Volunteer of the Year Awards 22
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Nominations are open for this years Volunteer of the Year Awards.
There are 8 categories with the Regional Hero award being divided up over 5 areas in Argyll & Bute! Nominations close at 12pm on the 29th of April, so what are you waiting for??? Get nominating here! |
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Communities Mental Health & Wellbeing Fund boost
25/2/22
Great news for local charities, voluntary organisations and community groups this week as a further £411,000 of funding was released as part of the TSI managed Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund on top of the £285,000 announced last December. This was initially established with £15 million allocated by the Scottish Government to support mental health and well-being in communities across Scotland.
The Argyll & Bute Third Sector Interface (ABTSI) opened applications to the fund in November 2021 with the initial level of funding being £285k. The fund was inundated with applications from across the county.
Takki Sulaiman, CEO of ABTSI said, "There was a fantastic response from local groups with the fund nearly three times oversubscribed.
In a new way of working, the TSI team directly supported groups to produce the best possible applications so when we were asked by the Scottish Government could we use more funding for good quality services we were able to say yes as almost all applicants had reached a high standard. We look forward to ensuring the funds are put to good use for vulnerable people in our communities as soon as possible.”
The decision panel was made up of local stakeholders, partners and a person with mental health lived experience, they had a tough job to identify how funding was allocated across the applicants.
The Scottish Government took into account the level of high-quality applications and provided the extra funding which allows 48 of the organisations who met the quality threshold to be fully funded for their projects.
The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is part of the wider £120 million Recovery and Renewal Fund announced in February 2021 to ensure delivery of the commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan in response to the mental health need arising from the pandemic.
Funds will be released in the coming weeks.
The Argyll & Bute Third Sector Interface (ABTSI) opened applications to the fund in November 2021 with the initial level of funding being £285k. The fund was inundated with applications from across the county.
Takki Sulaiman, CEO of ABTSI said, "There was a fantastic response from local groups with the fund nearly three times oversubscribed.
In a new way of working, the TSI team directly supported groups to produce the best possible applications so when we were asked by the Scottish Government could we use more funding for good quality services we were able to say yes as almost all applicants had reached a high standard. We look forward to ensuring the funds are put to good use for vulnerable people in our communities as soon as possible.”
The decision panel was made up of local stakeholders, partners and a person with mental health lived experience, they had a tough job to identify how funding was allocated across the applicants.
The Scottish Government took into account the level of high-quality applications and provided the extra funding which allows 48 of the organisations who met the quality threshold to be fully funded for their projects.
The Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund is part of the wider £120 million Recovery and Renewal Fund announced in February 2021 to ensure delivery of the commitments set out in the Mental Health Transition and Recovery Plan in response to the mental health need arising from the pandemic.
Funds will be released in the coming weeks.
30/11/2021
Applications are now being accepted so submit your Expression of Interest by January 10th 2022 at 10am or a Full Application by January 24th 2022 at 10am.
TSI staff are able to help you at each stage of the application so if you have any questions you wish to discuss please drop us an email on info@argylltsi.org.uk
For more information, visit the dedicated fund page here.
TSI staff are able to help you at each stage of the application so if you have any questions you wish to discuss please drop us an email on info@argylltsi.org.uk
For more information, visit the dedicated fund page here.
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Message from the CEO The last two months have been particularly busy for the third sector and community organisations as many of you have been grappling with readjusting the way you work and delivering for your communities in sometimes new ways. |
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The government too is keen to support our sector in tackling some of the inequalities that have appeared as a result of the pandemic and we are pleased to announce that Argyll and Bute has
been awarded £285,000 to be distributed in grants for community groups to support communities and promote mental health and wellbeing. The TSI will be administering the scheme, which will open to applications by 30th November 2021, and we will launch an online consultation event on 16th November to better understand what you would like to see funded. There are national guidelines but there is considerable room to tailor these to suit our local needs.
Work continues apace on our new Inveraray Hub so keep a look out for when this will open as the space will be equipped with the latest conferencing equipment and will be free to members. Talking of members our AGM takes place on 13th December 2021 and we are also looking for three new board members to support our four existing trustees. More details on our website about both.
Our database is being built and will be ready in the next two months. This will be a key resource and we ask that you help us keep your details and services up to date so we can promote what you do in a single community service directory. This will help promote what you do to referring agencies and help identify gaps in services. The database will also help us power a whole range of new services from a fully functional self service area on our website to surveys to online learning tools.
I am also pleased to welcome two new Third Sector Support Advisors bringing the total to four. Paul Darbyshire (Helensburgh and Lomond) and Petra Pearce (Oban, Lorn and the Isles) will be in touch to better understand your supports needs and to help gather data on the difference you are making in your communities."
been awarded £285,000 to be distributed in grants for community groups to support communities and promote mental health and wellbeing. The TSI will be administering the scheme, which will open to applications by 30th November 2021, and we will launch an online consultation event on 16th November to better understand what you would like to see funded. There are national guidelines but there is considerable room to tailor these to suit our local needs.
Work continues apace on our new Inveraray Hub so keep a look out for when this will open as the space will be equipped with the latest conferencing equipment and will be free to members. Talking of members our AGM takes place on 13th December 2021 and we are also looking for three new board members to support our four existing trustees. More details on our website about both.
Our database is being built and will be ready in the next two months. This will be a key resource and we ask that you help us keep your details and services up to date so we can promote what you do in a single community service directory. This will help promote what you do to referring agencies and help identify gaps in services. The database will also help us power a whole range of new services from a fully functional self service area on our website to surveys to online learning tools.
I am also pleased to welcome two new Third Sector Support Advisors bringing the total to four. Paul Darbyshire (Helensburgh and Lomond) and Petra Pearce (Oban, Lorn and the Isles) will be in touch to better understand your supports needs and to help gather data on the difference you are making in your communities."
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Do you work or support a 16-24 year old not in work or studies?
The Young Person's Guarantee has been underway in Argyll & Bute for the last few months and in that time we have developed a pathway that will enable the young people to be fully supported by professional mentors to get the best out of their volunteering experience. There is a vast selection of volunteer opportunities available with some of Argyll & Bute's best known charities, ranging from outdoor placements, the use of digital skills, retail experience and supporting the community. Partners such as SDS and DWP are fully briefed on the programme but referrals can also be made by the young person themselves, family members or third sector organisations who support them. To find out more click on the button below. Young Person's Guarantee |
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Progress has begun with our Inveraray Hub. The building has passed the appropriate fire regulations after having fire detection and prevention installed throughout, superfast broadband is up and running along with a new phoneline, a video conferencing solution with Logitech Meeting Rooms is being installed as we speak to provide the best hybrid model meeting facility. We also now have multi functional tables that can be used separately or as 1 large meeting table to suit individual organisations requirements when using the hub and a state of the art coffee machine to keep you fuelled throughout your day! Did you know tea and coffee is complimentary when you use the hub? |
The incredible view from our new hub
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Delighted to announce that we have 2 new Third Sector Support Advisors. A big warm welcome to Paula, who is covering Helensburgh & Lomond and a big welcome back to Petra, who is covering Oban, Lorn & the Isles. They wanted to introduce themselves to you all below.
Paula Darbyshire has joined Argyll and Bute TSI as a Third Sector Support Advisor for Helensburgh and Lomond. She has lived in the Helensburgh area with her family for 20 years. Paula is excited to join the team and anticipates that her role will be both busy and challenging but she looks forward to supporting a wide range of organisations and serving her local community. She brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from previous roles in housing, finance and the public sector. Paula is passionate about the third sector and has first hand experience of being a volunteer and as an active fund raiser for numerous charities through a variety of sporting achievements.
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I was attracted to the role at A&B TSI because it is a constantly evolving organisation with a clear goal to support the Third Sector. I am an Ileach born on Islay and after extensive travelling I settled back on the island over 25 years ago. I realise the value the Third Sector brings to the area and recognise the ingenuity and passion of the those working in the sector. I started my career in the Third Sector over 20 years ago as the Manager of an Advice Centre. I learned quickly that access to free, impartial and informed advice enabled individuals to make a positive difference to their lives. As your Third Sector Support Advsior, I will be applying the same principles of advice giving to groups to enable them to be sustainable, to be heard and to be effective. I have set up charities, dissolved charities, applied for funding, chaired AGM’s, written constitutions, consulted and ran events. I have empathy for those working in the Third Sector and love a challenge. I am really excited to be part of a team supporting organisations across Oban, Lorne and the Isles. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch I am here to help.
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A new Communities Mental Health and Wellbeing Fund has been established with £15 million allocated to support mental health and well-being in communities across Scotland this year as part of a £120m investment plan. The Scottish Government has made the decision to appoint Third Sector Interfaces to allocate the fund and Argyll and Bute Third Sector Interface has been allocated £285,284.40 to distribute amongst the third sector by the end of March 2022.
We are setting up the application process and will publicise full details as soon as the fund is ready to go live! For more information on the fund click here. |
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Watch the video from Takki, with an announcement regarding our board! |
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We were overwhelmed with the response to our Trustee Survey that went out last month and helped shape an Argyll & Bute wide Trustee overview. Trustees' week was this week and what a week it was! We had interviews with some of the wonderful Trustees in our communities, including our very own board member Nicola Porciani, a wide range of events hosted from a variety of organisations as well as access to a "what type of trustee are you?" quiz.
To top it all off, we had a very important announcement from Takki that we are looking for 3 new Trustees to join our dynamic board! Our board meet 4 times a year (quarterly) and again for an AGM at the end of the year. If you would like more information, click here or email info@argylltsi.org.uk. We look forward to hearing from you. Click here to visit our Trustees' Week website page. |
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Our Third Sector Support Advisors have been working hard to support the sector over the past few months. Here are just a few case studies with very kind words for the team.
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The Meeting Place
The Meeting Place is moving into a new phase of development. In our new base at 53 Hillfoot Street we are now open 3 days a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays between 11 and 3. Between these hours we will be running a programme of activities which we hope will help to develop our participants skills and further support their mental wellbeing. Obviously we are very sorry to have lost our shop, The Trading Post to a fire, as we had been hoping to be able to develop a drop in centre in the town. These plans are currently on hold while we reassess our position and deal with our insurers. Throughout these changes we have been fortunate to have the support of the TSI and the advice of Sandy McLeod who has been most helpful when we have struggled to find information for ourselves. - Michael Smith-Tennent Project Director |
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Blairmore Village Trust
Board Members of Blairmore Village Trust (CIC) participated in Governance training in July. The training was delivered by TSI (Sandy & Margaret) and we all found it to be extremely helpful. It allowed us to assess our priorities to improve some aspects of our work; for example reviewing and updating some key policies. Due to the pandemic restrictions, the training was delivered via Zoom. We were all a little bit apprehensive but it worked out well on the day. We are now gradually emerging from all of the restrictions and will be restarting our weekly community 'Shore Hub' from 4th November. - Agnes Harvey Blairmore Village Trust CIC |
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Tarbert Soup Group & Tarbert Youth Group
Tarbert Soup Group continues every Monday and Friday with a fresh delivery of homemade soup and puddings and some wee treats. This is delivered to each member’s doorstep for now as there have been a few cases in Tarbert of covid and we feel it’s best to stay vigilant and safe. We continue to run our foodbank/ pantry from the premises on a Wednesday and offer emergency supplies when required. Tarbert Youth Group is ongoing in the building every Monday and Friday evening with strict procedures and rigorous enhanced cleaning and fogging. We are currently focussing on mental health and well-being, litter picking, outreach, easy cooking and lots more. Both Kellie and myself have been doing a lot of training recently and are hoping to offer more training for our young people in the very near future. We have a new young youth leader assistant Gary, who has been a fantastic asset to our team and is really enthusiastic and involved . We enjoy being able to liaise with TSI on a regular basis and share information and resources . - Heather Bellshaw Tarbert Soup Group & Tarbert Youth Group |
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Tobermory Fisherman's Pier Association
It was agreed by the members of an existing, outdated and somewhat dysfunctional association that we needed to dissolve the association and start again with a new up to date, modern and more realistic association. As Secretary/Treasurer of the old Association, it was beyond my skills to confidently start up a completely new association. Some of the old office bearers contacted Mr Moray Finch, General Manager at Mull and Iona Community Trust. He in turn asked if we would mind if he drafted in the help of his business acquaintance at Third Sector Interface, Ms Margaret Wallace, a Third Sector Support Officer. An initial meeting was set up by Moray, from this point on I knew we were in safe hands. Margaret has been an absolute God-send. Both Moray and Margaret gave much needed accurate help and advice regarding the writing of the dissolving of the old association, writing a new updated accurate constitution for the new association, and explained certain aspects of the constitution that myself and some of the new office bearers were not 100% sure about. After helping us with the constitution, Margaret then proceeded to apply to OSCR on our behalf for a charity status for our new association. I could not believe it when Margaret emailed to say our application had been successful!! We now have a charity status!! This means so much to us, we will hopefully now have access to more funding opportunities to help with much needed repairs to a historical landmark. Margaret has said she will help me with anything I am not sure about now we are a registered charity. I cannot begin to tell you how comforting it is knowing that Margaret is available to help. Thank you Margaret for everything you have done, and everything you may need to help me with in the coming months and years :-) -Sarah at Tobermory Fisherman's Pier Association |
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The volunteer section of our website has been updated.
You can now find information on best practice, volunteer policy, supporting volunteers, volunteer recruitment and PVG's. As well as details of our volunteering portal and Saltire Awards. Click here to visit the page today. |
We are now an accredited Volunteer Friendly awarding centre.
Our Third Sector Support Advisors will shortly be undergoing training on all aspects of Volunteer Friendly to enable us to support Third Sector organisations in the process. Click here for more information on the Volunteer Friendly Award. |
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We were very fortunate to host the Find Your Brand Voice Workshop in August run by Adam Piggot, a Graphic Designer, Brand Strategy Specialist, Workshop Leader for the Common Good.
Our Business Manager, Lauren, attended as over the past few months we have been reassessing all aspects of our business as a Third Sector Interface. This was an excellent opportunity for Lauren to refresh how we present ourselves through our channels of communication, including social media, mailings and face to face interactions. Due to the nature of the workshop, it is best suited to a small group of attendees to be able to get the most out of it. With the success of August's workshop we will be running the event again in the future. To register interest in this please email laurenmartin@argylltsi.org.uk. |
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'Inspire Young Ileachs' is a National Lottery Young Start funded employability project for young people aged 16-25 who are facing barriers to personal and career development, especially in a rural or island setting. As well as employability training and work placements, we will provide a wide array of development tools and health and wellbeing support to young people who need help in finding their next steps to create positive futures, based at Mactaggart Youth and Families Outreach Services, within the 'Cyber' building in Port Ellen, Islay. We recognise that in this post pandemic landscape, our young people need motivational support as well as confidence building and strategies for maintaining mental health. They need reassurance that they are a vital part of their local communities. By combining employability training with therapeutic activities (gym, dance, outdoor team sports and bushcraft), they will be supported in making stronger connections with each other and their local communities. As well as this we'll be making some amazing adaptions to our building to create better training and workshop spaces. Working with partner employers, trainers and community partners across the island, and allowing our young people the much needed safe space, facilities and experience to develop their talents and entrepreneurial ideas to their full potential. Our project is unique as it allows us to operate as a wraparound local service by working in parallel with other mainland programmes, increasing the chances of keeping our young people focused and motivated on their chosen path. As well as this we have just embarked on a fruitful partnership with the This Is Islay podcast team, to open up access to digital media training and broadcasting to young people, and we have been funded by The Sisters Trust to run 'She Can' - our project supporting young women and girls in a rural setting, for another year. For more information on any of our clubs or projects and details of our referral process, email larah@mactcc.org.uk or call 07493408086
-Larah McKay, Manager MacTaggart Youth and Families Outreach Services |
We recently went out to the sector for nominations for representation on the Locality Planning Groups (LPGS).
There is now third sector representation on all localities ready for the restarting of the meetings. |
We are excited to be hosting, in partnership with Inspiralba and Argyll & Bute Council, an in-person, with the option to join remotely, get together on the 8th of November in Inveraray.
Click here to find out more and register your place. |
Bute Advice Centre recently presented the Flexible Food Fund Roadshow in collaboration with Argyll & Bute Council, The Community Food Forum and Alienergy, visiting all areas in Argyll & Bute. Since August representatives from both Bute Advice Centre and ALIenergy have visited Islay, Jura, Mid-Argyll, Gigha, Mull, Iona, Colonsay, Oban, Kintyre, Mid-Argyll, Helensburgh and Lomond, Coll & Tiree.
The purpose of the roadshow was to meet with professional agencies who are working with households who are on a low income and have no access to savings and would meet the cirteria for the Flexible Food Fund grant. By highlighting the benefits of the grant along with welfare rights and energy support we hope the programme will be widely publicised and the amount of households supported will increase. Manager, Julie Semple, would be very grateful if anyone working with households in these areas could give her a call on 01700 502784 in order to discuss the initiative. It is very important that everyone across Argyll & Bute has access to this support, this is the critical reason that visits were arranged for the most remote parts of Argyll & Bute where uptake has been lower.
Alongside this project, Bute Advice Centre continues to deliver the welfare rights arm of Argyll Community Housing Association in the Bute & Cowal area, offering benefits support to all tenants. Additionally staff continue to support the Syrian Resettlement Programme on Bute. Support is also available to those who have been specifically affected by redundancy and need welfare rights and money advice support.
Julie Semple,
Bute Advice Centre
The purpose of the roadshow was to meet with professional agencies who are working with households who are on a low income and have no access to savings and would meet the cirteria for the Flexible Food Fund grant. By highlighting the benefits of the grant along with welfare rights and energy support we hope the programme will be widely publicised and the amount of households supported will increase. Manager, Julie Semple, would be very grateful if anyone working with households in these areas could give her a call on 01700 502784 in order to discuss the initiative. It is very important that everyone across Argyll & Bute has access to this support, this is the critical reason that visits were arranged for the most remote parts of Argyll & Bute where uptake has been lower.
Alongside this project, Bute Advice Centre continues to deliver the welfare rights arm of Argyll Community Housing Association in the Bute & Cowal area, offering benefits support to all tenants. Additionally staff continue to support the Syrian Resettlement Programme on Bute. Support is also available to those who have been specifically affected by redundancy and need welfare rights and money advice support.
Julie Semple,
Bute Advice Centre
