Partnership Projects

Volunteer Centre West Berkshire and Greenham Trust have formed a Voluntary Sector Support Alliance. Our two charities have formed this alliance to better support new and existing community and voluntary groups across the district. With over 70 years of combined experience delivering funding, guidance and training to the charitable sector in West Berkshire, we are well placed to offer a range of services to community groups, volunteers and charitable organisations seeking support.

Find out more about Volunteer Centre West Berkshire https://www.volunteerwestberks.org.uk/

The Let’s Get Active Fund to improve access to physical activities in West Berkshire is open for applications. West Berkshire Council has partnered with us to offer the Let’s Get Active Fund (LGAF).

The fund is available to community groups, organisations, social enterprises, charities, non-profit organisations, or schools.
For example: older people, people with disabilities, people with long-term health conditions, people from diverse ethnic communities, people on lower incomes and children of families on lower incomes.

To find out more about the grant conditions and apply for the fund, please download the documents below or email publichealthandwellbeing@westberks.gov.uk

The Trust bought the 1.5 hectare former nursery site at Cottismore near Kingsclere in order to develop an already successful working partnership between local charities Newbury Community Resource Centre and West Berkshire Mencap.

NCRC’s Growing 2gether project based at the site is a local food growing and horticultural therapy enterprise, enabling disabled and socially disadvantaged people in the local community to learn horticultural skills, grow their own produce, interact socially and be part of a team.

Growing2GetherGrowing 2gether also works with disaffected young people, including those classified as ‘NEETs’ (not in education, employment or training) and youth offenders who are able to take part in a range of horticultural training courses designed to help them in their search for employment.

Over the years, the site has been developed to include two large greenhouses, a poly tunnel, an orchard area and a woodwork workshop where project users can learn to make items such as bird boxes and planters. Most recently, two wildlife areas have been created, incorporating an outdoor classroom, and a range of educational activities are being developed for local schoolchildren.

Growing2GetherNCRC’s Chief Executive, Kelvin Hughes, commented “We are very grateful to Greenham Trust for their continuing support of Growing 2gether. The environmental and health benefits the project provides are greatly appreciated by the wide range of disadvantaged local people who benefit from them.”

In 2013 the Trust acquired a 40,000 plus sq. ft. building, off Hambridge Road in Newbury, for West Berkshire Mencap’s Link Up project and for the Newbury Community Resource Centre’s Furniture Project, double the size of their previous home – the former Slater Centre at Greenham Business Park. The Trust will continue to provide grants to cover the rent for the new accommodation so the two organisations can occupy it for free.

The charities required new premises following a steady expansion in training and employment schemes for disadvantaged people, many with physical and learning disabilities, giving both their organisations the opportunity for growth and development.

Unit D

Kennet District Gymnastics

www.kdgymnastics.co.uk

01635 45986

Unit E – West Berkshire Mencap

Link-up
A work skills training centre for adults with learning disabilities.  With up to 30 attending each day we have over 90 local people learning about all aspects of work. This includes timekeeping, appearance, Health & Safety and using local transport.

We work with local businesses to complete work ranging from mailouts to light assembly work. We are constantly looking to develop new links with the aim of giving our individuals a wide range of skills to help improve their ability to seek work.

Unit F

The Newbury Community Resource Centre

The Furniture Project is well-established in Newbury, providing re-used furniture, electrical goods and household items at affordable prices, with a lower price band for those in receipt of benefits.

Headley Community Shop has opened its doors thanks to the support of the Trust and the hard work and commitment of local residents.

Headley Community Shop Association gained planning permission to change the former Headley Baptist Chapel into a shop and post office with a community meeting space and café in November 2008. The Trust bought the Chapel in 2009 after being approached by local residents who needed help to secure the future of their community enterprise.

Vice chairman of the Association, Richard Bayly, said: “We heard the village shop was closing so we got together to form a community association and started fundraising so we could take over and run the shop. The lease was running out and there were a few problems with the building so we approached Greenham Trust for help.”

“To our surprise the Trust said they would buy the former Chapel for us and let us have it rent free,” added the Association’s fundraiser Sue Crook.

Headley Community ShopThe shop is run as a not-for-profit community association and any profit made is either ploughed back into the shop or made available for charitable purposes. It is staffed by local people – volunteers, who also helped construct and currently maintain the building. Anybody can own a share in the shop, which is a not for profit organisation, paying a £10 membership fee and are invited to attend shareholder meetings and an annual general meeting to speak and vote on future decisions.

Greenham Trust bought the former Royal Air Forces Association Hall in St Nicholas Road Newbury to be transformed into a multi-functional community venue called ACE Space.

The Trust was approached by the committee of Newbury Arts and Community Venue Committee with a view of buying the venue, refurbishing it and leasing it back to the committee for free.

It relaunched as ACE (Arts Community and Enterprise) Space and is used by local residents from all communities, hosting the Newbury Unplugged acoustic open mic nights, gigs, theatre, dance and exercise classes, community groups, business meetings and educational, social and arts functions.

ACE Space Chairman Adam Kotz, film and television actor with credits spanning 30 years, said: “The hard work and enthusiasm of the committee and volunteers have made Ace Space a fantastically successful and informal community venue. We would not have been able to achieve this without the ongoing help of Greenham Trust. There is now a lot going on for all ages and interests. We welcome more help and ideas from the local community so please come and get involved.”

Space has a stage, PA system and lighting, a large hall area with wooden floor, licensed bar area, toilets and kitchen facilities. It is a registered charity and as such is always looking for new fundraising ideas. It is available for hire during the day, evenings and weekends.

ACE Space wants to see the venue used by community groups, schools, businesses, entrepreneurs and artists of all genres as a base for enterprise of all kinds.

Its mission is to:

• offer an accessible, suitably equipped and low cost venue for classes, functions, seminars, arts and community events,
• provide a platform for local talent and experiment,
• connect with the local community,
• add to the variety and cultural vitality of Newbury,
• stay viable by fundraising, sponsorship and your support!

For more information or to book the venue please visit www.acespace.org.uk or email enquiries@acespace.org.uk or call 07905 590 214.

A centre to support young adults with learning disabilities is open thanks to Greenham Trust and West Berkshire Mencap.

The Trust purchased the former residential nursing home adjacent to St John’s Church in Newbury and has refurbished it for West Berkshire Mencap, in an investment worth over £500,000, into good quality accommodation for seven vulnerable people.

The building is leased to West Berkshire Mencap, which manages the individual self-contained living units and shared common areas where tenants can spend time if they choose to.

The project, called Heffernan House, provides a long-term home for six people with special needs and a training suite for one person with a mild learning disability for a period of two years. The training suite is then be let to another person with a mild learning disability for the next two years.

Each living quarters has a bedroom, en-suite shower room, and a living room with some kitchen facilities. The remaining common areas of the building also form the base for West Berkshire Mencap’s Domiciliary Care Agency. It is expected that the service will be further developed to provide outreach support to other people with a learning disability in West Berkshire and the surrounding areas.

Parents and carers who already use West Berkshire Mencap services are very excited about the project.

For more information about Heffernan House please contact West Berkshire Mencap 01635 41464 or email info@westberkshiremencap.org

The National Needlework Archive came into being in 1998 because of a desire to document the nation’s Millennium needlework projects.

Today, based in the Old Chapel at Greenham Business Park, the Archive has expanded not only into a Museum of national community needlework but also into an Exhibition Centre with ever changing exhibits, a national needlework preservation studio, a library (both reference and lending), an archive used for academic research, a centre running workshops for the public and displaying exhibition stands all over the country, and a shop selling all manner of needlework supplies and books. You can also get a cup of coffee and a cake.

It’s all been achieved through donations – the Archive is a registered charity – and the hard work and dedication of the volunteers who run it and of Linda Connell whose original idea it was, and who is now the Archive’s Director.

See what’s on at the centre at www.nationalneedleworkarchive.org.uk
Telephone: 01635 38740
Email: info@nationalneedleworkarchive.org.uk

In 2010, Greenham Trust acquired a property in Thatcham to enable the charity, Young People and Children 1st (previously known as Children 1st West Berkshire), to create the first home in the country specifically to cater for young people leaving care.

This transition into independent living is exceptionally hard for care leavers with many falling quickly into negative lifestyles, homelessness, crime, teenage pregnancy or unemployment. The official outcome statistics for care leavers are truly shocking and saddening.

Cornerstone, the home in Thatcham, was named by Young People and Children 1st West Berkshire Trustees after John & Patsy Stone, who had been the driving force behind the charity, and with the hope that the home would be the first of many. Both the charity and Cornerstone are now well-established in the community, and the plan is to have a further two houses soon.

And the best advocates of the Cornerstone project? That would be the residents who have brighter futures. The Cornerstone residents say what being part of the project has meant to them:

‘I don’t know what I would have done without this place and all of you. This charity has changed my life. Turned it around’.

‘I’ve learned to cook, I’ve learned to read, I’ve sorted my life out, I’ve got a job, I’ve learned to be independent (sort of) and I enjoy it’.

If you are interested in volunteering, donating or supporting the project in other ways, please visit www.children1stwestberkshire.co.uk, call 01635 500 849 or email info@children1stwestberkshire.co.uk.

Community Youth Project
Community Youth Project began to work in the Nightingales and eventually expanded to the close proximity of its surrounding areas in 2009. In 2012 Greenham Trust completed a major refurbishment of Greenham Community Centre. Community Youth Project agreed to take over the management of the centre. Most recently in 2019, Community Youth Project began encouraging young people from Greenham and surrounding areas, the opportunity to attend and partake in all activities, support, and provisions Community Youth Project has to offer; therefore being more inclusive to all young people from various backgrounds and needs. CYP provides information on services and opportunities for young people as well as listening to their views on issues that impact their lives. Their mission is to manage, implement and coordinate the Positive for Youth Policy and to promote and safeguard the interests of young people. CYP aims to instill the confidence, self-esteem, and life skills necessary to avoid NEET categorisation, welfare dependency, and crime.

Youth Clubs
Community Youth Project provides young people with the time and space to make friends, learn in new ways and develop their talents through participating as Young Leaders and active citizens within their communities, we aim to offer an extensive empowerment programme. Young people have the opportunity to become a Leader and enrol on their funded courses. CYP has continued to open new youth clubs since the pandemic as the demand for their service and the need for more youth clubs have been vital in their work. CYP are looking at more opportunities of opening more youth clubs to meet the need of the young people and the community.

Young Leaders
Their Young Leaders project aims to equip young people with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to make their voice heard in local decision-making. They encourage representatives from the Young Leaders to attend and participate in their group meetings.  Youth leaders take ownership of their youth clubs and help to plan, deliver and evaluate a programme of activities.  More informally, the youth team listens to feedback from young people after each activity and evaluates the sessions.  They have real power to make decisions about CYP priorities and to make changes to the way that they work.

Holiday Activities
CYP has previous experience of delivering holiday scheme activities and running youth provisions over many years that young people benefit greatly from these activities.  Young People are off the streets and are engaging in positive activities, which plays a beneficial impact in their communities and enables them to make positive choices and become active citizens. The holiday scheme is a mix of adventure, sport, leisure trips, and art.  Giving the opportunity for young people to experience risk and adventure in a positive way helps divert them from negative influences. The young people have the opportunity to engage to help improve health, fitness and expend their energy in a positive way. By engaging in sports and adventurous activities young people experience risk and adventure in a positive way. By gaining accredited qualifications provided by CYP young people gain self-confidence and self-esteem.

Outreach and Detached Youth Work
Outreach and Detached Youth Work is based around developing purposeful relationships with young people in public spaces such as parks, shelters, or on the streets, away from the more formalised, and possibly threatening context of a youth centre.  Community Youth Project workers engage young people through conversations which often leads to providing appropriate information and advice. They encourage the young people to access our provisions with the hope this gives them the opportunities to try new things and possibly seek an interest in an activity that they may continue in years to come.

Community Youth Project is aware that these young people may be involved in or at risk of exploitation from gangs, often on the edge of County Lines drug trafficking or/and exploitation. Some engage in criminal damage to property, anti-sociable behaviour, or tend to collect together in groups causing a nuisance to others within the community. Unfortunately often these young people may have had difficult life experiences; including bullying, troubled family relationships, unemployment/economic hardship. Therefore Community Youth Project outreach work will offer support, guidance, and listen to those who may need it the most; offering youth opportunities through our youth provisions by experienced and trained staff who are able to deal with various challenges.