Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) is receiving worrying anecdotes about declining volunteer recruitment and retention rates.

Help us learn more about the scope and prevalence of this issue. Please complete our survey before 12 pm on 30 November 2023.

There are still places left on the next Using VR in Health Care Settings, 30^th January 10am – 1pm at the Voluntary Action Centre< 89/90 High St, Pontmorlais, Merthyr Tydfil CF47 8UH

Try out a head-set and learn how to use it safely.

Here is the registration link https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/vamt-using-virtual-reality-vr-in-health-care-settings-tickets-726670851077?aff=oddtdtcreator

Below are details of 3x 6-Week Self-Management Courses (English then Welsh) and attached graphics you may be interested in joining or circulating.

There are limited places and people should only book if attendees know they can attend all 6 sessions, but they can book more than one course if wanted.

Seated Tai Chi 6-week Self-Management course

When: Every Thursday January 11 – February 15, 2024

Time: 10am - 11am

Where: Online (via Zoom)

Delivered by: Mabli (Dr Maria Teresa Agozzino), Senior Instructor Woodragon Tai Chi Qigong Shibashi

Register at Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/seated-shibashi-tai-chi-6-week-course-registration-759694646137

Health Improvement for Wellbeing Self-Management course

When: Every Wednesday January 17 – February 21, 2024

Time: 10.30am – 11.30am

Where: Online (via Teams)

Delivered by: The Health Improvement Team from Betsi Cadwalader University Health Board

Register at Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/health-improvement-6-week-wellbeing-course-registration-759721486417

Therapeutic Music & Song Writing Self-Management course

When: Every Monday February 19 - March 25, 2024

Time: 2pm – 3pm

Where: Online (via Zoom)

Delivered by: Catherine Nunn (Music Anywhere CIC) & Holly Tamar (Swan Song Project).

To Register, contact: walesupoort@versusarthritis.org

For more information on how music soothes the soul and the helps us manage pain, see https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/oct/25/listening-to-moving-music-may-reduce-pain-study-says

Dunhill Medical Trust is partnering with the team at Moore Kingston Smith Non-Profit Advisory and the University of Birmingham’s School of Social Policy to deliver high quality training as part of a Capability Development Scheme. The training forms an integral part of the Trust’s Academy offering for community-facing organisations.  The Academy aims to bring community-facing organisations together with academic and clinical researchers and other experts in the field to improve organisational resilience and effectiveness and help to deliver evidence-informed systemic change.

The programme is aimed particularly at community-facing organisations working to support older people to thrive in safe, healthy and well-connected homes and communities. Free of charge, it will be delivered principally via a series of webinars: Focusing on Impact, Creating Financial Sustainability, Research Capacity and Effectiveness and Re-Imaging Organisations and Design Thinking. These will be supplemented by downloadable videos exploring related topics in more detail. All of the material, including the webinar content, will be available via the Academy webpages, allowing you to access it at a time convenient to you.

Our first webinar - which will be on Impact - will take place on November 28^th. This webinar will be run by Karl Leathem, from Moore Kingston Smith Non-Profit Advisory who has worked with hundreds of community-facing organisations over twenty-five years, assisting them with evaluating and communicating social impact.

For more information click here. Or email sarah.allport@dunhillmedical.org.uk to book a place.

As an organisation that supports community groups and charities, we wanted to let you know about the changes so that you can continue to provide advice and support to organisations in your area.  

 Organisations can now:   

• apply for up to £20,000 in a single award; 
• apply for funding for up to two years; 
• no longer hold more than one National Lottery Awards for All grant at a time. 

 This change to the upper limit on National lottery Awards for All is to give projects more financially stability, long term certainty and an increase in accessible funding.  

 Organisations can apply online as usual. It usually takes 12 weeks to assess and pay successful applicants. A completed application made today will typically be awarded at the start of February 2024.  

 Please note that from today, organisations can only have one National Lottery Awards for All grant at a time. This means if an organisation received funding before 15 November, it will not be able to apply for more funding until the project is complete. 

 One of the impacts of this change is that with the maximum grant amount increasing, we may not be able to support the same number of projects within our budget. We strongly encourage organisations to consider their budget closely and ask for what they need for their specific project. This will help us maximise the number of communities we can support under the refreshed programme.   

 For more information, visit our website.