Agbrigg & Belle Vue Community Association

With the Neighbourhood Management Pilot ending in March 2010, the Community Association and resident members of the Neighbourhood Management Board are concerned that this will leave a huge void in help and support that has been available to our community.

Links have been made with many statutory bodies, e.g. police, neighbourhood environment services, W.D.H., the fire service etc, forging excellent links that have resulted in some spectacular improvements in our area and we want this to continue.

So how can we achieve this? – By volunteering!

Yes I can hear your response — people should be paid for this work but we all know that the public purse is not a never ending pot of money and in these days of recession, redundancy and reduction in services what better time is there to learn about the art of volunteering.

Who can be a volunteer?

Anyone can be a volunteer: grandparents, mums, dads, spinsters, bachelors, young more mature. No special skills are needed but you can gain a wide variety of knowledge and skills by attending a variety of training sessions that can be provided, which can add to your CV, helping find employment.

You can do as much or as little as you like, You can become an active member of the Community Association , or just register as a volunteer listing your areas of interest so that we can contact you if we think an activity might appeal to you.

One of the main activities that requires support is the number of people requiring assistance with form filling and translation.

Other activities could include contacting various agencies for someone with poor language skills,

assist with organising community events, administrative work or delivering community news paper, assisting with youth projects, helping the elderly with shopping. or just being a good neighbour

In the future we may be involved in environmental projects enhancing wildlife habitats etc.

Volunteering can have a huge impact on lives.

We can offer training through other organisations, this then adds to your skills and can have a positive effect on job applications or just gives you the satisfaction of doing something worth while.

This community needs volunteers to fill the void that will be left by the ending of the Neighbourhood Management Pilot.

The Community Association, resident members of the Neighbourhood Management Board and volunteers are working together to initially hold a couple of weekly drop in sessions at the Community Centre for residents to bring their concerns if they feel unable to access services themselves. The service we will then offer is to assess the situation and provide appropriate assistance.

We hope to start these sessions in January 2010 supported for a short time by members of the Neighbourhood Management Team.

Our AGM will be early in the New Year with presentations on volunteering.

If you wish to find out more contact Eileen on 07761386512 or e-mail Sam on sam@abv.org.uk