Friday 27 November will mark Fuel Poverty Awareness Day 2020 and your support is needed more than ever to get key messages out to vulnerable people this winter.

Figures published by National Energy Action (NEA) state that around 4 million households in the UK are in fuel poverty, unable to live in a warm dry home.

Fuel poverty in England is measured using the Low Income High Costs (LIHC) indicator. Under the LIHC indicator, a household is considered to be fuel poor if:

• they have required fuel costs that are above average (the national median level)
• were they to spend that amount, they would be left with a residual income below the official poverty line

There are 3 important elements in determining whether a household is fuel poor:

• household income
• household energy requirements
• fuel prices

The energy efficiency of your home will also impact on your fuel costs and can be another factor contributing to fuel poverty.

If you are struggling to pay your fuel bills

For information and support on the following issues, the The Citizen’s Advice Bureau has comprehensive webpages:

• A problem with your fuel bill
• Struggling to pay your fuel bill
• How to switch energy providers
• Problems with your supply
• Problems with your meter (including pre-payment meters)

The following organisations and projects also provide information and support:

• Derbyshire County Council – Keep Warm in Winter
• Warmer Derby & Derbyshire
• Citizen’s Advice Derbyshire Branches
• Rural Action Derbyshire
• Derbyshire Community Hub
• The Money Advice Service
• Turn2Us
• StepChange

Derbyshire County Council has also produced the Healthy, Warm and Well Booklet for the general public.

The High Peak Connect COVID 19 Support Grant is a small grant scheme funded by the Health and Wellbeing Partnership for High Peak and managed by High Peak CVS. It aims to support new groups that have responded to the current COVID 19 pandemic or existing groups that have been directly impacted by the Coronavirus. 

Applications can be made by any voluntary / community group or local people within High Peak who have come together to support the health and wellbeing of their community during the pandemic.  Applications that support the following High Peak Connect focus areas will be prioritised but all applications will be considered;

• Supporting expectant or new families
• Supporting mental health and wellbeing
• Supporting children and young people 

Grants of up to £500 are available.  Consideration will be given to requests for help with core costs and operational expenditure where evidence shows this will aid the longer term sustainability of the group. 

Pre- application advice and the application form / application guidance is available from High Peak CVS.  Donna@highpeakcvs.org.uk

Deadline – none

Debbie Fennell has joined Derbyshire Voluntary in the newly-created role of ‘Social Connectedness Development Worker.’

Debbie joins the DVA team to play a key role in the ‘Feeling Connected in North East Derbyshire and Chesterfield’ project – an initiative to improve local approaches to tackling social isolation and reducing the impact of loneliness.

Debbie, who describes herself as a ‘people person,’ has nine years’ experience of working in the voluntary and community sector, most recently as a Project Coordinator at Age Concern Chesterfield and District, where she was responsible for the ‘Active Age’ project.

In her new role, she will work out and about in communities across Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire, supporting residents and communities to create and take up opportunities to be better socially connected.

Debbie says, ‘My role is about building relationships with people who want to make a difference in their street, estate, village, town or workplace – and to be responsive in helping them in whatever way they need.  It’s a challenging time to be starting a job like this, but even in lockdown there are many ways we can all keep our spirits up and continue to connect with family, friends and the people who live around us.’

If you have ideas about keeping your community connected this winter, Debbie would love to hear from you.  Call her on 07547 342251, email debbie@dva.org.uk or find her on facebook: FeelingConnectedNEDC.

Due to very high demand for places on the Derbyshire County Council Public Health virtual Adult Mental Health First Aid courses, 2 extra new courses have been added in before the end of this year. Dates for these 2 new course dates are below. Places are still currently available but are likely to fill-up very quickly. Please note each virtual course comprises 4 live sessions and self-learning, all of which must be completed to qualify as a Mental Health First Aider.

• 4 live sessions: 7 December (morning), 9 December (morning), 14 December (morning), 16 December (morning) – deadline for booking is 23 November 2020

• 4 live sessions: 8 December (morning), 10th December (morning), 15 December (morning), 17 December (morning) – deadline for booking is 23 November 2020

For further information including how to book please visit the Mental health training webpage

The North East Derbyshire Together Events are a series of free drop-in sessions, taking place in different parts of the district, whereby residents can engage directly with health and wellbeing service providers.

Due to current restrictions, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the last two North East Derbyshire Together Events in Wingerworth and Eckington have, sadly, had to be cancelled. This directory has been produced as a safe method of sharing the same health and wellbeing information with the residents of these communities.

Information and contact details of organisations which provide invaluable support to local residents can be found in the Directory.

Could you be a volunteer and help support vulnerable people in your community this winter?

Derbyshire County Council are working in partnership with community volunteer services across the county looking for volunteers to help support the work of their Community Response Unit during the coronavirus pandemic and beyond.

The Community Response Unit is for residents with no friends or family to call on who are:

• Self-isolating because either themselves or a member of the household is at risk
• Struggling to meet basic needs because of financial, social or health restrictions
• Pregnant
• Have underlying health conditions
• Aged 70 or over.

Volunteers could be asked to help with food shopping and delivery, collecting and delivering prescriptions, or checking up on people who are isolated with a phone call or online help to prevent loneliness, and checking whether there is anything they need.

To volunteer, under current restrictions, you must be aged from 18 to 70 and be considered fit and well to help out.

To volunteer residents need to contact their local volunteer service and register their interest.

If you registered your interest earlier in the year and were not contacted, please get back in touch with your local volunteer centre.

• 

Feeling Connected in North East Derbyshire and Chesterfield (https://dva.org.uk/feeling-connected/) wants to commission new project work in North East Derbyshire and Chesterfield which will help to break down the barriers people experience which stop them from feeling connected to others.

Projects in the range £501-£5,000

The ‘Feeling Connected Fund’ Call for Proposals document below has more information and details on how to submit a proposal.Call-for-Proposals-Feeling-Connected-in-North-East-Derbyshire-and-ChesterfieldDownload

Anyone interested is asked to send in a short proposal any time over the next four weeks (from 9 November to 7 December).

If you have any questions please contact Julia Cook on julia@dva.org.uk

Chesterfield Shared Space & Hub Project: ways to progress
(temporary name)
 

On Wednesday February 5th 2020, an enthusiastic & creative session was held at St Helena Campus, University of Derby, Chesterfield on the possibilities for a ‘Shared Hub or Space’ for the community in Chesterfield.

There was a wonderfully inspired response to this proposal which was recorded in a summary report here.

Of course COVID19 threw this project temporarily off course as most ideas were based on a physical hub.  But we won’t let go of this opportunity for collective growth!

Since then we’ve picked up where we left off and channelled that first great energy into new ways for the community sector to benefit from a collective approach.  Here are three steps forward: 

A Name for the project: – over to you please!!  Please reply to this email with your ideas for a name.
A Facebook Group – this will follow the choice of a name.
A Collective Procurement Project – this is already happening through the work of intern, Arjun Karavadra – in case you’ve missed the initial  information & survey, access it here. 
 

As soon as the Facebook is up-and-running we’ll be in touch and will keep you posted on the latest news! 

With very best wishes

The Derbyshire Voluntary Action Team

The aim of the workshops is to bring people together who are interested in poetry and writing poetry. 

The workshops are open to anyone interested in poetry, whether you are a beginner or experienced poet. Poetry really is an activity anyone can join in with.  Poetry doesn’t have to rhyme; many modern poets now use a free-flowing verse.  So, don’t be put off by any technicalities for writing poetry. 

The workshops will take place via zoom.  If you need any help with this please do not hesitate to contact Joanne Gordon via email on mail@tinnitussupport.org.uk .The first workshop will take place on Wednesday 18^th November 2pm – 3pm.
 
A simple acrostic poem to get you started:

POSITIVE
Poetry is an expression
Of feelings and emotions
Spilling out thoughts
Imagination laid bare on the page
Transcending our ideas and
Inviting you to join our 
Vibrant Community
Energised through verse

Read more about the Poetry Workshops HERE