tommy Wood on Metabolism in Long Covid he also highlighted the need for a holistic approach and suggested that social connection with others is important to a positive recovery. He goes on to suggest the importance of enhancing neuro plasticity by learning a new skill, particularly a balancing skill, to help with brain fog.

Adding these factors together it suggests to me that being part of a men’s shed could make a positive contribution to recovery from long Covid as it provides:

  • An opportunity for social connection.
  • Positive encouragement from other “shedders”.
  • Distraction from worrying about the symptoms.
  • Opportunities to learn a new skill to create neuro plasticity.

There are number of men’s sheds across Yorkshire for contact details of your nearest shed see: the UK Men’s Shed Association Find a Shed page.

Men’s Sheds and Governance

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When a group of guys come together to start a new men’s shed, their thoughts are often focused on what activities they will be able to undertake, finding suitable premises and the last thing that is on their mind is what sort of legal structure they will need for the organisation.

As a men’s sheds development worker, this is one area that I find I often have to provide some form of steering for a group.  This requires a subtle balancing act as on the one hand I don’t want to dampen their enthusiasm for the project; on the other I don’t want them to go too far down the path of developing a shed.  To later find they lack the structure to be able to sign a lease for premises or open a bank account.

There is therefore the need to think ahead and put in place the foundations that will be able to stand the test of time and be suitable to construct the organisation. Without the need to restructure the organisation structure to accommodate taking on a lease for premises.

Often the first thought is to create a simple association, which can be used to open a bank account.   However an un-incorporated association has a couple of major disadvantages.  The members would be mutually and severable liable for any debts or liabilities. It also makes it difficult to enter contracts for the lease or purchase of properties as all members would need to be named on the lease unless holding trustees are appointed.

An option that is often suggested is that the men’s shed comes under the umbrella of an existing community organisation, such as a church or a community association.

This may seem an attractive way forward as it means the shed, would appear to be freed from some of the bureaucracy of operating the organisation. However; when I first started working on supporting men’s sheds, I was warned by an experienced development officer that this was not the best way to go.  As it means the shed is in effect the client of another organisation and is not fully responsible for its own destiny.

This removes from the men involved some of the responsibilities for the operation of the shed. This has several consequences, one it removes the opportunity for the guys running the shed to gain the full satisfaction of running the show, which intrinsically makes a positive contribution to their well-being.

This acquiescent role may be as simple as having to the go to the umbrella organisation for funds to pay for some new equipment or materials, or seek their permission for engaging in some new project thus removing the agency from the men involved.

This can result in tensions and a sense of loss of control. I have known of some umbrella organisations be quite controlling in their approach emphasising that the Men’s Shed is their project and is part of their argument for funding. In effect the shed has become a prop for the umbrella organisation rather than being primarily about the well-being of the men involved, which leads to frustrations and tensions between the two organisations.

To maximise the level of control a shed has for its own operation, direction and viability as well as being able to enter in to contracts for the lease of premises with limited liability for members. A solution is for the shed to become a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. (CIO).

This not only provided limited liability for members, is a corporate body able to enter in to contracts and is also a registered charity and is able to gain from the benefits of charitable status.

To become a CIO requires an application to the Charity Commission . There are two forms of CIO  the Association Model, where all members have a role in major decision making and the second the Foundation Model where the Trustees are solely responsible for decision making.

The paperwork may seem complicated, however many men’s sheds groups have already become CIO’s and are happy to share examples of their applications with other shed groups.

One advantage of going through the application process is that it means the guys involved have to work through the process of determining what they are about and write down their objectives as an organisation.

This is a useful process as it means that new shed can at an early stage have a clear vision as to what its about and perhaps more importantly what it’s not about, without the encumbrance of actually managing the shed on a day to day basis.

This can reduce the opportunity for disagreements and fall outs between members.  See our blog on Disagreements within sheds.

It also increases the men’s sense of responsibility and sense of agency which makes a positive contribution to their wellbeing.

There are a number of Men’s Sheds across Yorkshire for contact details of your nearest shed visit the UK Men’s Shed Association Find a Shed website.

 

Volunteering into employment – Healthwatch North Yorkshire

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Guest blog from Gemma Hutcheson, Communications Officer at Healthwatch North Yorkshire.

My role as the Communications Officer at Healthwatch North Yorkshire is an extremely versatile role. I manage the website, and social media channels, as well as dealing with online queries from members of the public. The day-to-day role includes monitoring local health and social care pages, creating and scheduling social media posts, managing the website – making sure it’s up-to-date, and dealing with enquiries from the public. I really enjoy the fast-paced nature of the role and how it allows me to get creative.

I became a Social Media Volunteer for Healthwatch North Yorkshire in April 2020. I liaised with the volunteer officer and she provided me with set tasks. I proofread and edited documents, created content and edited reports.

I found out about the role on Community First’s volunteering page. I regularly monitored the Community First page for volunteering opportunities in social media and communications. Prior to finding the opportunity, I was not aware of Healthwatch North Yorkshire as an organisation – so it was a really good way of finding out more information about local organisations and opportunities.

I applied through Volunteering in North Yorkshire. It was a really easy application process and I found that there were lots of opportunities advertised on the page. I particularly liked how I could filter the results and find volunteering opportunities that met my requirements.

I really wanted to volunteer as a way of boosting my employability skills. Communications roles can be hard to get into – so volunteering is a great way of boosting skills and adding to the CV. I also wanted to volunteer to give myself a sense of purpose – during the pandemic, it was difficult to find work and I found volunteering gave me a great opportunity to give back to the community and keep myself busy.

I decided to apply to become a social media volunteer at Healthwatch North Yorkshire as I wanted to contribute to driving brand awareness and use my communication and creative skills. I believed that it would give me the opportunity to use social media in a professional capacity and I would develop an understanding of how brands use social media to drive awareness and engage with an audience. I wanted to boost my social media skills, and this is one of the elements that attracted me to apply for the volunteering opportunity at Healthwatch North Yorkshire.

Volunteering at Healthwatch North Yorkshire enabled me to learn about Healthwatch as an organisation and really understand who they are and what they stand for. I believe this really helped with my employment. Also, I think being proactive and open when volunteering really benefitted me when moving into a full-time role at Healthwatch North Yorkshire.

I have a friend that works for a charity in North Yorkshire, and she told me to look at the Community First website for volunteering opportunities. I knew I wanted to volunteer but it was a bit daunting, and I was unsure where to start looking. I found the VINY page easily through a quick Google search and I was really impressed with how easy it was to apply for volunteering opportunities.

I would tell anyone that is thinking about volunteering to do it! It is a great experience and a really good way of boosting skills. Whether you want to give back to the community, do more with your spare time or develop employability skills – there are so many different volunteering opportunities available. Volunteering is a great way of meeting new people and building relationships. I never could have imagined that starting out as a volunteer would end up with me, employed as the full-time Communications Officer at Healthwatch North Yorkshire.

Further help and support

Volunteer recruitment – search for volunteering roles on the NCVO (the National Council for Volunteering Organisation) website. There are links to multiple volunteering websites from organisations such as Vinspired, and Volunteering Matters.

New enquiries – if you need support with any aspect of volunteer management please complete a New Enquiry Form and one of our developments officers will be in touch to support you.

General info – for general information, guidance, templates, online training and resources please visit our dedicated website, which includes 15 factsheets that cover many aspects of volunteer management e.g. recruitment, supervisions and template policies etc.

Volunteer co-ordinator network meetings – a network meeting for volunteer co-ordinators and those in a charity with responsibility for volunteers across North Yorkshire to network and share information, advice, tips and thoughts on all aspects of volunteer management, see here for more information.

Facebook group – if you have not already done so you may like to join our closed Facebook group for V-Net. The group now has over 100 members. The group is for people to share their thoughts, actions and questions on all aspects of volunteer management. You will need a Facebook account to join, please contact us if you need guidance on this. If you already have a Facebook account please click here to join.

Saying thank you to your volunteers – especially, but not exclusively, during Volunteers Week 1-7 June 2021

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As volunteer coordinators or managers we are always looking for the perfect way to say thank you to our volunteers. Volunteers Week is the ideal time, but of course need not be the only time to show how grateful we are.

In this unprecedented period of our lives, just getting on with the day to day is taking some resilience. Thinking ahead can be daunting, but June isn’t far away and it is when we traditionally say a big national thank you to all our volunteers.

I have long been of the opinion that, though we want to express our gratitude, we have sometimes gone about it the wrong way, after all volunteering isn’t show biz, no Oscars needed. We want to do something special but does it have to be more public than personal?

Why do we acknowledge our volunteers’ efforts with an award ceremony, where the volunteers have been nominated and judged, and unintentionally introducing rivalry for the winning awards?

You already know that those who volunteer in your organisation do so because they want to help to make a difference. They believe that your service will bring about a change for its users, and they would like to be a part of it, in whatever big or small way they can. Sometimes, in our search for adequate appreciation, we neglect to remember what motivates our volunteers in the first place.

All volunteers should be thanked personally and equally. There is a bit of a disconnect between what motivates volunteers (passion, values, purpose), and what we traditionally offer as recognition for that effort (t-shirts, trophies, awards events).

Of course there is something nice about getting together for a meal or a leisure activity, but we should be making sure that we do this for all our volunteers and staff together, ‘Team Time’ as regularly as funds permit. My personal favourite is pottery painting, it’s fun too, right?

There is one quick and easy way that you can bridge that volunteer appreciation disconnect – a meaningful volunteer thank you letter.

I know that you are all busy people and that you may have quite a few volunteers, but a few a week is do-able don’t you think? Here are a few tips that may help.

Five suggested elements for your Volunteer Thank You letter:

  1. Make your letter personal and acknowledge their personal contribution
    This may seem super obvious, but address the thank you letter or note, using the volunteer’s name, not “Dear Volunteer”. Tell them specifically what you’ve noticed or what they did that went above and beyond. “Thanks for your time and commitment” is fine. “Thank you for staying late to reorganise the stock” says that you know what they did, that their time is valuable, and you noticed that they gave it to your organisation.
  • Make your letter specific
    Point out something a volunteer did, or the way they made someone feel, and say thank you specifically for that. Look for occasions when your volunteer went above and beyond their role. Maybe the ‘above and beyond’ for your volunteer is that you know you can always count on them.
  • Connect your letter to the organisation
    Remember, volunteers are with you because they want to advance your organisation by contributing their own time and effort. They really care about your work. When you communicate your gratitude, connect it to the service in order to underscore the impact of their work.
    They chose you and your organisation for a reason. Remind them regularly that they chose well because they are making a difference with their work.
  • Make your letter timely, not only in Volunteers Week
    When you see or hear something you want to recognise, do it right away! That way you won’t forget, and the experience is still fresh in the mind of the volunteer. Plus, the more quickly you acknowledge a positive experience, the sooner you reap the positive benefits from a happy, heart-warmed volunteer.
  • Sign your name
    Again, this might go without saying, but put pen to paper and sign your volunteer thank you letter. If you’re sending your note via email, still make sure to include a personal closing.
    Bonus points if you can get a recipient of your organisation’s services, a board member or other leading member of your team, to add something as a footnote.

Volunteer appreciation can be simple and beneficial
Volunteers may appreciate a special token of your organisation’s gratitude, but the experience of receiving a personal and heartfelt volunteer thank you letter will remind them why they are doing what they are doing. They are driven to help your organisation and your community, without pay, because by doing so, they can bring about improvements that matter to your community.

Further help and support

Volunteer recruitment – Search for volunteering roles on the NCVO (the National Council for Volunteering Organisation) website. There are links to multiple volunteering websites from organisations such as Vinspired, and Volunteering Matters.

New enquiries – if you need support with any aspect of volunteer management please complete a New Enquiry Form and one of our developments officer will be in touch to support you.

General info – for general information, guidance, templates, online training and resources please visit our dedicated website, which includes 15 factsheets that cover many aspects of volunteer management e.g. recruitment, supervisions and template policies etc.

If you have any further questions or need support with any aspect of volunteering, please do get in touch info@communtiyfirstyorkshire.org.uk.

Volunteer co-ordinator network meetings – a network meeting for volunteer co-ordinators and those those in a charity with a responsibility for volunteers across North Yorkshire to network and share information, advice, tips and thoughts on all aspects of volunteer management, see here for more information.