Volunteers are needed to transport vegetables from allotments/gardens to food projects that need them. Initially a 3-month project, August – October, that aims to get surplus crops from local growers to people in need of fresh food. We’re looking for a small number of volunteers all across B&NES to collect surplus crops from designated collection points and deliver them to identified community projects who are supporting people who will benefit most. Most collection points will need a weekly pick-up, including at weekends, and the drop-off points will be as local as possible, but may be a few miles away. Please email food@transitionbath.org for more information

The Commissioning Teams working across Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES) and Health, commission organisations (providers) to support and work with young people. Those providers have worked very hard over COVID Lockdown to ensure this happens. In order for Commissioners to have a measure of how well young people felt they have been supported , a short online survey has been complied that asks young people who are service users of the following services, CAMHS, Education Equals, Mentoring Plus, Off the Record, Short Breaks , Southside, Youth Connect about their experience of working with their provider during Lockdown. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LK85FT5 Providers can send out to the Parent/s Carers of young people 11- 18 to ensure the necessary parental consent. If your providers are working with over 18’s, the link can go out directly to service users. The survey is anonymous, will not be made public and will only be shared with colleagues in B&NES and within Health who commission providers who work with children and young people. The responses given will help commissioners and providers to work together to look at how support can be offered in a variety of ways to young people, in case there are any future Lockdown restrictions. If you consent for your child/young person to compete the survey, please share this link with them. The survey will not take more than a couple of minutes to complete. https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/LK85FT5 The survey opens on Aug 1st and will close on Sept 1st

The National Lottery Community Fund Community Covid Response Fund will be closing on the 17th August 2020. If you’re planning to apply for the Government allocation of funding to the Coronavirus Community Support Fund (CCSF), you must apply by 12 noon on 17 August 2020. The National Lottery Community Fund is aiming to finish distributing these funds by the end of October 2020. After this, you can still apply for emergency National Lottery funded grants in England to help your community through COVID-19. The focus however will be on funding for organisations supporting people and communities who experience disproportionate challenge and difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 crisis, specifically for user-led equality groups supporting: • Black, Asian, minority ethnic and refugee (BAMER) communities • Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer + (LGBTQ+) communities • Disabled people. This is for six months’ emergency funding, for small and medium organisations and for between £300 and £100K.

Join Creativity Works this summer for 31 days of creative activity with their online Creative Wellbeing Challenge. They'll be exploring the Five Ways to Wellbeing creatively [Connect; Be Active; Keep Learning; Take Notice and Give] with prompts and ideas for you to explore how creativity can continue to support your wellbeing as we go through the transition of lockdown easing. They'd love you to join them! It's free and everyone is welcome. How you can get involved Sign up to join in - you'll receive a weekly email for the duration of the creative wellbeing challenge which will include themes and creative activities to try. The challenge runs from 01 - 31 August Try out the creative ideas - there is one for each day of the challenge Share your creations with us on social media: Twitter/Facebook/Instagram [remember to tag us!] Get your friends, family, colleagues involved in developing ideas & sharing wellbeing tips Post up some of your own ideas Why take part? Some of the benefits are... Trying new creative activities is excellent for the body and mind, and the benefits will last longer than the challenge itself Innovative approach to team building / Family fun Happy you! Happy team/friends/family! Happy organisation/community! It’s Fun & It’s Free Evidence based and proven approach to wellbeing It'll be exciting, illuminating and uplifting and you'll learn new skills and discover new places along the way We'd love as many people as possible to take part - so why not join with a friend, family member or work colleagues? They hope that you'll join in! Sign up below! http://www.creativityworks.org.uk/get-involved/creativewellbeingchallenge/

Bath Vegan Food Bank really needs your help as they're running low on food! Could you organise a food collection in your neighbourhood? No car needed, you’d just drop one of our flyers, which will show your name and your chosen collection date and time, through your neighbours’ letterboxes and then pop round a week or so later to collect any donations left on doorsteps - then we come to collect from you! Please get in touch if you can help: Email: info@vegansagainstworldhunger.org Tel: 07367 400636 Bath Vegan Food Bank is a Vegans Against World Hunger project which has been set up to help people in Bath who are struggling to put food on the table and buy other essential items. We deliver vegan food and toiletries parcels directly to the homes of people who are struggling financially, whether they are vegan or not. Our delivery areas are currently BA1, BA2 and BA3. Please get in touch if you live in these areas and need our help. If you’d like to help Bath Vegan Food Bank reach more people, there are a few simple ways you can do so: • If you drive a car, live in or near Bath, have a spare couple of hours a week and fancy a change of scene while helping those in need - please get in touch for a no-strings chat about becoming a volunteer driver (collections and drop-offs are contact-free) • Donate money via our JustGiving page: https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/bathveganfoodbank • Donate vegan food (including vegan pet food) and/or toiletries, please get in touch to arrange drop-off or collection • Help spread the word about Bath Vegan Food Bank to anyone in Bath who might be able to help us, or who might need our help, including by liking and sharing this post.

People in Bath and North East Somerset are first to benefit from joined-up health and social care enabled by innovative technology from Bath-based software provider The new Compassionate Community Hub set up to provide support for people in Bath and North East Somerset (BaNES) during the Covid-19 pandemic has been working with local software provider RIVIAM Digital Care to transform the way Virgin Care, BaNES Council and local third sector organisations such as Age UK BaNES, Citizens Advice BaNES and Bath Mind can co-ordinate a joint response. Vulnerable residents in BaNES are the first to benefit from RIVIAM’s Wellbeing service which will soon be further enhanced following the company’s successful application for £48,450 funding from Innovate UK. People who are self-isolating, shielding or just in need of help can contact the hub, which is managed by Virgin Care, BaNES 3SG – representing local third sector organisations – and BaNES Council. Professionals from different organisations are able to collaborate and co-ordinate the most appropriate support for people online quickly using RIVIAM. This new streamlined digital process replaces emails, spreadsheets and phone calls. Since April 2020, approximately 1500 cases and just under 6500 calls for food parcels, medicines, advice and wellbeing have been managed by the hub on RIVIAM. In June, RIVIAM was awarded funding by Innovate UK, the UK’s Innovation Agency, to extend its current Wellbeing platform to allow health, social care and third sector organisations using RIVIAM to set and share tasks and instant message each other about cases – all securely with strict security measures. Each organisation will continue to use its own IT system but RIVIAM acts as a secure ‘digital bridge’ to share information and collaborate with others. Paul Targett, Managing Director, RIVIAM Digital Care, says: “People only want to tell their story once and to receive a timely, personalised response from different agencies working together. Enabling health, social care and third sector organisations to co-ordinate care delivery with each other is more important than ever.” “With RIVIAM Wellbeing, organisations in different sectors can collaborate as one team harnessing their collective power to deliver for people in need. The funding from Innovate UK allows us to enhance the technology we’re already providing in BaNES and develop a new way for health and care teams to communicate, improving services and making taxpayers money go further.” Claire Thorogood, Head of Contracting & Performance, BaNES Council, says: “Providing a system whereby partners can share information securely and work more collaboratively has been and will continue to be crucial to the success of the Hub. This has transformed how we have worked in partnership.” “RIVIAM has contributed to the success of the Hub because all partners can track the support we offer to individuals to best meet their needs. It also enables staff across all organisations to work more flexibly whether that is from the Hub or at home. We welcome this additional funding that has been secured.” Michael Plows, Manager of Community Volunteering Services Bath and North East Somerset, Virgin Care, says: “The Compassionate Community Hub is an excellent example of a strong working partnership, created through the Council, Virgin Care, 3SG and other third sector partners across different organisational boundaries all coming together and making a real difference to the local population.” “RIVIAM has been instrumental in the success of our collaborative approach allowing us to streamline the digital processes in a shared and secure way. Paul and his team at RIVIAM have pulled out all the stops to get the platform up and running in such a short space of time and we are all looking forward to the additional capabilities provided by RIVIAM via the Innovate UK grant.” Les Redwood, CEO Citizens Advice BaNES, one of the organisations using RIVIAM says: “At Citizens Advice BaNES, we have been working with other charities and third sector organisations over the last year to bring together a partnership with BaNES Council, Virgin Care and the Clinical Commissioning Group to provide a more effective and efficient service to residents, patients and clients all across BaNES. The dreadful challenges of Covid-19 galvanised these partnership discussions into greater action and the Compassionate Community Hub was born. Ten organisations were quickly and effectively working together to provide an emergency response to Covid-19.” “The ‘glue’ that pulled all this together was the revolutionary technology platform that was created and delivered to support this crucial work – RIVIAM’s Wellbeing service. This, without doubt has enabled the initiative to become a huge, unique, nationwide success story, and to deliver a far more effective and efficient solution for the Local Authority, lead healthcare provider and local third sector partners.” James Carlin, Director, 3SG, says: “RIVIAM has been key to the success of the Compassionate Community Hub. For the first time, we have been able to work collaboratively on one platform without the need for phone calls or emails. This makes for more accurate partnership working and a better service for residents in all parts of Bath and North East Somerset.” Kate Morton, CEO, Bath Mind, one of the organisations using RIVIAM, says: “The establishment of the Compassionate Community Hub in response to the pandemic has been an amazing achievement. Ensuring a collaborative, multi-agency approach to community service provision has been vital to meeting the needs of the BaNES community, and RIVIAM has been instrumental in this. It has allowed all organisations to work in a more efficient and coordinated way and so provide a flexible, timely response to our communities.”

What Are The Benefits of an Integrated Care Record? Sarah and Emma tell us about the benefits of using ICR in the Care Coordination Centre and the Compassionate Community Hub in BaNES. Because colleagues can access information from services outside of their own, it helps them provide people with the support they need. It’s useful for colleagues, currently working from home, who are receiving and processing referral and having access to hospital records is helping the Health Access team better understand the needs of the patients referred to them. Watch Video Here.

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Two students from the University of Bath have written an account of their volunteer experience whilst in lockdown. Loic and Alice were both befrienders on the 3SG Befriending scheme that has now been handed over to Bath Mind. Loci Estier talks about his time as a 3SG Befriender - please read about it on the SU Bath Website. Alice Denman talks about her time as a 3SG Befriender -please read about it on the SU Bath Website.

We have 1 space available for the above course which has just resumed after lockdown at the Parks department in Victoria Park, Bath. We are a therapeutic gardening charity and are offering this opportunity to those whose mental health would benefit from such a course, and who have a genuine interest in Horticulture. For further information and an application form please email info@growforlife.org.uk or call 07729906223 www.growforlife.org.uk

Here is an extract from the article but you can read it in full on the SU Bath website. Heavily involved in RAG from the beginning and as Chair of RAG for the last year, Lyam has built links with many local charities and groups which will last long beyond his time at Bath. He has spearheaded new volunteering activities, for example a trek in Italy without the help of an external company. One of his greatest strengths has been championing the scholarship scheme at University events, inspiring new students, as well as promoting the scholarship to students at his old College. Lyam England won the award for ‘Lloyds Champion of the Year.'

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Bath Photography Festival are inviting people to share images of Bath that document the changes to the city and its surrounding landscape. Simply share your images of the city with @bathphotofest and use the hashtag #bathcityofchange. Alternatively, you can email your photos to bathphotographyfestival@gmail.com Bath Photo Fest plan to show selected images at the next Photography Festival in Spring 2021 and will invite a panel of photographers to choose submissions. Images owners will be contacted. Please spread the word, invite friends and family to participate and share the changes they have witnessed in the city. For more details visit: https://www.bathphotographyfestival.co.uk/

You may already be aware of the work of the VCS Emergencies Partnership and the plans to develop a Local Intelligence Network, which is now receiving some grant funding from DCMS. 3SG is a member of NAVCA, and has been categorised as the Local Infrastructure Organisation for Bath and North East Somerset and will be included in the Local Intelligence Network and receive a small amount of funding for this work. What is the VCS Emergencies Partnership? The Voluntary and Community Sector Emergencies Partnership (VSC EP) is made up of a range of organisations within the sector. The Partnership was established in 2018, in the wake of Grenfell and the other tragic events of 2017, to improve coordination at national and local levels before, during and after emergencies. The VCS EP is co-chaired by Mike Adamson, CEO of British Red Cross, and Jane Ide from NAVCA. Bringing together local, national and global expertise from the sector, the VCS EP helps communities prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies, so that people can rebuild their lives. The Partnership also has an influencing role and gives a voice to those at risk of or affected by disasters and emergencies in the UK, so that they are at the heart of any response. In response to COVID-19, the VCS EP is developing four key areas of work: - A national platform, to gather intelligence dynamically on unmet need and needs that are emerging. These insights will be shared with the voluntary and community sector to help the VCS EP develop responses and allocation of resource, with a focus on those who are most vulnerable. - Request for support service, to enable local organisations to seek additional support from the VCS EP for any needs which cannot be met through existing local networks. - Five regional multi-agency cells (MACs), across England, to help members of the VCS EP connect and pool resource in response to requests for support and emerging unmet need. - One national volunteering cell, to maintain an overview of capacity across the voluntary and community sector and provide a single point of contact for the government and statutory agencies to engage volunteers for large-scale national requests. DCMS has awarded a grant of £4.8m to the VCS EP which will contribute to these four areas of work. One of the key elements in this work is the development of the Local Intelligence Network. What is the Local Intelligence Network? The Local Intelligence Network is core to the delivery of the VCS EP’s key areas of work in the pandemic. First and foremost, it will help ensure that no individual or community is left without badly needed help during the pandemic, by working collaboratively to address any needs for additional support or resource that cannot be met through current local arrangements. Second, it will gather intelligence on emerging and changing needs through the course of the pandemic to inform national understanding and planning. Third, it will help the VCS Emergencies Partnership develop robust and sustainable approaches to future responses to emergencies, with local infrastructure at the heart of such responses. The Local Intelligence Network will be made up of local infrastructure organisations, drawn from the membership of NAVCA, ACRE and NCVO, and will work as a mechanism for reporting and acting on unmet need arising due to Covid-19. It builds on the natural role of local infrastructure in gathering intelligence, convening resources and co-ordinating response, and is designed specifically to enhance that work – it does not duplicate or replace it. How does the Local Intelligence Network gather intelligence and help meet local need? Local Infrastructure Organisations (LIOs) across England have been grouped into geographical clusters, and each cluster has nominated one of its members to act as a Local Liaison Lead which for the West Of England will be Chris Head from WERN. The Local Liaison Lead works with the LIOs in their cluster to gather requests for help that cannot be met by the LIOs, and the cluster works collaboratively to try to meet those requests. If the cluster cannot meet a request, the Liaison Lead will feed it in to the VCS EP process to find solutions at either regional or national level. The work of the Liaison Leads, supported by the local infrastructure organisations in their cluster, provides intelligence at national level on emerging and changing needs as the course of the pandemic progresses. What is 3SG's role within the Local Information Network? We will use our intelligence and information on current and emerging needs; and knowledge and understanding of how a sustainable local emergency response with local infrastructure at the heart of it can be planned and developed in the future. We are identifying issues and challenges in the community that you cannot meet alone, either because additional resource is needed or because they are challenges that need to be resolved at national level. About the Local Information Network grants As part of the grant to the VCS EP made by DCMS, the sum of £1.3 million is being committed to the Local Intelligence Network. The grant funding for the Local Intelligence Network is being administered by NAVCA. The purpose of the grant funding for local infrastructure is to continue to support the local response to the Covid-19 pandemic, by: - helping to address needs that can’t be met locally; - developing and learning from VCS work during the first three months of COVID; and - improving understanding of the ways to make national and local response work together effectively. The grant is available to cover the cost of staff time to: - liaise with your Local Liaison Lead at least weekly to obtain and share intelligence; - share local intelligence with your local sector regularly and ensure any issues or unmet community needs are raised through your Local Liaison Lead; - attend events, focus groups and briefings, and collaborate with other LLLs, NAVCA and other VCS EP Partners to support the design and development of a sustainable platform for future emergency response. What next? This is the first time in many years that a government grant programme has been given directly to support local infrastructure organisations, and it is significant that in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis the essential role of local infrastructure has been recognised in this way.

Healthwatch are asking 3SG members to support a new campaign they are launching with CQC – #BecauseWeAllCare, encouraging the public to share their experiences, both good and bad, to help improve services. As well as promoting the benefits of giving feedback and why it’s so important, it will also be an opportunity to collect people’s views on key local issues. Why should you get involved? As health and social care services work to provide the best possible care during COVID-19, public feedback can play a crucial role to help us identify and address issues that affect the quality of people’s care. Together we can help services across B&NES improve the care they provide now, and in the future. Healthwatch are here to listen and act on public feedback to improve care for you and others – helping patients, key workers, and our communities. How can you encourage people to share their experiences? Support the campaign Following an experience with a health or social care service, patients and carers can share their feedback – both positive and negative - with their local Healthwatch or the CQC by completing an online form. By encouraging your followers on social media to complete the survey, sharing the campaign with local stakeholders and the public, or even putting up a poster where you work, you can help people share their experiences of care during COVID-19 – because we all care. Run your own campaign to get feedback As well helping you support the campaign, our #BecauseWeAllCare campaign toolkit also enables you to run your own campaign to encourage public feedback to your service. Get involved with #BecauseWeAllCare by downloading the stakeholder toolkit.

Are you supporting someone who is looking to improve their computer skills and would like to make use of the summer holidays to do this? Bath College are running one of their popular Computers for Work courses in August at the Twerton Learning Centre. It's free for anyone over the age of 19 who is unemployed, in receipt of benefits or earning less than £16,009 per year. The course is suitable for anyone who is already using MS Word and Excel at a basic level. It is ideal for people who are looking to improve their home computer skills for paid employment, charity work, social enterprise or self-employment. It is number 3 in our 5 step programme and a perfect lead in to our specific individual MS workshops. You will look at how to format a business letter, create a chart from a spreadsheet and customising MS Outlook and organising folders. It's running on the 18th, 19th, 25th and 26th of August from 09:45-13:00 and all sessions must be attended. It will take place at the Twerton Learning Centre on the High Street in Twerton, Bath which is easy to find with ample free parking and a bus stop directly outside. All social distancing practices will be adhered to throughout the course. If you would like to refer someone to attend the course, or would like more information, please contact acl@bathcollege.ac.uk or call 01225 328822.

A £9.5 million Covid-19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme is being delivered by Power to Change, Locality, The Ubele Initiative and Social Investment Business on behalf of the National Lottery Community Fund. Covid-19 Community-Led Organisations Recovery Scheme offers grants up to £100,000 to community organisations in England who are facing financial difficulties caused by Covid-19. The scheme is aimed at organisations delivering services in their local community to support people who are at high risk from Covid-19, with an emphasis on Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME)-led or BAME-supporting businesses. The recovery scheme will open on Tuesday 28 July for applications from 10am till 1pm. And then for a further two rounds on Tuesday 4 August from 10am till 1pm and Tuesday 11 August from 10am till 1pm. Who can apply? Community organisations in England who are facing financial difficulties caused by Covid-19. For more information about whether your community organisation will be eligible, please read the guidance notes. What can you apply for? Up to £100,000 grant and business support to: help people and communities experiencing disproportionate challenge and difficulty as a result of the COVID-19 crisis provide services and support for vulnerable people, for which there will be increased demand as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Where can I find out more? You can find out more by reading the guidance notes and Frequently Asked Questions. Join us for a free webinar on Thursday 23 July from 3.30-5pm where you will be able to find out more about the fund and application process and take part in a live Q&A. Do you have questions about your application? If you have any questions about your application you can get in touch with delivery partner Social Investment Business: cclors@sibgroup.org.uk

Dates: Monday 27th July – Thursday 20th August (4 weeks) Time: 10am – 2pm Locations: Bath – St Michael’s Junior Church School, Twerton. BA2 1RW Keynsham – Castle Primary School, BS31 2TS Midsomer Norton / Radstock – Welton Rovers Football Club, BA2 2QD, Age: Aimed for families and children up to the age of 13. Capacity: 1,200 meals per week across BaNES Description: Families will be allocated an hour time slot to take part in sport and play activities from Bath Area Play Project, Bath City FC Community Foundation & Bath Rugby Foundation as well as recieve food education from Live Learn Cook and recieve a hot meal each day. Recruitment: Early distribution by the 3 local primary schools to targeted famiies from 6th – 12th of July. Open sign up via referal agencies and partnering organisations as well as website requests. Contact: Dan Hine dan.hine@bathrugbyfoundation.com

The founder of Localgiving, Marcelle Speller, has recently launched brevio.org. She wants to share a message to the 3rd sector community: “I want organisations to have a level playing field saving time and money when applying for grants. Brevio’s mission is for you to fill in a single online form for all your grants applications and continuously be notified when you match with new grants available in the system. Brevio launched in May, and we have over 300 charities on board so far and £250,000 in funds to be matched. Charities and funders are increasing every day, so do come and be an early bird to help us create what the sector desperately needs - a standardised grant application form.” You can go right ahead and set up your funding needs now

This item is connected to a text field in your content manager. Double click the dataset icon to add your own content. Want to view and manage all your collections? Click the Data icon on the add panel to your left. In the Content Manager, you can update your items, add new fields, create dynamic pages and more. Your collection is already set up with fields and content. Add your own by editing each field, or import CSV files to your content manager. You can create fields for rich text, images, videos and more. Remember to click Sync, so visitors can see your collections on your live site. You can add as many collections as you need. Use input elements like custom forms and fields to collect info from your site visitors and store it in your content manager Collections. Make sure all your elements Connect to Data, and Preview your Live Site to check that everything is correctly binded.