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Annual Report 2009-2010 The 2009-2010 Annual Report is in Word format below and available in PDF format. To download a copy please click here. The Audited Accounts are also available in PDF format for the financial year 2009/2010. To download a copy please click here.
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Welcome to GVOC’s Annual Review. The past year has seen particular challenges and changes for both GVOC and the voluntary sector. There can be no doubt that the planned public sector spending cuts and the knock on effect from those cuts will have a real impact on the sector.
in
BME & faith communities in Gateshead has been developed.
This has been a momentous year for GVOC, the borough of Gateshead and the country as a whole.
GVOC has become an incorporated company entailing the formation of a new charity with a new
charity number and company registration number. The borough has had to prepare itself for the
biggest shake up of local funding experienced in most people’s lifetime and the country has elected
The reception team continue to live up to their exemplary reputation, this is apparent from the many positive comments received from people using the building and from GVOC project staff. Marge Greatbatch, the Admin Manager and PA to the Chief Executive, has 15 years experience working for GVOC. Marion Verow and Jaime Wilkie, Admin Officers have been at the desk eight years and five years, respectively. Between them they have a wealth of knowledge and experience, which benefits callers, visitors and GVOC projects. Dealing with visitors and telephone calls has traditionally been a large part of the job for reception staff however, due to the massive increase in internet use, responding to emails received is an equally demanding task. Staff continually update their skills to cope with new technology. The traditional services of printing, photocopying and meeting room bookings will always be available as well as stationery ordering, admin support and invoicing for GVOC projects. For advice and information GVOC reception is your first port of call – we don’t like to say no. The Community Capacity Building Project was set up in 2002 and offers information, training and advice to voluntary organisations and community groups throughout the Borough of Gateshead. Over the past eighteen months the project has delivered a range of activities, including: Training
Children's Workforce Development
Development Work
Since February 2010, the project has developed and delivered an apprenticeship scheme for the Voluntary and Community Sector, funded by the Future Jobs Fund. The Scheme has provided 13 people with six months employment, work experience and training. The project has also been able to offer a sign-posting service, so that any enquiries received by the project can be passed on to other GVOC projects or to appropriate external organisations. Gateshead Advocacy Information Network GAIN continues to support the development of Independent Advocacy in the Borough. In April 2009 GAIN received a three year funding commitment from Department of Health to develop work around the role and value of advocacy in Personalisation. ‘A Stronger Voice’ project has two key aims; to establish the role and place of advocacy within the Personalisation agenda and develop an outcome focused commissioning strategy for advocacy. This work commenced in May 2009; to date GAIN has delivered training sessions on advocacy and self-directed support to over 150 people both locally, regionally and nationally. In addition, GAIN is about to roll out outcomes focused monitoring and evaluation systems across Gateshead Independent Advocacy services, and recently completed a review of models for commissioning Independent Advocacy. In January 2010 GAIN launched a new Gateshead Independent Advocacy Code of Practice, which sets out the four key principles of Independent Advocacy, and standards and performance indicators for advocates and advocacy projects. All advocacy project managers and representatives from Gateshead Council and South of Tyne & Wear PCT signed up to the Code to demonstrate their commitment to work to its principles. In March 2010 GAIN secured the support of Gateshead’s Adult Learning and Skills team in delivering the national advocacy qualification at a price of £300 per learner. Nationally the course costs around £2000. We were also successful in supporting advocates to secure the delivery of Action 4 Advocacy Management training for advocates in Newcastle; previously this ran from Manchester and London only. GAIN was proud to be a partner in the development of a national advocacy conference 15/16 March 2010 in Birmingham, in partnership with national organisations through Advocacy Consortium UK. GAIN was invited to chair the event; this was a great opportunity for us to raise our profile nationally. As a result of the conference we have produced a national Independent Advocacy Manifesto with the partner projects which was published in August 2010. GAIN also became a member of the Steering Group for Older People’s Advocacy Alliance’s (OPAAL) Making It Personal project. GAIN has committed time to several projects for the NE Regional Advocacy Network (NERAN). GAIN’s Co-ordinator has co-chaired NERAN meetings and for the period September 2009 – September 2010 GAIN provided administrative support to NERAN, organising and minuting NERAN meetings, signposting correspondence from other NE organisations and liaising with potential speakers. Funding Information North East is a GVOC project working across the North East. FINE is managed by a group of support and development agencies including CVSs, Local Development Agencies and others from across the region, which form the FINE Development Group, chaired by GVOC. FINE’s main purpose is to research information about funding opportunities and share this information with organisations throughout the voluntary and community sector, in partnership with the CVS network. The work is made up of three strands:
In 2009/10 we provided a range of information services directly to groups or via the CVS newsletters. Some of these included: News You Can Use - a fortnightly ebulletin with a round up of all the latest grant programmes, loan providers and information on generating income, trading and training on funding issues. Grants Bulletin – the paper version of the ebulletin issued every 6 weeks. ConTracked – our newest bulletin, issued monthly for free. This provides details of contracts advertised in the public sector and elsewhere which are relevant to the VCS in the North East as well as information on training and resources and events on commissioning and procurement. North East Guide to Grants for Voluntary Organisations - still one of the most widely used resources for fundraising - with details of the top charitable trusts and foundations which fund organisations in the North East. The Guide includes details of contacts, grants policies, application processes and meeting dates as well as other crucial information and handy hints for any fundraiser. The 10th Edition has so far, been bought by over 350 organisations since its launch in January 08. Thanks once again to The Northern Rock Foundation which provided a book voucher for smaller organisations providing them with significant discount on the full cost of the Guide. In all over 540 users subscribed to or purchased one or more of FINE’s information services and 6000 VCS individuals and partners benefited through the FINE information used in the CVS’s newsletters. FINE’s support for Funding Advisers working in CVSs continued with a variety of events in 2009/10 including: Funding Advice Work Network (FAWN) - Bi-monthly network meetings where advisers heard funders talk about their latest programmes and issues affecting the wider funding climate. A conference on the future of funding in March was attended by 58 delegates who heard about ideas for sustainable funding from speakers from the statutory and voluntary sectors including a keynote address from Rob Williamson from the Community Foundation for Tyne and Wear and Northumberland. A training and mentoring programme to support advisers to develop sustainable funding skills was undertaken with:
Other training included specialist support for the Regional Refugee Service on Contracting and the Tyne and Wear Infrastructure Consortia on Commissioning. FINE’s links to funders continued through our work organising the North East Funders Forum (NEFF) where funders from the voluntary and statutory sectors meet to share information and listen to speakers on topical issues. This year the Forum heard speakers from influential think tanks, representatives from the Cabinet Office, and leading researchers on policy topics affecting the VCS. The North East Trust Secretaries Group also met regularly and FINE attended to provide input from the Funding Advice Workers Network and to feedback issues from these funders to that group and in other strategic forums. Funding for the project for two days per week was secured from Gateshead Council during 2009-10 and from the Capacity Builders Modernisation Fund via the Tyne & Wear Infrastructure Consortium to fund a Tyne and Wear wide, Community Accountancy Project with GVOC taking the lead. Community Accountancy Services North East has been developed as part of the Capacity Builders project and has proved valuable in raising the standards of service providers and support for those providers in giving that provision. It has also enabled the groups and organisations that access the service to have an improved standard of service and increase their own efficiency. Accountancy services throughout the year included:
In total support has been given to 73 groups and over 193 sessions this year. Local Involvement Network (LINk) Local Involvement Networks (LINKs) are independent bodies set up by the Department of Health in each local authority to involve local people in health and social care. In Gateshead the LINk is hosted by GVOC. We are in the middle of a period of exciting change following the publication of the White Paper ‘Liberating the NHS’. If, as seem likely, the proposals in it are implemented, it will mean LINks being transformed into bodies to be known as local HealthWatch with an expanded role and an even bigger part to play in health and social care. Gateshead LINk is run by a Steering Group which is elected by the members at our annual event. This group sets the objectives and work plan which they, the staff and volunteers implement. We have 4 working groups looking at the topics of
These working groups see staff, steering group member’s volunteers and representatives of other voluntary and statutory groups coming together to improve health and social care in Gateshead. This may be through the holding of events, the dissemination of information or training and representation. Gateshead LINk is a member of the major Health and Social Care Partnership Boards in the Borough and the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment Working Group. The Gateshead LINk website and our e-bulletin are very popular and an excellent way of keeping in touch with our members. The LINk has recently restructured so that we can be more responsive to the forthcoming changes. We are now staffed by 2 full time workers, a Co-ordinator, and an Engagement and Involvement Officer and 2 part time staff, an Information Officer and an Administrator. We’re confident that GVOC, the Steering Group and the LINk staff will respond to the change to local HealthWatch and will continue to work together to deliver representation and service improvement in health and social care in Gateshead. AASHA project is a collaboration between GVOC and SADA (Services Access for Disabilities Action), a group set up in 2006 to help Gateshead Learning Disabilities Partnership Board achieve the ‘Valuing People’ objectives and specifically targeted at service provision for people with learning disabilities within Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Communities. GVOC already had a very good understanding of delivering race equality in relation to mental health within BME and Faith Communities through the ‘aTENSION’ project so this was an ideal partnership to take forward the work on delivering race equality in relation to learning disability. Research carried out by the GVOC and SADA partnership in 2008 identified the need for a full time Community Development Worker to increase understanding and have better insight into the needs of people with learning disabilities from BME and Faith Communities. The Valuing People White Paper (DoH, 2001) prioritised the ‘Equalities agenda’ and the need to identify issues of people with learning disabilities from BME and Faith communities. The Paper highlighted that partnership boards and services for people with learning disabilities must take into consideration ethnicity, religion and the culture of service users and they are also obliged to consult both families and community networks, in the planning process. The AASHA project will aid this process by creating opportunities for better communication, taking into consideration issues identified locally by BME and Faith communities. The main objectives of the AASHA project is to identify the number of people with learning disabilities from BME and Faith Communities living in Gateshead and find out how their learning disability effects their lives and the lives of their carers. The project will also encourage the people it makes contact with to raise awareness of the issues affecting them and therefore influence service providers to develop a more inclusive approach to the delivery and planning of future services. In due course this should increase access and participation by people from BME and Faith communities to access the services available for people with learning disabilities. Since the appointment of a community development worker for the project in April 2010, progress of the project has been at a steady pace. Through contact with BME projects and people with learning disabilities from BME and Faith communities, the project has been successful in identifying some of the areas of concern for people with learning disabilities and their carers. Regular feedback is provided to the Learning Disabilities Partnership Board and also the project is helping the board to assess how well they are doing in improving services for people with learning disabilities from BME communities. The Delivering Race Equality (DRE) in mental health programme continues to work closely with the Black and Minority Ethnic community and organisations, service providers and the voluntary and statutory sector. In October, the aTENSION project together with other Community Development Workers (CDWs) in the North East region organised a conference to showcase their work three years since the start of the programme. The conference was well attended and the national director of the DRE Programme was present. The project was also actively involved in ‘Gateshead Together Week’ through planning of a Diversity Day at Gateshead Stadium and having stalls at other events in the course of the week to raise awareness in mental health among the BME community. The project organised two events one for women and another for men to discuss mental health issues affecting the community. We carried out intense outreach work through attending numerous other statutory and community events, like the Civic Centre Open Day and the Nigerian Community Event, mail outs, shop and street leaflet dissemination. We were trained in the Race Equality and Cultural Awareness Programme and will be delivering it to frontline medical staff. We continue to deliver a parallel training on “Mental Health is how you feel” in different community languages to the community. We contributed to the BME Mental Health Needs Assessment (South of Tyne) and continue to work on the recommendations of the report that was published in October 2009. The team had a successful partnership with the catering team at Queen Elizabeth Hospital that culminated into a staff study day to discuss cultural and religious issues around food and the launch of a culturally appropriate menu in different languages. In the past one and a half years, we have also supported over 60 BME people to access community groups and services, to participate in wellbeing sessions and others into volunteering and full-time employment. We have also referred several people to GPs for medical advice, to GVOC for funding advice, and some to their Local Councillors for issues on immigration. Network developments Our long standing Chair, Lynne Caffrey, stepped down having been successfully elected as a Labour Councillor for Chopwell and Rowlands Gill Ward in May 2009. Joan Moon is now our new Chair with Hugh Kelly becoming Vice Chair. Joan Moon is also a member of the Gateshead Commission on Child and Family Poverty and Gateshead’s Children’s Trust Board. GCN continues to have representatives on the GSP, the Local Area Agreement Partnerships and the Council’s Area Forums. We are also members of Gateshead’s Community Cohesion Working Group and Gateshead Together Week Planning Group. GCN Small Grants Fund The Small Grants Fund supported 31 Voluntary and Community groups in Gateshead to purchase reconditioned IT equipment from the new Social Enterprise Express IT based in Birtley. GCN Consultations We have continued to support partner organisations by conducting community consultations on their behalf as detailed below: Gateshead Library Service: We conducted consultations within 5 branch libraries across Gateshead: Birtley, Wrekenton, Chopwell, Pelaw and Blaydon. The consultations formed part of the Council’s Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Review (OSC) regarding the impact of the library service in Gateshead. We consulted 186 library users and the results were presented to the OSC in December 2009. Northumbria Police: Members of the team and GCN volunteers delivered an intensive community consultation as part of Northumbria Police’s Operation WAYS (We Asked You Said). We consulted 3362 local people across 5 neighbourhood areas. Local police subsequently acted upon specific community safety and crime concerns raised by local people during the consultation process. Blaydon Primary Care Centre and Leisure Centre: Members of the team co-ordinated and delivered community consultation drop in sessions in the West and Inner West of the Borough regarding the proposed centre. A total of 455 local people were consulted and the results were included in the final Health Impact Assessment Report on the PCC and Leisure Centre that was presented to the PCT Board. Vision 2030 Refresh: Members of the team and partners conducted a series of community consultation re: the Vision 2030 refresh. In total GCN consulted with 487 local people as part of this process. GCN and Young People Police Cadet Scheme We have been involved in helping to set up a Northumbria Police Cadet Scheme. This will be piloted in the Inner West area of Gateshead before being rolled out to the rest of Gateshead. GCN Junior Network (School Councils) The 2009 Conference was based around one of the Vision 2030 6 Big Ideas “Global Gateshead”. There were 107 young people in attendance from 14 Gateshead schools. The young people considered what was good about living and working in Gateshead and their ideas were presented to Gateshead Strategic Partnership. We held a planning day for the October 2010 conference in July that was attended by 120 young people from 20 schools. GCN Project work REIP Innovation Fund: We were successful in a partnership bid with Gateshead Council to recruit and train a total of 28 local people in Community Participatory Appraisal via Northumbria University PEANuT’s course. ‘Our Gateshead’ website We have worked with Gateshead Council’s Library Service to set up and establish a community website. Mark Shilcock joined our team as the Community IT Support Officer for the Our Gateshead project. He continues to maintain the site and support local community groups to develop web pages whereby they can promote their services and encourage new members. By end of September 2010 a total of 53 groups were active on the site. Health Inequalities GCN continues to be involved in ongoing Health Inequalities work in Bensham and Saltwell, Highfield, and Wrekenton with South of Tyne & Wear PCT and Gateshead Council. Community Development Ian Blake joined the team in July 2010 as our Community Development Officer. He has worked with 25 community and voluntary sector groups offering a wide variety of development support. Community Development Strategy GCN and Gateshead Council delivered a joint Community Development event in June 2010 at the Lyndhurst Centre in Gateshead. It was attended by 100 delegates comprising of local residents, community groups and statutory partners. The event informed delegates of the progress made against the Community Development Strategy Action Plan and sought to identify additional training and development needs amongst community and statutory organisations as well as individual residents. This year has been one of growth and change for the Volunteer Centre. Two of the three staff in the centre during 2008/9 changed job roles, and we welcomed two new members of staff to the office, increasing the Volunteer Centre to five members of staff. GVOC was part of a successful bid for a pilot ‘Generations Together’ project – bringing older and younger people together through joint volunteering opportunities. The Volunteer Centre now hosts a part-time recruitment officer for this project (see Generations Together). The Volunteer Centre had also welcomed a tenant – a Schools Advisor employed directly by v, a national government initiative; unfortunately the v schools programme was discontinued by the new government. The Volunteer Centre Manager attends strategic meetings as one of the delivery partners for the six big ideas of Vision 2030. She has been instrumental in the development of Gateshead Council’s Employer Supported Volunteering Scheme, and represents Volunteer Centre Gateshead on a range of committees and infrastructure bodies. Furthermore, she jointly delivers training with the vinvolved team Youth Volunteering Development Manager (see vinvolved team training report). Volunteer Centre Gateshead facilitates the Gateshead Volunteer Network, a support group for Volunteer Involving Organisations in the borough. Membership enables volunteer coordinators to remain informed, to share information, good practice and is an opportunity to network. The number of organisations attending has steadily risen. In conjunction with our dedicated Recruitment and Admin Officer, the Volunteer Centre staff offer 1:1 brokerage appointments with volunteers over 25 and administer the online application system. As a Volunteer Centre we have (between April 2009 and September 2010)
This demonstrates the demand for and popularity of volunteering in the current economic climate. Of these people, 29.7% were unemployed, up from 19.4% during 2008/9. Outreach and Events In spite of the high demand for appointments and the constant stream of online applications from the public, we have still managed to work on events and perform outreach in the community. Make A Difference Day is a national campaign in which thousands of people come together to make a difference to their communities. This year the vinvolved team and the Volunteer Centre worked in partnership with the Leaving Care Team and Gateshead Cultural Volunteers to create a community art project. The event, held at the Baltic Art Gallery, resulted in a large piece of community art being produced by volunteers on the day. The artwork was based on Gateshead, using the theme of the song ‘Blaydon Races’. This artwork was then donated to the Young People’s Support Centre at Hilda House, to brighten up their drop in service for young people. During Volunteers Week in June, the Volunteer Centre organised a ‘Picnic in the Park’ event, where volunteer involving organisations invited their dedicated volunteers to celebrate their commitment. In spite of torrential rain, over 50 volunteers and a dozen organisations attended, were greeted by the Mayor of Gateshead and entertained by Calabash, an over-50s Samba band based at The Sage. Gateshead vinvolved team The vinvolved team have continued to promote the benefits of volunteering to young people aged 16-25 and worked with organisations to develop a wide range of volunteering opportunities across the borough. The Youth Volunteer Advisor works directly with young people, performing community outreach and promoting the benefits of volunteering. They also provide a 1:1 service, matching young people with volunteering opportunities which reflect their interests and skills. During this period, the advisor has brokered 468 young people into volunteering opportunities across Gateshead. 353 of those young people had never volunteered before. The effect of the recession has had a marked effect on the motivations of young people accessing the service. Increasing numbers of young people are looking to volunteering as a way of developing soft skills valued by employers in areas such as teamwork, leadership and communication. Almost 18% of young people accessing the service were not in education, employment or training this year in comparison to 12.9% in 2008/9. The Youth Volunteer Development Manager (YVDM) has supported organisations to develop and promote:
This has increased the breadth and variety of volunteering available to the people of Gateshead in a period of unprecedented demand for volunteering opportunities. In many types of opportunity, such as admin and mentoring, demand has outpaced supply. The YVDM’s work has been vital in ensuring the provision of safe, fulfilling volunteering opportunities which appeal to a wide range of interests. Awareness Raising The vinvolved team have visited schools and college campuses, visited organisations and groups and contributed to events across every neighbourhood area of Gateshead, allowing young people to access advice and guidance in their own communities and raising awareness of the service with a wide variety of organisations. We have further developed relationships with staff at referral agencies such as NHS South of Tyne and Wear PCT, Connexions, Gateshead College, JobCentre Plus, Social Services, Directions Team (Gateshead College) and training providers such as A4E. Most of these organisations have now become regular referral routes to the project. Youth Led Action The Youth Action Team has organised 3 youth led projects during this period. vpart of it was a one day mini-festival in August 2009 which took place at the Centre for Life, raising awareness about volunteering. The event was a joint project with YATs from across Tyne & Wear. The day showcased the diverse range of volunteering opportunities on offer across the region with information stands, the BigvBus and performances from young volunteer bands and singers. The YAT successfully gained funding from the Safe, Sensible, Social, Small Grants fund and the Youth Alcohol Awareness fund to develop a project around binge drinking. The project included the creation of a magazine called Trashed. The magazine highlights alternatives to binge drinking including leisure activities, courses and volunteering. The magazine was launched with a fashion show in May 2010 at Gateshead College which also promoted the importance of supporting local charity shops. The YAT have also been heavily involved in the creation of an awareness raising DVD showcasing the work of the vinvolved Team and the benefits the project has to young people in the borough. YAT members took on different roles in the project which included media related opportunities such as camera work, animation and editing. Some of our volunteers were also interviewed as part of the case studies throughout the DVD. The DVD will be launched at an event in October 2010. Attendees will receive a copy of the DVD and report highlighting the work and successes of vinvolved Gateshead. Presentations will also take place by young people who have benefited from the project. We were delighted to hear that one of our YAT volunteers, Gem Tunstall, had been shortlisted in the ‘Young Leader’ category of the VONNE Awards 2009. Training The vinvolved team have continued to offer training to organisations across Gateshead. 8 training sessions were delivered on the following areas:
These courses have been oversubscribed and positively received by organisations supporting volunteers. Generations Together ‘Generations Together’ aims to break down barriers between young people and older people through a range of volunteering opportunities. The project is a partnership between GVOC, Gateshead Older People’s Assembly, Age Concern Gateshead, Gateshead Council and Action for Children. Funded jointly by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, the former Office of the Third Sector, the Department for Health and the Department for Work and Pensions, Gateshead is one of 12 pilot areas which has secured £400,000 to deliver innovative intergenerational projects. The Volunteer Centre has hosted a part-time Volunteer Recruitment Officer since November 2009. The Officer’s role is to promote the volunteering opportunities on offer as part of Generations Together and to broker people into the projects. To the end of Sept 2010 we have recruited 182 young people and 44 older people. We have exceeded our target for recruiting young people and are focusing on recruiting older volunteers for the remainder of the project. Outreach events have taken place at Gateshead College, local schools, training providers, community and leisure centres and older people’s groups. The Volunteer Recruitment Officer has also provided advice and support as required to the Generations Together project staff. The Generations Together ‘Press and Events Team’ – have a busy few months ahead of them, supported by the Volunteer Recruitment Officer, the Press and Events Team are responsible for planning and organising a prestigious end of project celebration event at Baltic in March 2011. GVOC offers a service to groups and individuals to support them with payroll administration. There were 28 groups using the service. We calculate their wages, issue payslips, reports and make payments to staff and Inland Revenue. We also provide a service to individuals receiving Direct Payments/Individual Budgets from the local authority to employ personal assistants. This service expanded during the year from 110 to completing year-end returns for 175 clients in April 2010. By September 2010 there were 194 clients. Many of the people receiving direct payments have never employed anyone before and GVOC provides advice and support if necessary to people uncertain about employment and financial issues. 48 People in Need searches have been carried out. Requests for assistance range enormously. Almost 100 Funding advice sessions have taken place. There is a regular, up-to-date funding section in every GVOC newsletter for our members. Information sheets relating to funding and funding issues are available from our website or from the reception desk. GVOC’s funding adviser is available to contact Monday to Friday, during office hours. Victoria Clark can advise groups on which sources of funding to apply to, which funders to approach, when to approach them and what you must do before, during and after receiving any grants. GVOC’s Funding event this year incorporated all services provided by GVOC and some partner agencies. This covered specific advice and information to groups direct on governance, fire safety, volunteering, funding, payroll, energy efficiency in community buildings and involving local people. Other events/workshops have included BIG Lottery Fund programmes. GVOC’s Funding section on the website and onsite library is frequently updated and regularly visited. John Haswell Memorial Trust Although the John Haswell Memorial Trust discontinued in January 2009 we continue to receive some funding from Gateshead MetroCentre and Bookers Cash and Carry on the Team Valley. The Grants Panel will meet once a year to administer this funding to local groups in Gateshead. The John Haswell Memorial Trust awards grants from £25 - £400 for start up costs, equipment, activities, education and general charitable activities. GVOC member organisations will be informed when applications will be accepted again. GVOC would like to thank Gateshead MetroCentre for their tremendous support over the past 15 years and Bookers staff and customers for their more recent support. We continue to look forward to a productive and friendly working relationship. The Trust still administers two other funds too, The Great North Forest Travel Grants and the Safe, Sensible, Social grants scheme. Great North Forest Travel Grants Awards grants from £25 - £100 for transport costs to voluntary organisations to visit the Great North Forest area for a day. This fund is still active although expected to cease very soon. Safe, Sensible, Social Grants On behalf of the NHS Trust, South of Tyne and Wear, GVOC are administering small grants of up to £5,000 to projects and activities which help alleviate alcohol related issues in the local community. This is a very innovative scheme and we look forward to another productive year of working relations with the PCT. Some examples of projects funded include awareness events including an alcohol free bar; health days; gardening projects; drama productions; newsletters; residential courses and activities. Grassroots Grants Scheme GVOC are happy to continue assisting the Community Foundation of Tyne & Wear in the administration of the Grassroots grants for Gateshead. GVOC are pleased to inform you that all of Gateshead’s allocation was well spent in years 1 and 2 and we are on target to reach spending targets for year 3. Examples of grants awarded include community festivals, events, equipment, travel and running costs, for all kinds of groups - sports clubs, tenants groups, community centres and heritage organisations. GVOC’s Management Committee take their health and safety responsibilities very seriously. The support given to staff to make John Haswell House a safe place to work and visit speaks volumes through the accident statistics. In the period March 2009 – April 2010 we recorded 7 accidents. 3 of which were minor incidents (could have been avoided) 2 involved people with ongoing medical conditions. 1 serious accident resulted in hospitalisation to a member of staff and a long absence. This accident did not happen on GVOC land or premises. GVOC’s Health and Safety Sub committee is made up of several staff members who meet regularly to review and implement all Health and Safety matters for John Haswell House staff and visitors. We have gained considerable knowledge in a variety of Health and Safety areas in the work place and share this with our members through our regular newsletter. We are also happy to give initial advice and help, to organisations on improving their Health and Safety in the workplace. A hidden but essential part of GVOC is the Finance Section. GVOC has a relatively large budget and is a complex organisation with core staff and project staff all paid for through a myriad of funding streams. The three Finance Officers manage all of this plus the payroll service (reported on separately) in an efficient and creative manner ensuring that limited resources are put to the best purpose on behalf of GVOC and the Gateshead voluntary and community sector. Staff and Volunteers April 2009 - September 2010
Management Committee April 2009 - September 2010
GVOC GVOC gratefully acknowledges the assistance from all its funders and supporters and in particular Gateshead Council for its major contribution. |
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