DANCE STAGE - Extant’s Autumn of Dance Sept – Dec 2010

DANCE STAGE is a programme of dance classes open to all visually impaired adults at any level of experience or ability. We will be offering four styles of dance: Contemporary, Flamenco, Tap and Samba – come along and try one, some or all!

Sessions will be held on Sundays at The Oval House Theatre, 52/54 Kennington Oval, London SE11 5SW. (2 mins from Oval tube). All sessions are free, but we do ask for a full commitment to the course of any one style – for example, if you want to learn Tap, please come to every Tap session.

There will also be an opportunity to show what you have learnt in a small presentation to an invited audience on Saturday 11th December at Oval House.  The presentation will be a collaboration involving all four types of dance. (See attached for the dates and times of each session).

To register for one or more styles of dance, please email maria@extant.org.uk. Places are limited to a maximum of 12 per session, so email soon to reserve your place.

Please let us know your name, contact telephone number, whether you are blind or partially sighted, what your access needs are.

If you would like to register for Tap, please also let us know your shoe size so we can order you some Tap shoes.

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Do you need a Helping Hand?

The Helping Hands Project – Saturday 18th September 2010

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints set aside a day every year to assist a project within the local community that requires help in some way. We call this our Helping Hands project.
 
This year our annual Helping Hands Day is Saturday 18th September 2010, and we are looking for a project within Wandsworth borough who would like to benefit from our help on that particular day. Examples in the past, co-ordinating with other borough councils, have included the clearing up of council estates, removal of rubbish, removal of graffiti, renewing fencing and gardening.
 
If you would like our help with a project on this day please e-mail me with all the relevant details as to the work you would like us to do.
 
Carol Facciano, Director of Public Affairs
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
cfacciano@yahoo.com

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Mental Health First Aid Instructor Training in Wandsworth

NHS Wandsworth in partnership with Mental Health First Aid England and Wandsworth Voluntary Sector Development Agency will be delivering Instructor Training.  The course has been funded by NHS Wandsworth and the London Development Agency to build the capacity or organisations and communities to take responsibility for mental health and well being.

The aims of Mental Health First Aid are:

• to preserve life where a person may be a danger to themselves or others
• to provide help to prevent the mental health problems developing into a more serious state
• to promote the recovery of good mental health
• to provide comfort to a person experiencing a mental health problem
• to raise awareness of mental health issues in the community
• to reduce stigma and discrimination

Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) training can increase your confidence in dealing with people suffering from mental distress or ill health whether they are work colleagues, friends, family or total strangers. It can give them the confidence and skills to help someone get appropriate help at the earliest opportunity. The earlier someone gets help, the less likely it is that they will suffer a more serious mental health problem.

If you or anyone in your organisation is interested in attending the training, please see the criteria document and then complete an application form and the letter of support. A panel will decide which applications will be funded by NHS Wandsworth.

The Mental Health First Aid Instructor training dates are:

1. Wednesday 15th September
2. Thursday 16th September
3. Wednesday 29th September
4. Thursday 30th September
5. Friday 1st October
6. Tuesday 26th October
7. Wednesday 27th October

There will also be a Race Equality Cultural Capability training session on Monday 18th October.

To apply for the Wandsworth instructor training programme, all delegates will need to:

1. Complete an application form quoting “Wandsworth 19” as the programme name
2. Send in the letter of support to MHFA England and NHS Wandsworth
3. Send in the above to info@mhfaengland.org by 15th August 2010

PLACES ARE LIMITED

If you would like more information please contact Lena Coupland, BME and Mental Health Community Development Coordinator at NHS Wandsworth, on 020 8812 7907

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Itea and Biscuits - 20th - 26th September 2010

Age UK, the new force combining Age Concern and Help the Aged, has been delivering digital inclusion programmes for more than 10 years, helping to address the biggest barriers to participation for older people: access, motivation, skills and confidence.

Now in its third year, Age UK’s itea and biscuits week campaign 20 – 26 September 2010 is designed specifically to champion the benefits and relevance of digital technology for older people. By working in partnership with a network of organisations, Age UK’s itea and biscuits week provides older people with the opportunity to get a taste for what digital technologies, such as computers, internet, mobile phones and digital cameras, can offer them.

Over the last two years itea and biscuits week has helped thousands of older people to discover the benefits of digital technology and to develop the skills and confidence to get started on their digital journey.

Online registration is now open for itea and biscuits week 2010 and Age UK would like to invite community organisations and groups to participate in the week by running a technology taster session. Participation is a great way to ensure that older people in your community can continue to access the diverse range of resources available and meaningfully participate in local activities.

Read More

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Would you like to become a Professional Mentor?

The Organisational Development Programme at Terrence Higgins Trust provides much needed support to small African-led organisations that deliver sexual health services to African communities across London.

We are looking for individuals with specific professional skills who are interested in volunteering to deliver support to staff that work in these organisations.

As a Professional Mentor you will be responsible for delivering mentoring support for a minimum of 3.5 hours per month. If you are interested and possess skills in any of the areas listed below then please get in contact with us:

Fundraising
Project Management
Business Planning
Organisational development

In the current climate fundraising is an area of expertise that is especially in demand. We are therefore actively looking for individuals with fundraising skills that have an interest in developing small organisations.

This is an exciting opportunity which will allow you to ‘give back’ to your profession, and to improve your own skills in fostering the development of others.  You’ll be providing input that will help front-line service providers working to reduce transmission of HIV in London’s African communities.  Experience in health matters in not essential, a willingness to learn and share knowledge is.

Your role will involve delivering peer support to a manager of an African community organisation for at least 3.5 hours per month (i.e. 1 half day session a month).  Mentoring sessions take place at mutually convenient times, which on agreement with your mentee could include evenings and weekends.

If you want any further info about the OD Programme then please just give us a call on 0207 812 1691. If you are interested in becoming a mentor, please send your C.V to Marcy Madzikanda at marcy.madzikanda@tht.org.uk and see an application form here.

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Free Legal Information Sessions for Voluntary and Community groups

Central London CVS are providing four free information sessions on key legal issues. These are available free of charge to voluntary and community groups in Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Camden and Islington. These 2 1/2 hour sessions are led by a charity law expert from Russell Cooke solicitors and take place on 15th, 16th and 21st September. See the link to the booking form below for more details.

The session cover:

• Contracts and trading: key clauses in service delivery contracts, primary purpose trading or establishing a trading company
• Premises: Leasehold contracts – rights and obligations, implications of owning property
• Employment practice: contracts & terms and conditions and dealing with disciplinary and grievance
• Governance: compliance for trustees, dealing with conflict of interest issues and trustee benefits

To see more details and a booking form, please click here.

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Deadline for applications for the 2011 Impact Awards is 5pm on Friday 24 September 2010

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Wandsworth LINk Hospital Discharge Project

Have you recently been discharged from hospital? If so Wandsworth LINk would like to hear your views. Please click here to see more details and to complete the questionnaire.

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The Serving Londoners Survey

This is a groundbreaking study of the welfare contribution of voluntary sector organisations to their communities in London. We need your help, so that we can for the first time:

(i) map all voluntary sector including faith based organisations and groups involved in welfare projects/ activities in selected London boroughs; and

(ii) identify what proportion of all local welfare projects are inspired and run by faith bodies.

Click here for more information and to complete the survey. 

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Inclusion London Research Survey
 

The purpose of this research is to better understand the needs of disabled black, refugee and minority ethnic (BMER) communities in London and the organisations supporting them to access core services. The results will enhance the skills of local, frontline organisations to help improve access to services and increase the representation and voice of people from BMER communities.

Please click here for the survey.For any queries or invites to networking events please contact Sophia directly on sophia@skyers-morris.co.uk 

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Can you help us find out what works well for communities?

We are looking for around 6 organisations in Wandsworth willing to try out models looking at the quality of the community empowerment experience.

If you are interested, please contact Helen Fitzhugh or Nicky Stevenson: helen@the-guild.co.uk / nicky@the-guild.co.uk  or phone 01603 615200

We are working on a national action research project for the Community Development Fund. The aim is to investigate what works well for community empowerment by looking at quality assurance from the perspective of the communities themselves. 
 
We are not only looking for projects labelled 'empowerment'. We are looking for a diverse range of community groups who are working in different ways with communities and whose activities may have a direct or implicit element of community development or empowerment. The point of the tools is to see how empowering a wide range of community activities are and whether they could be more empowering or reach out to members of the community who are sometimes excluded or overlooked.

To see further information and to get involved please click here.
 
If you would like to discuss this further or require any other information, please contact Helen Fitzhugh, Researcher, on 01603 615200 or helen@the-guild.co.uk

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Premises

Are you looking for somewhere to hold an event or weekly meeting? Click here to see some of Church Centres, Community Centres, Library Halls and Organisations with space available to hire in Wandsworth.