Go 'hatty' for Wear A Hat Day and support brain tumour research

Wear A Hat Day is the annual fundraising event which sees people up and down the country don their hats to raise vital funds for research into brain tumours. Next year’s takes place on Friday 29th March and there are many ways to take part, from organising a hat-themed quiz at your work place and wearing your most outrageous hat, to having a big Hatty Bake Off and selling merchandise.

Brain tumours are indiscriminate; they can affect anyone, at any age. What’s more, they kill more children and adults under the age of 40 than any other cancer yet, historically, just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this devastating disease.

Funds raised through Wear A Hat Day 2019 will help the Brain Tumour Research charity fund sustainable research at Research Centres of Excellence in the UK and campaign for the Government and larger cancer charities to invest more in research into brain tumours. The charity is calling for an annual spend of £35m in order to improve survival rates and patient outcomes in line with other cancers such as breast cancer and leukaemia.

Register today and help fund the fight: https://www.braintumourresearch.org/fundraise/wear-a-hat-day

Be part of ambitious youth homelessness project - The Next Step

A message from Youth Concern:

We are delighted to announce that Youth Concern is setting up an ambitious youth homeless supported accommodation project in Aylesbury called ‘The Next Step’, which will provide young homeless with accommodation for up to a year. In addition, bespoke support packages will be provided focusing on health, skills and employment.

We’re grateful for the support we’ve received from local businesses and are proud to launch our corporate supporters’ packages to Buckinghamshire Business First members.

With options of £1,000, £2,000, £5,000 or £10,000 packages, there is something for everyone! The benefits of getting involved are improved employee engagement, PR, and a really personal experience of supporting a local charity.

We’ve set up a Business Fundraising Action Group, with Emma Walker from  Ashridge Group Ltd as the lead. Thanks to their sterling efforts, we have a Winter Sponsored Walk taking place on Sunday 6th January 2019 at Coombe Hill.

We have raised 80% of our £1m funding target. The Thomas Hickman Charity is purchasing a premises for us to run the project from. And COSPA/ViY will be leading the conversion project, with our young people taking part in the conversion work and gaining qualifications.

We are working hard to raise the shortfall via grants, crowdfunding, corporate sponsorships and events. But we really need your support to help us set up this lifeline project for young people facing a homelessness crisis, because we believe that every young person deserves a safe home and that by harnessing the power of the local business community we really can end youth homelessness locally.

Please help us today by:

• Becoming a corporate supporter: http://youthconcern.org.uk/supporters/business-friends-sponsorship-scheme/
• Making a donation via BT My Donate here. Or text YCAY01 £5/£10 to 70070 to donate now e.g. YCAY01 £10
• Joining our Business Fundraising Action group: email: fran@youthconcern.org,uk
• Register for our 10K Winter Sponsored Walk at Coombe Hill: http://youthconcern.org.uk/supporters/sponsored-walk

Get knitting for Age UK Buckinghamshire

It is the return of the Big Knit campaign and Age UK Buckinghamshire is calling on you to join in and get knitting!

Whether you’re a knitting ninja, purling pro, crochet connoisseur or just keen to have a go, it’s time to get wild about wool and join the Big Knit. Now in its 15th year, the campaign is recruiting knitters to help create an impressive 1.6 million hats to adorn Innocent smoothie bottles. For each be-hatted smoothie sold, Age UK receives 25p, and that money helps the charity support older people who are facing later life alone.

Bernadette Ashcroft, Chief Officer of Age UK Buckinghamshire said: “We need the people of Buckinghamshire to join us and help knit as many miniature hats as possible this winter to help us hit our 3,820 target. It is such a fun campaign to get behind and it does so much to help older people in our area.

“The money raised will make a big difference to the lives of older people by funding our hugely important services, including befriending, welfare benefits and information and advice.”

For more information on The Big Knit contact Age UK Buckinghamshire on 01296 431 911, email age@ageukbucks.org.uk or visit: https://www.ageuk.org.uk/buckinghamshire/activities-and-events/the-big-knit/.

Please send completed hats to Age UK Buckinghamshire at 145 Meadowcroft, Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, HP19 9HH.

Buckinghamshire Mind calls for Peer Volunteers to help deliver Sport Training

Buckinghamshire Mind, the mental health charity, has been awarded funding by Sport England and the National Lottery to help people to try new sports and activities to help improve their physical and mental health. Through this work, Buckinghamshire Mind will be supporting people experiencing mental health problems – such as depression and anxiety – to build their confidence to join sports clubs, go to the gym or take up a new sport such as running, swimming and football.

Buckinghamshire Mind will be working closely with partners Leap to deliver community sports sessions and to create a more inclusive and welcoming environment within local sport and leisure facilities.

As part of this work, they will be offering free Mental Health Awareness for Sport and Physical Activity (MHASPA) training to sport sector staff, which has been developed with UK Coaching. They will train Peer Volunteers, who understand how mental health problems can be a barrier to getting more active, to support participants to attend ‘Get Set to Go’ sessions and try out different activities in their community.

Buckinghamshire Mind is running 12-week MHASPA training programmes for coaches, sport administrators and front of house staff. and is calling for Peer Volunteers to support the delivery of these courses.

Peter Holmes, Community Services Team Lead, Buckinghamshire Mind, said: “We urgently need Peer Volunteers to help with this vital project. The volunteers will need to have lived experience of mental health problems and be passionate about helping people manage their mental health through physical activity. Volunteers will provide invaluable insight about the barriers to getting active for people with mental health problems.”

Anyone interested in becoming a Peer Volunteer should contact: peter.holmes@bucksmind.org.uk.

For more information on the MHASPA training programme, please contact: antonietta.moch@bucksmind.org.

#AdventVolunteering over Christmas and into 2019

A message from Community Impact Bucks:

We’re feeling festive at Community Impact Bucks (CIB). The Christmas season has us whipped up into a frenzy of festive cheer and good will, and we’re desperate to share it with you via our social media #AdventVolunteering campaign. Our campaign invites you to experience the joy of giving (your time), not just over the festive season, but into the new year and beyond.

Each day over Advent, we’ll be posting exciting volunteering opportunities throughout Buckinghamshire – South Bucks, Aylesbury, Wycombe and the Chilterns – from Trustee roles with the RSPCA, to Support Worker opportunities at Wycombe Youth Action, and everything in between.

Not-for-profit organisations throughout Buckinghamshire are looking for volunteers not just for Christmas. It needn’t take up hours of your time – micro-volunteering is now ‘a thing’, with many charities needing just a couple of hours’ help here and there, enabling you to fit it in with your existing commitments.

Follow us on Twitter @CommunityBucks and look out for #AdventVolunteering for the latest volunteering opportunities in Buckinghamshire. Can’t find the role for you? There are hundreds more roles available at https://communityimpactbucks.org.uk/volunteering/i-want-to-volunteer/. #MakeADifference to your community and your life in 2019.

Sponsor the Bucks Corporate Relay

The Bucks Corporate Relay is a new corporate team building event which is looking to take Buckinghamshire by storm. The Bucks Corporate Relay drew its inspiration from an inter-company relay held in the small town of Pietermaritzburg in South Africa. It was great fun because it wasn’t a serious race, and consequently almost everyone ran it.

Huffing and puffing, team members would give it their all and then collapse with relief at their corporate tent and crack open a beer. Members are invited to toss their tablets, shed their stilettos, don their whacky-wear and gather their gang. Participants are also encouraged to bring their children, family and friends to support them.

The Bucks Corporate Relay will certainly be the most fun you can have while “working”, but you know it will be so much more than that too.

The event will look to take place in June 2019 and look to raise over £20,000 for local charities. In order for the event to take off, race organisers require the help of companies who are willing to come on board as sponsor.

If you have ever wanted to sponsor a major sporting event but never had the budget to do so, this is your opportunity! Sponsorships have been split into a handful of mini sponsors and therefore are affordable to almost every business and there are great business development, marketing and CSR opportunities for the companies that do get involved.

Support local charities, network, and grow your company image and reputation - all at an unbelievably affordable cost!

If you would like to arrange a no obligation chat with one of the race organisers, please email info@corporaterelay.co.uk. For more information about the event please, visit www.corporaterelay.co.uk.

Support the local Rape Crisis organisation

A message from Rape Crisis (Wycombe, Chiltern and South Bucks):

Rape Crisis (Wycombe, Chiltern and South Bucks) is an independent, specialist voluntary  organisation with over 28 years’ experience in offering free and confidential support for women survivors of rape, sexual assault or childhood sexual abuse (Historical or Recent) who are 16+ and live or work in Wycombe, Chiltern or South Bucks.

We are a specialist organisation, run by women for women. If you would like to support our centre and have an interest in the work we do, please contact us.

We need your support in donations, fundraising, IT, volunteering with us (various roles). We would be happy to answer any queries you may have, so please get in touch if you are interested in helping us in any way, especially if you would like to volunteer as we are hoping to start our next specialist training for our new recruits very soon.

We offer befriending, face-to-face and telephone counselling, telephone support, email support, one off support, Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) support (from reporting through to the criminal justice system).

We have a self-help group, Phoenix, which meets three times a month and is run by a facilitator. We also have a Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugee Outreach worker. Support is available for non-abusing family and friends of survivors. We give talks, training and support for other professionals and organisations and have recently moved into a new building and have lots of plans going forward.

If you would like more information, or an application pack, please email rapecrisis.office1@gmail.com. Thank you for taking the time to read this.