‘The FREE Fresher Fair for workers involved in working with young volunteers’

To be held at the SCAT conference centre in Taunton, Somerset on Wednesday 5th April. (10.00am to 4pm)
Tea and coffee will be available from 9am to help us all book in, set up and sign up for events

Like any Freshers Fair, the day will be made up of lots of little work shops and display stands where you can share what you are doing, learn from others and build links with people and projects from across the South West.

Big new bits for the day
• The Russell Commission have now agreed to come and explain what they are doing and how you can get involved
• Home Office ‘Volunteering & Charitable Giving Unit’ have agreed to run a work shop on what they are doing
• Somerset Community Foundation are going to hold a work shop on what funding they offer and general advice on how to apply to them for money
• Big Lottery Fund will be running a workshop on the different funds available to groups in the South West and how / who can apply
• APS Mentoring, peer mentoring and how to get your project Approved Provider Status with input from both local projects and the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation (the national people), including the launch of the Somerset Mentoring Hub


Other workshops of information stands that will run on the day
(Red ones are new)
• Funding information
• Supporting gay lesbian and bisexual young people to volunteer
• Millennium Volunteering
• Young people, allotments, team work and wellys (work shop will be run the young people them selves)
• Mentoring and Befriending Foundation
• Nation Youth Agency
• A personal view of balancing statutory and voluntary sector work with young people
• Youth Action the Exeter way...
• Working with young travellers
• Peer to Peer mentoring how to make it work
• Young people as paid support workers (workshop will be run by the young people themselves)
• What’s it like to be a Local Authority worker supporting youth volunteering
• Recruiting young volunteers (what works)
• Getting young people involved in health and safety
• Young people on committee ( how to train and support them)
• Approved Provider Status how it works and how we made it work with young mentors in Somerset
• Getting young volunteers to take responsibility for health and safety
• Child line and how it works
• Russell Commission: how’s it working in the South West
• www.doit.org.uk and how to make it work for you and your volunteers (a local perspective)
• Criminal Record Bureau checks and other systems for checking out staff/volunteers
• Global youth action
• Who’s got money and how to get some...
• How to get young people involved in funding applications


Speed Dating
There will be a ‘’speed dating’ event run at lunch time for those wishing to make new links with other organisations
• joint working
• partnership-building
• joint funding partnerships and all that sort of thing
• or just an opportunity to ask questions of a project you would like to know more about

Tea and coffee (with cake ) and lunch will be provided
and now with the additional option of making your own candyfloss. We supply the wooden sticks the full size candy floss machine, all you have to do is make it !! (we will even teach you how)