Chris a volunteer at Nene Valley Way

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I volunteered to help with the pathway audit because I have always used the Nene Way for walking or accessing the River Nene. Due to being furloughed from my job over lockdown, I thought it was great to not only help with the upkeep of the pathway and its use but also aid me in my own mental health. Keeping me active and outside.

I have always been a very active and outdoor type so to be kept indoors has been very difficult. This allowed me to be outside in the countryside and also not have any Covid issues with social distancing as was probably the only person on the pathway in all weathers.

Sheila a volunteer at Age UK Northamptonshire

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I have only recently started to volunteer with Age UK Northamptonshire, telephone befriending and I hope to commence with walking befriending soon. Before Covid, I sang in care homes voluntarily of my own volition. This I found extremely rewarding. I hope that I am able to go back to singing for them again this year.

John a volunteer at a community farm

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I started volunteering after walking away from a well-paid but extremely boring and mind-killing job. I was disillusioned, with life, suffering from low self-esteem and lack of confidence, depressed, and emotionally burnt out.

I needed somewhere that could offer me time and space to find who I am, grow without the pressures of the rat race, and also provide gentle and positive encouragement to learn new skills in a safe nurturing environment and be able to finally prove to myself that I am not the failure I have always believed and felt I am.

For me, volunteering at Sol Haven has ticked all those boxes and so much more. I’m learning new skills I never dreamed I would even attempt to try, let alone do quite well, have met many wonderful and interesting people, I love my days when volunteering and life finally feels worth getting out of bed for.

Operational Strategy 2024-2026

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Review

Our original strategy focussed on an initial two-year period (from My 2021 to May 2023) on the basis that in Northamptonshire, Unitary Transformation had only just begun in earnest. Little did we know at that stage the implications of a new Integrated Care System (Or ICS) which has added a further even more complex transformation piece across the County. Much of what we originally wrote still stands. The situation in relation to the VCSE in general is challenging, exacerbated by COVID of and now a Cost-of-Living crisis against which many VCSE organisations will have to adapt, develop, or alter even more to survive and thrive.

VIN will continue to do what it can to support the smaller VCSE organisations of which there are many. How we do this will be subject to constant review and moderation, based upon our income streams. We will also do as much as we can to advance the cause of the VCSE within the ICS, and ensure that engagement with communities is engagement as opposed to the presentation of already agreed policies and approaches.

We have therefore tweaked our strategy very slightly, and looked towards a further 12 months where hopefully the ICS will have consolidated an approach through the Well Being Forums and the many Local Area Partnerships.

We will also continue to attempt to diversify our income portfolio, which is always easier said than done. In Infrastructure, we do not have the luxury of a myriad number of front facing projects which appeal to a wide donor base, but we do have some, and we will look to extract the maximum efficiency from these. We will also seek a West Northamptonshire Infrastructure Contract, which has been sadly missing since 2017.

I hope you enjoy revisiting our strategy.

 

 

Darren and Felix Volunteers at SCCYC

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During the pandemic, we as a family have coped pretty well but were conscious that there were people really struggling. My son Felix is 18 and I wanted to show him the value of providing your own time for the benefit of others and nothing else. We do not have a great deal of time, but we manage to do deliveries of food parcels on a Saturday morning, and Felix then goes to work at Waitrose for 8 hours! Felix is learning to drive so this is also providing some much-needed experience behind the wheel and trying to follow the satnav! The sense of pride we both feel when we receive appreciation from recipients, and to know we are helping those less fortunate is a good feeling, but also makes us aware that we could do more.

Thorplands place-based social action

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Place Based Social Action (PBSA) is about people coming together to solve the problems that are important in their communities, and Voluntary Impact Northamptonshire (VIN) is working with communities to support them to create the changes they want to see, and encouraging collaborative planning and working together.

Social Action is a way for communities to build on the strengths, and address local priorities, in their communities. It involves people giving their time and other resources to do this. This can be in a number of ways, from small neighbourly acts to volunteering or developing community owned services and assets.
Alongside this, both the government and local service providers are committed to moving to local, place-based design and delivery, so PBSA also provides opportunities for communities to be involved with, and influence, the services they receive

Through the Thorplands Place Based Social Action programme, VIN will work with residents to identify, prioritise and then deliver the change they want to see locally – whether that is further developing what is already good, creating new projects, or tackling issues and problems.

Have your say

If you are a Thorplands resident and haven’t yet completed a survey, please do so. This is your chance to say what matters to you, and to make sure that any support offered is for the things you really want to see happening.

You can find the survey here you will see that the Group ID box says vin-thorplands. If it doesn’t, please go here, and type vin-thorplands into the Group ID box – without this information, your replies won’t be included in the results.

The questionnaire consists of 14 questions about the physical and social elements of Thorplands, and is quick and easy to complete. There are also two questions are about priorities: the first asks which of the issues you have identified you think are priorities, , and the second gives you a chance to say which actions, if any, you would like to be involved with in regard to those priorities.

You will see that the questionnaire is completely anonymous, so we are only using it to gather how much interest there is in different activities. However, if you would like to be kept informed about the next steps, please do drop Jackie McQueen an email at pbsa@voluntaryaction.org.uk. When you have completed the final section, please remember to click finish.

Free annual health check for people with learning disabilities

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Does your group work with people with learning disabilities?

Did you know that anyone aged 14 or over who is on their GP’s learning disability register can have a free annual health check once a year?

Current take-up of these checks in Northamptonshire is lower than it could be, particularly among people from BAME communities with learning disabilities. We have put together some information on the health checks which you can circulate to your staff and clients as appropriate – You can access the information here

If you have any queries or feedback about the checks, please contact Becky at becky.thornton@voluntaryimpact.org.uk