Annual Report 2021—2022
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This year has been another successful and significant year for BCVS and the groups
and people it exists to support as we continued to navigate the pandemic.
COVID-19 remains with us, however due to the hard work of BCVS staff and Trustees
much business as usual was able to resume this year with multiple strands of work
developed to support our communities on the journey towards recovery.
May 2021 saw the departure of our previous CEO, Catherine Burn, and following
recruitment we welcomed our new CEO, Andria Birch, in September.
Work started in October 2021 on development of the new BCVS strategy 2022-2025
#WorkingTogether and involved all staff and trustees. #WorkingTogether will ensure
our BCVS Values remain front and centre of all the work we will do going forward to
develop and grow BCVS and the VCSE sector.
Our aim was to ensure the BCVS vision, mission and values, with our commitment to
Sustainability, Inclusion, Diversity and Equality (SIDE) and Health and Wellbeing, are
more visible and understood by all BCVS stakeholders. This work fed into our brand
refresh and has informed the BCVS strategic goals for 2022 to 2025 to ensure
maximum impact of the work of BCVS moving forwards.
[The strategy was successfully launched with our new brand for Bassetlaw CVS and
Bolsover CVS early in the new financial year 22/23].
The ‘Voice’ work of infrastructure organisations is often least visible but of critical
importance to the health of the VCSE sector. The BCVS definition of ‘Voice’ is
‘Listening to and sharing the voices of groups, and all people connected with them,
to influence and shape policy, funding, services and communities’. To this end,
BCVS colleagues organise and attend hundreds of meetings each year across
Bassetlaw and Bolsover to ensure that we feed in the needs and voices of the diverse
communities that we serve in order to influence system development and affect
positive change for our sector.
Chairs Report
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Whilst also developing above, BCVS has continued to lead and support a wide range
of programmes with 23 service areas and projects in operation in 2021/22 including:
Establishment of the Bassetlaw Food Insecurity Network; ongoing coordination of the
system leading Social Prescribing Link Workers for Bassetlaw; successfully securing
funding from the Arts Council England for the POV project, leading a partnership of 9
VCSE organisations seeking to amplify the voices of young people and create
volunteering opportunities that meet their needs; ongoing support for recruitment
and coordination of volunteer COVID-19 marshalls to support local vaccination
programmes; wider brokerage of volunteering opportunities for local residents,
ongoing VCSE group development support; a successful programme of activities and
projects in Bolsover to reestablish VCSE infrastructure support for Volunteers,
Groups and Voice, and leading and facilitation of the Nottinghamshire wide Tackling
Loneliness Collaborative.
A spotlight on a selection of these projects and service areas is included within our
extended Annual Report as a separate and more detailed publication for 21/22.
My thanks as always goes to the staff team and all trustees for their dedication
throughout the year, and to our funders and partners for their ongoing support. We
look forward to building on these very positive foundations in 22/23.
Fran Walker, BCVS Chair of Trustees,
alongside Andria Birch, BCVS CEO
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Future Plans
During the next financial year, 2022 to 2023, BCVS Trustees will be making financial
investment into the following areas:
IT infrastructure and data management system development to support the
growth and development of BCVS
An office base in the Bolsover District to increase visibility and access for
Bolsover CVS groups and service users
Continuous Professional Development of staff, trustees and volunteers
A brand refresh and increased focus on communicating the impact of what we
do
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Policy on reserves
The BCVS Trustees policy on reserves is that free reserves have been set as a minimum
of 9 months of operating costs.
Principal risks and uncertainties
Grant Aid
BCVS receives grant aid from Nottinghamshire County Council, Bassetlaw District
Council, Bassetlaw Clinical Commissioning Group and holds contracts for service
delivery with Bolsover District Council, Derby and Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning
Group and Bassetlaw Clinical Commissioning Group.
Two significant risks to BCVS are further reductions in Grant Aid for core infrastructure
support in addition to the changing landscape of Integrated Care System (ICS)
development and funding including the movement of Bassetlaw into the
Nottinghamshire ICS footprint.
BCVS is a well-respected organisation which is responsive, dynamic and achieves
positive outcomes for the groups and people it supports. BCVS continues to work
hard and creatively to generate new sources of sustainable income, to ensure all
activities have a sound financial basis. We will continue to document and increase
awareness of the impact of our work to mitigate these risks.
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In November 2021, BCVS trustees supported proposals for development of a Head of
Marketing and Communications role within BCVS in order to support Business
Development and diversification, raise awareness of the impact of BCVS work with all
key stakeholders and lead the marketing workstream within BCVS.
Rachel Wood was appointed and came into post in February 2022.
Work started immediately on the BCVS Ukraine response as the war began to
intensify. It was clear that BCVS needed to support VCSE organisations to develop and
coordinate a community response to support people arriving from Ukraine. A
‘Welcome to Bassetlaw’ booklet was produced by BCVS with support from the
Bassetlaw Place Based Partnership and wider VCSE sector and was translated into 3
languages, to ensure that guests had all the information they needed to settle in
Bassetlaw. This was shared widely across the country with many districts tailoring it
for use elsewhere.
Our full and detailed Ukraine Response web page can be found here:
https://www.bcvs.org.uk/ukraineresponse
Marketing and Communications
English
Ukrainian
Russian
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Relationships with partner organisations have been strengthened through formation
of a new fortnightly marketing and communications meeting including leads from
Bassetlaw CCG, Bassetlaw District Council, Nottinghamshire County Council and
Bassetlaw Hospital.
Facilitation of a free monthly column with the Worksop Guardian was established to
showcase the range of support BCVS and the VCSE sector provides.
Press coverage in February and March included the launch of the BCVS led Anti-Racist
Alliance and International Women’s Day coverage.
Work started in March on the BCVS rebrand for Bassetlaw CVS and Bolsover CVS
which was designed to reflect the new BCVS strategy and values.
We are very pleased with the result which was launched in early 22/23 and is now
visible across all our channels and content including regularly published articles and
case studies to demonstrate the difference we make.
Worksop Guardian International Women’s Day feature - March 2022:
With thanks to BCVS Trustee Greg Hardman for his support
and guidance throughout the rebrand process.
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Anti-Racism Alliance Launch
Launch web page: https://www.bcvs.org.uk/antiracism
In March 2022 we joined with twenty charities across Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire
and South Yorkshire to form the Anti-Racism Alliance.
Led by Bassetlaw Community and Voluntary Service (BCVS), Community Action Derby
(CAD) and Voluntary Action Doncaster (VAD) the Anti Racist Alliance, made of
Voluntary and Community Sector Infrastructure organisations,.
We will support our wider membership of over 6000 organisations to go beyond a
zero tolerance approach to racism and to commit to positive action to become and
remain proactive anti-racist organisations.
BCVS, CAD and VAD have also been active members of the National Association for
Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) National Anti-Racist Working group which
has developed a set of Anti Racist principles and call to actions, which are outlined on
the dedicated web page. Anyone interested in joining the alliance can also sign up via
a form on this page.
A press-release was also created which was featured in the Worksop Guardian and
Doncaster Free Press.
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The Social Prescribing Team grew during this year to include additional Social
Prescribers in Retford and Villages and Larwood and Bawtry Primary Care Networks.
The existing Social Prescriber in Bassetlaw Hospital Emergency Department, was also
joined by a new colleague in Hospital Discharge.
A new Dementia Advisor role launched in April 2021, supported by Nottinghamshire
County Council, working to provide specific support to Bassetlaw residents. The
service supported 278 patients and carers over the 12 months it was funded for and
also supported the set-up of 6 new dementia groups and worked in partnership to
enable a post-covid relaunch of 5 others.
All but one of the team have now completed or are in the process of completing
their Social Prescribing Certificate Level 3 qualification, and 3 are in the final stages
of a level 7 Women in Leadership course funded through Nottingham Trent
University and European Social Fund. The team also took part in the Green Social
Prescribing training run by Sheffield and Rotherham Wildlife Trust as part of the
South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw ICS Green Social Prescribing pilot.
Social Prescribing, Community Responders
and Dementia Advisor
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Recruitment and support for volunteers for Larwood PCN and Retford PCN
continued throughout this year and COVID-19 Marshal volunteers supported clinics
in Worksop and Retford.
237 clinics were supported, where volunteers worked to cover 1844 time slots
which equated to 5,861 hours of their time.
Throughout the year 152 volunteers were supported, 32 new volunteers were
placed, 93 volunteers were supported online and 27 volunteers were supported
face to face.
26 organisations were supported with volunteer recruitment and retention and 4
Bassetlaw Volunteer Forums were facilitated.
Our BCVS Bassetlaw Volunteer Coordinator, Annie Parry, has remained visible and
accessible, whilst taking measures to ensure COVID-19 safety, with attendance at
any available public events such as Recruiting Talent, Freshers Week and What’s
Next events across Bassetlaw to promote volunteering and volunteer vacancies
across Bassetlaw.
Volunteering
Covid Marshal volunteers receiving chocolate gifts on the 1 year anniversary
of the Covid clinics.
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A big thank you to all the Volunteers who have contributed so much to our
communities this year.
Volunteer Thank You Event 2021
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Bolsover
During this year, organisations were provided with support on 74 occasions that
included help with funding searches and applications, support and information on
legal structures, governance and business planning. BCVS continued to promote
networking and information sharing through delivery of 9 events over the year
which included Bolsover Community Voice Forums, Volunteering Forums and Social
Connectedness Network Meetings.
145 E- Bulletins were produced and distributed across sector organisations,
partners and to individuals.
BCVS continued to lead the We are Undefeatable Pilot Project. A project which
supports individuals with long term health conditions live a more active lifestyle.
The project has a variety of partners including Derbyshire County Council, NHS,
BCVS and voluntary sector organisations and is a great example of cross sector
working and co-production.
The BCVS Volunteering lead, also worked safely throughout the pandemic to ensure
promotion of volunteering across Bolsover throughout the year.
BCVS continued as the service provider for the DCC Home from Hospital provision
for the district. Home from Hospital offers a 6-week support service for people who
have been discharged from hospital or are in danger of being admitted to hospital.
This is non-medical support, and services provided includes collection of groceries
and prescriptions and telephone befriending.
During this year, BCVS have been present at regular outreach sessions in the district
where we have worked in partnership with Bolsover District Council’s Community
Champions to promote Covid vaccination take up and share wider health messages
out into the heart of the local population.
The POV (Point of View) project will also further our connections and presence in
Bolsover as the first cross-district project that includes partners from Bassetlaw,
Bolsover and South Yorkshire.
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Bolsover
West Lea, Clowne
BCVS enabled community development to take place at the West Lea area in Clowne.
We worked to encourage and support residents to pull together to form a community
group, to be able to work with all agencies to make improvements to the area.
Below is a photo of the first residents’ meeting at West Lea with County and District
Councillors, residents and a BDC Officer in July 2021. Bolsover District Council kindly
loaned us the Gazebo.
After this initial gathering, two further meetings
were held in August and September, and a
constituted community group, formed. The
Friends of West Lea, formally adopted their
constitution at their first AGM for the group on
September 17th.
Limestone House, Creswell
BCVS were able to assist the Board of Trustees at Limestone House in October 2021
when the organisation needed immediate support.
Our staff were able to assist in the recruitment and induction of 3 new Trustees,
support the completion of grant funding bids and help with business planning for the
future.
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Bolsover
Bolsover Lantern Parade 2021
BCVS promoted and attended the Bolsover Lantern Parade in November 2021—
widely recognised as the biggest event in Bolsover each year, attracting thousands
of people to the town.
BCVS press release promoting the parade can be found here:
https://bit.ly/blp-2021-bcvs
The search for an office base in Bolsover
BCVS has recognised the need for a more visible presence in Bolsover itself to
increase exposure, increase volunteer participation and gain more local contacts
and connections as a result.
Work began in early 2022 to search for and locate a suitable property to lease.
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BCVS staff put a huge amount of time into contacting and supporting over 70 VCSE
groups to complete the State of the Sector surveys for Bassetlaw and Bolsover in
January to March 22. We also ran focus groups with sector leaders and with less
often heard groups including local GRT (Gypsy, Romanian and Traveller) communities
in Bassetlaw.
The published reports can be found here : https://bit.ly/Bassetlaw-GRT
One of the key findings which is also reflected in national research is the reduction in
regular and formal volunteering, particularly for younger volunteers under 25 and
older volunteers over 65.
The BCVS SOTS reports showed that:
• Many volunteers felt vulnerable and have not returned – consequent impact on
face-to-face work/sharing transport
• Many volunteers felt isolated when online was the only option
• Many volunteers have struggled with their own mental health
• Digital divide - low levels of confidence and lack of resources. Some volunteers
have got tired of online engagement
• Return to work and life pressures have increased since originally volunteering in the
beginning of the pandemic
• Volunteers are feeling the effects of the cost of living increases and many are
returning to work to ensure energy, fuel, housing and food costs are covered
• Many organisations had to move to both managing the organisation and shifting
their activities online. This included being unable to induct new volunteers online
• Less capacity from health professionals to attend health condition specific
community groups. Unable to volunteer in health settings due to COVID-19
restrictions.
Link to full SOTS results: https://www.bcvs.org.uk/sotsresults
This insight has informed BCVS strategy development and priorities for 2022 to 2025.
State of the Sector Surveys
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The Community Champions work in Bassetlaw focused on engagement of minority
ethnic communities due to higher levels and impact of COVID-19.
One strand of work which focused on local Eastern European communities was
undertaken by Marzena Karp-Singh, where information was gathered from 169
respondents, of all genders, aged 18-64 living in Bassetlaw. The information related
to COVID-19, vaccination uptake and barriers to community involvement and the
voices and views were fed back into health and partners to inform local plans and
raise awareness of needs and barriers.
This work has fed into new group development work and into local health campaigns
to support better understanding of the barriers experienced by local Eastern
European minority ethnic communities in Bassetlaw.
Community Champions
Bassetlaw Health Bus
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Another strand of the Community Champion work was delivered by RCAN, building
on their extensive experience of working with local Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT)
and led community engagement work with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT)
communities in Bassetlaw between May and July 2021.
The aim of the work was to identify and feed in local attitudes and voice regarding
the COVID-19 vaccination programme including better understanding and insight on:
1. General access to medical services, registration with local GPs, NHS number and/
or understanding of how to book a vaccination.
2. Attitudes to and plans for engagement with the vaccination programme.
3. Specific barriers to uptake including:
a. An overview of physical barriers such as access to IT, literacy transportation,
childcare, family circumstance and
b. A thematic overview of any misconceptions, anxieties or cultural beliefs
preventing uptake.
The report and voices of community members involved was fed back to Bassetlaw
partners with key messages and recommendations summarised as:
• Consider bespoke information materials - Recognisable key symbols to mitigate
literacy challenges, culturally sensitive information, clear contact details and
telephone access/ follow up as needed.
• Additional consultation and/or consistent engagement at points across the year to
capture transient populations or those unable to contribute due to circumstance.
Rural Community Action Nottinghamshire
Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Engagement