The event will be taking place on:

 Day: Wednesday 31st March 2010

Time: 10:30 - 2:30

Venue: St. Peter’s Centre, Charles Street, Coventry.

 FREE Event  with Lunch provided.

To registed please contact:

 Varinder Kaur

CEMAP Development Manager

Paul Smith
CEMAP Project Assistant

CEMAP
West Indian Community Centre
159 Spon Street
Coventry CV1 3BB

Tel: 02476 223388
Email: paulsmith1961@btconnect.com

Join an interactive debate to launch the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion

Location
St. Peter’s Centre, Charles Street, Hillfields, Coventry, CV1 5NP

Date
Friday 5th March

Time
9:30am - 1pm (Lunch included)

What is the Year?
The European Union covers one of the richest areas in the world, but still 17% of EU citizens have such limited resources that they cannot afford the basics.
In 2000 governments across Europe pledged to make “a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty” by the year 2010.
The EU and its Member States have designated 2010 as the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion (EY2010). EY2010 aims to raise public awareness of the importance of combating poverty and social exclusion for personal, social and economic development. It aims to give a voice to those who experience poverty and social exclusion.
The UK’s national programme aims to tackle four key themes:

• Child Poverty
• Working Age Poverty/Social Exclusion
• Severe, multiple deprivation and those who are most at risk of social exclusion
• Older people and poverty/social exclusion

Come and join us to make a difference …
CSV (Community Service Volunteers) has teamed up with stakeholders and partners to spark debate and encourage joint action.
The day will provide background information and the chance to network.
It is an opportunity to bring local issues around social exclusion in front of key policy decision makers and stakeholders and join together to pledge ‘One Big Change’.
You will be able to share your views with third and public sector organisations and individuals on what the Year should focus on in your local area.
It is an amazing opportunity to network and identify areas of collaboration and jointed-up working!

Whether you work within the voluntary sector, local authority, a community group or are someone with experience of poverty and social exclusion we are keen to hear what you have to say!

Entry to the debate is free but is on a first-come, first-served basis, so please contact Maggie Smith by email or post:

maggie.smith@bbc.co.uk Telephone: 0121 567 6016

Address: CSV Action Desk, BBC WM, The Mailbox, Birmingham, B1 1AY

AGENDA

Friday 5th March 2010 at St. Peter’s Centre, Coventry

An awareness raising event for Midlands to mark the European Year to Combat Poverty and Social Exclusion

9.30am
Registration
Tea and coffee available

10.00am Introduction & Housekeeping
Chair - Jim Lee, BBC Radio 4 Presenter

10.05am
Representative of DWP
Explanation of EY2010 by Tricia Griffiths

10.15am
Key Note Speech
Trudi Elliott, Government Office for the West Midlands

10.30am
Poverty in Hillfields
Helen Watson, Hillfields Children’s Centre

10.45am
Child Poverty Debate
Barnardos or The Children’s Society

11.00am
Fuel Poverty Debate
Saleem Sheikh & Judy Best, National Energy Action

11.15am
Older People Debate
Age Concern or other

11.30am
Worklessness/Social Exclusion/Education & Literacy Debate
NIACE? Or other
Or Pension Credits
DWP Local Representative

11.45am Homelessness Debate
Jonathan Chilvers, Salvation Army or other

12.00am BME or Health Debate
Refugee Council or Swanswell Drug Abuse Project
12.15pm Pledge

12.30pm Lunch

The theme for the morning will be ‘my journey’

Inderjit Sahota, FWT chair,will introduce the AGM.
Guest speakers will be talking about their own business development and personal journeys and a service user will proudly talk about her journey with FWT.

Lunch, with a celebratory cake, will be served at 11.45.

All participants can enjoy Indian Head Massage, Nail Art and holistic therapies over lunch.

We will also be celebrating our new branding and marketing, including the launch of our new logo.

 I look forward to seeing you there,
Christine McNaught
Centre Manager
FWT a centre for women
Women moving forward!

To conirm your attendance, please RSVP to:

centre.manager@fwt.org.uk or post to Centre Manager, FWT,
70-72 Elmsdale Avenue, Coventry, CV6 6ES

What is the 55 plus Better Life survey?
The 55 plus Better Life survey provides city residents, over 55 years of age, with an opportunity to tell the council their opinions on a range of issues related to health, well-being, quality of life and hopes for the future.

How do I give my feedback?
The survey is available online.  Alternatively, you can have a copy sent to you by telephoning 024 7683 3465 or by e-mailing oppartnership@coventry.gov.uk

What will my feedback be used for?
The information from the survey will be used to inform and update the Older People’s strategy as well as informing future commissioning of Coventry’s health and local government services. The project will be complete in early 2010, and it is anticipated that the findings will be available in a number of formats and presented at public events. The report will also be available on Coventry University’s website.

Who is running the survey?
The survey is being conducted by Coventry University’s Faculty of Health and Life Sciences.

Who is funding / supporting the survey?
This project has been funded and supported by Coventry Older People’s Partnership which includes Coventry City Council, NHS Coventry, and the third sector organisations such as Age Concern.

The next meeting of the West Midlands Police Authority will be held on Thursday 10 December 2009 at 10:00 am in

The St Peter’s Room
St Peter’s Centre
Charles Street
Coventry
CV1 5NP

 
The agenda and papers for the meeting will be available a week before the meeting on website http://www.west-midlands-pa.gov.uk

The public are invited to observe the meeting but are not able to participate in the meeting itself.

 Trustees:

The autonomous Management Committee comprises of representatives from partner organisations and local residents.

 Name                                                                          Represents

Mr Phil Jones                                                      St Peter’s Church & local resident

Ms Judith Pattern                                              St Peter’s Church & local resident

Mr Percival Robinson                                      St Peter’s Church & Centre Users

Mr Rob Taylor Company Secretary          Coventry Law Centre

Ms Penny Walker Chair                                  Peace House (chair from 12 June 2008)

Mr Pat Walsh                                                      Watch Ltd. & local resident

Ms Myrtle Gill                                                   St Peter’s Church & local resident

Rev Neil Tipple Chair                                     St Peter’s Church (resigned 12 June 2008)

Treasurer

Mark Payne                                                         City College

Staff and Volunteers:

Josephine Haywood (Joan)                      Centre Manager

Balraj Somal                                                     Development Officer to August 2008

Yvonne McCloskey                                       Finance Officer

Heather Lee                                                      Events Co-ordinator to July 2008

Bertram Green                                                Caretaker

Rudolph Moss                                                 Caretaker

Mary Jones                                                      Cleaner

Peter Bentley                                                  Site Services Officer form March 2008

Irene Irakoze                                                 Cleaner temporary

Jaba Habte                                                      Cleaner (cover)

Lavern Anderson                                         Events Coordinator

Sheila Lovett                                                 Volunteer Administrator

Anthony Francis                                          Volunteer Information and Communication Technology from Hill Hofsetter formerly Reed Smith

 Chair’s Report

2008 has been a difficult year for St. Peter’s because of the change in funding trends and the recession but careful budgeting in previous years stood us in good stead to manage the drop in money from funders. Due to this decrease and the rise in costs, sadly part of that adjustment to external changes resulted in us having to make our community worker redundant.

Funders are now looking for larger organisations to provide services regionally or nationally. St. Peter’s Centre is a local grassroots community asset which does not fit into that mould. However, over the year we have been working in partnership with local voluntary, statutory and corporate organisations, aware that we need to be creative in exploring joint ventures to enable us to reduce costs and raise revenue that will be for the benefit of the residents of the area. 

Our business plan has also been a useful tool in helping us to respond to economic changes in a flexible way whilst retaining our core values. Flexibility has even resulted in considering changing the size of our rooms in order to accommodate those organisations which contribute hugely to our local community.

The year has also seen the departure of Neil Tipple as chair and the arrival in December of our new Rector Rev Stephen Hartley. I have been straddling the gap as acting chair and am indebted to the other trustees and particularly to our manager Joan Haywood who has used so much ingenuity and worked so hard in helping St Peter’s Centre through this difficult year.

The economic climate will continue to produce challenges to us for some time to come. However, St. Peter’s is still managing to provide a vibrant community hub in Hillfields and by working together we will make the most of our valuable physical and human assets to sustain and develop our wonderful centre.

Penny Walker                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Chairperson                                                                                                                                                           

Centre Managers Report

I finished last year’s report recognising we faced a real challenge to maintain the quality of service we had developed over the past eight years. During 2007 we make significant improvements to the infrastructure of the organisation and in the latter half of 2008 it became evident that those changes would need to be resilient to withstand the challenges faced.

Strategy 

At the beginning of the year our focus was to update our Business Plan, this encouraged us to be vigilant of our financial strategy, which was originally set out for the centre to be self financing by 2010. During the first six months of the year we did significantly better than financially predicted, a deficit was planned for the year, therefore the somewhat fraught and constant nagging of financial concerns tended to overshadow the many good things that were happening. Following the Business Plan a marketing and promotion strategy was implemented as was a new Ethical Policy, we also updated the Employment Contract and our Tenancy at Will.

Conference & Office Update

The corporate conference business increased by 8% in the first six months of the year, this increased business put a considerable amount of pressure on our car park, the opening of City College and new Coventry University student accommodation exacerbated the car parking problems in the area. This has given us negative feedback as people are more fraught and sometimes late for meetings. It is difficult to anticipate what effect it will have on our business in the future.

Feedback from organisations, who hired the centre, informed us that our pricing structure was over complex, consequently we streamlined the structure aiming the room prices to remain consistent with 2007.  We did however, introduce a freeflow system of tea coffee & biscuits to assist organisations with budgeting, in some cases this did lead to a slight price increase. Further to this we phased out bottled water replacing it with filtered water which is complementary to all organisations, therefore reducing costs.

 Whilst the corporate business increased, it was noted by the end of March that the number of community groups using the centre was in decline this was due to the reduced amount of funding available to assist groups. This reduced activity coupled with unsuccessful bids led to the Development Officers post being made redundant in August 2008.

 When it became apparent that our direct work with the community was in decline, and then ceased, we were more diligent than ever to exploit our Business Plan to meet the needs of the community 

 We are therefore delighted to announce that we secured a contract with LEGI (Local Employment Growth Initiative) for a Workmate to use one of our offices to help local long-term unemployed people into work. This was followed by The Children’s Society’s Reunite project team led by Jenny Mahimbo who are also renting one of our offices. The Reunite project supports our ethos of working with the community, their work is focused on young people who go missing from home or care. It offers intensive support to help young people make the right decisions in their lives and to stop incidents of persons running away. Support can include signposting to other organisations, sessions looking at risk and staying safe, and help with family problems.

 Kairos who have been renting office space from us since 1^st April 2005 were looking to relocate to a new venue that met their growing needs, for the last three months of the year they shared an office with LEGI. During this period we met regularly with the new Kairos staff, as a result we were in a position to offer them an improved service (larger dedicated office) consequently the need to relocate was abolished.

 After uncertainty about the future of Hillfields Community Library we were informed at the beginning of December 2008 that the Library would remain.  We were however, aware that as the European ERDF Funding would finish the end of December 2008 it would be necessary to enter into a new contract with Culture, Leisure and Libraries.

 We are now an official Evacuation Centre by Coventry City Council, the centre was used for this purpose early in 2008.

 People

 Over the year we said good bye to Trustee Board members who moved on to pastures new, our independent examiner retired and we had some changes within our staff team.

The Rev Neil Tipple, chairperson, moved to the sunny south to become vicar of his own parish. The Rev Stephen Hartley, the new Team Rector at St Peter’s, joined us in November and took the position of chairperson in December 2008.

Keith Dodgson retired and Jim Simmons from Bishop Simmons has taken up the task of Independent Examiner.

Peter Bentley was appointed to the position of Site Services in March 2008. Irene Irakoze and Jaba Habte were appointed to provide holiday and illness cover. Heather Lee resigned from her post as Events Coordinator during July 2008. In the interim period Holly Head was appointed on a two month contract prior to her recommencing her studies. Lavern Anderson took up the post of Events Coordinator the end of September 2008.

Hill Hofsetter formerly Reed Smith, gave us free support and guidance on all legal issues that occurred over the year, saving us £7,500. Further to this Anthony Frances continued to maintain our Information and Communication Technology saving us an additional £2,600 this included a backup software contract he secured on our behalf to the value of £600. 

Sheila Lovett continues to be a valued volunteer. She provides a warm welcome to all our visitors on a Friday morning.

Training continues to be a high priority for the centre, thus staff have continued to pursue their individual training needs. All staff have undertaken a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) check.

Buildings Update

The building is eight years old and as a result periodic inspections and depreciation have and will continue to increase our costs. As a result of Risk Assessments carried out it was necessary to change the glass in St Peter’s hall to ½ hour fire resistant glass also we linked the small kitchen roller to the Fire Alarm. The wooden chairs are being repaired as identified on regular inspections. The boilers struggle to meet the growing needs of the building and continue to drain our budget. We have considered replacing the system and will keep it in constant review.

 We have sought quotes to incorporate an office in the Ovie Williams hall whilst maintaining its normal usage.  A plaque and photograph will be erected in honour of Ovie Williams.

Our Annual Health & Safety audit was carried out in December 2008.

Development of Partnerships

Under the auspices of Neighbourhood Management North West, we at St Peter’s Centre have jointly worked with WATCH (Working Actively to Change Hillfields), Hope Centre and Enriched Life Centre (former Osaba) to create a more formal structure, endeavoured to bring together our individual expertise and knowledge.  This work is progressing with plan to share resources and submit joint funding bids for the benefit of the local community.  This partnership is not exclusive to the organisations mentioned.

The Children’s Centre and St Peter’s Centre jointly commenced delivery of the Strengthen Families Strengthening Communities programme in October 2008. This unique programme integrates positive discipline approaches as a vehicle for fostering high self-esteem, self discipline and social competence in children.

We were invited to become involved Extended Services, this central government initiative aims to have a great effect on centres such as ours as it openly encourages schools to work with voluntary organisations for the benefit of families. Unfortunately, this relationship required more resources than we had available. 

Aims for the coming year are:

• Review Policies & Procedures
• Secure more conference bookings with a focus on the corporate sector
• Secure a contract with the Hillfields Community Library
• Update our website
• Progress partnerships with local Voluntary and Statutory agencies
• Refurbish the Ovie Williams hall

For almost four years now it has been my good fortune and privilege to be the centre manager of St Peter’s Centre, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff and volunteers for their hard work and commitment to St Peter’s Centre.

Joan Haywood                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Centre Manager

St Peter’s Centre is ideally located in the heart of Coventry and with in easy access of the M6 and major railway networks. Newly refurbished; the centre is a well-equipped, flexible and modern venue for organisations of all types to meet. The refurbishment places St Peter’s Centre in an ideal position to attract the wider business community – for meetings, seminars and away days etc. There are many organisations which lack the facilities in-house to be able to have even a confidential board meeting, but that shy away from what is often viewed as extravagant use of hotel rooms. St Peter’s Centre appears to provide a ‘happy medium’ – well-planned accommodation, with every facility, the use of which will benefit the community in which it is located.

St Peter’s Centre is the perfect place to hold your private function: from wedding receptions to private parties, all types of events can be catered for in our range of different rooms.
Private bookings would include parties, wedding celebrations and the like that are likely to be large and require additional services and add-ons. St Peter’s Centre can offer event planning, decoration, food etc. to ensure your event is a huge success. No alcohol is allowed in the building.