Our CASA (Community Autism Support and Advice) team run drop-ins for autistic adults across the county, and provide one-to-one post-diagnosis autism support.  

The existing CASA drop-ins at Tewkesbury, Cinderford, Cheltenham, Gloucester, and online, are all for anyone aged 18+ who is diagnosed, self-diagnosed, or investigating whether they might have autism. 

To better support the youngest adults and help them meet more people of a similar age, CASA has now set up a fortnightly friendship group just for those aged 18-25.  

"The friendship group will be more informal than our other drop-ins," said Pippa Baker-Walsh, GRCC's Autism Support Lead. "The young people will decide for themselves what the group's activities will be, but there will be always be a CASA team member there to provide signposting, advice and support as needed."

Find out more about our CASA service here, or click here to download a flyer with more details about the Young Autistic Adults Friendship Group".

Previously a Deputy Lord Lieutenant, Richard Bradley was appointed as the Vice Lord-Lieutenant in April.  He recently visited GRCC to discuss ways that he will be supporting voluntary sector organisations in his new role. 

Richard spent his career working in the police, local government, and the Office of the Police and Crime Commisioner (OPCC), but he has strong links with the voluntary sector having set up the OPCC Commissioner's Fund, and having previously been a trustee of the Gloucestershire Community Foundation and a member of the High Sheriff's Grants Panel.

"My broad understanding and experience of working with the voluntary and community sector in Gloucestershire will enable me to deliver one of the key elements of my new role, and I will achieve this by providing support where practicable, and promoting awards such as the King's Awards for Voluntary Service," he said.  

We will be publicising details of the nomination procedure for the 2026 round of the King's Award for Voluntary Service when nominations open later in the year.  

Our DAISI digital equity team have supported a group of older people in Gotherington to set up a regular Digital Drop-in at The Old Chapel.

The group previously met informally in a member's home.  "We've gone from dining room table to a welcoming community space," said Bo Moon, GRCC's ACORN Project Team Lead.  "I was very proud of the success of our first Gotherington drop-in, with one lady sending her very first email from her mobile phone to her daughter, thanks to assistance from one of our digital-support volunteers."

ACORN is GRCC's National Lottery Community Fund-supported project to ramp-up digital support for digitally-excluded people in Gloucestershire. 

For a list of the dates and locations of our eight regular digital drop-ins around the county, see the "What's Coming Up" listing below.  For information about all the other digital support offerings available in Gloucestershire, you can consult our Digital Triage Service.  

We were thrilled to receive some amazing entries for our Gloucestershire Village of the Year competition this year.  With the initial scoring process complete, we are now arranging the judging visits to take place during June.

This will be a chance for the judges to see and speak to those involved in the projects and initiatives outlined in the entry forms. Once the visits are complete, the judges will make final adjustments to their scores and final preparations will take place for the prestigious awards ceremony, where the winners and runners up will be announced. 

“The judges are very much looking forward to going out to see what makes these communities so special,” said GRCC CEO Barbara Piranty.  

Pictured left to right are Barbara Piranty, GRCC CEO, Philip Sullivan, chair of the judges, and Hannah Fraser from Renishaw, one of the competition sponsors. 

Volunteers' Week (2nd to 8th June) is a great time for organisations to say a big "thank you" to the many volunteers who help to deliver their work in communities, making a huge difference to people's lives.  

At GRCC we will be thanking our own volunteers for all that they do - our tech savvy digital drop-in volunteers, our brilliant envelope stuffers who help us post out  thousands of Affordable Housing Needs Surveys, our CASA volunteers, and of course all the fabulous Flood Wardens who we work with in communities across the county.

Volunteers' Week is also a good time for organisations to reflect on how they support their volunteers. "We can help volunteer managers to develop their understanding of all things volunteering," said Angela Gilbert, GRCC's Community Development Team Manager.  "We recently ran a series of five workshops to support volunteer managers in their role. Congratulations to everyone who took part. If you missed the sessions and need support with any aspect of managing volunteers, or you would like to join our Volunteer Managers' Network, please get in touch with my team."

Email cdt@grcc.org.uk or call us on 01452 528491.

Nick Evans, the Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner for Gloucestershire, visited GRCC at the end of May to discuss strategies to reduce rural crime in the county, with GRCC CEO Barbara Piranty.

Nick chairs the county-wide community safety board Safer Gloucestershire, and in his role as Deputy Policy and Crime Commissioner works with councils and the voluntary sector to tackle the causes of crime. 

As rural specialists, we were able to discuss with Nick some of the key issues affecting rural communities – such as domestic abuse, road safety, and farm theft as well as agreeing valuable support activity and interventions. Discussions continue.

For more information about preventing and reporting rural crime in Gloucestershire, see the Rural Crime page on the Gloucestershire Constabulary website.  

We're conducting Affordable Housing Needs Surveys in all of the above parishes at the moment.  Every household in the first four areas should have already received a survey from us through the post, and households in Gretton and Wormington will receive their surveys in the first half of June. 

If you live in these areas, please complete your survey and encourage everyone in your parish to fill in theirs, too.  The surveys are a vital opportunity for us to collect evidence of Affordable Housing needs, and gather your ideas and suggestions for housing projects, based on your expert local knowledge. 

You can complete the survey on paper and send it back to us in the Freepost envelope provided, or fill it in online.

We carry out Affordable Housing Needs Surveys on behalf of parish councils and the Gloucestershire Rural Housing Partnership, which we coordinate, bringing together local authorities and housing associations in all the rural districts of the county. 

Our monthly Moreton Community Hub, which we run as part of our North Cotswolds Connecting Communities Project, will be happening again on Monday 2nd June.  This month we'll be joined by Steve Shelley-King from Gloucestershire Health and Care Foundation Trust, who will be offering information and advice about dementia awareness, including reducing risk, obtaining a diagnosis, and post-diagnosis support. 

Our Social Prescribing Link Workers and a range of staff and volunteers from support organisations will be there to chat to people and offer advice and help, plus there will be the usual time for socialising and free refreshments.

You can download an A5 flyer here.

Come along to Jameson Court, GL56 0EW, at 10.15am for a short wellbeing stroll, or 10.30am for the drop-in, refreshments and services.  For further information, please contact info@grcc.org.uk or call us on 01452 528491.

This quick survey asks about

• your level of knowledge about dementia symptoms
• your knowledge about local dementia services
• your feedback and suggestions for improvements to local dementia services.

At the end of the survey there are some useful links to dementia societies and local dementia services.

The survey closes on 20th June.  

The Gloucestershire Energy from Waste Community Fund runs annually to support projects that have environmental, social, or community benefits in the following areas:

• Hunts Grove
• Hardwicke
• Quedgeley
• Brookthorpe-with-Whaddon
• Haresfield
• Harescombe
• Standish
• Moreton Valence
• Whitminster

This year the fund will distribute £33,500, and over the last five years the fund has given out £190,000.  Applications will close in early August. 

If you've had contact with us, or support from us, or just visited our website to try to find information, we'd really love to know how we're doing!  Were we brilliant, just OK, or not very good?  All feedback, good and bad, helps us to shape our services to better fit your needs.