The newsletter for Sutton’s Voluntary and Community Sector June 2015

In this issue: How to win friends and influence people, The

Grove update and the Envirobus

thenetworker

Susanna’s column Welcome to the June edition of the Networker.

The weather finally seems to be improving—we just

hope it stays like this! We’re busy gearing up for our

50th birthday celebrations but we still need your input.

What do you remember about Sutton’s voluntary sector

in 1965? Do you have any old photos? Get in touch!

Together with the Volunteer Centre Sutton, we’re

planning to carry on the celebrations in Sutton High

Street on August 20th with a lovely afternoon tea party

and bake off - Keep the date free and watch this space!

We also have two big pieces of good news since our

last edition - we have moved on with our plans for The

Grove, and we have been awarded our PQASSO level

two accreditation. Moving forward with both these

projects is a great achievement and you can read more

about these successes in this issue.

This month we also have a look at the work of one

of our local organisations, Sutton Talking Newspaper,

who provide an invaluable service for visually impaired

people in Sutton. We also take a look at one of the

projects we recently funded through the Sutton

Community Fund - the Vine Project’s envirobus - and

find out how they came up with such an innovative

idea.

Finally, next week (15th-20th June) is Small

Charity Week and we’ll be taking the opportunity to

have a look at some of the great work some of our

smaller organisations in Sutton are doing. You can join

in with our Small Charity Week celebrations by

following us on Twitter (@SuttonCVS) and Facebook

(SuttonCVS).

Susanna Bennett

Chief Executive SCVS

thenetworker page2

In this issue Page 3 - news

The latest on our plans for the

Grove

Pages 4-5 - news

Read about our PQASSO journey

Pages 6-7 - news

Sutton together update and a

milestone for CPS Payroll

Page 8-9 - Healthwatch Sutton

What matters to you?

Page 10-11 - How to...

...win friends and influence

people

Page 12-13 - Local

organisations

It’s Small Charity Week!

Pages 14-15 - Local

organisations

Finding out about the Vine

Project’s Envirobus

Pages 16-17 - Local

organisations

We talk to Sutton Talking

Newspaper

Pages 18-19 - What’s on

The best things to do this

summer in Sutton

Cover pic: - Reuse and Recycle

with The Vine Project’s Envirobus

page3

news T

he G

rove, c

19

23

Plans for the Grove move forward As many of you will know, together with our partners, SCVS is working on exciting plans to transform Grove House, Carshalton into a heritage and voluntary sector hub for the local community. Together with the Volunteer Centre Sutton, the London Borough of Sutton and the Friends of the Grove we plan to:

Restore the house – open up approximately one third of the ground floor for community and heritage activities and use the rest of the building as a base for voluntary organisations and volunteering.

Open the house to the community to access its heritage and use its facilities.

Keep the house in community ownership as a local asset.

Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF Bid) The partnership has been successful with a first stage bid to the HLF which provides funding and support to carry out further planning and preparation to develop detailed plans and costs for the building and activities. These will enable us to submit a second stage application in the Spring/Summer of 2016 in order to secure funding to carry out all the work. This will again be a competitive process and we are not guaranteed success, but Sutton has a good track record with HLF bids and we will do everything we can to produce the best possible application! There are three elements to the HLF bid: The house If we get the go ahead with the second stage application we plan to:

Remove the modern partitioning to open up the hallway and staircase and create a large reception and exhibition area which will be open to the public on a daily basis.

Restore the drawing room (council chamber) to provide a space for meetings, events and exhibitions.

Create space for local friends and residents groups to use.

Provide office space for voluntary organisations and volunteers.

Developing a programme of heritage activities Again if successful at the second stage we will:

Produce exhibitions about the history of the house and the people associated with it, and about the history of the voluntary sector in Sutton and the many people involved in its development.

Develop a guide in the form of a leaflet/map and app which would explain the heritage of the house and park.

Set up a heritage volunteering programme to train local people to act as guides around the house and park.

Include The Grove in the heritage tours of Carshalton alongside Honeywood, Little Holland House and the Water Tower.

Work with young people to introduce them to the heritage of the Grove, the area and the voluntary sector.

Securing the future of The Grove In the long term our aim is to establish a Trust of local people and organisations to run the building and potentially take over the ownership of Grove House to ensure that it remains as a community asset for the future.

What next? We are currently recruiting a project manager (see page 7) to support us to carry out the detailed work for the second stage application, and over the summer we will be carrying out consultation in Carshalton to speak to local people and visitors about what they might like to see at The Grove. If you would like to get involved or would like further information please contact Susanna Bennett at SCVS (susanna@suttoncvs.org.uk or 020 8644 2867)

news

thenetworker Page 4

PQASSO accreditation for SCVS We spend a lot of time encouraging

and supporting voluntary

organisations to achieve the PQASSO

award - and now we have the award

too!

PQASSO is a is a well recognised, national

award endorsed and accepted by both the

Charity Commission and funders. It provides

external recognition that an organisation is

robust, effective and well run and it is the most

appropriate, relevant and achievable quality

standard for small, local charities.

Sutton CVS started on the PQASSO journey

over two years ago. We wanted to try and

eventually achieve level 2 but our journey

started with us completing the level 1 self-

assessment in order to achieve the NAVCA

Quality Award in 2013 (NAVCA – National

Association for Voluntary and Community

Action – is our national body and we successfully

renewed our NAVCA award demonstrating that

we fulfil (and in many cases exceed) all the

requirements of an effective centre for voluntary

service).

Susanna Bennett, our Chief Executive,

commented at the time “Achieving Level 1 for an

organisation of our size and age (!) should be

fairly straight forward, we have most things in

place so we just need to bring them all together

across the 12 quality areas” however she now

acknowledges “this took more time than we

hoped because all the things you have to do as

an organisation get in the way, you need to

make time and be quite persistent”.

Once we achieved the NAVCA award we decided

to undertake the work on the level 2 self-

assessment. Fortunately for us Razia Sattar is a

PQASSO mentor and she led on the process for

us, however one person cannot do this alone and

all the staff and trustees got involved at some

stage in the process.

Level 2 required a lot more robust evidence than

level 1 - for example we needed to have a staff

survey in place which is not needed at level 1.

We hadn’t carried out a staff survey since 2010

so we had to organise this whilst doing the self-

assessment. We also needed to have a

monitoring and evaluation system in place,

fortunately we had developed a fairly robust

system as part of our 2013/14 business planning

process.

During our journey from 2013 – 2015 there were

a number of changes to SCVS as an organisation

and the staffing but we managed to achieve the

following:

• New strategic and financial plan

• Revised, outcomes-based monitoring and

evaluation framework – linked to the strategic

plan

• Survey of the sector (to feed into the

strategic plan).

• Staff survey (which has resulted in the

implementation of a new flexible working

system)

• Ensured all our policies and procedures

were up to date and put in place a programme of

ongoing review and updating

• Reviewed and updated our finance and

communication systems

• Reviewed our governance

A core group of staff met fairly regularly

throughout 2014/15 to review the self-

assessment, check progress and take action in

areas in which we felt further work might be

needed to meet the standards. This was quite

time-consuming and sometimes got postponed

because we had other priorities! We also

presented the original plan and the final self-

assessment to the Board to make sure they were

kept up to date and could both support the work

and contribute to it.

Susanna commented that “one of the good things

about undertaking PQASSO is that you do

review all your basic systems and policies, make

sure they are up to date and reflect current

legislation and good practice, and then put in

review dates for the future. We had definitely

let some of our policies slip and this was a good

way of getting back on track again!”.

We finally felt ready to submit our PQASSO

review in February 2015 to the Charities

Page 5

news

Evaluation Service (who are now part of NCVO),

who then gave us a date in March when they

would visit and carry out the two-day assessment.

During February and March we had to compile

and collate all the evidence mentioned in our self-

assessment and send this to the assessor, to

ensure he had full knowledge of the organisation

and our work and was able to prepare for the site

visit. This was also quite a lot of work and

involved finding documents we knew we had but

couldn’t remember where we had stored them!

The assessor also asked for quite a lot of

additional information and was very thorough in

checking everything we sent, our website and the

Charity Commission website.

The site visit lasted two days and the assessor

had asked to speak to the Chief Executive,

members of staff (a mixture of levels) and three

trustees (including the chair and the treasurer).

So, as Razia explains “this is why it is important

to ensure everyone is aware of PQASSO. I

regularly feedback at the staff and board

meetings as well as meetings with the Chief

Executive and the Senior Management team to

ensure everyone is aware of the self-assessment

and the evidence was gathered.”

The assessment was fairly straightforward

because most of the work is done in the

preparation beforehand (CES won’t make the

visit unless they consider everything is in place).

There were quite long and detailed meetings with

the Chief Executive and trustees but

the individual staff meetings were

shorter and looking for confirmation

of what had been included in the self

-assessment or reported by

managers. Again as Razia

emphasises “ The assessor is not

there to ‘catch’ anyone out he/she is

simply finding out how the

organisation is running and what we

have said on paper mirrors what

staff and trustees are saying”.

At the end of the site visit it was

great to get feedback and find out

straight away that we would achieve

level 2 subject to a few, minor

actions. We are now the proud

owners of the certificate and can put

both the PQASSO and Charity

Commission logos on all our work.

Key points

• The process can be time consuming, due to

other commitments PQASSO can often take a

back seat so be flexible with the approach and the

time it takes whilst not letting it drag on for too

long!

• Understand how the indicators in the 12

quality areas link into your organisation.

• Make sure that you have robust evidence

which demonstrates how you can meet the

indicators (this doesn’t all have to be written,

much of ours was online)

• Involve the whole organisation – trustees,

staff and volunteers.

• Take your time to complete it – it’s a learning

process for your organisation which you should

make the most of.

• Get a mentor like Razia to come and check

the self-assessment and give your organisation

ideas about the easiest/best ways of completing it.

• PQASSO can be time consuming so you need

to keep the momentum going.

• It is definitely worth going for - you get

charity commission endorsement as well and it

demonstrates to funders that you are a robust

organisation.

If you are interested in getting PQASSO

accreditation for your organisation, contact Razia

on 020 8641 9544 or email her at

Razia@suttoncvs.org.uk

news

Sutton Together, our consortium of local

voluntary organisations continues to grow – we

now have 14 full and 9 associate members with

more applications still coming in. Since our

launch in June 2014, almost 1 year ago, we have:

Won 3 contracts to contribute towards Child

and Adolescent Mental Health Services,

Community Mental Health Services and to

deliver the Infrastructure Support &

Capacity Building (the annual value of the 3

contracts is £872,000).

Secured funding to look at developing a

Care Delivery Partnership so that the

voluntary sector can take on more social

care services in response to the Care Act.

We produced a detailed report for the

December ASSHH Committee and since

then have been producing a fundraising

strategy and working in partnership with

LBS to look at the options.

We are now developing work and funding

bids for opportunities both within and

beyond Sutton.

To find out more about Sutton Together please

email susanna@suttoncvs.org.uk.

thenetworker page6

CPS reaches new milestone

Mel and Karen from CPS Payroll

This month SCVS’s trading arm, CPS

Payroll, reached a new milestone - the

payroll bureaux is now paying over

1000 people in the voluntary sector

every month!

CPS Payroll, the specialist voluntary sector

payroll service provided by SCVS, has achieved

an impressive milestone - as of May 2015 we have

129 client organisations with 1042 employees

between them!

SCVS started running a payroll over 20 years

ago in response to a real need across the local

voluntary sector for affordable, expert support to

take the headache out of calculating and

processing salaries. The number of clients has

grown gradually over the years, most of our new

clients come through recommendations from

other local organisations who are really pleased

with the efficient service and expert advice

provided by staff who really understand the

voluntary sector because they are part of it.

Voluntary organisations also know that when

they pay for CPS Payroll they are getting huge

additional benefits – we try to make a small profit

and this goes back into SCVS to improve and

expand our services to the voluntary sector!

“Outsourcing our payroll was a step we took

with some trepidation as it involved entrusting

the care of our staff salaries and confidential

information to an outside agency. However, over

the last two years of using CPS Payroll they have

scored top marks—what sets them apart is the

quality of their staff who are responsive,

professional, friendly and flexible.” - Janine

Stolz, Stratford Arts.

If you would like to know more about how CPS

Payroll can help you please contact Karen

Adorjan (020 8641 9546) or Mel Brannan (020

8641 9547)

news

page7

Changes to SCVS admin charges For those organisations that use our

administration services, our new

charges are below.

...And if you don’t already use us for

photocopying, advertising jobs etc - have a look at

our great rates!

Photocopying (price per sheet) A4 single sided - 8p

A3 single sided - 9p

A4 double sided -10p

A3 double sided -11p

A4 card - 15p

Coloured paper is an additional 1p per sheet

Copying in colour is an additional 3p per sheet

If stapling a document an additional 1p per sheet.

Job adverts We advertise jobs on our website, on our

ebulletins and via social media. To place a job

advert which will go out via all the above costs

£15 for a month.

Room Hire We have a meeting room at the SCVS offices at

Granfers Community Centre we can hire out if

you’re looking for a space to meet with people.

£10 per hour

£30 per half day (4 hours)

Recruitment Let SCVS take on the administration when you

need to recruit. We can provide a complete

package to suit your needs including arranging

advertising, sending out application packs,

collating applications and setting up interviews.

To find out more about any of our administration

services please email jackie@suttoncvs.org.uk or

call 020 8644 2867.

Grove House Project Manager

Hours: 21 per week

Contract: Fixed term until 30 April 2016

Salary: PO2/38 - £34,867 pa pro rata

We have an exciting opportunity in Sutton to restore Grove

House (Carshalton) and transform it into a vibrant heritage

and voluntary sector hub. We have received funding from the

Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to develop our plans and are now

looking for an experienced heritage project manager to support

us with this work.

We need someone with experience of supporting or managing a

heritage building project (previous experience of HLF work

would be an advantage). You need to be skilled in historical

research and interpretation, able to work with the local

community to carry out consultation and audience research,

and experienced in developing heritage activity plans and

funding applications.

Interested? Please email jackie@suttoncvs.org.uk for an

application pack.

Closing date: 12noon on Wednesday 1st July 2015

Interview date: Monday 6th July 2015

thenetworker page8

Picture caption

Healthwatch Sutton

You told us… On 12th May Healthwatch Sutton held an Information &

Engagement Event.

The aim of the event was to inform participants

about the new way in which Healthwatch Sutton has

started to collect information regarding health and social

care from the local community. Guest speakers spoke

about their organisations priorities, setting the scene for

lively group discussions around what matters most to

local people.

The event also gave participants a chance to share

their views and contribute towards the priorities that

Healthwatch Sutton could work on during 2015-16. 79%

of participants felt they had the opportunity to have their

say.

Finding out what your priories are has been a driver

in helping us to set our priorities and decide what areas

of work we will be concentrating on over the next year...

If you haven’t already had your say

we want you to share your

experiences of local health and

social care services with

Healthwatch Sutton.

You can do this online at

www.whatmatterstoyou.org.uk

Or by collecting a ‘What matters to

you’ feedback form from Granfers

Community Centre, Sutton SM1

3AA

page9

We have just announced our new work

programme for 2015-16.

In May we set up ‘What matters to

you?’ (www.whatmatterstoyou.org.uk). This is the

way that we find out local people’s views about

health and social care. It’s really easy. You select

a category of health and social care and then add

more detail about your choice in a free-text box.

It’s as simple as that. It can take less than a

minute. Go on, try it now!

To celebrate the launch of ‘What matters to

you?’, we held an event at the Salvation Army in

Sutton in May. We invited speakers from Epsom

& St Helier NHS Trust, Sutton Clinical

Commissioning Group and the London Borough of

Sutton Council to come along and tell us what

mattered to them. Over 60 local people including

Healthwatch Sutton members came along to hear

the speakers and also to tell us about their

priorities.

We took all this information, which included

450 ‘What matters to you?’ responses, and used it

to find out which areas we should focus on for our

work programme for 2015-16.

Our new work will be to investigate:

Outpatient services (issues including;

appointments, time with clinicians and

waiting areas)

Inpatient care (issues include weekend

staffing, bank staffing, food and noise at

night)

We will also continue our work that we have

already started. This includes:

Improving access to GP services (by

supporting action to be taken in response to

our GP Access report)

Making a film that shows young people

talking about ‘body image’ and what they

think we could do locally to address issues

that arise due to ‘body image’

Creating case studies from the Dementia

Diaries that we are putting together by

interviewing people with dementia and their

carers

If you would like to get more involved please

contact us to become a member. Membership

entitles you to regular e-bulletins, our printed

newsletters and invitations to take part in our

events and other activities.

Want to know more? Please visit our website

at www.healthwatchsutton.org.uk

Healthwatch Sutton

New projects for Healthwatch Sutton

Have you ever wondered how to easily

find a NHS dentist? Who you can go to

if you have been discharged from

hospital and need extra help?

The health and social care system can be

confusing with people sometimes left wondering

how they can access services and what their

choices are.

The Healthwatch Sutton Information team is

based at SCILL and they can help people to

navigate their way through the system by

providing local, accurate and current information.

You can also often find the team out and

about in the community. They hold regular

outreach sessions in different parts of the

Borough. Contact SCILL using the details below

to find out when they will be at a venue near you.

Phone: 020 8770 4065

Email: healthwatch@scill.org.uk

Visit: the SCILL Centre, 3 Robin Hood Lane,

Sutton, Surrey SM1 2SW between 10am & 4.pm.

Do you need information about a health or social care service?

How to… Win friends and influence people

thenetworker page10

development

When was the last time you took the time to reflect on how you engage and influence your existing and potential supporters and stakeholders? SCVS’s Hilary Chisnall looks at how organisations can improve their relationships to win support. As a sector we are generally very good at networking, however we have a tendency to rely on ad hoc, instinctive and opportunist methods rather than a planned strategic approach to winning support and influencing people. While you may not have the time to develop a written networking, collaboration and negotiation strategy perhaps you can take ten minutes to think about your current practice and take note of any of the following tips that may work for you and your organisation. The following ten points can be broadly applied to a wide range of networking occasions whether face- to face meetings or events. 1. Describe yourself /your organisation concisely

2. Be different, aim high, talk about what you’re best at, your organisational strengths

3. Help others and you will be helped

4. Integrity, trust and reputation are vital for effective networking

5. Ensure targeting of groups and contacts are relevant to your aims and capabilities

6. Ensure you follow-up meetings and referrals to make things happen

7. Plan your networking in some way. Know what you want out of it

8. Give a sustained focused effort

9. Less can be more, powerful points made in very few words make a much bigger impact than a lengthy statement.

10. Look again at how you describe your organisation and service offering. What is different or special about it compared with

others? If there is no difference, can you find a way to create one?

Remember to follow up with people: 1. Networking only produces good results when it is followed up.

2. Following up with contacts builds trust, reputation, and relationships.

If you find that you are not feeling enthusiastic about follow up and referrals because of lack of time or relevance then you should most certainly re-examine. You might be chasing the wrong groups and connections and could need to rethink what you are doing. Your efforts will produce much greater results when applied consistently in a strongly focused way. Much more effective than the same amount of effort spread over several wider activities, especially if over a time frame that is too long too!

Know your Working Style Five working styles have been identified and it is helpful for you to know which trait(s) you commonly display. It’s possible to associate with a combination of styles however, there is usually one dominant characteristic that you can associate yourself (or others) with. Which are you? Perfect - Good at accuracy and detail although can often expect others to be perfect too!

Strong - Great in a crisis, can take control of situations, people feel safe around them

Try Hard - Great pioneers, love new projects or a new thing to do. Likely have a great wealth of information. Best working under pressure although not always able to finish.

Please others - Great team members can see both sides of any argument and good at calming things down. Decision making not usually a strong point

Hurry Up - Gets a great deal done in a short amount of time, can take on too much and be prone to overlooking some important aspects.

page11

development

It is helpful to recognise these in ourselves and others so that we can make the best use of them rather than be driven by them. It is equally helpful to try to apply a style to the people with whom you are in a negotiation situation with and, then adapt your negotiation tactics to appeal to their style.

What do you offer? Top Tips 1. Develop slightly different descriptions of your organisation for different situations so that you are as relevant as possible. Continue to refine and adapt these statements. Get feedback from people, and notice what works best for different situations. 2. Use positive language. Smile. Be known as a really positive person. It rubs off on others and people will warm to you. 3. Be passionate and enthusiastic, but not emotional and subjective. Avoid personalising situations. Remain objective. 4. Seek feedback and criticism about your ideas and organisation from others. It is amongst the most valuable market research you can obtain and it's free! 5. Be tolerant, patient, and calm. Particularly when others are not. Followers gather around calm people. 6. Always carry a pen. Always carry a diary. Always carry your business cards. (Or modern electronic equivalents) 7. Only promise or offer what you can fully deliver and follow up. Always aim to under-promise, and then over-deliver. 8. Take great care with electronic messages (texts, messages, emails, etc) - misunderstandings and breakdowns in relationships can occur because a message is wrongly interpreted. Check and read twice everything you send. 9. Always follow up everything that you say you will do, however small the suggestion. 10. Networking is about building a wide and relevant network of meaningful contacts - not just having lots of one-to-one meetings. Big strongly connected networks inevitably capture more

opportunities than networks with lots of holes and weak connections. Be careful in the use and avoidance of certain words when seeking to influence responses, for example the word 'how?' is more likely to produce a positive response than 'why?' Words like 'situation' and 'challenge' are

more positively stimulating than words like 'problem' and 'difficulty',

In communications designed to motivate, using the word 'but' usually prompts a negative feeling, compared to 'and' or 'also'.

Single clear positive messages/instructions/requests work better than communications which carry more than one main message.

A request to 'do' something generally produces better response levels than a request which instructs 'not to' or 'don't' do something.

Remember when not to negotiate (Know when and how to say “No” ')

People say lots of different things when they really know the answer is "No." "I'll see what I can do." "I'll let you know."" "Maybe." "I'll ask." Although difficult in some situations, try not to negotiate if there are unrealistic demands being made. This is for three reasons.: It prevents you having to concede

substantial ground unnecessarily.

It avoids raising false hopes, which would make it difficult for us to satisfy later.

It stamps your personal authority and professionalism on the situation.

A clear and honest "No, I'm afraid not," with suitable explanation is often all it takes! So next time you’re speaking to your stakeholders, supporters and potential funders, remember the difference that the way you speak can make, follow this guidance and see the difference it makes! Good Luck!

Small Charity Week celebrates and raises

awareness of the essential work of the UK’s small

charity sector that make an invaluable

contribution to the lives of millions of individuals,

communities and causes across the UK and the

rest of the world.

A lot of the work you do as a small charity

can go unnoticed – maybe because you are so busy

doing and don’t have the time to tell everybody

what you’re actually doing. Small Charity Week

is your time to shine and get noticed so take

advantage of the extra publicity you can get

during this time.

Get involved If you would like to take part in Small Charity

Week visit the website at

www.smallcharityweek.com to find out what is

going out and how you can get involved.

Monday 15th June — I ♥ Small Charities Day.

Nationally Small Charity Week launches with a

day to raise awareness of the work of all small

charities across the UK, whether you take part in

one of the competitions or carry out your own

activity.

Tuesday 16th June — Big Advice Day

A day of free one to one advice and support across

the country; you choose the topic, Small Charity

Week will match you to an advisor. Book now to

avoid disappointment.

Wednesday 17th June — Policy Day

Policy Day is a chance for small charities to

engage with policy makers and influencers via a

reception in London and local events across the

UK.

Thursday 18th June — Volunteering Day

A chance to bring small charities and volunteers

together. Advertise your volunteer position with

Small Charity Week or take part in one of four

free events.

Friday 19th June — Fundraising Day

The Friday will see a range of fundraising

opportunities you can take advantage of and raise

some money for your cause.

Saturday 20th June — Celebration Day

Small Charity Week closes with a day to celebrate

small charities everywhere. Join the big screen

messages and let Small Charity Week know how

you will be celebrating.

Here at SCVS we’ll be celebrating the work of

some of our local organisations for the third year

running. Throughout the week we’ll be

highlighting some of our local groups and

charities — follow us on Twitter (@SuttonCVS)

and Facebook (SuttonCVS) and join the

celebration.

thenetworker page12

development

Calling all small charities in

Sutton — it’s nearly your week!

Small Charity Week celebrates

small charities across the UK,

recognising the excellent work

they do. To mark the occasion,

we’ll be taking a look at some of

Sutton’s small organisations who

make an invaluable contribution

to our borough...

page13

development

What SCVS can do for you Did you also know that as a small charity or

voluntary group, at SCVS we offer a variety of

services to support you? :

Initial development check – A check list to

explore what organisations have in place

and where the gaps are.

Funding advice – not sure what funds are

available for you to apply to? We can help

you find opportunities for funding, and

write your funding bids.

Governance Support – this can be

exploring legal structures, business

planning, quality systems and

fundraising.

Policies and procedures – Reviewing and

updating policies.

Training – We offer subsidised training for

voluntary organisations in Sutton on

subjects ranging from fundraising and

business planning to roles and

responsibility for trustees, and

governance.

Small Groups Forum – run bi-annually,

the forum is a chance for groups in the

borough to come together to share good

practice and network.

If you would like to book a appointment or

would like to find out more about the

services we have to offer you email

razia@suttoncvs.org.uk or call her on 020

8641 9544

Inunity’s Keeley Wilcox and Joseph

Jeffers from the Sutton Centre for

Equalities tell us why they love their

small charities. Follow us on Twitter

@SuttonCVS

during Small Charity Week to hear from

more local organisations.

Local organisations

thenetworker page14

When a Sutton Community Fund

application arrived late last year

promising a new lease of life for

hundreds of items of unwanted

furniture the Panel was intrigued.

One successful application and six

months later and the Vine Projects'

vision has been turned into a reality.

Joel O’Loughlin tells us how the

project has been getting on...

Where do ideas come from? Sometimes they wash

into consciousness on a riptide of popular culture.

Institutions like Universities and corporations

specialise in generating them. But every so often

an idea comes out of left field and makes us think

“I wish I thought of that”. We are beginning to

appreciate that the Envirobus is one of those

wishful ideas.

Visitors to the bus tell staff how nice it is to

have a pop up shop in their neighbourhood. They

feel valued and connected to what is going on. The

arrival of the Envirobus in each location will be

heralded by a “Happening”. This is aimed at

generating awareness of the bus through a one

day extravaganza with artists, music, treats for

children in a carnival atmosphere. The

Happening says to locals “The Envirobus has

arrived”. Everyone is welcome, because no one

wants to feel left out, and it’s always a good idea

to make people part of things.

The Vine Project launched The Envirobus in

March as the platform from which to promote our

Reuse Reduce and Recycle campaign. In short we

encourage communities to do their bit to honour

the planet and respect the earth’s resources. Big

ideas for a small organisation nestled in the

bosom of Willow Lane industrial estate.

The project arose out of a mix of

circumstances which includes my memories from

a trip to New York many years ago, and an

unused bus parked in the Vine yard. The Vine

Project agrees that the old model of “make - use -

throw away – make another”, is unsustainable.

We cannot continue in this way because at some

point we will not have raw materials to produce

more products. In responding to the challenge of

developing new projects, I recalled wandering

through Soho, in Manhattan, browsing through

trendy pop-up-shops. I thought we could open an

environmental pop-up-shop on Sutton High

Street, but then there was that bus... just sitting

there! In a brilliant moment someone suggested

putting all our services on wheels and in a flash

the Envirobus was born. We put an application

into the Sutton Community Fund, which was

successful and off the idea went full throttle.

The project is running as a pilot for three

months from pitches in shopping areas and large

estates in Sutton. It offers low cost household and

reuse items for sale and provides customers the

option of bringing items for repair that would

otherwise go to waste. The bus offers a 'bring it

and we show you how to fix it' service aimed at

breaking the cycle of ‘use and discard’ of

consumer goods.

The arrival of the Envirobus in some

locations has been heralded by a “Happening”.

This is aimed at generating awareness of the bus

through a mini extravaganza with artists,

musicians and treats for children. The Happening

says to local people “The Envirobus has arrived”.

On board the Envirobus

page15

Local organisations

Volunteers have been an essential part of the

Happenings and essential to managing the

pitches and engaging the community. We are

particularly keen to offer volunteers with craft

skills and handypersons an opportunity to

showcase their talent. They will be given a

prominent pitch in the Pop-Up Shop locations to

help customers fix broken appliances, make

usable artefacts from waste materials and

textiles. The particular skills we are looking for

are:

Electrical equipment and gadget repair

Sewing, tailoring, dressmaking

Upholstery

Arts and craft skills using recycled

material

Bicycle repair

We envisage providing 20 volunteer places for

the life of the project. Volunteers will be

responsible for collections and marketing the

services to local residents and will receive

training in the principles of reuse, reduce and

recycle as well as effective communication. We

will provide training sessions to skill up

volunteers to support them in their efforts to

gain valuable experience that bolsters their

CVs and stand them in a good position to find

work. We are indebted to the Sutton

Community Fund for providing the resources to

engage and support them. The Envirobus will be

touring the streets of Sutton and neighbourhood

estates until the end of August 2015.

Look out for the Envirobus coming to a

community near you. For more information on the

Envirobus contact Joel O’Loughlin at

joel@thevineproject.org or call him on 020 8685

6640. To find out more about the Vine Project

visit their website at www.thevineproject.co.uk or

follow them on Twitter @TheVineProject1

thenetworker page16

local organisations

Sutton Talking Newspaper Formed in 1975 Sutton Talking

Newspaper (STN) is a charity which

was started to help spread Sutton’s

news to blind and visually impaired

residents of Sutton. June from Sutton

Talking Newspaper tells us all about

their work...

Sutton Talking Newspaper produces audio-

recorded versions of some of the news from local

papers which are distributed throughout the

borough. We are now in our 40th year and have

produced over 2,000 editions since the formation

of the Association.

The organisation was founded in 1975 by

the Rotary Club of Carshalton, and members of

the Rotary Club are among our many

volunteers. We recently moved to our new “state

of the art” recording studio behind the Charles

Cryer Theatre.

Every Thursday afternoon and evening,

rotas of volunteers meet at our small studio in

Carshalton. Four readers take it in turns to

read extracts from the Sutton Guardian, which

have been prepared by that day’s presenter.

The news section of the recording lasts for

30 minutes, and “side two” (which is also 30

minutes long) is “The Clarion” magazine which

contains an assortment of interesting,

entertaining or informative items, such as useful

information and advice for the visually impaired,

as well as items of more general interest including

interviews with local people. This is prepared in

advance by another presenter.

As well as readers, we have recording

engineers who operate the microphone mixing

desk during recording, and people to unpack and

sort the returned pouches containing the memory

sticks and CDs, as well as others who use

machines to fast copy the recordings and check for

quality. After the recording is produced each

Thursday evening, the CDs and memory sticks

are carefully put in individual pouches with

reversible labels and taken in sacks to the main

post office by local Rotarians.

The majority are delivered to our listeners in

the first post on Friday. This gives them the

weekend in which to listen to the recording, before

posting it back to STN by the following Thursday

when the process is repeated.

A recent innovation has been that we are now

able to supply on memory sticks, twelve national

magazines each week: Hello, My Weekly, People’s

Friend, Woman’s Own, Woman’s Weekly, Sport

Weekly, The Week, Amateur Gardening, Nature,

BBC Good Food, BBC History and BBC Wildlife.

These magazines have proved extremely popular

with our listeners.

local organisations

Many people already have a device such as

a television, radio, daisy player, tablet, or

internet radio which is capable of playing

memory sticks. Any listener who does not

already own a memory stick player can be

given one free of charge by STN, and

demonstrated in their own home by one of our

volunteers.

The organisation is administered and

staffed entirely by volunteers, and is funded by

generous donations and legacies.

There is no charge for the service.

Many of our listeners have

been with us for years, but we

know there are many more out

there who are not aware of what

we do, so we are trying to spread

the news about our news!

If you know of anybody who

might like to take our service,

would like to join us as a volunteer,

or display our leaflets and posters,

please contact the studio by

phoning 020 3759 6679, emailing

secretary@suttontn.org.uk or

publicity@suttontn.org.uk, or

writing to us at: Sutton Talking

Newspaper, 1 Grove Cottage,

Grove Park, High Street, Carshalton,

Surrey, SM5 3BB

To find out more about Sutton Talking

Newspaper visit www.suttontn.org.uk

page17

what’s on

July - Sept 2015

Carshalton-on-sea 19th-21st June

Carshalton

A weekend of seaside fun with a

programme of events throughout

the village. Activities at the

Honeywood Museum, a Punch

and Judy show, crafts, sandpits

and more. There will also be a

market in the village car park

and music performances around

Carshalton.

www.friendsofhoneywood.co.uk

Diamond Dash Summer

Fete 5th July, 8am-6pm

Diamond Riding Centre,

Woodmansterne Road, SM5 4DT

Live music, pet the pony, BBQ,

treasure hunt, cake stall, Pimm’s

tent, sports day events and more

in aid of the Diamond Riding

Centre.

www.diamondcentre.org.uk

Sutton Live 11th July, 12noon-3pm

Trinity Square, Sutton High

Street

Sutton Live returns this summer

with an eclectic mix of local

musical talent. Bands, solo

artists and choirs will perform

live with something to suit all

musical tastes. So sit back in a

deckchair, enjoy a spot of lunch

and some great free

entertainment.

www.enjoysutton.co.uk

The Wind in the Willows 20th-21st July

Secombe Theatre

Join Mole as he abandons his

spring-cleaning for the

riverbank, and stumbles into an

adventure with Mr. Toad and

friends. Mr. Toad has an

obsession with the fast and

chaotic and it’s left to his friends

to save him from himself, battle

against the weasels and save Mr.

Toad’s beloved Toad Hall.

www.suttontheatres.co.uk

Crazy Golf 1st-31st August, 10am-4.30pm

Trinity Square, High Street

Sutton

Throughout August you can tee-

off on Enjoy Sutton’s free nine-

hole crazy golf course, which is

guaranteed to keep the kids

amused over the school holidays.

www.enjoysutton.co.uk

Bat Walk 29th August, 8-10pm

Beddington Park

Bats are busy feeding up, trying

to put on as much body weight as

possible to enter hibernation

when the weather turns cold at

the end of summer. Go on this

short walk and talk about how

bats live. Bat detectors will be

provided.

Cost: £4.50 per person. Suitable

for: all. Booking is recommended.

suttonnature.wordpress.com

Carshalton Environmental

Fair 31st August, 10.30am-8pm

Carshalton Park, Ruskin Rodd,

Carshalton

Over 150 stalls, children's

activities, local craft, interactive

demonstrations, farmers'

market, music and performing

arts, lots of tasty food, a bar with

real ales and more, information,

campaign groups and more....

showcasing local sustainability

initiatives.

There's even a FREE bus to

get you there! On average

around 10,000 people attend.

The event is organised by

EcoLocal with a team of

volunteers.

www.envfair.org.uk

thenetworker page18

Chief Executive: Susanna Bennett

Communications and Admin:

Claire Avery

Jackie Parr

Development Team

Razia Sattar

Hilary Chisnall

Accountancy Services:

Glory Sivaraja

Laura Corney (from July 2015)

Creative Payroll Solutions Ltd

(CPS):

Karen Adorjan

Melanie Brannan

Healthwatch Sutton

Pete Flavell

Pam Howe

Sara Thomas

The Networker is the bi-monthly

magazine of :

Sutton Centre for the Voluntary

Sector (SCVS)

Granfers Community Centre,

73-79 Oakhill Road,

www.suttoncvs.org.uk

020 8644 2867

info@suttoncvs.org.uk

@SuttonCVS

Registered Charity No: 1063129

contact us

page19

July - Sept 2015

thenetworker

facebook.com/suttoncvs

Training and networking

Training SCVS runs subsidised training throughout the year on all

sorts of subjects from crowdfunding, to fundraising to

governance. To find out what courses are coming up, just

visit the what’s on page of our website.

Forums

Children, Young People and Families Forum

Thursday 25th June, 9.30am - 12 noon

Health, Wellbeing and Social Care Forum

Wednesday 15th July, 10am - 12 noon

All forums take place at Granfers Community Centre,

Sutton, SM1 3AA. Email Jackie@suttoncvs.org.uk or call

020 8644 2867 to book your place

Dates for the diary

Superhighways Impact Aloud Event

Monday 21st September, Wimbledon

SCVS AGM

Monday 12th October, 3pm - 5pm at Granfers Community

Centre, Sutton, SM1 3AA

SCVS Annual Event for Trustees

Thursday 5th November (time and venue tbc)

Payroll that stacks up

Contact us today: t: 020 8644 2867 e: creativepayroll@suttoncvs.org.uk w. www.cpspayroll.co.uk

Get CPS to manage your payroll and see how much time you could save

Focus on service delivery - getting us to sort out your payroll means that you can concentrate on what’s important for your organisation

Comply with current legislation - we make sure that pay is calculated correctly, and HMRC have all the correct up to date PAYE information for your organisation

No need to purchase specialist software or train staff - we are specialists in payroll and up to date with all the latest legislation