FEVA : News

£650 Funding From Lantra For Your Personal Development

The project has been designed to encourage the development & career aspirations of women in under represented sectors. The funding is aimed at women 19 plus to carry out any training activities to support their personal development plan Training examples have included landscape gardening, tree felling, IT courses, chainsaw cutting.

Funding is available for flexible training for both technical & soft skills & you can choose your choice of provider. You are also appointed your designated skills coach to help you. Funding must be completed by March 2009.

Contact Details: lantra@angelakimberley.co.uk M: 07814 883380 W: www.angelakimberley.co.uk

When it comes to schoolwork, not everyone enjoys sitting in a classroom but four former pupils from Queensferry High School found a great practical alternative that has pointed at least one of the lads in a career direction.

As part of the Princes’ Trust XL Programme, which offers an alternative curriculum as a replacement to a Standard Grade qualification, Stuart McLeary, Robert Stoves, Liam Black and Christopher Vaughan spent a day at the Pineapple House in Perthshire as volunteers with the National Trust for Scotland (NTS). They enjoyed it so much that they asked to continue as volunteers, working for two John Muir Awards. BAA sponsorship of NTS’s Community Partnerships scheme made it possible for the boys to continue their work right until they left school. It also included a four day residential project at Brodick Castle and Goatfell on the Isle of Arran.

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The Chrysalis Project and The John Muir Trust today (Friday 25 July) officially opened the new ‘John Muir’ wildlife Garden at Dundee College. The garden – which is open to students and staff all year round and the public at certain times of the year - has been designed over the past year by a group of Dundee residents recovering from mental health issues.

“It’s amazing what has been created with the enthusiasm and dedication of the gardeners from the Chrysalis Project. John Muir would be very proud to have had a wild garden created in his name,” commented Nigel Hawkins, Chief Executive of The John Muir Trust.

Over the last year the Chrysalis Project gardeners have created a meadow, a pond and a bogland with a wall especially designed for toads. One part of the garden has been built up to look like a mountain top and planted with wild mountain plants. Nature has been allowed to flourish in the garden with plants that are typically thought of as weeds such as thistles and teasels deliberately cultivated to encourage wildlife.

The Chrysalis Project is a training service delivered by SAMH in partnership with staff from Dundee College and funded by NHS Tayside. The service is aimed at people with mental health problems and provides a range of vocational training and structured occupational activity in horticulture.

“The John Muir Garden is a beautiful space for relaxation which will benefit the mental health of everyone who visits it. Everyone involved at the Chrysalis Project should be very proud of their achievements, and I congratulate them,” commented Hugh Hill, SAMH Director of Services and Strategy.

Chrysalis Project gardeners working towards their John Muir Award have also been out discovering and exploring their local wild places in Dundee, including Dighty burn and the Miley. They have created havens for wildlife in their own gardens and allotments and will be sharing their experiences and inspiring others to garden for wildlife at this year’s Dundee Flower Show.

“There is wildlife all around us even though we don’t notice it,” commented Phil Jenner, Chrysalis Project gardener and one of the John Muir Garden’s designers. “Getting back in touch with nature gives me a real sense of fulfilment and is very therapeutic for mental health.”
Contact Rebecca Logsdon, Regional Manager East Scotland for the John Muir Trust’s Award scheme on 077650 57826 or email eastscotland@johnmuiraward.org

Glasgow BBC Breathing Places volunteer gardeners have helped transform a derelict wasteland into a wildlife haven as part of their John Muir Award. “The aim was to create a wildlife area in the garden to increase biodiversity”, explained Group Leader Jean Gavin, who works with The Hidden Gardens project based at the Tramway, “but there have been many more benefits to the project than simply giving wildlife a helping hand.”

The volunteers have turned their hands to more than just gardening, by completing surveys on birds and wild flowers, as well as taking care of hundreds of worms in the busy composting area. The volunteers were also encouraged to sketch, take pictures and write about what they found.

“Some days we get creative with art in the garden, if it rains we can use the greenhouses, and some days we get plenty of exercise from turning our compost,” said volunteer Shali Sengupta.

BBC Breathing Places aims to inspire millions to ‘do one thing’ and encourages everyone to make a difference for wildlife. This message has been championed at The Hidden Gardens where everyone has been willing to share their own experiences and skills.

“It is the real mix of people here that is the best thing for me”, admitted volunteer Michael Stewart, “we have folk here from all over the world, its great fun socially.”

The group gained their John Muir Discovery Awards through the project, the first to be achieved at The Hidden Gardens.

“The John Muir Award has given a structure for our volunteers. Not only are we helping create a Breathing Places wildlife garden, but we are also working towards a nationally recognised certificate, and following in the footsteps of John Muir”, added Jean.

Toby Clark, of the John Muir Trust said, “It is amazing what has been achieved with dedicated staff and willing enthusiastic volunteers. The fact that the gardens are open for everyone to enjoy is really special too. John Muir would have been proud of them.”

The John Muir Award in the Cairngorms National Park reaches an important milestone today (Wednesday June 25th) – its 5,0000th recipient.

The popular environmental scheme hosted by the Cairngorms National Park Authority has only been running in the National Park for five years and has proved popular with young and old alike. The latest recipients to help reach the 5,000th mark are a group of women from Merkinch in Inverness.

The five women took part in the Award as part of the Wild Walks project they are doing with White Mountain Dreams, an organisation which runs walking programmes for women. Some of the women have been with the Wild Walks project since the first pilot ran in 2005 and during that time have climbed some of the highest mountains in the UK, have walked across Scotland and are about to take on their latest challenge - a week of walking in the French Alps. To celebrate their achievement there will be a special presentation at Glenmore Lodge today (Wednesday 25th June) at 10.45am.

Alan Smith, John Muir Award Manager in the Cairngorms, said: “This is a really great day for the John Muir Award and the Cairngorms! The use of the John Muir Award has grown and grown over the years as people have realised it is an excellent way not only to find out about the national park but also meet their own agendas such as health, wellbeing, confidence and self esteem. I look forward to the next 5,000 awards!

Issie Inglis, director of White Mountain Dreams, said: “The John Muir Award has been an integral part of the project as wild natural places provide the essential basic resource for this project and the inspiration to engage and challenge participants.

“As all of the group come from Inverness, one of the most obvious places for them to walk has been the Cairngorms National Park, within whose boundaries, they have discovered and explored some of Scotland’s most beautiful mountains.”

The John Muir Award was launched by the John Muir Trust in 1997 to encourage awareness and responsibility for the natural environment. Its work in the Cairngorms National Park, which is joint funded by Scottish Natural Heritage, is helping to meeting the Park’s long-term aims.

The following is a really interesting Third Sector article this week by Brian Semple on a report from the Institute of Volunteering Research launched this week at Volunteering England’s annual convention suggesting that the Government's focus on increasing the number of volunteers is unhelpful because many charities already have as many as they need, according to a report from the Institute of Volunteering Research.

Its Management Matters report is based on a survey that asked 1,382 volunteer managers about their work. The results, show that 27 per cent of volunteer managers would not take on more volunteers even if they were given more funding. Nearly 60 per cent said they could manage fewer than 10 volunteers on their current resources.

Mike Locke, assistant director of Volunteering England, said the report showed that many organisations already had as many volunteers as they could cope with, so government and charities should focus on the quality of volunteering opportunities, rather than on the number of volunteers. "There is a general policy from government to increase the number of volunteers," he said. "But the report shows that we should be cautious about assuming organisations can just go on taking more.” "It's not a case of groups getting more money and then being able to take more people on; it's about how many volunteers they have the resources to manage."

Locke said larger organisations were willing to take on more volunteers, but not in vast numbers. "Managers are obviously thinking about what they do with volunteers and about the quality of the work they can achieve," he said. Some volunteer managers needed other kinds of support before taking on more volunteers, he added.

Other key findings

• Nearly half of the volunteer managers who responded earned between £15,000 and £25,000 a year, although more than a third had more than 10 years of experience
• More than half said recruitment and retention of volunteers was a concern and could hold their organisations back
• Half had not received any formal training in managing volunteers; a third claimed not to need it
• Most volunteer managers were positive about their work: 89 per cent thought they were doing a good job
• More than a quarter of organisations did not have funding for supporting volunteers
• A total of 77 per cent had a written policy for volunteers.

Article by Brian Semple, Third Sector, 23 April 2008

BTCV is launching a new and improved Community Network Membership package that will offer groups a more tailored service to suit their needs. The price of membership has not increased and for just £35 per annum groups will receive everything they need to get started and more! This new offer is just too good to miss and so we would like to spread the word!

New additions to the package include:

• BTCV Bag for Life – this organic cotton bag is environmentally friendly and can be used time and time again, whether it is for carrying the essentials when out on a project or carrying shopping when at home.
• Making Insurance Simple and Simple Ways to Work Safely – these guides have been produced in partnership with Zurich and offer a simple way for groups to understand the insurance they require and the risks they need to manage.
• Website template – BTCV can provide guidance and support to help groups set up their own website.
• Network News – a quarterly newsletter and dedicated web page to keep groups informed of grants, opportunities and news check it out here
• Excellent discounts and introductory offers – new groups will receive details of fantastic introductory offers, such as BTCV handbooks Local Action and Environments for All both for just £11 including free postage. Also, there is now 10% on orders over £50!

If you have contact with or know of any community groups that would be suitable for BTCV’s Community Network scheme please pass details on to them. For further information contact Graham Burns on clan@btcv.org.uk

Community gardeners across Scotland are set to benefit from a spring Lotto windfall as the Big Lottery Fund announced a grant of £458,434 to the Growing Communities in Scotland partnership.

Supporting the blossoming Scottish community garden and allotment network the funding means that allotments providing local food production and gardens which provide sanctuary, will benefit from improved and comprehensive support.

The Growing Communities in Scotland partnership brings together the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens (FCFCG), the Scottish Therapeutic Gardening Network (Trellis) and the Allotments Regeneration Initiative (ARI).

Welcoming the grant Jeremy Iles, Director FCFCG, said: “Every gardener knows that the only way to ensure their crop can thrive is to strengthen the soil and roots. This funding does exactly that for our network and in turn will allow us to help all those in community, therapeutic and allotment gardens to develop their work, and support those who come in and tend their gardens.”

Fiona Thackeray, Trellis Development Manager, added: “This is wonderful news and means our vital sector which supports so many people across Scotland will now have a stronger more united force behind it. We will be able to offer comprehensive support for new and established projects enabling them to offer better more consistent and wider reaching services to improve the capacity and delivery of all community therapeutic and allotment gardens.”

In practical terms Growing Communities in Scotland will provide fieldworker and mentor support, workshops, factsheets, guidance and training so that 3,100 staff, volunteers and committee members from over 300 Community, Therapeutic and Allotment Garden projects (CTAGs) can ensure their skills and knowledge are updated so they can develop their gardens more effectively.

VDS are pleased to announce the launch of a new range of SQA work based Awards* that will provide individuals with new, recognised accredited qualifications and opportunities to learn and develop skills in volunteers management.

Participation on the new programmes will also enable organisations to review and develop their practice in the management of volunteers.

All VDS volunteer management programmes are aligned with the National Occuaptional Standards in the Management of Volunteers (* Subject to SQA approval).

The three new awards for launch in 2008 are:

• Coordinating Volunteers (SCQF Level 6) Commencing February 2008 - applications being taken NOW!
• Management of Volunteers(SCQF Level 7)
• Management of Volunteering (SCQF Level 8)

BTCV Scotland are delighted to announce that they have been successful in securing a large grant from BIG Lottery Scotland to support our 'Space to Grow' Programme over the next 4 years.

This is an incredible boost to the organisation and allows BTCV Scotland to deliver on many of the key social and environmental issues that affect communities in Scotland today.

BTCV Scotland have been tasked to deliver three outcomes:

• Active Communities - local regeneration
• Healthy Communities - exercise related activity
• Learning Communities - skills development, confidence building etc

CSV’s Action Earth campaign will run from 1st March to 31st July 2008. Supported by Morrisons and Scottish Natural Heritage, easy to access grants will assist groups of volunteers in carrying out 250 practical environmental projects across Scotland. Many will be volunteering for the first time.
Application forms can be downloaded or completed online at www.actionearth.org.uk where more information about the campaign is also available. All grants are allocated on a first come first serve basis, so please register quickly.

If you wish to discuss project ideas then please contact Robert Henderson on T: 0131 6227766 or email: rhenderson@csv.org.uk.

For general information about registration, contact Naseem Akhtar on T: 0121 328 7455 or email: naseem@csvenvironment.org.uk