Neath Port Talbot Council for Voluntary Service

Neath Port Talbot Youth Opportunities Bank received a great number of applications for its first deadline of June 30^th. Since then the panel have been meeting on a regular basis to analyse the applications, score them against the criteria and decide which projects should be funded. It was decided a total of seven projects would be funded allocating £3368.66. If you are interested in applying to the Youth Opportunities Bank the next deadline is October 29^th 2010.

The successful projects for this round were:

Port Talbot Town Cricket Club- £500

The money allocated will go towards equipment to enable a group of young volunteers to run a summer cricket school at their cricket club. The cricket school is aimed at young people from the surrounding areas to firstly provide activities for them for a week during the summer but also aimed at attracting more young people to joining a team within the cricket club.

Cwmavon Boys and Girls Club- £500

The club are looking to purchase training equipment for their new under 7s team who will be coached by two young volunteers.

Witchvale Troopers- £576.66

This dance group based in Cwmgwrach required money to help cover the cost of rent of a community building and also to purchase further equipment to cope with the growing numbers of young people wishing to attend their classes. There are a number of young volunteers in the group and further young people have asked to teach others to dance. The group are also looking at developing young people’s skills by getting them trained as youth workers.

Barn Project- £500 (dependent on receiving further information)

A youth club for the young people of Llansawel, they have asked for money for equipment to assist their activities and to give the young people a greater choice of activities. Young people get the chance to volunteer as assistant coaches and they also have the opportunity to run a small tuck shop from within the youth club.

Neath Amateur Operatic Society- £500

The society requested money for a laptop, printer and computer accessories to assist young people in learning projection and sound skills and to use the equipment to research ideas for performances and design publicity to promote their performances and activities. The group recently completed a production involving fifty young people and are looking to increase their numbers in the coming months.

Cwmavon Youth Rugby- £360

The team have requested a grant to cover the cost of training equipment for their new youth rugby team. The team will encourage young people from the community to get involved in team sports, giving them a sense of belonging and allow them to make new friends. The team are looking at encouraging young people to progress by giving them the opportunity to get involved in coaching.

Cimla Mobile Youth Skate Ramp- £432

A team of young volunteers will be taking mobile skate ramps into the Cimla area for young people to use on a regular basis. Volunteers will be receiving OCN accreditation for the volunteering they complete. Meanwhile the young people in the Cimla area will get a chance to access the ramps free of charge in a supervised environment.

There will be a funding and information session at Neath Port Talbot CVS on Thursday 16th September at 5.30pm featuring presentations on the GwirVol and Millennium Volunteers Grant Schemes as well as from the Terrance Higgins Trust.

For more information, please contact Helen Williams on 01639 631246 or HelenW@nptcvs.org.uk

Established Day Nursery with registered capacity for 40 children, a loyal staff and a proven track record in its local community, require a Nursery Manager. The Nursery Manager will need to show strong oral and written skills, excellent leadership and supervisory skills, expertise with CSSIW standards, understanding of financial budgets, exceptional communicator and able to demonstrate sensitivity and awareness when communicating with parents and staff. This is an exciting role for someone who is keen to work within an environment where real change can be delivered. For more information go to our employment page.

The first deadline for 2010/2011 of the Youth Opportunities Bank has just passed. Over the coming weeks the young people are meeting weekly to discuss each application and assess it against the criteria. The Youth Opportunities Bank panel hope to have made their decisions by the middle of August. The next deadline for Youth Opportunities Bank applications is 29th Ocotber 2010. For an application form or more information contact Neath Port Talbot CVS on 01639 631387,  go online on the Volunteer section of our website or go to the Youth Opportunities Bank website.

‘Are you open-minded? Non-judgemental? Respectful of others?

Could you give some time to help children and young people who are desperate for someone who will listen?

ChildLine is the UK’s free 24-hour helpline for children and young people up to the age of 19.

Every day thousands of children try to contact ChildLine in desperate need of help.

 Anyone over the age of 16 can volunteer, whatever age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and physical abilities. Volunteering roles available are counselling, switchboard, administration and fundraising.  For more information email NigelC@nptcvs.org.uk

Only Boys Aloud are looking for boys aged 14 – 19 years who would like to perform for thousands of people.  For more information go to www.onlyboysaloud.com or call 029 2044 4147.

The Youth Service Capital Grant will be available from June 2010 subject to approval by the Welsh Assembly Government.  The purpose of the grant is to develop new opportunities in the Voluntary Sector for youth engagement and participation as described in the National Youth Service Strategy and the Neath Port Talbot Youth Service Review.  To meet the grant eligibility criteria your proposed project should enhance learning opportunities for 11-25 year olds, particularly those aged 13-19 years old.  The application pack can be downloaded from the Funding page of the website.

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 Children’s Legal Centre’s new website for young people, Lawstuff, is now live! Go to the website to take a look.

The Climate Change Champions for Wales have created a Facebook Group called ‘Our Future, Our Voice’. This group aims to encourage young people in Wales to: Tell the Climate Change Champions what they think about climate change; Discuss climate change issues and share information about relevant projects across Wales; Give their views on Welsh Assembly Government policies.  At least one Climate Change Champion will attend every meeting, and present your views from the Facebook group on behalf of all young people in Wales.