Members Successes in 2005
Instead of focusing on one member group for our Jan/Feb 2006 Newsletter, we decided to celebrate members successes in 2005. So we asked Voscur members to send in three bullet points (and an image if possible) of their recent successes. We were quite overwhelmed by the response! We couldn't fit all the successes into the Newsletter, so here is a full list of the responses.
ACTA
"For Love Nor Money" successfully toured Bristol communities,receiving standing ovations at Bristol Old Vic in September. A successful lottery grant secures the Misfits Theatre Company for 2 years. Magic Days for under 5s and their families - three hugely successful projects in 2005, two in Lawrence Weston, in partnership with Kingsweston SureStart, and one in South Bath.
Bristol Care & Repair
We have achieved the National Home Improvement Agency Quality Mark.We have a fully accessible office, which has also allowed capacity for a seconded Occupational Therapist from Social Services and a Home Loans Advisor from Wessex Reinvestment Trust, enhancing joint working with partners. We have achieved 95% good or very good client satisfaction rating for casework.
British Trust Conservation Volunteers
We successfully ran an ESF funded training scheme called Sustainable Careers with 100 beneficiaries going on to employment or further training. We were awarded a Young Peoples Fund grant to continue our work at Boiling Wells, St Werburghs to work with young people. We were awarded a LSC New Frontiers grant to work with NEET 13-17 year olds in Gloucester to provide them with other training opportunities.
Dance Voice
In our education work, 90 lifelong learning students achieved an astounding 250+ credits with the Open College Network. Our Higher National Course achieved the rating of 'Excellent' from the Quality Assurance Agency. We were invited to perform at the Royal Albert Hall, where we got a standing ovation, a deluge of complimentary telephone calls and our dance featured on 'Thought for the Day' on Radio 4.
Bristol and Somerset Energy Efficiency Advice Centre
We had a piece on BBC Points West on how to make your home more energy efficient. This was extremely successful in raising awareness and generating calls to the line. We had a great day at the Galleries Shopping Centre, Bristol where we had an advice stand giving energy efficiency advice and free lightbulbs - nearly 600 bulbs were given away on completion of a home energy check. The number of calls through to the Energy Efficiency Advice Centre was at a record high for October with us taking nearly 1500 calls in a month.
Bristol Community Family Trust
We ran 33 relationship education courses for 456 people. We won two national awards for our work with families and in prison. We hit the front page of the Times with our research on family breakdown.
One 25
Our fashion show in Jan 2005 raised awareness of the valuable work One25 does in the city by enabling women marginalised from mainstream society through involvement in street-based sex work to access appropriate services and to become aware of alternative possibilities for their lives. The fashion show raised in the region of £2000 which was enormously useful in refurbishing our new outreach base.
Priority Youth Housing
With the aid of Prince's Trust Community Awards grant young people at Priority Youth Housing developed and delivered a programme of training and activities. Young people organised a Celebration and Awards Ceremony at Bristol City Football Club for Christmas. After there being no dedicated emergency housing for homeless 16 and 17 year olds in Bristol since 2001, work is started on site in the city centre for a new project of 25 units of emergency housing which Priority will manage, in partnership with Jephson Housing Association and Bristol City Council. The new project will open in March 2006.
Childrens Scrapstore
We started our twice yearly Open Days which have been a booming success. The Scrapstore Roadshows, our rural outreach project, has secured funding for the next 2 years and attendance increased in 2005 on the previous years. Aardman Animations donated us a figure of Morph and a Curse of the Were Rabbit poster to auction on eBay to help raise money for new van. We raised £1722 from the sale.
Southville Community Development Association
We saw the enthusiastic start up of a new park group SPIG (South Street Park Improvement Group).We secured Heritage lottery money for 2005/06.We held a green mapping project with an interactive and changing exhibition from workshops with primary children and elder people.
Streets Alive
Easton is the national Street Party Capital with 25 street parties,16 new ones this summer alone. Thousands of residents were able to meet their neighbours in traffic free streets for a day. Easton is a community which Streets Alive will promote as a model of neighbourliness across the UK.
Easton Jubilee Trust
We got our Somali science master class up and running. Our Somali science master class students exceeded their predicted GCSE grades.We secured funding for our Somali education project from Children in Need.
Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Forum
Our Civil Partnerships Information evening was extremely well attended, very informative with excellent speakers. The Civil Partnerships Celebration on 1st December held jointly with the Rainbow Group and in partnership with Bristol City Council was a fantastic event celebrating this important milestone for equality. We have seen increased membership and participation of members and we will be actively participating in the Bristol Mardi Gras and Mardi Gras Fringe Festival in August next year.
Bristol Area Neighbourhood Daycare
We have supported 13 groups to access £262,605 in start up funding through the Sure Start Out of School and Childcare Grant to create 256 new childcare places for children and young people aged 0-14 yrs throughout Bristol.
Wicklea Youth and Community Centre, IT project
We obtained funding for a project manager for 6 months and also for specialised equipment for disabled people. We have expanded our computer sessions from one per week to five per week. As well as attracting new learners into the Centre we have also attracted people to other groups in the building because of our advertising and the presence of our new project manager.
EACH
EACH launched its Homophobic Incident Reporting Service across the West including the appointment of EACH's dedicated Helpline Officer. We delivered over fifty sexuality and homophobia awareness-raising sessions to Council managers, librarians, police officers, education and health professionals. We staged two one-day conferences addressing homophobia in young people's environments and strategies for schools and related professionals to challenge it.
Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA)
Funding from Bristol Young Peoples Service and the Big Lottery has meant counselling and support group for lesbian, bisexual and questioning young women has been provided. 51 young women have passed 'Open College Network Accreditation'. The skills they have learnt have helped young women become more confident and motivated in every day life. YWCA Bristol have campaigned with young mums, to highlight the issues and discrimination they face in society.
Sydenham Road Underfives
After a very uncertain financial start to the year, we were given a generous grant from the Quartet Community Foundation, which has enabled us to continue. Our playgroup staff were all successful in passing the Paediatric First Aid course in October. We have nearly completed the Bristol Standard which we will be submitting in January 2006.
Bristol Mediation
We trained 26 new mediators, who acheived OCN level 3 in Community Mediation. Seven of our mediators have acheived 'competent mediator status' from Mediation UK. We launched the Resolve & Repair Project to support children in care.
St Monica's Trust
We've helped 302 individuals and families with ongoing payments of £20 per week. We processed 948 requests for help £429,057 has been donated to individuals (£320,546) and organisations (£108,511).
East Bristol Advice and Information Centres
We set up our Advice Direct Support Office in new more suitable unit at Easton Business Centre. We reached our 2,500 person to use the service since its formation in 1999. We successfully set up our internal network with capacity for wireless networking to our mobile information centre.
Lawrence Weston Community Farm
Our Bee Project is buzzing with young and old able to have a go at bee keeping and the local community can buy local honey. Yummy. £18,000 has been raised towards the Get Stuck In Project, an alternative education project for young people aged 8-18 years. The Crafty Club has been running for 6 months and is attracting lots of young people to the farm. People have had ago at Batik, mural painting, green wood working, mosaicing, spinning weaving and pottery.
If your group would like to be profiled in a future Voscur newsletter or on our website, please contact Sophie Mellor at the Voscur office Tel. 909 9949, or email: sophie@voscur.org