Organised by Community Action Suffolk, the Suffolk Volunteering Conference 2016 will bring together all those involved with volunteering in Suffolk’s Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS), both paid staff and volunteers.
This is a day to learn about volunteering in Suffolk and to provide you with information that you can take back and apply to the organisations that you work with.
We’d like to introduce some of our speakers and share what they have to say ahead of the conference!
Charlotte Hill, Chief Executive, Step up to Serve (keynote speaker)
Elspeth Gibson, Suffolk County Council: The Importance of Wellbeing
Sue Clements, Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils: Show us the Money!
Sue Herne, Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Unit: Show us the Money!
Tom Bright, Community Action Suffolk: DBS – an overview
Jenny Evans, Event Director, Kesgrave parkrun: Episodic / one-off volunteering
Tracy Bose, CEO Got To Read: “Time to Shine?” How to make giving time easier in Suffolk
Click here for the full programme of the conference.
Keynote: How to ensure young people say “#iwill!”
This is a presentation from Charlotte Hill, CEO of Step Up To Serve, on the role young people can play. Charlotte says, “I am really looking forward to attending the Suffolk Volunteering Conference in April to talk about youth social action and the role young people can play in their communities. It will be great to tell delegates more about the #iwill campaign and also hear from the conference about your experiences and challenges.”
Charlotte became Chief Executive of Step Up to Serve in April 2014 in the first year of the Campaign. Prior to joining the #iwill campaign she had been Chief Executive of UK Youth since 2010.
After studying Political Science & Philosophy at Birmingham University and working part time for Richard Burden MP during her studies, Charlotte started her career working in Parliament for Rt. Hon. Harriet Harman QC MP in a number of roles. After five years with Harriet Harman, Charlotte moved to the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) as their Parliamentary Advisor.
After the NSPCC, Charlotte moved to Australia and worked for a Government Relations & Communications Consultancy and for a children’s charity in Sydney. She then worked in Cambodia on her way back to the UK, teaching English in an orphanage.
Charlotte is an RSA Fellow, Companion at the CMI, Vice Chair of Whole Education, a trustee of Football League Trust and also a member of the Management Committee of Westminster House Youth Club in her local area. She also sits on the Advisory Panel for both Try for Change and Unleashing Potential. She is a keen golfer and cyclist, cycling from London to Paris for UK Youth in 2011 with the charities President Nigel Mansell CBE.
In 2012 Charlotte received the award of “Rising CEO Star” at The Charity Times Awards.
Follow Charlotte on Twitter | Follow #iwill on Twitter
The Importance of Wellbeing (breakout session)
Happy, healthy volunteers are the key to any organisation, and volunteering has been proven to be good for mind and body. This breakout session encourages you to think about the small steps we can all take to improve wellbeing for ourselves and others.
Elspeth Gibson’s session will commence with an interactive process to help participants identify how they might improve their own wellbeing and resilience to offer effective support to others. The session will draw on the ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ www.fivewaystowellbeing.org which provides an evidence based set of actions to promote people’s wellbeing.
Bring yourselves, be open minded and be prepared to listen and share your own tips and actions to boost wellbeing, and how we can support each other to be effective volunteers.
Elspeth is an enthusiastic, creative, knowledgeable and experienced leader, having led many transformation programmes in the course of her 34 year career, 29 years of which as a leader across a range of different organisations including NHS Directorship, third sector regional directorship, transforming learning disability services as Head of Service and more recently working in Public Health working both county wide as a Lead Engagement Manager leading on initiatives with partners in mental health; workplace health; ageing and physical activity. In a voluntary role Elspeth has served for seven years as a trustee, NED and School Governorship in various voluntary organisations, primary and high school academies.
Show us the Money! (breakout session)
Sue Clements is Strong and Safe Corporate Manager within the Communities Team at Babergh and Mid Suffolk District Councils. Sue has worked for the Councils for the past 2 years and prior to this Role was the interim Chief Executive at the Ipswich Council for Voluntary Service (ICVS) before the merger into Community Action Suffolk. Sue has supported the development of the voluntary sector in a range of ways, from organisational development advice to providing funding guidance through to the ongoing sustainability of community groups and charities.
Sue Herne works as an Emergency Planning Officer, in the Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Unit (JEPU) which is a shared service owned by all 8 local authorities in Suffolk. Its purpose is to support each Suffolk local authority to discharge is statutory responsibilities relating to planning for emergencies and also to assist their internal business continuity. JEPU provide the routine local authority input to the Suffolk Resilience Forum. Each year, the Chief Executives of each Suffolk local authority agree a joint business plan and budget for the Suffolk Joint Emergency Planning Unit and we compile an Annual Report covering the civil contingencies achievements across all councils against agreed priorities and highlights key events and activities.
DBS – an overview (breakout session)
The session is aimed at demystifying when a DBS check should be carried out on a volunteer and when there is no need to do so. It is an area with many complexities and potential misunderstandings and will look at real life examples as basis to help organisations consider their DBS arrangements for the future.
Tom Bright is Head of Compliance and Support Services at Community Action Suffolk and has, for the past 10 years, been advising organisations about a wide range of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) matters and via an umbrella body service, approving applications for dispatch to the DBS for processing.
Episodic / one-off volunteering
A talk from Jenny Evans, the Event Director of Kesgrave parkrun, on how parkrun in Kesgrave encourages 20-30 people to volunteer every Saturday morning, battling resistance from the weather, an early start and breaking down many personal barriers. Jenny is going to talk about what works for them, and feels that you may be able to adopt some of the ideas used within your organisation or community group.
Jenny started volunteering with parkrun in May 2012 when she visited a parkrun in the north of the county (Fritton Lake). Since then she has volunteered regularly and was on the core organisation team with Ipswich parkrun until September 2014. On the 13 September 2014, Jenny, along with a core team of volunteers, started Kesgrave parkrun with the aim of attracting 60-80 runners to the weekly free event. Kesgrave parkrun now regular attracts 200+ participants, and with this comes the task of ensuring that the event is safe and run smoothly; this is where the team of 20-30 weekly volunteers step in.
Jenny has also experienced volunteering with other groups, such as the Scouts and Co-Op Juniors (a local theatre company) and therefore is able to bring ideas to her volunteering efforts that come from working with completely different groups.
In March 2015 Kesgrave parkrun were a finalist in the Team Of The Year award at the Suffolk Coastal Community and Business Awards. A fantastic achievement given that at the time, Kesgrave parkrun had only been going for 6 months.
Jenny is very proud of working with a variety of different volunteers and without whose enthusiasm, Kesgrave parkrun would not be the success it is today.
“Time to Shine?” How to make giving time easier in Suffolk
Tracy Bose is the founding CEO of Got to Read, a five year old Suffolk-based literacy charity that provides one to one support to adults. Everything that Got to Read does is 100% volunteer-led and delivered, so offering rewarding and flexible volunteering experiences that make the most of people’s skills and time has been key to the organisation’s success and will nurture future growth and development.
Tracy has had extensive experience of programme management and leading organisational change in both charitable and commercial sectors over the past 30 years. She will be facilitating the “Time to Shine?” workshop, in which delegates will be invited to challenge their thinking and examine their organisation’s capacity for making it easier to give time in Suffolk.
Book your place
Online bookings are now closed.
Places can be booked offline, please contact [email protected]
