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FairerPower For All Cheshire East Council and social housing landlords are working towards a partnership with an energy supplier as part of their ambitious plans to challenge the dominance of the Big Six suppliers and tackle fuel poverty. They have recently launched a new brand FairerPower, which aims to provide residents and businesses with competitive energy rates and drive prices down locally. It is estimated that c. 15,000 Cheshire East households (9.5%) are in fuel poverty and FairerPower aims to provide alternative energy supply options following national discontent of the Big Six’s continued hikes in energy cost. Residents in the Borough and tenants of Wulvern, Plus Dane and Peaks & Plains Housing Associations can register their interest, from the link below, and will receive further information when the FairerPower energy supplier is announced. FairerPower is part of a wider Cheshire East Council Energy Framework, which supports a number of coordinated and related energy initiatives, including:

Cheshire East Energy Ltd – an overarching energy company that will be formed to deliver the energy agenda

Geothermal opportunities Dry Anaerobic Digestion – waste treatment – renewable energy

source Renewable Energies

For more information and to register your interest visit the Cheshire East Council website

Contents

1 FairerPower

2 Local Area News

6 Partner News

9 For your Notice Board

9 Consultations

9 Funding

10 Editors Message

November/December 2014

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Local Area News

Congleton

Social Enterprise matt25 launch in time for Christmas Adullam Homes Housing Association is a provider of supported housing and has developed the Social Enterprise matt25, which provides residents and service users with training and employment opportunities. Previous trainees have gained full-time employment with Adullam Homes, and in the wider community, and have had the opportunity to sign up to matt25 Recruitment, which aims to supply Adullam Homes with temporary staff where needed. At its Beech House site in Congleton, matt25 will open its training and enterprise centre to help not just its own residents and service users but to work in partnership with other organisations and local services. They will provide essential training opportunities, involvement activities, voluntary work placements and the development of social enterprises, to provide local people with employment. They will be holding a drop-in Christmas market on 17th December from 11.00am to 2.00pm by way of a soft launch for the new initiative. All local people and partnership agencies will be invited to join them and they are aiming to sell some of the produce made on site to help raise funds for further activities.

For more information on matt25 contact Gareth Evans or the team at matt25

New Community Support Centre Alsager Community Church, which lies in the heart of the town, is shortly to open a new community support centre. The centre is currently being built on church land off the main Alsager car park and will offer the public a place where they can call in and speak to trained volunteers about any help they may need. The building will provide a great community asset and resource with a reception area, interview room, a meeting room and a room for a local foodbank. The project has been made possible through Sentinel Lottery funding, and with the support of Cheshire East Council the church is investigating how the centre can incorporate the services of the Citizens Advice Bureau and are also welcoming ideas of how to further develop their services.

For more information and to see how you could get involved contact Liz Pinkney

Congleton to get new College Facility to Train Carers of the Future

A partnership to provide a vocational training college alongside Mountview day care centre is to be set up by Cheshire East Council in conjunction with Congleton High School, in what is seen as a ground-breaking partnership between youth education and adult social care. Students will have their learning environment next door to the community day care centre, where they will have the opportunity to take part in a range of vocational training courses including health and social care and professional catering. The college will be a separate wing of the building and will remain

independent of the day care centre, however day care users will be able to take advantage of the college facilities including its hair salon and café, which are also intended to be of benefit to the wider older community and social care service users. The centre will link the younger generations with the older sector and neighbouring communities, whilst training and preparing the next generation of carers and professionals for the health and care sector.

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Holmes Chapel Partnership

Holmes Chapel Partnership, working with the Parish Council and community groups, has recently completed two major local projects and is now earnestly engaged in what could be its biggest project yet. The project is based around the development of an existing play area and linked to a new fitness trail to launch its Healthy Hearts in Holmes Chapel campaign.

Their vision is to:

Capitalise on the rural setting of Elm Drive, encouraging the local community to enjoy the beauty and tranquillity of the area whilst allowing younger children to enjoy new play equipment.

Create a fitness trail adjacent to the play area and, working with the local Health Centre, revive the exercise on prescription initiative and develop the Healthy Hearts in Holmes Chapel campaign.

Make the area a part of the Dane Valley trail, encouraging visitors to stop off to admire the views and/or take advantage of the facilities.

Holmes Chapel Partnership is currently seeking grant funding for the project and look forward to sharing more news as the project progresses.

For more information visit the Holmes Chapel Partnership website

Could you be a TWISTA legend?

Cheshire East Council and its partners are looking for twenty mentors for the latest cohort of what has proved to be a wildly-successful programme. TWISTA, derived from the acronym Together We Inspire Striving To Achieve, was created in 2011 by police officer PC Rebecca Francis. Since then there have been thirteen Twista programmes run across Cheshire. The programme is aimed at Year 10 pupils and will be running

between January and July 2015 in Congleton and Crewe.

The TWISTA project seeks to encourage mentors from a wide range of ages, backgrounds and life experience, who can spare three hours a month. Mentors do not have to be from Congleton but must be willing to work with teenagers from the town. The scheme is designed to help youngsters who don’t have the support that they need from home and friends – often without this support they give up.

Mentors will also be given the support they need and will receive around five hours of quality training before embarking on mentoring. Once trained, mentors will be paired with a teenager that is matched to them in terms of hobbies and interests. Meetings with mentees will be held with other mentors and teachers around. Students who have completed the programme have highlighted its positive influence on their confidence, grades and ability to overcome the many problems encountered by teenagers.

To find out more about becoming a mentor and to request an application form contact the TWISTA office Applications must be submitted before the end of November 2014

Crewe

Samaritans Crewe South Cheshire

Samaritans’ volunteers recently welcomed The Mayor and Mayoress of Cheshire East to their building in Crewe. The visit was arranged as part of Councillor Wesley Fitzgerald’s demonstration of support for voluntary work in the community. They received a tour of facilities, heard about the various means available for callers to make contact and met a group of listening volunteers. They also kindly presented long service certificates to volunteers Carol and Linda.

For more information visit the Samaritans website or contact the Samaritans office on 01270 216666

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Let’s Cook in Cheshire East Let’s Cook in Cheshire East cookery programme, which was designed by Cheshire East Council’s Health Improvement Team to encourage and teach local people to cook homemade meals, was launched in Crewe over the summer. The six-week cookery course started in August and was held each week at Jubilee House as a result of partnership working between the Council, The Wishing Well Project and the Cheshire & Wirral Partnership Trust. Five local people identified by the partnership were shown each week how to prepare and cook meals for one and have all successfully completed the six-week course. The evaluations of the course indicate that it was thoroughly enjoyed by the entire group and they are keen to continue their cooking activities. More cookery courses are currently being planned at various locations across Cheshire East. For more information on where future courses will be available contact Kathy Cornford on 01270 686600

Cat Radio Secures New College Base in Exciting Partnership Local radio station The Cat has been offered a new home in the heart of the community at South Cheshire College. The popular station, which was recently granted a five year FM licence and became the first ever station in Crewe and Nantwich to be granted FM status, will take up residence in the College’s media department in the run up to Christmas. The Cat will benefit from a state-of-the-art studio for its daily broadcasts and office space for administration and off air tasks, while exciting broadcasting opportunities will open up for students across the College. Station members and

broadcasters are hoping to attract thousands more listeners when they switch over to the FM frequency in early 2015. An FM licence will allow The Cat to reach out to a far wider audience but the station will continue to serve and entertain the local community. The Cat first transmitted a series of broadcasts from the college’s old tower block building in 1994.

For more information visit The Cat Radio website or phone 01270 654654

Macclesfield

Students create promo video for Food4Macc Creative Media Production students from Macclesfield College have been working with local voluntary group Food4Macc to help create promotional videos to raise awareness of the organisation and their Garden Share Scheme. Food4Macc is a not-for-profit group that aims to have more food produced locally in the Macclesfield area. The first-year college students’ work was undertaken as a coursework project and involved them liaising with Food4Macc to establish the brief and then to pitch storyboard ideas which could be turned into the final videos. The students worked as independent teams on the two projects, with filming taking place at the Gilchrist Avenue Hub, Newton's Dairy Farm at Gawsworth and at Garden Share sites in Poynton, Bollington and Macclesfield. The finished videos are available to view on YouTube and can also be found on the Food4Macc website

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Nantwich

British Town Crier Competition

This year a total of sixteen town criers from across the UK went to Nantwich to hold the third annual competition which attracted many people from across the area, including no less than five lady town criers. John Parsons, the town crier for Nantwich, helped to raise funds for a charity which is for young people with Leukemia. John has also won the bid to hold the 2015 British Town Crier competition in Nantwich which will attract over thirty town criers and hundreds of spectators.

For more information contact John Parsons

Wilmslow

Have you Discovered Earlams yet? Earlams is an exciting community store, café and arts and crafts enterprise nestled in the centre of Styal village. It opened at the end of the summer, funded by the sale of shares to the local community and through generous support from Cheshire East Council, and is already a major success. The store, café and gallery are owned and run as a community enterprise with the aim of improving the village as a place to live, work and visit. All profits are reinvested to benefit the local community. The whole operation is being developed and operated by volunteers and managed on a daily basis by a manager. The store sells reasonably priced convenience items and a wide range of artisan and deli produce which is locally sourced where possible. The pretty café at the rear of the shop serves a range of hot and cold drinks and foods. The arts and crafts gallery promotes local professional and amateur artists and crafts, and a number of themed exhibitions will be held throughout the year.

For more information visit the Earlams web site

Digitalization of Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser In January 2014, the Wilmslow Community Archaeology Group obtained permission from the British Library to create a digital archive of the Alderley and Wilmslow Advertiser for the period 1874 – 1947. In Cheshire, this information is currently held on film at Wilmslow Library and Cheshire Record Office. Wear and tear means that the films can become fragile and damaged through time and whilst the British Library has a programme to digitize all local papers, this is some way in to the future. Supported by the staff at Wilmslow Library, the Wilmslow Community Archaeology Group has completed the transfer of this information on to DVDs which are now held at the Library. Visually the material is much clearer on DVD, especially for those with a visual impairment. In addition, the collection covers both World Wars and may be of particular interest as we commemorate the First World War. The group estimate that the total cost of this project including the volunteers labour was in the region of £8,590. The cost of materials was met by local Wilmslow and Handforth businesses and the group also received support from the Trinity Mirror Group and the Wilmslow Express. The group is now looking to produce an index of all the local men named in the newspaper who served in the Frist World War.

For more information contact Gaynor Wason on 01625 374060

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Partner News

Christmas Events Lots of people have submitted articles for their Christmas events so rather than disappoint, by only including a small selection of events, all organisations are being encouraged to list their events on websites such as Cheshire East Council’s What’s On Guide and Stuff 2 do in Cheshire pages and the Visit Cheshire website. You can find lots of festive things to do over the Christmas period – why not take a look?

Local Charity Delivers a Winning Awards Event for Proud Cheshire Communities The 58th Community Pride Competition organised by Cheshire Community Action was celebrated at Congleton Town Hall, hosted by Cheshire East Council, in the presence of a large gathering of Civic Leaders and enthusiasts who had travelled from all parts of the County. The Overall Championship Award was presented to Sandbach as Best Kept Village / Market Town and was a well-deserved winner with a very strong community. Ian Cotton of ESSAR OIL UK, sponsor of the competition, presented a plaque and cheque. Following the event Mr

Cotton said: “It is fantastic to see the continued enthusiasm from volunteers across Cheshire who are striving to maintain and enhance their villages and towns to make them more vibrant and attractive to residents and visitors”. Other awards included the Cheshire Community Spirit Award presented to Church Minshull, which has seen an explosion of activity by local people to improve the area in recent years, and the Best Community Website which was won by Poynton for a Market Town and Audlem for a Village. The Competition exemplifies the community spirit in all the villages. It demonstrates and emphasises just how much voluntary work is undertaken to keep Cheshire a vibrant County. The competition encourages villages to improve every aspect of village life, which is under threat in so many different ways. This competition would not be possible without the dedication of the volunteer judges who come from all over the County and spend considerable time visiting the villages who enter the competition.

For more information visit the Cheshire Community Action website

Cheshire East Waste Strategy 2030 – big thank you The Cheshire East Waste Strategy team would like to thank all those who responded to a survey in July and August about the high level objectives that were to form the core of the Cheshire East Waste Strategy to 2030. Over 750 residents, councillors and representatives of different groups responded. These views shaped the strategy which has now been written and adopted at the Council’s Cabinet meeting in October 2014. The full strategy and associated reports will be available on the Council’s website in the near future. For a brief summary and charts of the responses to the survey visit the Cheshire East Council website

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College Forges New Partnership with CVS Cheshire East South Cheshire College has forged an exciting partnership with CVS Cheshire East to reach out to the wider community. The two organisations are working hand in hand to encourage more young people to get involved in community projects and activities and to help them to shape key local services. CVS Cheshire East is the primary recruiter of volunteers in Cheshire East and every week volunteers contribute over 65,000 hours of their time to support the local community. CVS Cheshire East is looking for new ways of engaging with diverse sections of the community and aims to raise awareness of how people can go about volunteering. As part of the partnership, CVS Cheshire East will deliver presentations at the College’s Crewe campus to highlight the many volunteering opportunities and roles which are available locally to students. Volunteering opportunities could be an excellent way for students to gain valuable work experience and demonstrate their skills to potential employers.

Nicola Moore, Marketing Manager at South Cheshire College said: “We are pleased to be working closely with CVS Cheshire East and hope that partnership working can have a big impact on the local community. There are lots of volunteering opportunities which young people can engage in and they can play an important role in the local community. We look forward to supporting CVS Cheshire East with their work and promoting the range of volunteering opportunities which are available.”

For more information visit the CVS Cheshire East website

Road Safety Initiative given Royal Seal of Approval Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service's road safety team has won a prestigious international award for its leadership in road safety and its innovative work with primary and secondary schools in Cheshire East. The Service has been highlighted in The Prince Michael International Road Safety Awards, which recognise achievements and innovations which will improve road safety. Each year the most outstanding examples of international road safety initiatives are given public recognition through the scheme. In 2012 Cheshire East Council commissioned the Service to deliver all of its primary and secondary schools with road safety education. This was the first instance of a fire and rescue service being commissioned to deliver this educational work in the UK. The initiative specifically targets Key Stage 2, 9-11 years, and Key Stage 4, 14-16 years, students and all lessons use a mix of teaching and interactive learning techniques. The aim is to ensure that each student will have a far better understanding of road safety and in-car safety, not only as a pedestrian but also as a passenger and general road user, thus reducing the number of children dying and being seriously injured on the roads. Presenting the award on behalf of Prince Michael, Adrian Walsh, director of the Prince’s awards scheme said: “Prince Michael has made this award to Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service for its outstanding commitment demonstrated by its high level of leadership and effective deployment of resources to making roads safer. The success of the schools road safety education programme is one of many examples of this and it is of significance that Cheshire is the first fire and rescue service in the country to be commissioned to conduct this important work."

To read the full press release visit the Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service website

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New East Cheshire Substance Misuse Service A new substance misuse service for Cheshire East began its delivery at the start of November 2014. Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (CWP) NHS Foundation Trust is the lead provider of the service, but it will be provided collaboratively with a range of providers including Acorn Recovery Project, Intuitive Recovery, Catch22, Expanding Futures and Emerging Horizons. It will be an all-age service and will focus on recovery from both drug and alcohol misuse. All referral routes will remain unchanged and will continue to go through CWP. The only change to contact details will be for Breedon House on Edleston Road in Crewe (CW2 7EA) which will no longer deliver services. Catherine House is just around the corner and is being extended. The service will continue to operate from: Catherine House, Eaton Street, Crewe, CW2 7EG: 01270 216118 The Barnabas Centre, 15 Brook Street, Macclesfield, SK11 7AA: 01625 422100 George Street, Macclesfield SK11 6HS, 01625 443203.

Ageing Safely Week well supported by Firefighters in Cheshire East Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service supported the national campaign, Ageing Safely Week, to talk to communities about keeping themselves safe. Wilmslow firefighters met with older people across Alderley Edge to give home fire safety advice, health and fitness awareness and details of other agencies that can be helpful later in life. Crewe firefighters went to the Annual Health and Wellbeing Fair giving fire safety advice and inviting the public in to the smoke tent to feel what it is like in a fire. Congleton firefighters went to Congleton Cricket, Hockey and Bowling club to give key safety messages to members. Macclesfield firefighters attended Millers Court for a communal fire safety talk and then visited individual flats to give advice and Knutsford firefighters went

to Booths supermarket to talk to people about safe driving and offering free car safety checks. Research shows that older people are at highest risk of fire in the home with those over the age of 80 years being 10 times more likely to die in a fire than those aged 30 years or under. Even a small fire can impact on an older person’s quality of life, resulting in an individual losing confidence in their ability to remain safe whilst living independently. Older People’s Day 2014 linked in with the United Nation’s International Day of Older Persons and challenged the stereotype of older people as frail, vulnerable and a burden on the rest of the population. Instead, it recognised the experience, knowledge and contribution that older people make to society and the economy.

For more information about fire safety please visit the Cheshire Fire and Rescue website

New Lifestyle Programme –‘Health Trainers’ The newly formed Everybody Sport and Leisure Recreation Trust, in partnership with Cheshire East Council’s Health Improvement Team, is piloting a new lifestyle programme called ‘Health Trainers’, which will target being overweight, obesity, smoking, lack of exercise and mental health and wellbeing. The programme will run in Crewe and Nantwich and commenced October 2014. Health Trainers will work on a one-to-one basis supporting people to improve their health and wellbeing, by helping them make positive changes in their lifestyle. Personalised support will be provided to individuals for up to 12 weeks to help people make real changes to their lifestyle, and it only costs £12.00 (£1.00 per week).

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People aged 16 plus who are registered with a GP in Crewe and Nantwich can receive help to: eat more healthily, lose weight, increase their physical activity, stop smoking and improve their mental health and wellbeing. There is a referral criteria for accessing the programme and referrals will be accepted from a wide range of agencies and through self-referral.

If your agency is interested in referring people to the programme or you would like further information contact Donna Williamson on 01270 685794

For your Notice Board

This section allows you to download posters which you may wish to display on your notice boards, either for staff, customers or residents. Please email January / February notices to Tina Jones.

Cheshire Streetwise Programme Leaflet TWISTA Mentoring Poster

Skills Café Poster Healthwatch Poster

Consultations

Cheshire East Parks Strategy Consultation Cheshire East Council is drafting a Parks Strategy and would like users of parks in Cheshire East, and all those that are interested, to get involved. The aim of the Parks Strategy is to guide the investment needed over the next ten years, to bring the key parks up to a consistently high standard, and to prioritise how to manage, fund and operate these local parks. The survey closes on Friday 5th December 2014.

To complete the Parks Strategy Survey visit the Survey Gizmo website

Young People's Survey - Development of a Community Hub in Nantwich Partners across Cheshire East are developing ambitious plans to establish community hubs across the borough, to provide spaces, services and activities where people need them, and will use them locally, using a network of well-connected community buildings. The survey closes on Friday 19th December 2014. This survey aims to gain the views of young people on what services are currently available in Nantwich and what services they would like available within a community hub.

To complete the Young People's Community Hub survey visit the Survey Gizmo website

Funding

Cheshire East Council Community Grants The next deadline for the Council’s Community Grant Scheme is 5th January 2015. This will be the final deadline for 2014/15. A great range of projects have been funded via the scheme this year, with 96 applications being successful so far and over £1,500,000 worth of projects being contributed to. Please bear in mind the Christmas period when submitting your application to this final round. If you require assistance or feedback on your application, please submit before 19th December 2014. Applications are still being accepted for the Cheshire East Giveback Scheme and being considered on a rolling basis with a final deadline of 30th March 2015. Applications are particularly being sought from young people’s sections of uniformed organisations and voluntary and community groups working specifically with older people.

For more information visit the Cheshire East Council website

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Active Cheshire Launches 25th Anniversary Fund Active Cheshire is the lead body for sport and physical activity in Cheshire and Warrington and it works to encourage those people who are inactive to exercise regularly. To celebrate 25 years of getting people moving in the area, Active Cheshire is offering seven grants to local organisations for original and innovative projects that will support their goal of getting 50,000 more people more active, more often by 2017. The fund has been set up to help people come up with creative ways of encouraging people to be physically active for life, creating healthy communities in a sustainable way. Organisations from all sectors, including businesses, town and parish councils, schools, community and voluntary groups, faith groups, youth clubs, and individuals such as coaches can apply. The following will be awarded:

One grant of £15,000 One grant of £5,000 Five grants of £1,000

Match funding of 30% (including in-kind) is required for all funding awards and the funding can be used for capital or revenue costs. The deadline for entries is 5th January 2015.

For details on how to apply and eligibility visit the Active Cheshire website

Editors Message 2014 has been another fantastic year for partnership working and we’ve seen so many superb examples featured in this Newsletter throughout the year. From awards to community individuals and community groups to awards for whole towns and parishes, the growing success of the TWISTA mentoring programme, new cycle and walking routes and maps, introduction of new support groups, updates on our ever expanding clean teams and friends groups and many more interesting stories of community activity and pleas for help and support – we really have all been very busy this year. I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas and New Year and look forward to reading and including your articles in 2015.

The next edition of the Partnerships Newsletter will be circulated in the new year at the end of January, the deadline for submission of articles is 12th January 2015.

To promote an event, conference or consultation, ask for help with a project, let people know of changes taking place in your organisation or share information which is of

interest to our wide range of partners contact Tina Jones.

Previous copies of the newsletter are available on the Cheshire East website