alt text: An image of the participants present at the COP Meeting.
This week, we were situated in the Gateway Church just off Woodchurch Road, who provided an excellent space to facilitate all 40+ of us.
Gateway Church
Greg Epton from the Gateway Church did some housekeeping and gave us a very warm welcome from the church.
Callister Gardens
Cathy Warren gave us the history of the Callister Trust and Gardens, and had some fantastic news about their soon to be built new pavilion, which is going to enable the garden to have activity right through the winter months. The Callister Garden is a hidden gem, so if you have not come across it, do please make time to see it.
Byrne Avenue Baths
Jane Richards from Byrne Avenue Baths told us about the available community spaces available at Byrne Avenue for community activities. They have a wonderful space in the old Laundry room and the Slipper Bath Café.
Crea8ing Community
Amanda Macaskill from Crea8ing Community told us about the whole family therapeutic intervention work that they are doing at the centre. She also reminded us that they will be running Holiday Activities during the summer, and have a family fun day on the 29th August.
Birkenhead Rotary
Barbara Sinclair from the Birkenhead Rotary told us about their small grants scheme which offers very small community organisations on the Wirral a small grant of up to £250.
The Birkenhead Rotary is based at Prenton Golf Club and they welcome anyone who would like to attend, they just ask that you let them know if you are coming. The e-mail address is birkenheadrotary.org
The Rotary also have a member who has a boat for community use, so if this is of interest, do get in touch.
One Wirral
Scott Morgan, who is the Health Creation Manager at One Wirral, spoke about the health checks that are being conducted in the community, especially targeting people who do not come to GP's
Scott also spoke about having some funding on the horizon to deliver training of CVD (Cardiovascular Disease) awareness. These will be 4 half-day sessions with a very light touch, so do get in touch if you are interested. Scott's email is scott.morgans@nhs.net
Active Wirral
Sonia Carty from Active Wirral spoke to us about trying to link up what they do in the leisure centres and open spaces to health and weight management, including mental health and long covid.
Sonia also mentioned working with Talking Therapies, creating a passport, working with Stroke and Virtual Reality, and being involved in Cancer and Cardio Rehab.
They are also going to be involved in a mapping activity with Sport England.
To get in touch with Sonya, e-mail soniacarty@wirral.gov.uk
Meraki Wellbeing
Meraki means putting your whole heart and soul into your activity and Dr. Hannah McKay, who is currently a GP with the NHS, is definitely putting it all into her wellbeing venture.
Hannah is very passionate about using language that people understand and is offering a free meditation service to support emotional resilience.
Hannah also has vast experience working with health datasets and indicators and is very happy to help organisations with this.
We really like Hannah for two reasons:
1. Everyone calls her the Quirky GP
2. she said that "she loves COP. COP always fills her with hope and joy to know how much amazing stuff goes on."
Hannah, we completely agree.
Tomorrow's Women
Kate and Lizzie from Tomorrow's Women talked to us about their Domestic Abuse and Sexual Abuse services to women. TW now have an Empowerment Advisor and are able to do a risk assessment, which allows them to refer to the appropriate service. They are also able to provide early evidence kits, where victims may not be ready to go ahead with a charge.
TW also offers courses around Domestic Abuse and has a support group and one-to-one counselling.
Community Capacity Builders
Steve Reid from Community Capacity Builders gave us a description of the activities and services that CCB deliver to the community under the auspices of Mental Health, Physical Health, Financial Health and Employability.
They had some good news about having the funding to launch some events in October that supports people who are starting to worry about finances but are not at the point of crises.
They also have some very exciting funding from Football for Change to provide courses to YP who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) to help them to achieve their football coaching or referee courses, which include CPR training and safeguarding training.
Contact Steve to find out more at communitycapacitybuilders19@gmail.com
Transition Town West Kirby
Mark Webster from TTWK gave us an update on the activities that the group are involved in, which includes West Kirby Drop in, Incredible Edible, Homegrown Bananas and a potential new project called Plastic Free WK.
Mark also mentioned that Earthfest on on the 28th September and they are still very much looking for volunteers. West Kirby Farmers Market is on the 27th July and Storytelling is on the 10th September at the Quirky Community hub.
Mark also mentioned that Wendy Robertson from Places of Welcome has provided us with a list of all the places of welcome and encourages people to create some more. You can reach Wendy by e-mail if you are interested at wendy.robertson@tltogether.org.uk
Wirral CVS
Zel Rodgers from WCVS mentioned the July Events on the WCVS website: Volunteer Managers Forum on the 17th July, Meet the Funder - Burbo Bank Extention Fund and the newly launched CVF Forum on the 18th July.
Zel told COP that we should have Meet the Funder events from the National Lottery and Heritage Lottery on the WCVS events page soon and the Step Up Funding is just waiting for final sign off and should be available for application within the next weeks.
The report/feedback from the Coming Back Together event, last week is being compiled at the moment, so do also keep an eye out for that. A very big thank you to Kevin Sutton from the Delamere centre for mentioning where to find the Health and Wellbeing Strategy documents and the recordings from the meetings. Kevin mentioned that the next meeting of the Health and Wellbeing board is next Thursday 18th July. The update will be Priority 3, which is the early years/family help strand.
The Delamere Centre
Kevin Sutton also gave us an update of the work at the Delamere Centre and gave a heartfelt Shout Out to the volunteers at the centre, saying "we have an amazing group of volunteers".
Involve North West
Leanne and Andy from Involve North West introduced themselves and told us that they were the connectors in Rock Ferry. They also introduced Isobel who is the connector for West Kirby. They are supporting people with their health and wellbeing.
Victim Care Merseyside
Last but not least, we heard from Dave Crawley from Victim Care Merseyside. Dave talked us through the process and approach of the service and told us that the team came from varied backgrounds and had diverse training to support their beneficiaries. They support victims of crime, but also are able to provide support to some people who self-refer or are referred to the service.
If you want any more information or would like to contact any of the attendees, you can e-mail zel.rodgers@wcvs.org.uk
If you want to speak at the next COP meeting, please let Mark know via mark@wcvs.org.uk
To attend our next COP Meeting, please RSVP on the event below:
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