As new research from The National Lottery Community Fund [1] reveals a growing enthusiasm for volunteering among UK adults, Ansvar Insurance is calling on charities and organisations across Edinburgh to prioritise the safety and management of their volunteer programmes.
The research indicates that half of UK adults (a slight increase on last year) plan to volunteer in 2024, with 14% intending to volunteer for the first time, citing food banks, animal welfare, and charity shops as the most popular initiatives to get involved with.
In Edinburgh specifically (according to the latest data from the Scottish Household Survey [2]), 19% of residents volunteered in 2022.
The benefits of volunteering, such as providing young people with new life skills and reducing loneliness among the elderly, have become increasingly recognised, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic.
While a growing number of volunteers is a positive development for charities, it also presents challenges in managing safety and risk.
Proper risk management is crucial not only for attracting volunteers but also for retaining them and maintaining the organisation’s reputation.
Kelly Barter, Head of Customer Service at Ansvar, an expert provider of insurance for the charity, not-for-profit, care and faith sectors, commented: “Volunteers are the backbone of charitable and community organisations and play a pivotal role in sustaining vital services across Edinburgh.
“However, ensuring their safety and protection is essential. When planning events, the focus is often on activities and fundraising, but the administrative aspects, such as providing adequate supervision, organising appropriate training, completing comprehensive risk assessments, ensuring specialist insurance coverage is in place, and providing a safe environment for volunteers, can sometimes get overlooked.
“Effective risk management protects volunteers and enhances their satisfaction and retention. Volunteers are more likely to stay engaged when they feel safe and valued, leading to a positive and long-lasting experience.”
Ansvar is part of the Benefact Group, the charity-owned specialist financial services organisation. The Benefact Group stands as the UK’s third-largest corporate donor, reinforcing Ansvar’s commitment to supporting the broader charitable community.
• The Edinburgh International Festival unveils the first Community Connections Hub following an open call out earlier this year
• Space @ The Broomhouse Hub will work with the Edinburgh International Festival over a period of at least 18 months to explore opportunities for collaboration and connection
• In August, the Community Connections Hub will host a free VR Experience where visitors can use a VR headset to be fully immersed in a 360° concert by the Philharmonia Orchestra
The Edinburgh International Festival today announcesSpace @ The Broomhouse Hub as the very first Community Connections Hub.
Space @ The Broomhouse Hub was chosen following an open call out by the International Festival for an Edinburgh-based community organisation for a partnership that will last at least 18 months and will explore opportunities for collaboration with the International Festival and the local community in Broomhouse.
In August, Space @ The Broomhouse Hub will host a free VR experience from resident orchestra Philharmonia. This 360° experience of Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending makes its UK premiere and features Festival Director Nicola Benedetti as the solo violinist.
This will allow the user to sit right in the heart of the orchestra through Virtual Reality, allowing them to experience the performance in astonishing detail.
As well as hosting the Philharmonia VR Experience, this partnership will be a fully collaborative process, and will be entirely shaped by Space @ The Broomhouse Hub and the International Festival’s shared ideas and activities.
This new residency model is designed to deepen understanding between the International Festival and the local community, strengthen connections and enrich the local community and the spirit of the Festival.
The Edinburgh International Festival is committed to developing long-term connections with Edinburgh’s Communities by exploring what our core values of discovery and connection mean for Edinburgh’s citizens whilst finding ways to reflect the ideas, ambitions and creative interests of different communities within our organisational commitments.
The International Festival wants to build long-term and sustainable connections and have chosen a residency model working with one focused partner to allow for deepening two-way understanding, allowing time to mature connections and realisation of joint ambitions.
Caroline Donald, Head of Discovery & Participation, Edinburgh International Festival said: “The Edinburgh International Festival are really looking forward to working with our new community partners Space @the Broomhouse Hub and working together to make new connections, getting to know all the families and people in the community to create and share cultural experiences.”
Neil Hay, CEO, Space @ The Broomhouse Hub, said: “This is fantastic news for Broomhouse and Southwest Edinburgh. This partnership will open up the Edinburgh International Festival to new audiences, allowing local people and families to enjoy cultural experiences our communities don’t normally access.
“We look forward to seeing all the exciting things the partnership will bring this summer and the coming year.”
More information on the Edinburgh International Festival’s Discovery and Participation programme, which runs year-round, can be found here:
The third North Edinburgh Community Festival will take place on Saturday 1th May 2024 in West Pilton Park. The park sits in the heart of North Edinburgh and draws its audience from Pilton, Muirhouse, Granton, Drylaw, Davidson Mains, Silverknowes and Wardie.
The event which has grown year on year is a fun, free to attend, family day out for new and existing residents to enjoy – promoting opportunities, creativity, enhancing community cohesion, reducing social isolation and celebrating the diversity of the area.
The Festival is going from strength to strength with over 100 local groups, organisations and charities taking part and providing workshops, information and activities – from glitter tattoos to video games, from dodgeball and football to obstacle courses and interactive theatre.
In the open area at the far end of the park we will have the Army, Marines and the Airforce in attendance showing as well as the Scottish Fire Services.
This year and moving forward, one of the key aims of the festival will be to work with young people in North Edinburgh and encouraging young people to take the reigns for future events and festivals.
One of the ways to engage with the young people is through music and over 600 young people from across North Edinburgh have taken part in the Tinderbox Garage Band Challenge, creating their own new music for the event. The winners will perform their original tracks on the main stage at the festival.
The music for the festival has been curated by local organisations Tinderbox Collective and Granton Youth’s Mixtape Music Club.
There will be more than 30 acts playing over the afternoon including over 160 performers, almost all of them from the local neighbourhood. On the outdoor stage, highlights include the incredible Fischy Music, Ama-zing Harmonies Choir, Heritage Of India Through Dance and Edinburgh Ukrainian choir.
On the indoor stage we have an exciting lineup of youth bands who are part of ‘North By North West’ a collaboration project between 5 youth music organisations across North Edinburgh the aim is to get the very best emerging talent out onto the Edinburgh music scene.
From the slick electronic pop of Muirhouse local (and BBC Introducing alumni) Laurent, Granton rapper Leon Highway, or the pop-rock stylings of Drenched in Dreams – we’ve got something to suit all tastes. Look out for amazing youth artists A420, Kieran Crosbie, Mezari, and Trisha Muco finishing out the festival in collaboration with players from Tinderbox Orchestra.
Head into the Sports Hall of West Pilton Neighbourhood Centre to find Tinderbox Games Showcase, an exhibition of playable games made by young game designers of all ages from North Edinburgh.
These will be featured alongside an exciting new escape room made in collaboration with young people from Granton Youth, which draws inspiration from trips to the Granton Hub archives and the area’s rich history, as well as a selection of games made by previous winners of the East Lothian Game Jam.
You’ll discover a mix of digital, physical and table-top games made by the next up-and-coming generation of game designers and creators from the neighbourhood.
Look out for Granton Youth’s stall advertising its youth work provision, which includes work with local schools, detached youth work, counselling for parents and young people, open access youth clubs, family support, and Mixtape – our music club.
This year we are extremely excited to have so many of the Edinburgh Festivals joining us on the day.
Edinburgh Fringe Festival Society will have street performers on the day and will be handing out free tickets to shows at this years Fringe Festival under their new Fringe Days Out Scheme which offers free Fringe vouchers and Lothian bus tickets to people who wouldn’t normally get to experience the Fringe.
The Edinburgh Science Festival are back with bigger and better street performance style science shows as well as their cargo tricycle for their science demonstrations.
And there will be storytelling activities for families from the Edinburgh International Book Festival Citizen Adults Writing Group plus loads of free books for children.
North Edinburgh Arts have a host of activities planned across their two large marquees this year. There will be drop-in arts activities for children and families, carpet bowls, and information on their newly refurbished and extended building opening later this year.
There will be family-friendly performances by commissioned artists, selected by local children from Forthview Primary School and Pilton Youth, as part of the Creative Encounters project, delivered in partnership with Imaginate, the Childrens Festival and North Edinburgh Arts.
And there will be storytelling activities for families from the Edinburgh International Book Festival Citizen Adults Writing Group plus loads of free books for children.
Of course, there cant be a festival without a parade and this year North Edinburgh Childcare have stepped up and organised the parade which will leave from their premises at 1130am and make its way along Ferry Road Drive around West Pilton Park and entering the park for the official start of the festival at 12noon.
The theme is Superheroes and any families looking to join in are most welcome. Pulse of Place will lead the parade and if you are around North Edinburgh on Saturday 11th May, you’ll most certainly hear the parade before you see it!
Other activities on the day include:
Important information from around 80 third sector organisations
Badge making with Pilton Community Health Project
National Galleries of Scotland’s Art in the Open electric cargo-bike for a sustainable art making workshop
Storytelling with Muirhouse and Granton Libraries
Human tower building with Colla Castellera d’Edinburgh
Horses from Edinburgh Equilearn
Each year the festival provides free food – the amazing RRT (Rapid Relief Team) hand out a few thousand burgers and will return again this year.
There will also be free food from Bangla Kitchen and Multi-Cultural Family Base.
This year we have yet again a larger food presence with some new vendors but as always there is cap on the cost of food at £5.
Lyndon Cane from RRT says “RRT is pleased to support North Edinburgh again by providing the signature burger meal at the North Edinburgh Community Festival.
“Care and Compassion is at the heart of what we do, and this event is important for us to attend so we can widen our support to communities during times of need.”
North Edinburgh Community Festival really does have the community at its very heart and we can’t wait to see everyone on the day.
Katie Fowlie, an art specialist, and educator from the East Neuk, has been commissioned to deliver Remembering Together Fife, a project that strives to sensitively mark the Covid-19 pandemic.
She has named the project PROCESS, and her role is to co-create something collaboratively with communities across Fife to respond to a difficult period in our lives. A series of free, bookable, and drop-in workshops are being delivered across Fife. Participants will explore the language (Floriography) associated with plants to express emotions in a non-verbal way and will create art using plant-based materials.
By gathering materials from the landscape, participants are learning immersive, process-based activities which encourage relaxation, improve mood, and encourage people out of isolation.
The workshops come about after 18 months of engagement with communities across Fife listening to individuals’ unique experiences from this challenging time. Ideas were collected to mark this experience in a way which would resonate with people across the Kingdom.
Katie explains: “Many ideas were offered during the initial engagement phase, and areas of overlap started to emerge. Most participants noted a decline in their mental health, their self-confidence, and feelings of isolation.
“There was an overwhelming desire to create something with a positive legacy, something which invests in people, and which is supportive in terms of their wellbeing.
“People shared how important the daily permitted hour outdoors became to their wellbeing. But also, how this habit was so quickly abandoned as life started to return to normal. They were keen to create something collectively which celebrated Fife’s varied landscapes while encouraging healthy habits such as slowing down and reinstating regular time spent outdoors. All in a way which enabled reflection and a chance to process how our lives changed.”
This period of co-creation will culminate in the creation of a bespoke publication called PROCESS. This will be a collection of images, reflections, words, and fragments that offers ‘how-to’ details to undertake further exploration. This publication will be gifted to appropriate organisations across Fife, as well as being free to access online.
Katie is continuing to host a series of free community workshops during the coming months as public drop-in events, alongside those offered to community groups and key workers. For updates, please follow ‘Remembering Together Fife’ on Facebook and Instagram.
‘Drop-in’ events are being hosted by: Kellie Castle, May 18th & 25th (11am – 3pm), The Larick Centre, May 20th & 27th and June 3rd (1pm – 2.30pm).
Bookable workshops [PROCESS: The Art of Foraging] started in Kennoway on 16th April, and then take place in Buckhaven on 19th April, Leven on 25th April and Methil on 4th May.
Katie will be collaborating with Jayson Byles from East Neuk Seaweed to offer cooking demonstrations and create botanical inks from foraged finds. These workshops are supported by Lateral Lab with additional funding from the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.
We are very pleased and grateful to the team at the Neighbourhood Centre as we will be joining their Future Family Fun Day taking place on the same day. We will be there to share some of the draft designs and ideas for the park and we’d love to hear your feedback.
As a reminder, we have been working with the City of Edinburgh council to develop concept designs for enhancements across Drylaw Park. These include improvements to park connectivity, accessibility and safety, infrastructure to address surface water issues, nature enhancements and improvements to play provision.
The concept designs take these themes into account and have considered a variety of previous feedback from the community and other key stakeholders.
The Drylaw Park forms part of the Climate Ready Craigleith project which sits under the cities overarching Climate Ready Edinburgh strategy and there is more information on the developing storymap here:
I am getting in touch to follow up with some information regarding the Drylaw Park project and to invite you to our second follow up engagement session on Saturday 20th April at the Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre from 1:30 – 3:00pm at Drylaw Neighbourhood Centre – DNC – The place to be! (drylawnc.org.uk)
We are very pleased and grateful to the team at the Neighbourhood Centre as we will be joining their Future Family Fun Day taking place on the same day. We will be there to share some of the draft designs and ideas for the park and we’d love to hear your feedback.
As a reminder, we have been working with the City of Edinburgh council to develop concept designs for enhancements across Drylaw Park. These include improvements to park connectivity, accessibility and safety, infrastructure to address surface water issues, nature enhancements and improvements to play provision.
The concept designs take these themes into account and have considered a variety of previous feedback from the community and other key stakeholders.
The Drylaw Park forms part of the Climate Ready Craigleith project which sits under the cities overarching Climate Ready Edinburgh strategy and there is more information on the developing storymap here:
Charities, grassroots organisations and other community groups have been awarded a share of over £150,000 from the Home Office’s Community Engagement Fund
Charities, grassroots organisations and other community groups have been awarded a share of over £150,000 from the Home Office’s Community Engagement Fund, to go towards raising awareness of the Windrush Status and Windrush Compensation Schemes.
The fund is providing financial support to 16 diverse groups and organisations, who applied for grants of between £5,000 and £10,000, to assist their engagement with individuals and communities about the Windrush Schemes.
This will bolster efforts to reach as many people as possible who may be eligible to apply for documentation to confirm their status or for compensation. As of the end of September 2023, the Windrush Scheme has provided documentation confirming status or citizenship to over 16,700 individuals. Over £73 million had been paid in compensation, across 2,009 claims, by the end of October 2023.
The Community Engagement funding will support activities and events to provide people with information about eligibility criteria, guidance on the application process, and to address any misunderstandings about what the schemes cover.
The successful bidders have demonstrated how they will reach communities and individuals within and beyond the Caribbean community, including those with roots in Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nigeria, Ghana and India. This follows feedback from Wendy Williams’ progress update that said more needed to be done to identify and reach out to wider affected groups.
The experience of organisations helped through the fund will help the Home Office understand more about why some people might not have yet come forward to apply for documentation and compensation. This will help with future efforts to encourage eligible people to apply for both schemes.
Minister for Legal Migration and the Border, Tom Pursglove MP said: The money we are providing will make sure groups, with roots and well-established networks in their communities, can help the Government reach as many people as possible to encourage them to come forward.
“We know this is the most effective way to get the message out and assure people that they will get the guidance and support necessary to get the documentation they need and to apply for compensation they so rightly deserve, having contributed so much to the UK.”
Activities and projects that the fund supports may include, but are not limited to, hosting small-scale engagement groups, 1-to-1 sessions and creating and sharing materials such as leaflets and posters. Groups will use diverse communications channels such as social media and local radio, and will secure support from corporate partners, advocates and prominent figures.
The fund follows the success of the Windrush Community Fund, a similar fund of £500,000 which was launched in December 2020 to support community groups in carrying out promotional activity for both schemes. The fund was a key element of the Home Office’s work to support and engage with communities.
The Windrush Community Fund reached over 850,000 individuals through a range of activities and events hosted by community groups. Since 2018, the department has also held over 200 engagement events, in person and virtually.
This is the third iteration of Community Engagement Fund which is offered by the Home Office and provides funding to grassroots and community groups to engage communities and raise awareness of priority Home Office policies.
Successful organisations have been awarded grants of between £5,000 – £10,000 and will need to use the funding by the end of the 2023-24 financial year. They will receive up to 25% of the awarded amount as an initial payment for set up costs, with the remaining payments being made in arrears in accordance with their delivery plans.
All organisations successful in applying for funding have been made aware and grant agreements have been signed. Early conversations with those organisations to embed their funded projects are now taking place and names and locations of successful organisations will be published in the new year.
Prime Minister to put local people in control of more than £1 billion with long-term plan for left-behind towns
Fifty five towns – seven in Scotland – given £20 million endowment-style funds each over 10 years to invest in local people’s priorities
Long-term Plan for Towns will empower communities across the UK to take back control of their future – taking long term decisions in the interests of local people
Funding to be spent on local priorities; reviving high streets, tackling ASB, improving transport and growing the local economy
The UK Government has unveiled 55 towns that will benefit from a £1.1 billion levelling up investment, as part of a long-term plan for towns that provide long-term investment in towns that have been overlooked and taken for granted.
Towns that will be given the opportunity to develop a long-term plan supported by a Towns Board include 6 in the North East, 10 in the North West, and 4 in the West Midlands. In total, 55 towns will benefit from the UK-wide approach, including 7 towns in Scotland and 4 in Wales.
The Government will work with local councils and the devolved administrations to determine how towns in Scotland and Wales will benefit from funding and powers under the long-term plans. In Northern Ireland, we look forward to working with a restored Executive to determine the approach to providing support there.
Under the new approach, local people, not Whitehall-based politicians, will be put in charge, and given the tools to change their town’s long-term future. They will:
Receive a ten-year £20 million endowment-style fund to be spent on local people’s priorities, like regenerating local high streets and town centres or securing public safety.
Set up a Town Board to bring together community leaders, employers, local authorities, and the local MP, to deliver the Long-Term Plan for their town and put it to local people for consultation.
Use a suite of regeneration powers to unlock more private sector investment by auctioning empty high street shops, reforming licensing rules on shops and restaurants, and supporting more housing in town centres.
More than half the population live in towns, but half-empty high streets, run-down town centres and anti-social behaviour undermine towns in every part of the UK.
Yesterday’s announcement marks a change in approach that the government hopes will put an end to people feeling like their town is ignored by Westminster and empower communities to take back control of their future, taking long term decisions in the interests of local people.
The announcement came on the eve of the Conservative party conference – perhaps the last gathering of the Tory faithful before the general election.
This plan builds on the Government’s ‘central mission’ to level up the UK by putting more power and money in the hands of people who know their areas best to build a brighter future for their community, creating bespoke initiatives that will spark the regeneration needed.
Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, said: “Towns are the place most of us call home and where most of us go to work. But politicians have always taken towns for granted and focused on cities.
“The result is the half-empty high streets, run-down shopping centres and anti-social behaviour that undermine many towns’ prosperity and hold back people’s opportunity – and without a new approach, these problems will only get worse.
“That changes today. Our Long-Term Plan for Towns puts funding in the hands of local people themselves to invest in line with their priorities, over the long-term. That is how we level up.”
Levelling Up Secretary, Michael Gove said: “We know that in our towns the values of hard work and solidarity, common sense and common purpose, endeavour and quiet patriotism have endured across generations. But for too long, too many of our great British towns have been overlooked and undervalued.
“We are putting this right through our Long-Term Plan for Towns backed by over £1bn of levelling up funding.
“This will empower communities in every part of the UK to take back control of their future, taking long term decisions in the interests of local people. It will mean more jobs, more opportunities and a brighter future for our towns and the people who live and work in them.”
The government’s ‘Long-Term Plan for Towns’, published today, is carefully designed to complement the wider levelling up programme, working alongside funding for specific projects across the UK, our targeted support to the places most in need through Levelling Up Partnerships, and initiatives supporting economic growth in wider city regions like investment zones.
The Long-Term Plan for Towns will require town boards to develop their own long-term plan for their town, with funding over 10 years and aligned to the issues that research shows people want the most, including:
Improving transport and connections to make travel easier for residents and increase visitor numbers in centres to boost opportunities for small businesses and create jobs
Tackling crime and anti social behaviour to keep residents safe and encourage visitors through better security measures and hotspot policing
Enhancing town centres to make high streets more attractive and accessible, including repurposing empty shops for new housing, creating more green spaces, cleaning up streets or running market days
Scottish Secretary Alister Jack said: “I wholeheartedly welcome the launch of the UK Government’s Long Term Plan for Towns.
“It’s great to see that seven Scottish towns will benefit from £20 million each from the latest round of levelling up funding which so far has seen us invest more than £2.4 billion right across Scotland to help grow our economy and level up the country.
“I look forward to seeing these towns – and the communities within them – use this investment to breathe new life into the places where they live, work and play.”
Local people will be at the heart of decisions, through direct membership of a new Towns Board, which will include community groups, MPs, businesses, cultural and sports organisations, public sector agencies and local authorities for each town and through a requirement to engage local people on the long-term plan for each town.
These Town Boards will have direct government support in addition to the funding and powers they receive through Long-Term Plan for Towns, and will be required to engage local people on their long-term plan.
The Government has also announced a new ‘Towns Taskforce’, sitting in the Department for Levelling Up and reporting directly to the Prime Minister and Levelling Up Secretary. This will help town boards to develop their plans, and advise them on how best to take advantage of government policies, unlock private and philanthropic investment and work with communities.
A new ‘High Streets and Towns Task Force’ will also be established, building on the success of the existing version, providing each selected town with bespoke, hands-on support.
Further information
Towns have been allocated funding according to the Levelling Up Needs Index which takes into account metrics covering skills, pay, productivity and health, as well as the Index of Multiple Deprivation to ensure funding goes directly to the towns which will benefit most, without new competitions or unnecessary hurdles. A full methodology note will be published.
This commitment to towns follows other initiatives designed to support towns, including driving economic growth in 101 areas through the Towns Fund, and the £1 billion Future High Streets Fund, which is creating thriving high streets.
Local authorities will be the lead delivery partner for plans. This programme has been developed following our work with local authorities, with funding designed to be spent flexibly over a number of years based on local and evolving needs, and distributed through an allocative rather than competitive process.
