Our news is collected from our network of members, and is updated regularly. We also present information and articles from other sources that might be relevant to your kind of group.
Your Place Our Place urban room – programme for March 2022 announced
24 February 2022
Your Place Our Place is one of the first pilots of the Community Consultation for Quality of Life project. It involves community consultation through activities at an Urban Room and a digital mapping tool. This Urban Room in Broad Street Mall will be providing information to the local community about key issues such as the Reading Town Centre Strategy, offering a place for discussion to encourage awareness and connection between various communities.
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service consultation – open until 28 March 2022
23 February 2022
Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service is asking people to consider how their fire and rescue service responds to emergencies across the County as part of a public consultation. The consultation will run until Monday, 28 March 2022 and focuses on how they respond to Automatic Fire Alarms in lower-risk, occupied buildings such as shops, office blocks and factories.
Reading Community Energy Society Community Grants
10 February 2022
Reading Community Energy Society comprises members from the local community, Reading Council and Energy 4 All, all of whom are passionate about increasing the amount of renewable energy in Reading. An important strand of their work is their Community Grants Programme. As a Community Benefit Society, they are committed to supporting sustainability locally, and offer grant funding between £100 and £5,000 to organisations to support a wide range of initiatives that deliver this aim.
Free street party workshops
10 February 2022
Street parties are a fun and safe way for people to meet their neighbours, especially for those who rarely get out, and it’s not as difficult or expensive as you may think to put one on in your neighbourhood. Reading Voluntary Action is delivering a series of free online workshops for anyone interested in running a street party in 2022.
Thames Valley Community Fund open for applications
9 February 2022
The Community fund, which is jointly managed by Thames Valley Police Chief Constable, John Campbell and Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber, aims to put money that has been made following the sale of items seized from criminals, to worthy initiatives within the community. Funding is made available twice a year and organisations from across the force area are invited to apply.
Help to improve the Reading Borough Council website
3 February 2022
The Reading Borough Council Digital Team are working to improve the Council’s website. We’d like residents to be able find the information they need on the website and interact with the Council simply, quickly and efficiently. To help us do this, we’d like to spend some time with residents to understand their needs and find out how they think the website can be improved. We are running multiple testing sessions between February and April 2022.
Reading Covid Support Fund 2021/22
24 January 2022Reading Borough Council has allocated £220k for grants to the voluntary and community sector for the year 2021/22 from the ‘Reading Covid Support Fund’. The council is inviting applications for funding that support the following grant criteria: -Social Isolation/Mental Health/Emotional support -Self-isolation Support (not financial) targeting hard to reach groups -Bids supporting carers and children and young people -Other Covid-related areas of impact (e.g. financial hardship, physical health).
RVA’s new volunteering platform is now live
24 January 2022
Reading Voluntary Action are pleased to announce that the new volunteer matching platform for Reading, Reading Volunteer Connect, is now live. The new platform will introduce a wide range of new functionality allowing organisations to have more control over the volunteering opportunities advertised via Reading Voluntary Action and streamline volunteer engagement. Organisations can register for an account here. You will then be able to upload opportunities onto the new platform.
A young people’s report on their long-term wellbeing needs post-pandemic – from No5 Young People
21 January 2022
Safe spaces, support, confidentiality and community – findings from new report on young people’s needs. A local snapshot of the voices of young people, reflective of the national picture about mental health, early intervention, and knife crime, has been published in a report by No5 Young People. The report summarises the work of No5’s ‘Restart Youth!’ project, made possible through funding from The National Lottery Community Fund distributed by Blagrave Trust.
Save money on your bills – Broad Street Mall, 25–26 January
21 January 2022
Are you worried about your energy and utility bills? Come and see Citizens Advice at Broad Street Mall – look for our stall (Tuesday 25 January 2022, Wednesday 26 January 2022). One of our specialist advisers can take a look at your existing bills and advise you on how you could save money – if you would like help please bring your recent bills with you. We’ll have lots of advice and information for you.