Governance: policy health check to ensure a sustainable future

Having a policy review helped Malton Free Fridge celebrate their achievements

Malton Free Fridge had been nominated for the Kings Award for Voluntary Service and wanted to ensure that their policies and procedures were up to date. They turned to Community First Yorkshire for support.
What was the challenge?

As part of their nomination, Malton Free Fridge felt that a outside view was needed on their policies to make sure that they were up to date.

How did Community First Yorkshire help?

One of our development officer’s helped the organisation to review and update their policies. It was a good exercise for the organisation to put all their policies into writing. The development officer helped the group to see the benefit and sense of having everything in place. The process also helped the organisation celebrate the value of all that they had achieved and how they work.

Initially the three local Free Fridges in Malton worked together, and the development officer provided support for all three. After this, each Free Fridge was able to select what they needed as an individual organisation. The project also looked at DBS checks as part of our support.

The project is now secure in the policies that underpin their work. As a result, they are confident in the support that they are offering to the community. This underpins the sustainability of the project, and they can continue to divert waste food from landfill. The community continues to benefit from access to free food in a prolonged cost-of-living crisis. It strengthens volunteer opportunities and provides a warm and safe place, helping with both wellbeing and connections.

What does the future look like?

Because the organisation has a full suite of up to date policies and procedures, they feel confident in applying for any more suitable funding in the future. They know that they can come back to us for further support if they need it.

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About the organisation

Malton Free Fridge is a waste food project and has already prevented over 100 tons of food from going to landfill. Anyone can access this service and, in addition to food, they provide chatty tables with free tea and coffee. The project helps people to connect and build friendships and with support from Wesley Chapel they have become a recognised warm space and information hub.

How we can help you

As a registered charity, we understand your needs. Our local advisers work across North Yorkshire and will come to you to ensure you get access to the best quality advice and guidance including funding advice, helping you set up as a community organisation, governance and trustees, finance support, marketing advice, and exploring ways to further develop your organisation.

If you know a community group, charity or social enterprise that needs some support to be even more successful, contact one of our friendly advisors on 01904 704177 or info@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk.

We are funded by North Yorkshire Council and NHS North Yorkshire.

Do you need help with:
  • securing income for your organisation or project?
  • turning your ideas of becoming a new community organisation into a reality?
  • benefiting from greater security as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)?
  • thinking about reviewing your organisation and planning ahead?
  • understanding trustee’s legal roles and responsibilities?
  • benefitting from a financial health check?

Our advisers can help. Call us today 01904 704177 or email info@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk.

 

“We had a visit this week from the Kings Award panel. It was very good to feel confident in all our policies. So, a huge thank you for all your time, trouble and patience. It’s furnished my thinking, helped with succession and actually, though against the grain for me, there have been good benefits.”

Trustee, Malton Free Fridge

Funding support: Kilburn Institute transformed with £174K funding

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A makeover for their premises means that the Kilburn Institute is no longer at risk of closure

The village institute was in serious need of refurbishment with a risk of closure if funding and support could not be found.
What was the challenge?

The premises were very rundown, not accessible to people with a disability and in dire need of a makeover. Things were at a point where the trustees weren’t sure whether the hall could remain open or not – which would have been a tremendous loss to the local community.

How did Community First Yorkshire help?

The trustees of Kilburn Institute contacted us and one of our Development Officers got in touch with the group. They pointed the group in the right direction for funding, in particular with their knowledge of which funds were most likely to be successful and which to avoid. They helped with wording and content to ensure more socially focused applications and supported throughout.

With our help the Institute raised £174,000 of funding and put together a project management team. As a result, the building has undergone a major transformation programme including an extension, new electrics, a new kitchen, insulation, heating and furniture. Accessibility has been improved with wheelchair access and an accessible toilet. With the local pub closing the Institute also has a licenced bar for events.

What does the future look like?

The Restoration Project means the hall has a sustainable future for the community it serves. Regular community events are held, such as a quiz and Christmas parties, and local businesses are renting the space for health and wellbeing activities such as yoga and arts and crafts.

The village has no public transport and an ageing population who can be socially isolated. The Institute serves the needs of this demographic as well as bringing in people from further afield. The Institute has a proactive trustee board.

The village hall committee is planning further work on the building such as replacing the roof. They are also looking to diversify their community activity. The committee members know that they can get in touch with us for support and guidance whenever they need it.

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About the organisation

The Clothing Bank Ryedale sorts and distributes clothes donations to local families and individuals, encouraging reuse and recycling, providing social, craft activities linked to recycled textile.

How we can help you

As a registered charity, we understand your needs. Our local advisers work across North Yorkshire and will come to you to ensure you get access to the best quality advice and guidance including funding advice, helping you set up as a community organisation, governance and trustees, finance support, marketing advice, and exploring ways to further develop your organisation.

If you know a community group, charity or social enterprise that needs some support to be even more successful, contact one of our friendly advisors on 01904 704177 or info@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk.

We are funded by North Yorkshire Council and NHS North Yorkshire.

Do you need help with:
  • securing income for your organisation or project?
  • turning your ideas of becoming a new community organisation into a reality?
  • benefiting from greater security as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)?
  • thinking about reviewing your organisation and planning ahead?
  • understanding trustee’s legal roles and responsibilities?
  • benefitting from a financial health check?

Our advisers can help. Call us today 01904 704177 or email info@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk.

“We are all very proud of the hall, many people here have an emotional attachment to it. Next, we will be replacing the roof and looking to increase our commercial activity so we can reduce the number of fundraising events. We will be in touch.”

Trustee, Kilburn Institute

VCSE Collaborative Meeting Update

The latest meeting update from the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership’s VCSE Collaborative is now available to view. The update provides an overview of the meeting, which took place on Monday 11 March 2024 and covers the following topics:

  • Social Prescribing Conference and Networking Event
  • Research Engagement Network Update
  • Connecting the VCSE sector with the wider Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership
  • Volunteering for Health Funding Application
  • 2024-25 Planning
  • Humber and North Yorkshire VCSE Expo

Click here to read the latest update.

 

Meet Roy Attwood – an invaluable volunteer for over 30 years!

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As part of our work to highlight the contributions of people whose work involves or supports volunteers, we met up with Roy Attwood, who has been a volunteer at Glusburn Institute Community and Arts Centre for over 30 years. We asked him about his experiences and also found out a little something that not many people know!

Please introduce yourself

My name is Roy Attwood and I’m 78 years young. I volunteer at Glusburn Community & Arts Centre. I was born and raised in Skipton, North Yorkshire. When I got married, we moved to Glusburn as we couldn’t afford the house prices in Skipton. The plan was to get a foot on the mortgage ladder and move back to Skipton, but over 50 years later we’re still here!

What attracted you to the organisation and role?

I have volunteered at the Centre for well over 30 years.  My first involvement was through our children who attended dance classes there. I was also part of a new indoor bowls group from its inception. All regular user groups were invited to send a representative to the monthly trustee meeting, and I volunteered to be the indoor bowls rep. When a new Chair of Trustees was voted in, she asked me to support her as Vice Chair and that then got me seriously involved in volunteering!

I spent my working life in engineering and take a practical approach to things. I feel I have a wealth of skills gained through work experience and training opportunities over the years, and it seemed a shame to let these go to waste when I retired. For me, volunteering is a fantastic way of transferring my skills to help benefit others.

What would you say to anyone thinking of becoming a Volunteer Coordinator/ Manager?

I’m not sure anyone has ever actually given me advice regarding volunteering!  But if I could offer anyone any words of wisdom, I would say: “If you’re interested in volunteering, have a good look at the skills you’ve gained over time and see if they can be of benefit to another organisation”.  You’d be surprised at how transferable your skills can be, and this is particularly important at the start of retirement.

What have you learnt about yourself while in this role?

I gain a huge amount of personal satisfaction from volunteering and love seeing the benefits for me personally and for being part of a team. I cherish being able to help others and give advice where I can.

Finally, please tell us something about yourself that your colleagues would be surprised to know.

Not many people know that I’m related to Sir James Falshaw, a former Lord Provost of Edinburgh. He was involved in the railway boom of the 1840s as, like me, he was an engineer!

Want to find out more about how we can support you?

If you are currently in a volunteer coordinator role, why not have a look at our specialised training or join our coordinator’s network that offers practical guidance and support to volunteer coordinators and managers across North Yorkshire.

How smart is smart heating for your community venue?

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Michael Fletcher, Digital Inclusion Project Manager at Community First Yorkshire, shares his thoughts on smart heating – it’s pros and cons and whether there are any cost benefits for your community building or village hall.

“In today’s world it seems that everything is digital this and smart that, and that’s before we even start talking about artificial intelligence. At the top of the smart pile lies smart heating systems. There’s a whole myriad of different types of devices on the market so if you’re thinking of installing one, make sure you do your research. Let’s delve into how smart they really are…

For a start, smart heaters still need a person to control them so you could argue they are not completely hassle-free, but the installation of one could provide significant benefits for your village hall or community building.

One of the primary benefits of smart heating systems is flagged as their ability to optimise energy usage. With uncertainty around energy costs and increasing awareness of environmental issues, improving energy efficiency is a crucial consideration for any community facility.

What is ‘smart heating’?

But first what do we mean by smart heating? Smart heating works by connecting your heating system to the internet so you can then control it remotely by using a device (such as a smartphone, a tablet or a laptop) via Wi-Fi.

How much control will a smart heating device give you?

There are several different types of smart heating devices that you can control, but the most important is your thermostat if your heating is run through a boiler. Basic models allow you to control the heating without being on site and, if you have different groups using your hall, you can adjust the temperature accordingly. You may want the heating set a little higher whilst a yoga class is on and knock it down a degree or two when the aerobics session is up and running.

Some more sophisticated devices may be able to sense movement in rooms and switch the heating on and off as the room is in and out of use. Some can even sense if a window has been left open. This is as conundrum I face at home as my partner insists on having windows open while the heating is on. I argue that if it’s warm enough to open the window, then you don’t need the heating on. Naturally, it’s an argument I never win . Back to the smartness of devices – while they may be able to detect an open window, I haven’t found one yet that will close it for you.

Taking this a step further, you can install smart radiator valves (or smart electric radiators), and rather than controlling just a single thermostat, you can control each one individually. If you have multiple rooms within your hall, you can have each one set at different temperatures in different parts, including switching radiators off/down in rooms while they’re not in use. Why heat the kitchen up if it’s not in use?

If you have a smart speaker installed, you can even control all of this through voice control. “Alexa turn down the radiator in the kitchen to 10 degrees” but be careful you can distinguish between the hall and any smart system you may have installed at home.

Smart heating systems include diagnostic and predictive maintenance capabilities. By monitoring the performance of heating equipment and detecting potential issues early on, village halls can schedule maintenance proactively, minimising downtime and costly repairs.

Using the data to help you understand your energy usage

One of the most valuable aspects of smart heating technology is the wealth of data they provide. If your hall is considering any energy saving/carbon reduction installations, then the most important thing to do first is to understand your current usage. Where is usage higher and where is it lower? Does this correlate with what you are expecting? Are there any spikes in usage at times you wouldn’t expect? Smart heating data can help you analyse this, although you may be able to get this information from your energy supplier also. Often, they can provide data broken down into half hour slots. As the famous quote goes, knowledge is power itself.

So, in summary smart heating could make managing your hall that bit simpler, could make you more energy efficient and could help save you money on your energy bills. But you must weigh this up against the cost of installation.

So how smart is smart heating? I would say it’s pretty smart, but still needs human intervention. We’re not all redundant just yet.”

If you want to speak to Michael in more detail about smart heating, do drop him a line by email: michael.fletcher@communityfirstyorkshire.org.uk 

How do you define ordinary and extraordinary leadership?

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Ahead of speaking at our Ordinary Extraordinary Leaders Conference in May, Johanna Hooper – Leadership and Change Management Expert from Limitless Peak Performance – shares her views on what makes a good leader.

Think of a leader you admire. What are their attributes? What do they look, speak, sound like? How do they make you feel?

When you thought of that leader, what image came to mind? Captain America? Churchill? Martin Luther King? Elon Musk? Your boss? Someone more local?

Now think about the image you have in your head – would you call them ordinary or extraordinary?

Do we put leadership on a pedestal?

Here’s the thing. I think we can be in danger of putting leadership on something of a pedestal and that can make it hard for us to feel like ‘good’ leaders, or recognise ‘good’ leaders around us.

Did you know, there’s a theory for this? Well, actually there’s a couple:

  • Implicit Leadership Theory says we have preconceived ideas about what a leader is, does, looks like and who they are. And these preconceived ideas are shaped by our experiences and images shared via the media.  No worries there then…..
  • Then there’s the Great Man (!) Theory. It states that ‘heroic’ individuals with certain laudable characteristics (intellect, courage, abilities) naturally emerge as leaders because of their inherent greatness.  I mean, there’s a bunch of aspects to that theory that can make us ordinary folk feel ‘less than’.

With all that external influence as to what makes a ‘good’ leader, is it any wonder that not many of us are in a rush to claim our “Best Leader Ever” badges?

Are you and ordinary or extraordinary leader?

Now mull on this: are you an ordinary or extraordinary leader?

Funny question, huh? Presumably, we might all want to be extraordinary but we might feel that we are *just* ordinary leaders? And if we think we’re *just* ordinary leaders, what is that doing to our performance, mindset, self-esteem?

For my money, it’s time to shake off this notion that you can’t be ordinary and extraordinary at the same time.  Leadership is both a privilege and a responsibility. It comes in many different forms and there is no ‘one size fits all’ model. Great leaders are all around us, even in positions that aren’t technically leadership roles.

When you think of the person who has had the most profound impact on you, are they extraordinary ordinary? Mine was. Not in my command chain, not formally designated as ‘leader’, not heroic, not lauded, but the impact on me was powerful. What impact are you having on the folks around you?”

Want to hear more?

Want to hear more from Johanna? She will be speaking at and facilitating our Ordinary Extraordinary Leaders conference on 22 May at The Pavilions, Harrogate.

Book your place now and discover the leader you could be.

Johanna is a retired Commander who, since leaving the Royal Navy in 2014, has had a career in management consultancy and now runs her own business, working with both small business leaders and executives in larger organisations across public and private sectors.

Our volunteering directory supports volunteering opportunities to boost happiness and wellbeing 

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This International Day of Happiness (Wednesday 20 March), we’re spreading the word about our Volunteering in North Yorkshire directory (VINY) and the proven benefits of volunteering to boost happiness and wellbeing.

VINY is a free, online website supporting organisations who are searching for volunteers. North Yorkshire based charities, social enterprises and social impact organisations can advertise their voluntary roles on the directory and respond to people who show interest in their volunteering opportunity.

This International Day of Happiness, we want potential volunteers to reap the benefits of volunteering their time and skills to charitable organisations they would like to support.

The National Council for Voluntary Organisation’s (NCVO) report states that over three-quarters of volunteers (77%) reported that volunteering improved their mental health and wellbeing. While Action for Happiness shares, ‘Giving to others through volunteering and in other ways has been associated with reduced depression and anxiety and increased personal wellbeing and happiness… Volunteering is one way to actively participate in social and community life, and strongly associated with happiness and life satisfaction.’

Potential volunteers can use VINY to search for opportunities by location, flexibility and cause. The messaging function allows potential volunteers to contact organisations directly and easily.

Jane Colthup, Chief Executive of Community First Yorkshire, says: “When you volunteer, you’re not only giving the gift of your time to make someone else happy, you’re also helping yourself to feel happy. This International Day of Happiness is a great focus for people to ask themselves ‘What could I do to be happier?’ – if you’re looking for an answer, then volunteering could be it.

“Helping others and feeling more connected to your local community is a brilliant way to boost your spirits.”

We interviewed Marie Curie volunteers to hear about their experiences of combatting loneliness and boosting their happiness through volunteering.

Explore the Volunteering in North Yorkshire directory (VINY) this International Day of Happiness .

Yorkshire communities ‘Go Green’ for Village Halls Week

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Village halls across North, South and West Yorkshire will be taking part in the annual Village Halls Week celebrations, to showcase and encourage green initiatives within community buildings.

Between 18-24 March, Village Halls Week is a national campaign celebrating village halls for their contributions to their local communities. This year’s theme of ‘Go Green’ will look at how community buildings can become more energy efficient and how village committees can support environmentally friendly behaviours within their own communities.

Throughout the week-long celebration, participating village halls will host their own events, share environmental practices and gain inspiration from environmentally successful community buildings.

Sally Scales, chair at Whixley Village Hall, shares her thoughts: “From pantomimes and festive celebrations to coffee mornings and sports matches, Whixley Village Hall is truly the centre of our community, and has been ever since 1935.

“The Village Halls Week campaign and its ‘Go Green’ messaging has never felt more vital, and now more than ever we need to focus on preserving our community buildings for the next generation. Funding is available for green initiatives, and our village hall is undertaking a decarbonisation project which includes a complete replacement of our old and inefficient heating system. We feel proud to be helping to secure the future of this vital community space. I’d heartily encourage any village hall to use this week as a time to focus on how their venue can go green.”

Jane Colthup, chief executive at Community First Yorkshire, continued: “Village Halls Week provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate the beating hearts of our communities, and this year’s theme of ‘Go Green’ will allow our communities to share knowledge and gain inspiration, helping to preserve our environment and allow our community buildings to thrive for many more successful years to come.

“Whixley Village Hall is the perfect example of what community buildings can do to work towards their green goals, and we’re keen to actively encourage community groups to get in touch with us to see what funding is available to them.”

Community First Yorkshire provides support and advice to village halls across North, South and West Yorkshire, including training, resources and bespoke one to one support. The organisation is the Rural Community Council for North, South and West Yorkshire and a strong advocate for rural issues.

Village Halls Week takes place from Monday 18 to Sunday 24 March 2024.

VCSE non-selective hustings for Combined Authority Mayoral candidates

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Residents in York and North Yorkshire will elect the first ever York and North Yorkshire Mayor on 2 May for the new Combined Authority, giving people more control over investment in our region and how public services are run. But what does this mean for the voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector?

What questions would you ask of Mayoral candidates about their plans to support charities, community groups and social enterprises in our region?

Come along to a non-selective hustings at the Priory Street Centre in York on 16 April (10am – 12 noon) being hosted by Community First Yorkshire and York CVS. People who work or volunteer in the sector are invited to hear from Mayoral candidates and pose questions.

Book your place here.

Not able to attend, email your questions to comms@yorkcvs.org.uk and we will aim to ask these on your behalf during the hustings.

Child Exploitation Awareness week – Programme of Learning

North Yorkshire Safeguarding Children Partnership is supporting the National Working Group to highlight the National Child Exploitation awareness raising day on 18 March 2024. As part of this collaboration, the NYSCP is holding 10 free masterclasses focusing on safeguarding for you to join.

Click this link to view more information on the classes, which will be running from 18-22 March.