Northamptonshire Village Awards return for 2022

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Northamptonshire ACRE is pleased to announce that the annual Northamptonshire Village Awards, which are an opportunity for villages and groups to celebrate and share what they like about their village and what makes it a great place to live, are back. The awards have been put on hold for the last two years due to the pandemic but they will go ahead again in 2022. Villages can enter from now until 31st January 2022 and the judges will visit each entrant during April and May to assess them. Every entrant will receive either a Bronze, Silver or Gold level award as well a cash prize, courtesy of CPRE Northamptonshire’s sponsorship. Groups can also separately enter the Creative Use of a Communal Space category. One village will be chosen as the overall Northamptonshire Best Village 2022 and everyone will receive their awards at the Presentation Evening, on Monday 11th July 2022 at the Hunsbury Hill Centre in Northampton.

The 2022 Northamptonshire Village Awards are again sponsored by CPRE Northamptonshire and are open to all villages in the county with a population under 6,000. These awards are a wonderful way for residents to showcase their rural community as well as a chance to audit village life and build for the future, just like Glapthorn did in 2019.  ‘’We knew that our village is special, so we decided to go for it!’’ says 2019 Best Village Winners Glapthorn Parish Secretary, Elizabeth Garnish. “We simply could not believe our success when the results were announced…We are all so proud to see our trophies and certificates on display – fitting tributes to our amazing community spirit”.

The level of award given is based upon how well the village does across a range of criteria that covers all aspects of village life, from its facilities and amenities, local activities, tidiness and presentation to its environment, future sustainability and most importantly community spirit!

To help groups who are interested in entering but would like to know more about the sort of information to include in their entry, we are running two free Q&A sessions on Tuesday 12 October at 1.30pm and Thursday 14 October at 6pm where the judges will be able to answer any questions. If any Parish Council, community group or individual would like to book a place on one of the sessions, please email acre@northantsacre.org.uk.

So if you are proud of your village and want to share that with others, why not enter? As Elizabeth Garnish from Glapthorn remarked, “The whole process turned out to be really good fun.  The awards have been an inspiration!”

Full details on how to enter the competition, along with the application form can be found at https://www.northantsacre.org.uk/northamptonshire-village-awards-2022. The closing date for applications is Monday 31st January 2022.

For more information contact

Natasha Jimenez Sanchez

Project Administrator, Northamptonshire ACRE

Email: acre@northantsacre.org.uk

Saints Coffee tackles the tough issues

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Saints Coffee has bought a new, high-quality, and ethical coffee shop to Northampton that gives back to the communities the coffee serves.

Social impact is at the heart of everything they do – from the way they source coffee, decor, and equipment, to the way they employ and work with people. They have three areas of social impact they focus on. These are broad by design because they are interlinked and give the flexibility to run specific projects that help people.

Champion social justice

Racism, discrimination, and inequality are huge issues. They are helping to address this through programmes with local schools, businesses, and charities.

Improve social mobility

It’s not always a level playing field. They want to break down barriers people face in getting on in life. They’re working with other social enterprises and schools to identify people they can help through our business.

Better mental health

Coffee is a social thing and brings people together. They will harness that power to create initiatives that provide mental stimulation and a sense of community for people who feel isolated or lonely.

Saints Coffee projects

Coffee in the Community

They are helping people suffering from isolation or loneliness, especially during Covid, to feel part of the community through online sessions with mental health experts and educators, as well as natural therapies at a community farm.

Aspire2

They are working with students across different year groups from a variety of schools to try and demystify and open up access to opportunities they may not have considered from apprenticeships to so-called ‘elite’ universities.

Northampton Baristars

A programme of skills workshops, training, and work placements in our coffee shop to help under-represented groups establish themselves in the working world.

Inform-Ed

They have  partnered with schools to develop programmes to help students reinforce the importance of equality and diversity, as well as understand the power of their voice in supporting minorities.

Afghan citizens resettlement appeal fund

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We are receiving a number of calls from individuals and organisations about how they can help support the Afghan Resettlement Programme in Northamptonshire.

Whilst VIN has set up a Go Fund Me Page which can be viewed here https://gofund.me/6f9937eb we have done so on the express request of elected members of the Council.

As an Infrastructure Organisation, we are not providing support or taking requests for support. These should be directed to West Northamptonshire Council, who are in the process of establishing a dedicated web page of their own detailing how support can be made and where donations (other than money) can be directed. In the meantime, please click here  for the West Northamptonshire Council site.

Water-saving campaign in Northampton

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VIN is currently working with Anglian Water on a water-saving campaign in Northampton, to coincide with the rollout of smart water meters in some parts of the town.  We really want to help them spread the word and wondered if it would be something you would be interested in getting involved in.

Anglian Water can:

  • Provide messages and images for social media
  • Provide free water-saving guides and devices for you to give away to people you’re involved with, or to give away at any events you may be running.  These may include:
    • Bath Buoy – bathwater saver for children
    • Shower timer – this one is just digital not quite as fancy as the new ones but still a good way to time showers
    • Water-saving garden hose
    • Water-saving showerhead
    • Garden water-saving kits
    • Outside tap cover
    • Leaky loo tablets
  • Come along to any virtual meetings or face-to-face events you may be running to help spread the word.

They are very keen to do whatever they can to raise awareness and support people to make little changes, so if you have any other ideas of anything that might be useful for this, please let us know and we’ll happily discuss it with their team.  They would also like our help to promote different tariffs and the Priority Register for vulnerable people, so please have a look and see if that might be of use to any of your clients or members.

Further information can be found on their website:

For general info – https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/save-water/

Water-Saving Calculator – https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/save-water/water-usage-calculator

For info on tariffs – https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/account-and-bill/tariffs-and-charges/

Priority Service Register – https://www.anglianwater.co.uk/help-and-advice/water-care/priority-services/

If you’d like any further information, or would like to get involved, please contact us info@voluntaryimpact.org.uk or call 01604 637522.

Worlds first virtual reality therapy centre launching in UK

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It’s a world-first business idea that will see hydrotherapy pools and underwater virtual reality (VR) headsets combined together to allow people to feel like they are truly swimming with dolphins. VR therapies is a unique social enterprise dedicated to utilising virtual reality (VR) and immersive tech for children with special needs and adults with disabilities. “We take those too poorly to walk swimming with dolphins, children undergoing chemotherapy flying through space, people with dementia down memory lane and so much more”. The headsets will allow wearers to see dolphins swimming around them whilst in the hydrotherapy pool, creating an incredible experience and ticking the bucket list off for many. From specialist equipment designed in-house, people will be able to access experiences they never dreamed were possible.  Their centre will provide a range of multisensory and immersive experiences not just limited to the water; people can race around Silverstone in wheelchair adapted driving seats, fly through space and walk on the moon, or simply relax on their own private beach and escape the real world.

Learning disabilities nurse Rebecca Gill was gearing up to launch her company, VR Therapies, in Northampton, last year. However, after Covid-19 hit the business hard, their last hope is a new crowdfunding campaign.  With only 2 months before they face bankruptcy and making all staff redundant, they are hoping the local community will help save them. Launching today and hoping to raise £65k, this will cover the salaries for 3 VR therapists, the rent needed for their centre, as well as provide specialist equipment for children with special needs. Donations made will be rewarded with chances to win a range of goodies, from VR headsets to vouchers on sessions at the centre, as well as a “healthy dose of good karma” according to Rebecca. There are also sponsorship deals available for businesses and free advertisement via their “Hall of Fame”.

Despite the mega-bucks available to companies like Oculus and Samsung, Rebecca was determined to start a social enterprise instead and struggled as a nurse to get the initial funding. She has slowly built it from the ground-up, benefiting her previous patients, local charities and families with children with special needs. After spending thousands on renovating their centre and building specialist disabled facilities, they were unable to open when the pandemic hit. With no income, bills and debts started to pile up. Now they have no money left to open. “We will no longer be able to help people with VR therapy and very soon we’ll be forced to go bankrupt. We never had a chance to open the doors or even fill the pools.”, says Rebecca. Now the lockdown has lifted, VR therapies is hoping to raise the money needed to finally open their doors.

“One of the things that have kept coming up in my career is hydrotherapy and the lack of it in Northampton,” Rebecca explained. “Traditional therapies are really difficult to access, despite the benefits. With physio, there’s a very long waiting list, you’ve got to go private and it’s costly so most people can’t afford it. But here we can combine physiotherapy with immersive experiences, allowing the community to take control of their health in a fun way.” “The people that would benefit the most from these are the people least likely able to access it. We want to change this.”

A wealth of studies has shown the benefits of hydrotherapy as well as swimming with dolphins, but the benefits have never been combined… till now!

Rebecca has also used VR to benefit local residents with dementia and has worked across the county with Age UK, showing amazing results. Ticking off bucket lists is already an obvious one – no longer restricted by physical boundaries people can teleport anywhere in the world, enabling them to do and see things they’ve only dreamed of. Health benefits include reducing chronic pain and alleviating anxiety, or as Rebecca has found, “people smile more, breathe easier and feel less pain”, which she shared when she was invited to speak at the United Nations last year. “The international support has been incredible”

Aside from the hydro-pools, there will be activity rooms and sensory rooms providing immersive experiences which heighten all of our senses, from smells and sounds to sight and touch. Sensory rooms have been a stable addition to any special needs school but they are rarely available to the public, let alone provide the immersive technology available at VR therapies. “My background is learning disabilities,” Rebecca added. “All of my work has been learning disabilities, brain injuries, autism and everything neurological. Everything is designed in mind for people with disabilities and of all ages and abilities but everyone is welcome. It’s for the community and I want everyone to come and have a go.”

The new crowdfunding campaign is their last hope after being declined loans from both banks and government support. Without any income during the lockdown period, they were unable to demonstrate the “profitability” required for government-backed “recovery loans”, despite this lack of income directly being due to government-imposed lockdowns. In the business world it all comes down to accounts, but this often ignores the great work done by charities and social enterprises.

Crowdfunding campaign page

Video about our campaign

VR therapies website

Contact Rebecca Gill by emailing Rebecca@vrtherapies.co.uk or Ros Stone by emailing Ros@vrtherapies.co.uk