13 Nov

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="09ed05a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>          </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>                             </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FF0000" FACE="Arial" ><B>    Reading Council for Voluntary Youth Service</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> </B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="09fd2123.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="id28.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="1 Apr 2003"><U><B>1 Apr 2003</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id29.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="10 July (AGM)"><U><B>10 July (AGM)</B></U></A></div> <div> <B><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="Symb075c00b700c8ff000000.png" HEIGHT="13" WIDTH="24" ALIGN="bottom" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0">13 Nov</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="20 Jan 2004"><U><B>20 Jan 2004</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id51.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="22 Jun 2004"><U><B>22 Jun 2004</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id90.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="19 Oct 2004"><U><B>19 Oct 2004</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2 Mar 2005"><U><B>2 Mar  2005</B></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Reading Council for Voluntary Youth "><U><B>Home</B></U></A></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>13 Nov</I></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <I><B>Notes from RCVYS AGM and ordinary meeting</B></I></div> <div> Held Thu Nov 13<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Comic Sans MS" >th</FONT> 12-2</div> <div> at Millenium Volunteers</div> <div> (21 South St, Reading)</div> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>Present</B></I></div> <div> Vic Hills</div> <div> Cath Bethell</div> <div> Deb Fox </div> <div> Richard Stowell</div> <div> Kevin Terry</div> <div> Ray Tapken</div> <div> Jenny Reeve</div> <div> Andy Johnson</div> <div> Sarah Douey</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Apologies</B></I></div> <div> Alison Steedman</div> <div> Andy Freeman</div> <div> Joe Green</div> <div> Tom Corban</div> <div> Rhiannon Williams</div> <div> Gaynor Burton</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <div> <I><B>Approval of minutes of last meeting</B></I></div> <bR> <div> Alison Steedman's name was written incorrectly.</div> <div> Karen Brown was now unable to be a member of the executive committee since she had resigned from her role at BCVYS to take up a post as the Teen Pregnancy Advisor for Connexions </div> <bR> <div> With these amendments Vic signed the minutes.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Matters arising from minutes of last meeting</B></I></div> <bR> <div> RT asked if there was any update on the situation with ReachOUT. VH indicated that he had discussed the matter with Reading Voluntary Sector Forum (RVSF) committee to see if there were any solutions other than that of taking the whole organisation into RBC Youth Service provision as a temporary measure to ensure its survival at this stage. This situation would be reviewed each year with the option for ReachOUT to be an independent voluntary organisation again if circumstances changed to make this possible. </div> <div> KT reported that the transfer to Reading Borough Council (RBC) had now taken place but that the provision of the service would, as with all youth service provision, be subject to funding being available.</div> <bR> <div> There had been no success to date in recruiting additional committee members. No one present felt able to take on the role at this stage.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>RCVYS REPORTS</B></I></div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Chairman's report : Vic Hills</B></I></div> <bR> <div> VH reported that the treasurer, Joe Green was not present as he was on secondment to Government Office for the South East (GOSE). The term of secondment was currently due to finish in March 2004. Joe had indicated that he was happy to continue in the role of treasurer during his secondment.</div> <bR> <div> Tom Corban will not be attending the meeting today due to illness. It is hoped that he will be able to attend at a later date.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Treasurer's report : Joe Greeen</B></I></div> <bR> <div> No report available.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>Development Worker's Report :  Cath Bethell</B></I></div> <bR> <div> Since the last meeting in July, Cath's main focus has been to continue to meet new groups and provide support for those already known to RCVYS. Plans were in place to formalise a list of members over time. Part of the work requires the production of a directory of known groups. There are also plans to put the information on the internet in due course.</div> <bR> <div> KT pointed out that No 5 (Tony) had a web designer who may be able to help with the internet side of things.</div> <bR> <div> The main areas where people are requesting support were in funding and training. </div> <bR> <div> There were a number of the new people at the meeting today as a result of contacts that had been made recently and Cath is now receiving unsolicited calls from people who have heard about RCVYS.</div> <bR> <div> There are two events scheduled for the next month. These are the workshop to collate the voluntary sector's response to the government's Green Paper “Every Child Matters” which is being held at South St this month in conjunction with the Reading Children's Fund. This will result in a document which will be presented to the key statutory agencies in the town as well as to national government.</div> <bR> <div> The other event planned is a Child Protection session in December running over one lunchtime to allow people to look at child protection issues within their organisation. This is being run in conjunction with Reading Voluntary Action's (RVA) Community Groups Project.</div> <bR> <div> Cath expressed concerns about the fact that since the last meeting Karen had left as the development worker for BCVYS and Noel had left as worker for Bracknell CVYS. Andrew Watson had taken up the role for Bracknell but was only doing 12 hours per week and BCVYS were looking to recruit someone for approx 10 hours per month. </div> <bR> <div> RT indicated that he would provide more information on the BCVYS situation later in the meeting.</div> <bR> <div> <I><B>4. Children's fund report : Richard Stowell</B></I></div> <bR> <div> The children's fund is continuing to grown with a number of new staff. </div> <bR> <div> In the summer they ran a number of activities in conjunction with PAYP. </div> <bR> <div> They have also run a project with Reading Deaf Children's Society. The aim is to get the children involved in mainstream football</div> <bR> <div> The children's fund is working in 3 areas:-</div> <bR> <div> Coley Park: Here the work is mainly in primary schools. Some of the work is one to one and in the remainder in small groups of vulnerable children. The main issue is the fact that the two separate schools are to merge. They are currently co-operating on literacy and have a joint football team. There are also joint extra-curricular activities and peer mediation training.</div> <bR> <div> Lower Caversham: The Children's Fund is working in conjunction with Churches Together in Caversham (CTC) and are part-funding one of their workers. They are involved in the two primary schools and again doing peer mediation training here. Reading seems to be leading the way on peer mediation and it is hoped that it will be possible to take this into the secondary schools in due course.</div> <bR> <div> Southcote: Here there is much more of a community approach. There is junior youth inclusion programme (JYIP) which is aimed at the 50 most at risk children.</div> <bR> <div> VH asked if there were any areas where there are obvious gaps for small groups.</div> <div> RS said that all three of the target areas are short on voluntary and community groups.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>5. Funding and Grant Opportunities</U></B></div> <bR> <div> The Local Network Fund still has a lot of money to give away for groups. They have £345,000 for Berks which has to be distributed by Mar 31 of which over half still remains.</div> <bR> <div> RVA are coordinating meetings to discuss the Futurebuilders funding stream. There is an invitation only meeting 1st Dec with more likely to follow. Details will be supplied to RCVYS membership as they become available.</div> <bR> <div> RCVYS has been in consultation with Tom Corban at RBC to set up a small bursary which would be made available to pay for training for small groups. This process is ongoing and not yet finalised.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>6.  Training</U></B></div> <bR> <div> Free training is still available for members of voluntary groups via Reading Borough Council. This includes Child Protection training.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>7. Strategic Issues</U></B></div> <bR> <div> RT filled in the details of the BCVYS situation. The Connexions funding for the post had gone with Karen's departure hence the reduced number of hours available for the new coordinator. BCVYS will now be using its own resources to fund the post. Someone has been identified as a possible candidate to fill this role.</div> <bR> <div> There are active CVYS's in Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell. Slough CVYS is close to appointing someone and Windsor and Maidenhead has funding but had been unable to identify anyone to fill the role.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>8. Other matters we wish to raise</U></B></div> <div>  </div> <div> (a) Connexions LMC meetings - JG is unable to attend these meetings during his secondment. It was agreed that CB should take his place until his return.</div> <bR> <div> (b) BCVYS AGM will take place Dec 2nd at 7pm at the YMCA</div> <bR> <div> (c) Relationships with Connexions need to be pursued. Karen Brown had been a good point of contact but since she had left there had been very little communication. Sue Baker (Connexions manager) is the manager with voluntary sector responsibility. There are a number of voluntary sector groups involved with PAYP but funding still seems to be being allocated for each holiday. This is an issue. The original vision of bids for 3 year projects does not appear to be reality. This needs to be addressed. </div> <bR> <div> (d) RS reported that Anne Weinstock from the Children's and Young People's directorate would be visiting Reading in January (w/c 19th Jan) and visiting the Children's Fund. Issues can be directed via Richard Stowell. </div> <bR> <div> (e) CB drew attention to the current Blue Peter appeal which was in conjunction with MENCAP to pay for the training of volunteers to support children and young people with disabilities to allow them to attend mainstream clubs and activities.</div> <bR> <div> <B><U>11. Date/time of next meeting</U></B></div> <bR> <div> Tue 20th Jan 12-2 at YMCA</div> <bR> <div> The meeting closed at 2:00pm</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>