GRCC has been shortlisted for the Community category of the Open UK Awards, the "Oscars" of open-source software. 

Our Digital Equity Manager Dan Gale will be representing GRCC at the awards ceremony at the House of Commons on 4th December. 

 "We're honoured to be recognised for the community impact of our open-source work, which ranges from screen-readers for the visually impaired to inventory software for food banks," said Dan. 

"Open-source software embodies the ethos of the charity sector, as it is created by the community for the community."

Saina Bigli has joined GRCC as our Volunteer Coordinator.  This is a new part-time role to help all our teams recruit, check, train and support the dozens of volunteers who contribute so much to our work.

As well as being our Volunteer Coordinator, Saina is also studying full-time for a law degree at the University of Gloucestershire, so the rules around DBS checks and other regulations should be plain sailing for her!

"My first few weeks have involved a lot of learning about my role and about Gloucestershire's communities and all of GRCC's wide-ranging work," said Saina. "I love meeting our volunteers, and it's so great that they are willing to give their time to help their community."

You can always find GRRC's current volunteer roles listed on our page at Go Volunteer Glos. We're currently looking for digital support volunteers, adult autism support volunteers, and Flood Wardens.  If you have other skills or interests you'd like to offer that don't fit the roles at Go Volunteer Glos, do still get in touch with us and we'd love to talk to you about volunteering.

Our Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) Networks help organisations across Gloucestershire keep their knowledge up to date, and exchange ideas with their peers.

At recent Network meetings, Guy Dobson, our VCSE Advice Officer, has been focusing on how to find key demographic data to support funding bids, and strategies for income diversification.

Guy invited Inform Gloucestershire to give a fascinating presentation about their Open Data platform.  "This tool is able to produce reports covering geography, income, health, behaviour, and other factors. This quantitative data is crucial to both measuring impact and also understanding the ‘need’ when writing funding applications," said Guy.

In other meetings, Guy has been leading discussions around income diversification.  "Lots of innovative ideas and real-life examples have been shared by our network members," said Guy, "For the most part, these strategies create unrestricted funds, essential for the challenge of covering the core costs of an organisation."

You can contact Guy and the Community Development Team via cdt@grcc.org.uk or use the button below to sign up to our free VCSE Networks for access to Network meetings and email bulletins. 

Pippa and Emma from our CASA Community Autism Support and Advice team have been working with the Cheltenham Festivals recently to help make their events more neurodiversity-inclusive.  

"We were excited to be invited to join a panel with the Cheltenham Festivals to discuss how they can make their Jazz, Science, and Literature festivals more neuro-inclusive," said Pippa.  "We visited their offices and the Literature Festival for round table talks, followed by being guests at a panel discussion."

"We discussed various things for them to think about, including creating sensory-friendly environments, providing clearer event schedules, and incorporating quiet spaces into their events. The Festivals' staff were able to ask us questions with the aim of ensuring that everyone feels welcome, can fully engage with, and can enjoy the rich experiences these festivals offer."

Our CASA team can help all Gloucestershire employers and organisations to become neurodiversity-friendly -  if you'd like advice, email them at infocasa@grcc.org.uk or call 01452 317460.

This autumn our Community Resilience Officer Lucy Eccles has significantly boosted volunteer numbers on the flood warden schemes that we support, with 9 new wardens in the Stroud District, 5 in the Cotswold District, 7 in Tewkesbury Borough, plus 4 in Cheltenham, bringing the total now to 95.

"Our new volunteers were thrown in the deep end - thankfully not quite literally - in mid-November, when Storm Claudia caused havoc in some areas," said Lucy.   "The new flood wardens proved to be just as vigilant and supportive as their more experienced colleagues and did a great job."

"Flood wardens are vital in their local communities, acting as the eyes and ears on the ground, before, during, and after a flood event.  The flood warden role involves tasks such as reporting flood incidents, acting as a communication channel between the community and authorities, raising awareness of flood preparedness techniques, and monitoring local watercourses."

If you might be interested in becoming a fully trained and supported local volunteer flood warden, please contact cdt@grcc.org.uk for more information.

We've been pleased to host 19-year-old Taylor Tarrant as part of Gloucestershire's 100 Futures scheme. 

The programme, run by the Employment and Skills Hub, supports 100 young people aged 16-24 to undertake a six-week work placement,  to help them build capacity, skills and confidence to enable them to move into paid work. 

"The sorts of things I have been doing at GRCC are digital work like helping make things on Canva, factory resetting iPads, phones and laptops, and I have been going to GRCC drop-ins helping people with digital devices," said Taylor.  "My interest for a career is a digital design type of job."

The 100 Futures scheme includes mentoring, job search support, and a small bursary, as well as arranging the six-week work placement, and is aimed at young people who are care-experienced or have a disability.

“We are delighted to be working with Barbara Piranty and the team at GRCC, and are so grateful for their support with this programme,” said Kim Atkinson from Gloucestershire Employment and Skills Hub.

Our monthly Moreton Community Hub, which we run as part of our North Cotswolds Connecting Communities Project, will be happening again on Monday 1st December. 

This month we'll be welcoming dogs and their owners from the local branch of the charity Pets As Therapy, who will tell us about the work of this amazing organisation, and give us a chance to meet and stroke the doggy-therapists!

Our Social Prescribing Link Workers and a range of staff and volunteers from local support organisations will also 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.

As well as finding emergency accommodation for 16-25 year olds who  suddenly become homeless, Gloucester Nightstop also works to to prevent homelessness among young people.  Their new "Relax, Recharge and Stay Warm" scheme supports young people who are living in their own tenancies who may be struggling with the additional costs of living over the winter. 

Young people living independently who need extra winter support can come to the Nightstop centre to do laundry, cook, shower, build life skills, get advice, and pick up winter supplies such as blankets, thermal underwear, draft excluders, and hot water bottles, while connecting with other young people. 

Gloucester Nightstop has an Amazon Wishlist where you can pay for items costing between £5 and £30 to help with this work, or buy a small Christmas gift to be given to a vulnerable young people who they support.

In exchange for a donation, you can book Longfield Community Hospice's volunteers to come and collect your Christmas tree for recycling in the new year.

Last year the scheme recycled more than 4000 trees and raised more than £80,000 for the hospice, and they are hoping to beat these figures this year.  Book your collection using the button below. 

They are also looking for volunteers, either individuals or in corporate teams, to help with the huge task of collecting the trees, and they need donations to help pay for van hire.  If you can help, please contact Longfield on  01453 886868 or email christmas.trees@longfield.org.uk  

Gloucester Dementia Choir runs weekly choir sessions to help promote cognitive, social and emotional wellbeing through music.  You can find out how to join for yourself or a loved-one on the Gloucestershire Academy of Music website here or on the choir's Facebook page.   

The choir, supported by guest artists, will be performing at their Christmas Carol Concert at Severn Vale School, Quedgeley, on Saturday 20th December, at 3.30pm.  

Join them for a joyful afternoon of Christmas classics, community spirit, and festive cheer.  There will be mulled wine, mince pies, and stalls to browse, while supporting a great cause.  Doors open at 12.30pm for refreshments and Xmas stalls.  Full details on their flyer via the button below.

After a mild autumn, temperatures are about to drop very sharply. For drivers this makes it even more important to check weather reports and road conditions.

At 10am on Saturday 29th November the Older Drivers Forum are hosting a free webinar with advice for drivers on how to sharpen their winter driving skills, prepare their car and plan journeys for winter conditions - register at tinyurl.com/j4fdbaxp

On 13th December at 10am the webinar will answer the most regularly asked questions from older drivers over the year, such as “Does my medication affect my driving?”, “Would night driving glasses help with headlamp glare?”, and “How do I know when it’s time to stop driving?”.  Register at tinyurl.com/2hxpj39a 

To contact the Gloucestershire Older Drivers forum, email odfglos@gmail.com 

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.