Alan Cobham (left) and Allan Dale (right) The Shed's longest serving volunteers, celebrate receiving the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service.

Mike Barlow from The Shed proudly stated;

"This prestigious award recognises the impact our volunteers have on the quality and success of our project and we wish to put on record our grateful thanks for their selfless and indispensable service to the Shed".

Rachel Massey (right) and Karen McLauchlan (left) attended the Royal Garden Party on May 25 to celebrate Denton West End Community Library (DWECL) being awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service which was delayed from 2020.

Karen stated:

"We feel very privileged to receive the award on behalf of all our wonderful volunteers". 

Tiff and Jyoti from our Tameside Social Prescribing Team will be in Ashton Library in Tameside One to share information about Social Prescribing.

They will be there to chat if anyone wants to come along to find out about social prescribing and how they can access the service. No booking needed, just drop in to see them on Tuesday 14 June, 1pm - 4pm, Ashton Library and Information Service.

Healthwatch Tameside have a mental health survey which can be completed online here.  If you have mental health challenges, or are the carer of someone who has, please help us by taking part.

We will be keeping the survey open over the summer months to give us time to speak to people in the community, and also visit community groups to talk to their members. If you are a member/organiser of a Tameside community group, and would like us to come to your group and help people complete the survey, please email info@healthwatchtameside.co.uk.

We know that not everyone has online access. We have paper copies of the survey available, or we can chat to people over the phone. If you, or someone you know,  want to complete the survey by either of these ways, please give us a call on 0161 667 2526, and leave a message on our answerphone. We will call you back as soon as we are able.

The hub is located at the Church of the Nazarene, 230 Stamford Street Central, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 7LJ.

They will be open every Thursday during school term times from 10am - 2pm. They will have a casework support service for asylum seekers and refugees living in the Tameside Borough.

For more information please contact Jane Markey on 07709523064. 

The GM VCSE Work and Wellbeing Survey is now open. They are exploring ways in which they can help support the VCSE sector’s workforce. State of the Sector research showed that there are 75,610 paid staff working alongside 496,609 volunteers in Greater Manchester’s VCSE organisations. This survey is being conducted on behalf of the GM VCSE Leadership Group and 10GM.

Most of our organisations face workforce challenges. They want to show leadership by being inclusive and supportive employers.

This survey is for any VCSE organisation in Greater Manchester (charity, community group, voluntary organisation, social enterprise or faith-based organisation) to create a picture of what is currently happening in our workforce and how we can support you.

The Tameside and Glossop Partnership Engagement Network (PEN) will be hosting a PEN Let’s Reconnect event on Tuesday 28 June, 9.30am to 1pm, at Hyde Town Hall.

As a member of our local voluntary sector we would like to invite you to host a stall at the event to give you the opportunity to showcase and promote your organisations valuable contribution to the local community.

If you are interested in having a stall at this event, a booking form is attached. Please return the booking form by emailing it to: pen@tameside.gov.uk

If you would like to attend without hosting a stall, please register to attend the event below.

Tameside Council is creating a new Poverty Strategy and they want to know what matters to you.

Rising levels of poverty, driven by the increased cost of living, has emerged as a major national issue in recent years. In response to this, Tameside Council is currently drafting a new Poverty Strategy. This will lay out how the council plans to tackle poverty for residents both in and out of work by improving how we support them through a range of services.

The consultation is open until Friday 8 July.

In December 2021 Tameside, Oldham & Glossop Mind teamed up with 42nd Street and local children and young people to create a brand new mental health offer.

The offer has been design by young people to provide support accessible in their local community, with access to walk-in support via our wellbeing coaches.

Young people aged 8 -18 years, can access interventions such as brief intervention, coaching, wellbeing groups, families support, psychosocial support, and counselling.

The Voluntary Sector Influencing Group Meetings is a space where third sector leaders work together in partnership to improve the strategic representation and influence the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise sector.
This meeting is taking place face to face:

Where: Denton West End Community Library, Windsor Rd, Denton, Manchester M34 2HB.

When: Wednesday 15 June, 10am - 12pm.

Please book on the meeting. If you need any other details please contact dawn.acton@actiontogether.org.uk.

The Tameside Asylum Seeker and Refugee Network aims to brings together organisations and services who support asylum seekers and refugees.

When: Wednesday 22 June, 10am - 12pm.

Where: TBC.

These meetings will hopefully be face to face (COVID guidance dependent). 

The Tameside Diversity Network brings together organisations and community leaders who support and work with ethnic minorities in Tameside. Our next meeting will be co-hosted with Diversity Matters North West.

When: Thursday 23 June, 10am - 12pm.

Where: TBC.

These meetings will hopefully be face to face (COVID guidance dependent). 

The Poverty Action Group (PAG) is a place for Voluntary, Community, Faith and Social Enterprise (VCFSE) groups and partners to work collaboratively on issues we feel will help to alleviate poverty in Tameside.

When: Thursday 23 June, 1pm - 2.30pm.

Where: The Anthony Seddon Centre, 12 George Street,
Ashton-under-Lyne, OL6 6AQ.

Volunteers’ Week (1 – 7 June) is a time to say thank you for the fantastic contribution volunteers make. During another difficult year, people from all walks of life have taken the time to volunteer and made a huge difference to people and their communities. Action Together is inviting local voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise groups across Tameside to apply for one of our Volunteer Celebration Funds to support an activity during 2022.

Amount: Up to £500.

Deadline: 12 noon, Sunday 31 July.

Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Grant has two funding pots available:

Crisis Fund (Up to £500) - Groups can apply for up to £500 to help people in crisis access food and essentials (toiletries, household essentials). There must be an additional offer of longer term help e.g. a leaflet with where to go information, variety of formats.

Community Food Poverty Provision Fund (Up to £5,000) - Groups can apply for up to £5,000 to Support Community Food Poverty Provision. This can be existing or new provision.

Deadline: Sunday 12 June.

The programme seeks to fund ideas that enable communities to thrive by creating the conditions, infrastructure and social fabric that enable better and longer lasting ways of bringing people and communities together

Amount: Grants of up to £300,000 are available, for up to two years.

Deadline: Applications may be made at any time while funding remains available.

Use Your Energy is an Action Together programme funded by Sport England which aims to work with Tameside groups to engage and enable children and young people aged 5-18 years to become more active, more often. We have money to invest in your active ideas!  

We played the first half last year offering groups up to £500 to bring an active idea to life! Following the success of this funding, we are now asking you to get ready for the second half-giving you an opportunity to take your active ideas to the next level.

We have now added two further funding amounts that your group can apply for:

• Up to £500-Get that idea off the ground.
• Up to £2,000-Develop and grow your idea.
• Up £10,000-Turn that big idea into action.

As part of the Town of Culture a new community grant fund has been developed to support activities and events being created for Stalybridge by community groups and individuals.

• Slow Food – events and activities linked to food e.g. community orchards,doorstep growing, allotments, recipes and food waste.
• Slow Making – events and activities linked to knitting, embroidery and other crafts.
• Slow Art – events and activities linked to storytelling e.g. artist led creations, music, exhibitions, performance, dance, writing and literature.
• Slow down – events and activities linked to the town’s heritage, it’s surrounding landscape and town centre e.g. talks, trails, walking and cycling.

Amount: £500.

Deadline: October (please note the fund may close earlier if the funds are exhausted sooner).

These informal online meetings will help us keep in touch and catch up with one another. They are a space to chat and to discuss any organisational updates you may have, how you are involving volunteers and staying connected to them during this time.

When: Thursday 24 June, 1.30pm - 3pm.

This training is aimed at people who are the Child Protection or Safeguarding Adult Lead person in their organisation. It will teach you how to recognise the signs of abuse and neglect and what actions you can take to stop this from happening and occurring again in the future.

When: Thursday 16 June,  9:30am - 3:30pm.

Rob Jackson, an international leading voice in volunteer management will be delivering a 1 day Recruiting and Managing Volunteers. Rob returns to Salford for the first time since 2019 to challenge and inspire you to think differently about engaging volunteers post-pandemic.

When: Tuesday 21 June, 10am - 4pm.

Where: Eccles Gateway, 28 Barton Lane, Eccles, Salford, M30 0TU.

Cost: £60.00

Action Together are offering Part 1 of the Introduction to Trustee Roles and Responsibilities training session to those who are thinking of becoming a Trustee, or are a Trustee who would like to understand more about what their role entails and how to carry it out to the best of their ability.

When: Thursday 30 June 10am - 12.30pm.

Please note that this is a two-part training course - participants must attend both sessions to complete the course and receive a certificate of completion. Part 2 will be held on Thursday 7 July 22 at 10am - 12.30pm and can be accessed here.

Action Together are offering Part 1 of the Introduction to Bid Writing training session to groups who are thinking of applying for funding or would like a refresher on some of the key fundamentals in writing funding applications for small grants.

When: Monday 4 July 12.30pm - 3pm.

Please note that this is a two-part training course - participants must attend both sessions to complete the course and receive a certificate of completion. Part 2 will be held on Monday 11 July 22 at 12.30pm - 3pm and can be accessed here.

You can also watch our Bid Writing Key Tips video here!