Destination Chesterfield is responsible for developing a co-ordinated approach to promoting Derbyshire’s largest town. They have nearly 190 Chesterfield Champions that are proud to support the local economy, working closely to showcase Chesterfield and North Derbyshire as a destination to live, work, visit and invest.
Derbyshire Voluntary Action’s Debbie Fennell, Social Connectedness Development Worker, is Destination Chesterfield’s Champion of the Week. Debbie said: “Derbyshire Voluntary Action is a longstanding Chesterfield charity; in fact we’re celebrating our 30th birthday this year! We were set up in 1991 to support the health and social care related voluntary and community sector (VCS) in North Derbyshire. We are a membership organisation and we actively engage with and support our 320+ members, which range from tiny volunteer-led self-help groups through to local and regional charities delivering projects to the benefit of large numbers of Derbyshire residents.
All our members have one key thing in common: they are dedicated to supporting the most vulnerable in our communities, by helping them to maintain and improve their health, wellbeing and personal circumstances. I guess the simplest way of describing Derbyshire Voluntary Action’s role is that we are here to help the people who help the people.
This is a new and very different community development role to the ones I’ve had before. It involves me working ’on the ground’, to highlight how important social connectedness is to all of us, and to help anyone who wants to take action to connect their community in some way. I’m here to offer advice, ideas, and moral/practical support – and to act as a link to the huge network of knowledge, support and services which is available to our communities in Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire.”
Read Debbie’s full Champion of the Week interview HERE
