Open Secret has been awarded Choose Life money in the three Forth Valley Council areas.

Choose Life is a Scottish Executive National strategy and action plan to prevent suicide in Scotland.

The monies have been awarded for Open Secret to pilot long-term work. Debra Pickering Open Secret Development Worker said “ Our current model of working ties in with service level agreements or Council stipulations attached to our funding, these usually state that Open Secret do short term work with service users. Short-term work lasts for 12 weeks whether that’s one to one or group work. With the Choose Life money we are piloting longer-term group work, with some lasting up to a year. This may enable the people who use Open Secret to explore issues around their abuse to a greater depth and offer them a deeper understanding.” Open Secret is already looking at further funding to increase the monitoring and evaluation of this work. Catriona Laird, manager of Open Secret stated “We will have to monitor and evaluate this project as per funding requirements but we feel it would be useful to look closely at the differences between short and long term work, to compare and contrast our findings, this will enable us to shape future service provision and inform and educate other organisations including our funders.”

The group have certain referral criteria and anyone wishing to refer can contact Debra Pickering or any of the workers named below to discuss the criteria and to set up an assessment appointment

The groups currently running are a Falkirk Women’s group that meets weekly on a Thursday morning; contact Patricia Nunn, Anna Gibbons

A Stirling and Clackmannanshire joint women’s group that meets in the Tollbooth, Jail Wynd, Stirling contact Hazel Walker, Anna Gibbons

A Stirling Men’s group that needs more referrals, contact Debra Pickering, Hazel Walker, Evelyn Kennedy

Open Secret are also looking for Male bank/relief sessional workers to help us facilitate the Stirling Men’s work, which also involves one to one, anyone interested can get an application form from Open Secret Falkirk, 01324 630100 or email info@opensecret.org

Anti-sectarianism and religious intolerance: an education resource

7 December, from 9.30am - 1.00pm Glasgow College of Building and Printing. This FREE Seminar is for voluntary sector agencies working with young people interested in taking forward work on anti-sectarianism and religious intolerance.  The Scottish Executive Education Department commissioned the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland, Scottish Human Rights Centre and Nil by Mouth to provide a web-based education resource for teachers and youth workers on challenging sectarianism and religious intolerance.  This resource will be available from April 2005.   The seminar will provide information about this initiative and resource.  They would also like to hear from you about how voluntary sector organisations working with young people could take this work forward in their area.   Places are limited so please book early. Contact Edna Sommerville or ring 0131 651 6371.

Working with Volunteers, 8 December, Glasgow 10.00am-4.00pm. This participative one-day Broadening Horizons workshop will explore areas including the recruitment, management and support of volunteers, and how best to utilise their talents to enhance the delivery of your service. It will also examine how volunteers can be most effectively involved in your organisation, and methods for maintaining their commitment. The event costs £15 for members of Learning Link Scotland, £20 for subscribers, and £25 for non-members, and includes lunch and refreshment. For further information and booking contact Alasdair Ferguson on 0131 553 3870.

Building Your Media Resource Bank, 9 December 2004, Edinburgh 10.30am – 2.30pm. This half-day workshop is aimed at organisations looking to develop their public relations, for example, to attract new learners or users, or to raise their profile with funders or other stakeholders.  The workshop will show you how to build up a 'media resource bank', including developing press release skills; preparing a file of case studies; identifying and training key spokespeople, and building good relations with journalists. The event costs £15 for members of Learning Link Scotland, £20 for subscribers, and £25 for non-members, and includes lunch and refreshment. For further information and booking contact Shirley Grieve at Learning Link Scotland on 0131 553 3870.

Lead to Change – Change to Lead. Below is information on two seminars organised by Learning Link Scotland for practitioners looking to develop their understanding of the policies and issues facing the voluntary sector today.

Community Learning and Development seminar, 9 December, GO training centre, Glasgow. FREE half-day seminar looking at the community learning and development approach for the voluntary adult learning sector.

Leadership in Lifelong Learning seminar, 15 December, West Park Conference Centre, Dundee. FREE half-day seminar looking at ideas of leadership in voluntary adult learning organisations.

Contact Gavin Crosby for more information.

ITV Holiday Showdown 

How does your family spend Christmas?

ITV is looking for families who donate their Christmas holiday time to charitable causes.

Do you spend Christmas helping others who are less fortunate?   Maybe you use the time to help the environment, or just to spend time with people who don’t have their own family.

If you think that you and your family benefit from volunteer work at Christmas, ITV would like to talk to you. They are looking for a family to be involved in a ‘Holiday Showdown’ special; where one family demonstrates what they think is the best way to spend their Christmas holidays.   As well as spending the time volunteering, any family involved will be asked to experience another family’s idea of the perfect Christmas Holiday.

If you think that you can win a family over to volunteering at Christmas please call Charlie on 020 7013 452 

HopScotch Holidays

Do you know children who have NO chance of a holiday this year?

HopScotch Holidays is a Scottish charity set up in 1998 to provide FREE holidays for children with disadvantages, between 7-11 years. These holidays take place at Ardvullin, a holiday centre in Ardgour, near Fort William, where children enjoy the simple pleasures of a seaside holiday in a safe and caring environment.

HopScotch’s 2005 holiday programme runs from April to October and aims to provide over 300 children with a break away from their normal environments. Transport to and from the Centre, accommodation and holiday activities are all free. The only cost to groups is money for food as these holidays are self-catering.

Children enjoy a programme of activities such as visiting local beaches, a marine centre, rare breeds farm park, nature trails and a trip on a mountain cable car. A project worker organises and guides groups on daily excursions. Within the grounds there is an adventure playground with aerial runway, swings, a scramble net, football nets, swingball and a barbecue.

For further information contact HopScotch at 10 Main Street, Davidson’s Mains, Edinburgh, EH4 5BY. Tel: 0131 336 5554. Website www.hopscotch-holidays.org e-mail info@hopscotch-holidays.org

This is a final reminder to anyone interested in attending an awareness raising seminar on the Disclosure Process. CVS Falkirk & District are holding a session on Tuesday 30 November at the Old Sheriff Court (click here for directions) from 10am to 12 noon.  The session is aimed at groups with little or no knowledge of Disclosures.  Some Disclosures became mandatory from spring 2004. The session introduces legislation and covers:

·         For whom are the checks required?

·         Definition of vulnerable people

·         Who is responsible for the checks?

·         How to register

·         How long do checks take and are they really free?

·         Protection of Children Scotland Act

New Name for the Scottish Lottery

You may have seen from recent grants announcements that we are no longer referring to "Grants from the Community Fund".  The Scotland Committee of the former Community Fund has renamed itself the Developing Communities Committee, since it is no longer a policy making committee for a distributor, but has a new role as one of a number of grant-making committees within the Big Lottery Fund. The former Community Fund programme providing grants for voluntary and community organisations is now the Developing Communities Programme.  

New Name for SIP

Community Planning Partnerships (CPP) is the new name, SIPs are being discontinued, and with them the Partnership Representatives' Network (the PRN).  An evaluation on behalf of Communities Scotland found that PRN was too narrow in its membership, and it will be replaced by a new arrangement called Community Voices Network - aimed at wider, more fluid consultation.

£1 MILLION FUNDING TO DEVELOP CARE CAPACITY OF VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS(SCOTLAND)

Voluntary sector organisations across Scotland are being urged to apply for a share of £1 million to help develop staff skills and improve the lives of vulnerable children and adults. The funding is part of a three year package which has already helped 63 Scottish voluntary care groups train staff to meet the Scottish Social Services Council's standards for registration. Unfortunately, the closing date for receipt of applications is Friday November 26, 2004.

 Children’s Services Forum

The date for the next meeting of the Children’s Services Forum is Monday 13^th December at the Old Sheriff Court at 10:30am

Voluntary Sector Forum 

The date for the next meeting of the Voluntary Sector Forum is Wednesday 19^th January 2005 at the Old Sheriff Court at 1pm  

(for organisations with staff)

As Christmas is almost upon us we would like to offer the chance to give a gift that is priceless - “The Gift Of Life”.  On Thursday 9th December at the Old Sheriff Court - drop in any time between 4pm and 8pm.  The Anthony Nolan Trust will be holding a clinic to offer people in Forth Valley the chance to save a life by joining the first bone marrow register in the world.

The Anthony Nolan Trust is a charity that runs the UK’s largest bone marrow register.  Their unique work saves hundreds of lives every year.  The more volunteers on the register the more lives can be saved.  At any one time the ANT are searching for 7000 donors.  To join the register you will be asked to complete a confidential questionnaire and donate a 4ml blood sample.

Make this your most valuable gift this year - the only cost is your time and compassion.

To join the register you must be:

• Aged 18-40yrs
• In good general health
• Weigh at least 8stone (and not be excessively over weight)
• Be willing to donate anonymously to anyone worldwide.

For more information about Anthony Nolan and joining their register please consult www.anthonynolan.org.uk or call the Hotline on 0901 882 2234

Please feel free to contact the Donor Recruitment Manager if you have any medical queries:  Angela MacVicar, Tel : 07887 561 279, E-mail : angela.macvicar@anthonynolan.org.uk

 To sign-up colleagues to ensure that they receive future editions of the E-Bulletin directly to their Inbox you can a) get them to send an e-mail to ebulletin@cvsfalkirk.org.uk or b) you can e-mail ebulletin@cvsfalkirk.org.uk and put their e-mail address on the first line of the e-mail. 

We would be pleased to receive feedback about our E-Bulletins.  Furthermore, your suggestions for future editions of E-Bulletin would be much appreciated.  Phone or e-mail with your suggestions and feedback.

For more information about CVS Falkirk and District, our newsletter, E-Bulletins or any other related matter contact us on 01324 692000 or e-mail info@cvsfalkirk.org.uk.

If you do not wish to receive further E-Bulletins then please send an e-mail to ebulletin@cvsfalkirk.org.uk with the word remove in the subject line.