Back in December 2016, I wrote about additional volunteering opportunities at Children First Derby following a recent funding award. New funding creates volunteering opportunities at Children First As with most charities, volunteers […]
Dignity Action Day – Celebrating Respect in the Community.
St Martin’s Church in Allenton was the venue for this year’s Dignity Action Day event; the programme also included an insight to the work on “Shared Histories”. The Shared Histories Project was […]
Upbeat Communities : There’s money to be made from Syrian refugees
In September 2015 the Government announced that the UK would accept 20,000 Syrian refugees by 2020; this was called the Syrian Vulnerable Persons Resettlement Scheme (SVPR). The scheme focussed on families who […]
Derby News Review of 2018 and thoughts on what might happen in 2019!
A brief review of article highlights for this year…and some predictions for this coming year. Banwait loses his seat, and Labour lose control of the Council By May 2018, when the local […]
Derby’s re-established Citizens Advice Bureau – helping thousands of people across the City
2 years ago, Derby City Council cut the grants to local charities to zero. This left many organisations in the voluntary sector in a very precarious situation, including the Citizens Advice Bureau […]
Disability Direct’s ‘Do What you Want Live’ showcases local providers of age and disability related services.
Disability Direct’s annual event is always an opportunity for local organisations to present their services, make contact with other providers, meet you new clients, and for service users to find potential new […]
Joseph Chivayo’s 11 hour Remembrance Day challenge
For the 3rd year, Joseph Chivayo committed to run for 11hrs 11 mins and 11 seconds on the 11th November to generate £1111.11 for his chosen charities – Royal British Legion and […]
Bright new “Hive” for young disabled people in Normanton.
The Fun-abil8y project at the St James Centre, in Normanton, is one of the leading groups in Derby supporting young disabled people to “live life to the MAX”. I wrote previously that […]
JEM ( Jobsearch-Employment-Mentoring): Further funding to continue its successes into 2017
Success for JEM (Jobsearch-Employment-Mentoring) is about the quality of service that they provide to those people trying to make a life in a new culture and to be a valuable contributor to […]
JET (Jobs, Education and Training) goes bust owing £120,000
The infamous JET charity run by Mohammed Sharief on Normanton Road finally went bust in September 2016 with no money left in the bank, and owning negligible assets. This was a totally […]
New funding creates volunteering opportunities at Children First
Local charity Children First Derby have been successful in securing 3 years of funding from Children in Need and the Henry Smith Foundation to continue with 2 of their key programmes ; […]
Remembrance Day : 11 hour challenge to support Red Cross and Royal British Legion
This is Joseph Chivayo’s 2nd year, running for 11 hrs, 11 minutes and 11 seconds to raise money for the 2 charities ( British Red Cross, and Royal British Legion) that he […]
Job opportunities and optimism at St James Centre following £0.5m successful lottery bid
An innovative programme for 3-25 year old disabled young people will be delivered by the St James Centre following the awarding of a 5 year, £0.5m National Lottery grant. Apart from securing […]
Derby City Council gambles £15,000 on 2nd, St Peter’s Qtr ballot
On 7th September Derby City Council Cabinet approved the “loan” of £15,000 to an external company, St Peter’s Quarter Derby Ltd (SPQ), to fund a 2nd ballot of its members to decide […]
Faith Hope Enterprise: Helping the whole homeless person
“It’s that kind of relationship that really helps people change, and they know we care about them, not that we’re simply doing our job. Some of the social activities are helping people […]
JET: Nail-biting times for Sharief – can they keep paying his £60k pa rent?
“JET’s survival could only be secured by remarkable and individual actions…..This is particularly true of the Sharief family who have donated £39,600 over the last 3 years to JET” (Quote from JET’S […]
Banwait chairs Derby’s limp ‘puppet’ Council Cabinet
The Council Cabinet sounds like an auspicious public body where brave, controversial decisions are made with open, independent and vibrant debate. Where the elected representatives stand their ground, speak on behalf of […]
Cutting Voluntary Sector Grants: Imagine the Council were that stupid!
Imagine this being an empty room in the Indian Community Centre! Imagine that all of the elderly ladies stayed at home! Imagine that they didn’t meet their friends, didn’t share a meal […]
Voluntary Sector: 100% Council Grant cuts will be negligent and cynical
In a few weeks time, the Council will decide on whether to proceed with their plan to cut 100% of the Voluntary Sector Grants. If this is carried out, it will not […]
JET’s CEO Sharief voted out of Chair of Community Action
After 8 years as the Chair of the influential Derby Voluntary sector charity, Community Action Derby, Sharief ( the controversial CEO of JET on Normanton Road), has lost his position, following an […]