If giving is in your blood, please help as every drop counts!
If you are fit and well please click on the link below to book a convenient day and time.
At present there is only 3% of the population who donate blood and the Welsh Blood Service need all the help and support of the communities to make the collection days a success.
The blood service needs to collect 350 units every day to supply the 20 Welsh Hospitals in Wales and at times this can be extremely challenging. One blood donation could potentially save three people or six premature babies.
The Welsh Blood Service will be at:
Ibis Court (Downstairs Room), Best Western Heronston Hotel – Ewenny Road, Bridgend, CF35 5AW
Tuesday 27 July 2021 from 10am – 12.30pm and 2 – 5.30pm
Wednesday 28 July 2021 from 9.30am – 12.30pm and 2 – 5pm
Click here to make an appointment.
Please note that there will be NO walk-in slots available.
For further details visit www.welsh-blood.org.uk or T: 0800 25 2266.
Here’s a summer sizzler of a treat for those of you still in work, having waved the rest of the team off on holiday… a Dewis Masterclass. What better way of spending a summer afternoon?!
This online session will offer a fresh look at Dewis and the potential it has for the advice sector. It will give clients ready access to information and advice, facilitating referrals between organisations and supporting the role of the Regional Advice Networks.
It will also get down to bucket and spade practicalities, giving you top tips on how to ensure that your Dewis listing:
You can find full details of the event complete with booking process, here
If you are registering your service on Dewis, don’t forget to upload to the voluntary sector resource too. https://en.infoengine.cymru
Versus Arthritis is holding a virtual information dayon 14 July 2021 to raise awareness of arthritis conditions and the services that they provide to support people with arthritis in the community.
They support people with almost 200 conditions, such as lupus, gout, fibromyalgia, ankylosing spondylitis and many more. Arthritis can affect all aspects of a person’s life.
Their event has been split into two sessions, as listed below:
12.30-1.15pm
Event for professionals – This event is tailored towards health care professionals or anyone who works in a role where they are supporting people living with long term arthritis conditions.
1.30-3pm
Event for people with arthritis – This event is tailored towards people living with arthritis conditions.
You are, of course, more than welcome to attend both events. The presentations are the same, they are just tailored to meet needs of those in attendance. The afternoon session will also include a chair based exercise taster and information from the EPP.
For information on how to join, email: m.baxter-thornton@versusarthritis.org or call 07711369456.
Thursday 8 July from 9.30am – 12pm
Parc Slip Nature Reserve, Tondu, Bridgend
Come along to join a walk about the reserve identifying different invasive plants and sharing tips on how to manage them.
There will also be a short session pulling Himalayan Balsam with an opportunity to find out more about how to run your own balsam bash. The session will be lead by Kerry Rogers and colleagues from the Wildlife Trust of South & West Wales.
Booking is essential. Please email: helen.bradley@plantlife.org.uk
Tuesday 29 June 2021 from 10am – 8.30pm
Carers Wales is inviting unpaid carers to join them in a celebration of the Mindful activities that they have had on their Me Time sessions and share that experience with other carers who are in the same position.
They will be hosting a full day of activities. Each session is individual and you can join as many or as few as you like. You do not have to commit to the whole day.
The day will look like this:
• 10.00 -11.20 – Relaxation through Dance and Music
• 11.30 -12.50 – Dru Yoga
• 14.30 – 15.50 – Learn to Salsa for beginners
• 16.00 -17.20 – Laughing Yoga
• 17.30 – 18.50 – Zumba for beginners
• 19.00 – 20.20 – Qi Gong Yoga taster
Me Time’ is a chance for unpaid carers to do something for their own enjoyment. These online sessions, funded by the Welsh Government, are a place where carers can get involved in a range of activities and explore new opportunities that they may not be able to do normally. They will be doing all sorts of things ranging from group viewings of the great wonders of the world, to arts, music, physical exercise, relaxation and mindfulness and so much more.
You can register your place here
Have you heard the news? gofod3 – the biggest voluntary sector event of its kind in Wales – is back. Taking place online between 28 June and 2 July, this gofod3 is lining up to be the best yet.
With over 60 free events to choose from, including masterclasses, panel debates and workshops, there’s something for everyone – from trustees and staff to volunteers.
We’ve all struggled this year – some more than others – and WCVA want to offer you the space to take stock, learn about the things that are important to you, and offer you the opportunity to develop new skills and knowledge to help navigate our new working landscape.
Mark your diaries now! Registrations will open at the beginning of next month.
As we celebrate National Learning at Work Week, here’s a sneak peek at just some of the sessions that can help support you and your team’s development:
gofod3 is unique to Wales, and throws a spotlight on the valuable work we do in the voluntary sector across Wales. This past year has demonstrated the importance of the voluntary sector – we have never been more needed than now, and gofod3 is our space to reflect and kick-start our plans towards building back better in Wales.
Find out further details by visiting www.gofod3.cymru/home/
If you’d like to run an event this year, email: helo@gofod3.cymru
Following the launch of A Healthier Wales: Our Workforce Strategy for Health and Social Care, Social Care Wales is working with the Institute of Public Care (IPC) at Oxford Brookes University to develop a national workforce plan for care services (which includes residential care, domiciliary care, day services, shared lives schemes, fostering and adoption services across adults and children’s services).
The overall ambition of the workforce plan is to:
To achieve that ambition, Social Care Wales has drafted a set of actions based on some initial engagement with the sector and they would like to invite staff and managers who are working in care services to take part in an online (Microsoft Teams) workshop to help us finalise the workforce plan.
They will share with you their progress to date and ask for your feedback and seek suggestions as to what else needs to be included to make it a realistic and credible plan.
You sign up to one of the six workforce plan workshops below:
22 June from 9.30 – 11am – English language option – book here
22 June from 1 – 2.30pm – Welsh language option – book here
If you have any queries then please contact Richard Timms at the Institute of Public Care.
IDLES bassist Adam ‘Dev’ Devonshire has organised a star studded music and comedy livestream on 20 June to raise money and help attract new volunteers to an innovative project in Wales that pairs up adults with and without learning disabilities so they can attend live events together – after witnessing how the project has helped his partner’s auntie.
The event will be livestreamed from Exchange in Bristol on Sunday 20 June 2021 and will feature comedy from Stewart Lee, Seann Walsh, and Josh Weller, and music from Mclusky, Willie J Healey, TV Priest, Fenne Lily, DOGEYED and Wilderman.
There will also be a raffle with prizes from major acts, including The National, Supergrass, Sharon Van Etten and Mogwai, and a signed guitar from all the artists playing.
Tickets are available to purchase now for a suggested donation of £5 with an additional option to enter the raffle.
Money raised will go to Gig Buddies Cymru and starting a new Gig Buddies project in Bristol, where Dev lives.
The event will benefit Gig Buddies Cymru, run by charity Learning Disability Wales, who tackle loneliness and social isolation by matching people with a learning disability (and/or autism) with a volunteer Gig Buddy who shares the same hobbies and interests – whether that be music, sport, or anything that involves enjoying live events and culture.
IDLES bassist Dev said:
“After witnessing first-hand what vital and wonderful work Gig Buddies do, it has been an honour and a privilege for me to be working with them and raising awareness of the wonderful service that they provide. Music and live events provide us all with so much happiness and catharsis and everyone deserves to have that joy in their lives.
“The Cardiff chapter of Gig Buddies has recently expanded into North Wales and have rebranded as Gig Buddies Cymru and are now looking for a number of new volunteers and extra funding to help with this. Hopefully we can raise enough to provide them with what they need and then, fingers crossed, we’ll be able to also raise enough to then start a Bristol chapter of Gig Buddies. But that’s not ignoring the other chapters in the rest of the country, of course!”
Kai Jones, project coordinator with Gig Buddies Cymru, said:
“The pandemic has forced the whole country to experience the loneliness and isolation that many people with a learning disability face in their day to day lives. Gig Buddies is a simple concept that creates new friendships through shared interests, whether that’s going to a gig or the theatre, watching sport or visiting a museum, but it can have a powerful impact on someone’s life.
“We’re overwhelmed by the support we’ve had from Dev. During the pandemic we’ve been keeping people connected through online events and supporting people to meet outdoors whenever it has been safe. Now that restrictions are being lifted we are putting all our efforts into supporting new Gig Buddy friendships, and we need lots more volunteers to do this.”
