Neath Port Talbot Council for Voluntary Service

Gaynor with her daughter Nia Richards

A community champion was among those recognised at a higher education awards ceremony. The event was hosted by Neath Port Talbot College, a fully accredited member of the University of Glamorgan, for graduates who studied in the borough.

More than 150 students and 400 guests attended the Princess Theatre in Port Talbot to mark their academic achievements.

At the ceremony, Gaynor Richards, director of Neath Port Talbot Community Voluntary Service (CVS), was awarded a Chancellor’s Medal for her exceptional services to the college and community. Mrs Richards, who was a former governor on the board of NPTC, was born in Upper Cwmtwrch and has a joint history/English degree, a business degree and a masters in management from the University of Glamorgan.She was appointed as the first executive director of Neath Port Talbot CVS in 1997 and was instrumental in transforming the organisation from four staff to 43, and increasing its assets from just over £2,500 to £2.2m. The organisation has been directly involved in attracting around £30m of grants to the communities of Neath Port Talbot.

Mark Dacey, principal of NPTC, said: “We are delighted that Gaynor has been awarded the Chancellor’s Medal. She has helped achieve recognition for the role of the voluntary sector locally and nationally, ensuring that the sector gets the respect and resources it deserves.

Article Source: Wales Online Website

Gaynor Graduating

Sole traders, partnerships or companies that have successfully changed their life and set up a new business are invited to enter the Trading Places Awards.

Ten national finalists will each receive computer software from Microsoft as well as free advertising from Yell and must attend a judging session in November 2010.

Barclays will be presenting £10,000 to the winner’s business, plus £5,000 to the runner-up and, for 2010, Barclays and The Sun have come together to make a special Award. This will be presented to a Trading Places finalist whose business is helping local people by putting something back into the community. The winner of the award will receive a £3,500 cheque to help their business carry on with the good work.

The awards are open to sole traders, partnerships and companies and the majority of shares must be held in private ownership.

The closing date for receipt of applications is 16 July 2010.

The following url links to the relevant website/scheme guidelines and GRANTfinder report

This year’s Wales Recycling Awards are now open for nominations.  The categories are:

• Community Recycler of the Year – Sponsored by Novelis
• Innovation Award – Sponsored by WRAP Cymru
• Local Authority Partnership Award – Sponsored by YELL
• Outstanding Contribution Award – Sponsored by Aylesford Newsprint

You can enter online at the link below, or contact rose.jennings@cylch.org.uk / 02920 649750 for paper forms.  Closing date is July 16^th 2010. Visit the Cylch website for more information.

There is under two weeks left for application submissions for Wales’ most enterprising place.  For your chance to be selected as a regional winner enter at the Welsh Assembly Government website.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing is committed to raising the profile and quality of marketing in Wales and the Canmol awards, now in their third year, celebrate and promote the best of marketing in Wales. The Awards are a celebration of excellence in ideas and execution. For 2010 they’re very keen to get more charities, third-sector and voluntary organisations in Wales to enter. The awards are designed to be easy to enter: there is no entry fee and entries are submitted on-line. Previous winners have included not-for-profit organisations, large and small. Marketing is often seen as something exclusive to the business community but we recognize that there is some great marketing being undertaken in the voluntary sector who are value-driven and citizen-centric as well as being customer-focussed. See www.canmol.com for terms and conditions. Note the deadline for entries is 31^st July 2010.  

The Wales Innovation Award is a target for Welsh industry and Welsh organisations.  The award recognises organisations that excel at adopting new thought processes or developing new products or services. The deadline for receipt of entries is 31 May 2010. For relevant website/scheme guidelines go to the GRANTfinder report.

Luke Jenkins, 16, from Port Talbot has deservedly won a local heroes award 2010 for his contribution to the community. Luke has been known to all at Neath Port Talbot CVS for a number of years, thanks to the hundreds of hours Luke has dedicated to volunteering.

 To start with Luke has been an active member of the Youth Opportunities Bank panel from the very beginning, assisting in the development of the application process, its publicity, making decisions over who receives grants and recently creating a new website. Luke has also utilised his computer skills by creating the website for Serenity Neath Port Talbot, a free counselling and emotional support service. Meanwhile Luke successfully completed a work placement over the summer of 2009 in Neath Port Talbot CVS Volunteer Centre. Luke enjoyed the experience so much and produced a very high standard of work that both parties wished for Luke to stay on for an extra few weeks in a voluntary capacity. His commitment to volunteering doesn’t stop there however as Luke regularly volunteers with Silver Surfers, a group to assist the elderly with their computer skills, for which he received a WCVA volunteers award last year and he volunteered for a long period in the Hideout.

Just in case he thought he didn’t have enough to do, Luke is also very active within his school, where his conscientious nature has assisted him in becoming a school prefect. Luke has also sat on the school council for two years to ensure pupils’ voices are taken into account when decisions are made in the school. As a way of sharing news within the school Luke assisted in the development of their pupil voice website and more recently has been sitting on interview panels when new teachers are being recruited.

Neath Port Talbot CVS would like to take this opportunity to thank Luke for all his hard work for CVS and congratulate him on receiving this deserved award. We have no doubt this will drive Luke on to continue volunteering in many areas of the community and continue to make a massive difference.

The Enterprising Wales 2010 competition recognises and rewards those cities, villages, towns and neighbourhoods that have tackled the economic downturn head on and are successfully creating jobs, boosting local business and nurturing entrepreneurial talent as the UK emerges from the recession. For more information and to download applications for your chance to be named ‘The Most Enterprising Place in Wales’ please visit the following website.

The deadline for applications is April 21st 2010. Further information on the CHAMP Awards, including an application form, guidance notes, winners’ tips, winners’ video clips and resources for parents, children and teachers can be found at the Champ Awards website.

Under two weeks left to nominate your WCVA Volunteers of the Year. To nominate, simply contact dcook@wcva.org.uk . Nominations must be received by 23 April!