Over 40 people attended the VAK Annual General Meeting at the Bowls Club, Devizes on Thursday 15 October. As in previous years, a lavish cream tea was served and staff, trustees and members of VAK had an opportunity to meet each other and catch up on projects and works in progress, completed, and still in the planning stage.

VAK's Chairman, Richard Cooper, was unable to attend due to illness, so after Lady Teresa Carter (our President) had greeted everyone, Henry Miles addressed the meeting, drawing attention to the successes of the past year as detailed in the Annual Review. He especially mentioned the importance of working together to manage change in 'turbulent times'. Ventures over the past year have included working with older people, the Children and Families Voluntary Sector Forum, Time Bank, the new Information Shop, work with Faith Communities and the Mental Health Forum.

A new venture, not only for VAK, is the new Voluntary Sector Unit at Wiltshire Council, to which Margaret West has been seconded. Another example of VAK's acceptance of the need to change with the times arose from a productive Trustee and staff Away Day which discussed marketing and collaborative working. VAK and DevelopECS (formerly CVS North Wilts) have now signed an agreement around collaborative working. Mark Castle-Woodham is now working with both organisations on Community Development issues.

The Guest Speaker was Sandie Lewis, Head of the Voluntary Sector Unit, and after the break for tea, she spoke openly about the challenges ahead for all, and answered questions on how the Unit proposes to work with the voluntary sector throughout Wiltshire.

As ever, the AGM provided time for reflection, food for thought for the future, and a chance to catch up with colleagues across the East Wiltshire area.

Rachel Gale, a Year 11 pupil at John of Gaunt's School in Trowbridge, has been doing Work Experience this week with the Children's Centre. We all enjoyed having her in the office and did our best not to use her to do all the nasty or boring jobs we've been avoiding!

Rachel very politely said she'd enjoyed her time here and had gained an insight into the variety of activities that go on and the mixture of 'boring but necessary' and 'interesting and creative' jobs that occur in most workplaces. She wrote a short day-by-day account of her week, which follows:

My week at Pewsey Children’s Centre
Monday
On my first day of work experience, I got to meet some of the staff at Pewsey Children’s Centre. They were all very nice and welcoming. My first job was to make 10 goodie bags for toddlers so they could be taken to events through out the week. My next job was to wrap a load of sandwiches for a buggy walk with toddlers their parents. That was a fun experience to work with toddlers for an hour or two. The rest of the day I made information booklets. I enjoyed the day because it was different from a normal school day and I did more than one activity that day.
Tuesday
On Tuesday I went and did the toy library in the morning with Jess and Louise which I enjoyed because it was nice to see the toddlers enjoying themselves. After that I went back to the office and carried on making information booklets and sticking labels on envelopes. I liked today because I was given different jobs to do than doing one all day.
Wednesday
Today I went to the Trenchard Lines, in Upavon, where there were toddlers and mothers. Mel, Jess and I brought some musical instruments for the toddlers to play with. After being there for an hour we went back to the office and I did the task of putting information into envelopes and that was my day.
Thursday
The start of today Debbie and I worked in the shop. This is the Information Point for the Pewsey Community Area and holds local information and tourist information as well as things to do with the Children’s Centre.
Friday
This morning I went to the ‘Music and Movement’ session for toddlers at the Scout Hall in Pewsey. Then back to the office to tidy up the stationery cupboard!

Summertime, and the living is a little easier, but although Paris might close down for the month of August, in Pewsey and particularly in the VAK offices it’s more or less business as usual. Fish are jumping though, and while we don't have cotton, the river is high, with all the rain we've been having......
We’re planning an information sharing event in September, at the Coronation Hall in Alton Barnes. This will be an opportunity to find out about Area Board Funding, Area Partnerships/Boards, an update on Wiltshire Council/PCT’s review, engaging with the PCT and the Adult Care Workforce Development Strategy. Call the VAK offices if you’d like to book a place.
The Children’s Centre has been running all its usual activities, as well as special summer holiday events .The Big Picnic was very well attended and everyone cheerfully accepted the British Summer Weather and had a good time in spite of the rain.

The Children’s Centre staff also ran the Green Balloon Day event at the end of July, tying in with the CBeebies Breathing Places scheme. (That explains the sacks of compost we were all falling over in the office.)

The Time Bank continues to flourish. The next coffee morning at Meadow Court will be on Thursday 27 August. All welcome to come along, meet Time Bankers, swap ideas for services and activities and chat to the Meadow Court residents – if you think you’ve got the energy to keep up with them!

For general information about activities in and around the Pewsey Community Area, contact the Information Point. If we don't know the answer, we usually know how to find out, and we like visitors.

Hope everyone has had a lovely summer, with lots of sun and ice-cream and sand between the toes. September looms, back to work, back to school, new projects starting, lots of things going on. Keep reading the blog (or Twitter) to stay up to date with what’s going on.

The week beginning 20 June was Age No Barrier Week, which was organised in association with Wiltshire Council and NHS Wiltshire - ‘to celebrate the contribution older people make to their communities and to recognise that age is no barrier for people to come together to make a positive contribution to their community. It is intended to also provide an opportunity for the different age groups within communities to use their skills and knowledge in such a way that they learn, enjoy and benefit from one another.’

Learning and enjoying are what the Time Bank likes best! On Thursday 25 June the newest members of the TB, Rushall School earned time credits by providing entertainment for older people in Rushall Village Hall. The reception class and Year 1 sang Spanish songs (they’ve all been learning Spanish this year). Then a selected group of Years 4, 5 & 6 came in and sang a medley of WW2 songs and some Beatles’ numbers. They’ve been studying Life In Britain Since the 1930s this term, so after they’d performed, the pupils sat with the ‘audience’ and grilled them for memories of times gone by.

They were very tactful, eyeing up their victims before deciding to ask if we remembered the Blitz (NO!), the Coronation (no…) or the first Man on the Moon (um…yes….) There was much talk of television programmes (the first Doctor Who! Crackerjack!) and fashions (Remember Afghan coats anyone? Hot pants?) and at least one group had a very merry time remembering (and explaining) Vesta Curries!

As is so often the case with Time Bank activities, it’s hard to decide who benefited most from the afternoon. A big thank you to the school, the villagers who came along, and the Domestic Goddess who provided the cake.
Credits have been banked.

Believing in Devizes

VAK supports the voluntary sector that works as faith groups in your local community - visit believingindevizes.blogspot.com to see what's on this week.

Away Day Planning

At last Summer is under way here in Wiltshire, and VAK is busy planning ahead. Yesterday the staff and Trustees met for a very interesting and productive Away Day in Devizes, and had the opportunity to hear from Sandie Lewis, the new Head of Voluntary and Community Sector Strategy for Wiltshire Council. Thank you, Sandie, for sparing time to come and talk to us, even before you are in post!

For our latest news please click here for our May ebulletin, and make sure you visit our website for latest jobs and news.

Remember - you can post comments on this blog - we would love to hear from you!

Spring is here!

The sun is shining and all is well in the VAK office - hopefully you have great plans for the Bank Holiday weekend - for a little light reading try the VAK April eBulletin, available now on our website http://tinyurl.com/c4qheu.