As part of Dying Matters Awareness Week 2022 and the Death Positive Libraries Framework, Southend Libraries are hosting a Death Positive event at the Forum: Southend-on-Sea.
Southend Libraries have invited organisations and services across the sector including bereavement support groups and services, celebrants and funeral directors, to come in and share information with the local community about the support, advice and guidance that is available when dealing with death, bereavement and loss.
This is a drop in event, open to all on May 3 2022 12pm – 3pm at The Forum: Southend-on-Sea, Elmer Square, Southend.
‘Death positive libraries’ is a national scheme aiming to help remove the barriers to talking about death and dying through a range of innovative activities in libraries that appeal to diverse communities. This is the first such activity in Southend Libraries.
The phrase ‘death positive library’ aims to reflect libraries’ contributions to the growing social and philosophical movement that encourages people to speak openly about death and dying.
Speaking on the library’s ‘death positive’ framework, Tandra Forster, executive director for adults and communities, said: “Although death is a very natural part of life, so many of us still struggle to speak about it. Seeking support to help us cope with death and dying for ourselves or our loved ones is so important, and I am sure that this initiative through Southend Libraries will help so many people deal with this subject effectively.”
Almost 80% of British adults find it difficult to talk about death, even though we all have to face it. Not talking about death, not getting the right support and advice at the right time and the suffering that people go through when a loved one dies or when they are facing death themselves, puts enormous strain on mental health and wellbeing.
Libraries are uniquely placed to be a centre for bereavement support as well as a trusted space where conversations about death and dying can take place.
We have announced a new fund which will invest £100 million to set the Essex economy up for the future.
The Essex Renewal Fund (ERF) has a 20-year growth framework and will help create 1,500 jobs.
It will make long-term investments to support economic growth, delivering a commercial return to the council.
It will target land and property assets in Essex and focus on our identified levelling up priority areas. It will also promote the county’s potential and support residents, town centres and businesses.
The ERF will target our identified key growth sectors. This will support our ambitions on future and green growth, net zero, providing good quality jobs and levelling up the economy.
Cllr Lesley Wagland, ECC Cabinet Member for Economic Renewal, Infrastructure and Planning, said: “The Essex Renewal Fund will benefit our areas of improvement, providing new skills opportunities, investment into our high streets and supporting our residents and businesses.
“This is a very exciting time for Essex, and we will now implement our plans for the fund to get under way.”
More information on ECC’s plans for economic growth across Essex is available in our Everyone’s Essex strategy.
The government is warning institutions, including charities, to be on the lookout for potential cyber-attacks.
The National Cyber Security Centre is not aware of any specific cyber threats to UK charities in relation to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
However, while the situation in Ukraine remains volatile, charities are strongly encouraged to follow the actionable steps in the National Cyber Security Centre’s guidance that reduce the risk of falling victim to an attack.
HMRC is reminding charities that engage with many different types of workers to know when a worker is entitled to the National Minimum Wage. This will depend on whether an individual is classed as either a worker, a volunteer or a voluntary worker.
Particular attention should be given to any volunteers paid a nominal amount over and above genuine out of pocket expenses. Any payment, whether cash, benefits in kind or promise of future payment is likely to mean they are a worker for minimum wage purposes and so should be paid for all hours worked.
A webinar is available to give you more information about the national minimum wage and unpaid workers or those paid on an ‘expenses only’ basis.
The Essex VCSE Alliance is recruiting for individuals who are looking to work together to improve things for the sector from voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
We recently reviewed the focus and our three goals are:
< Strengthen collaboration within the sector
< Strengthen collaboration across sectors
< Driving membership and through the Essex Map, events and Alliance membership
To help improve the sector we are currently looking for people who align with one of more of these strategic goals and who share a passion to strengthen the sector and the community we serve.
If you’d like to join us, and help shape how we build our community of communities, please complete the form below. Once completed, this will be reviewed by our existing Steering Group members at our next meeting in April therefore the deadline for expression of interest is Friday 8th April 2022.
The Essex County Council are inviting individuals and small community groups from target areas of Essex to bid for money from our new Community Challenge Fund.
ECC have launched a new £500,000 fund to help people improve their local area. Residents know their communities best and have great ideas for what they need. We want to help them bring those ideas to life and make the most of what their area has to offer.
Bids to the fund can be made now with grants of between £300 and £2,000 will be available. It covers Tendring, Basildon, Colchester, Canvey Island, Harlow and rural Braintree. These are the six areas of priority identified in our Levelling Up strategy.
Perhaps you have been sitting on an idea for a while of how you can enhance your community and it has just lacked the necessary funding to get it started. If so, then this fund is for you.
Examples of how the fund could be used are:
• training and equipment to share skills and create training opportunities,
• printing for a local event or newsletter,
• hosting and promoting an online magazine for young people,
• setting up a local community seed exchange,
• providing taxi or licensed hire vehicles to bring isolated residents together,
• setting up a clothes swap in a community hall.
The fund is simple to apply for, so don’t worry if you have never applied for funding from a Council before.
Age Well East have many different vacancies available on their website including business development roles such as Individual Giving Fundraiser and Trusts and Foundations Lead.
To view all of their vacancies please follow the below link;
The Essex VCSE Alliance is recruiting for individuals who are looking to work together to improve things for the sector from voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations.
We recently reviewed the focus and our three goals are:
< Strengthen collaboration within the sector
< Strengthen collaboration across sectors
< Driving membership and through the Essex Map, events and Alliance membership
To help improve the sector we are currently looking for people who align with one of more of these strategic goals and who share a passion to strengthen the sector and the community we serve.
If you’d like to join us, and help shape how we build our community of communities, please complete the form below. Once completed, this will be reviewed by our existing Steering Group members at our next meeting in April therefore the deadline for expression of interest is Friday 8th April 2022.
RideLondon – one of the world’s greatest cycling events – returns this year on Sunday 29 May 2022 with a new route taking in the picturesque towns and villages of Essex.
The RideLondon-Essex 100 is a unique opportunity to ride 100 miles on traffic-free roads through the heart of London and neighbouring Essex. This event will welcome 25,000 cyclists beginning on the Embankment in central London, taking in the sights of Essex before returning to London to finish at the iconic Tower Bridge.
The formal process for charities to register for the event has now closed but Essex County Council has an allocation of 150 stakeholder tickets which it has opted to allocate to local charities. The tickets are priced at £89 each. The average return for charities on a single RideLondon entry is £800.
I wanted to make you aware of something we’re really proud of.
This year BBC Essex wants to celebrate and say thank you to people living in our villages,
towns and cities who make where we live a better place.
Every day we hear stories of people doing incredible things for each other and their
communities. Now it’s time to recognise them for all their hard work.
Whether it’s caring for someone in need, being a brilliant neighbour, or inspiring children in
the classroom, if you know someone who is really making a difference to our lives then you
can nominate them for an Award.
There are 8 categories:
• Volunteer
• Community Group
• Fundraiser
• Carer
• Great Neighbour
• Key Worker
• Environment
• Together award
We’re delighted to have twelve prestigious judges from Essex on the awards panel this year including Sally Gunnell OBE, Russell Kane, Lee Mead, Barry Hearne MBE, Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani and Lance Corporal Richard Jones.
You can nominate someone you know at bbc.co.uk/makeadifference, where you can also see full Terms and our Privacy Notice. Nominations are now open and will close on the 29th of April 2022 at 11:00pm. The winners will be announced at our Make a Difference awards ceremony in September.