We were delighted to bring some of our members together again in August – our first meeting for quite a while. We had an enjoyable and rewarding discussion, sharing post-Covid updates and talking about priorities and concerns for the winter ahead. Most centres have now returned to pre-Covid levels of bookings although it’s been a difficult time for some and a struggle to fill the funding gap when government Covid support finished.
Kirsty Walker from TDC joined us in an interesting discussion about how the usage of some centres is changing, partly as a result of increases in the cost-of-living and reductions in other services. More members of the public are relying on their community buildings to provide a warm and safe space where they can come to spend some time, get a hot drink and maybe a meal or warm clothing. We’ve approached B&H City Council to find out whether Warm Hub funding is likely to be available for this purpose again this year. We also spent some time discussing how this change in usage can affect the staff and volunteers on duty. There may be more expectation of help and knowledge – perhaps knowledge about other services and an ability to signpost people, perhaps also an expectation that staff and volunteers have health and first aid knowledge and the ability to help vulnerable people. Many centres now have a defibrillator, and there may be an expectation that staff and volunteers know how to use it. TDC have provided some guides to Safeguarding and Health & Safety which can be found in our Resources section. Some examples of policies have also been added to the Resources.
Members shared information about recent succesful funding applications – Veolia, Rampion, B&Q and Screwfix have all provided funding for works; members have also used Awards for All and the National Lottery Cost of Living fund.
Winter will soon be upon us, making funding and utility bills a priority. Recruitment of trustees and volunteers is also a common theme amongst members; we also considered accessibility in the broadest sense – not only physical adaptations but also thinking about what makes a safe and friendly space for LGBTQ+ groups and those for whom English is not a first language.
Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 14th November at 2pm at Community Base. We’ll be talking mostly about some of the tasks that many of us have in common – admin, finance, taking bookings, managing keys/security etc – and members will be able to share their own approaches to these and hopefully learn something new from each other. We’ll have access to suitable technology to do demos.
CBN now has a part-time administrator, Jane Tew. Jane will be coordinating meetings and managing the CBN website and emails. There’s no need to use the “Contact Us” form on the website, just drop us an email to info@bhcbn.org.uk if you need to contact us.