Head of Finance & Governance at North Swindon Parish Council
Working hours: Full Time. The hours are 37 per week. The hours of work are those necessary to fulfil the requirements of the position. This may involve working unsocial hours in evenings and at weekends or at special events. Contract Term: Permanent Full Time Accountable to: Parish Clerk Accountable for: Finance Assistant, Administration Assistant, Grant Support Manager, Leisure & Libraries Manager. Key Relationships: Parish Clerk, Parish Councillors, Swindon Borough Council, CSNL<, External Contractors.
Main Purpose:
To act as the Parish Council’s principal adviser in all financial matters and to ensure the efficient exercise of all decisions taken by the Council.
To provide a direct link with internal & external auditors for the purposes of mid-year compliance audits and the end of year AGAR.
To provide the Council with the necessary information for making effective decisions and to implement constructively all financially based decisions of the Council.
Supported by the RFO; to be responsible for the effective management of the Parish
To read the full roll description and person specifications please click here
Part Time Administrator at Swindon Food Collective
Hours: 15 Hours a week over 3 days Rate of pay: £10 per hour Holiday allowance: 20 days pro rata
The Swindon Food Collective is seeking to employ a part time Administrator to assist the staff and trustees in all aspects of the charity’s operations and business. The successful candidate will need to be sympathetic to the needs of our client group and supportive of the ethos of the charity and its aims.
As the local, independent food bank we are accepting both financial and non-perishable food donations so that we can operate a charity that feeds those in need. Over 7,000 people are expected to be fed this year and the acceptance and redistribution of over 92 tonnes needs to be managed.
This part time role is based at our warehouse in Westlea and is crucial to all the different teams, both internal and external, that work within and across the Swindon Food Collective network.
The successful candidate will have excellent communication skills and attributes. They will be responsible for many administrative tasks that enable us to record and use data to enhance our funding applications, acknowledge donations and support our sponsors, aid our volunteers in their own tasks and sustain the staff in their roles.
Excellent literacy and numeracy skills are required with an up to date knowledge of computer packages such as word, excel and some understanding of databases etc. General Duties will include managing aspects of the email, post, IT, vehicles, diaries, newsletters, mailings, printing, volunteer applications, data bases, social media, stationary ordering and accepting donations etc. This list is not exhaustive.
To apply for the role please request an application form and submit your CV please by
Write to Swindon Food Collective, The Warehouse, Bentham Close, Stonehill Green, Westlea, Swindon Wiltshire SN5 7DG, marking your envelope FAO: Recruitment.
CV’s are accepted along with the completed application and ethnic monitoring form. Closing date for completed applications to be received by email or post is Friday 31st July at 12 noon. Interviews dates will be arranged for early August.
Due to the Covid 19 pandemic situation interviews may be carried out via a web chat. Please let us know if this is a difficulty for you.
Communications Administrator at Healthwatch Swindon
Based at Sanford House, Swindon (with occasional travel throughout the South West)
Hours: 26 per Week Pay: NJC 7-12 (£19,554 – £21,589) Term: Initially fixed until 31 March 2021 Closing date: 9am Tuesday 28th July 2020 Interviews: Thursday & Friday 6 & 7 August 2020 via video call
Aims of the post
Develop and maintain tailored publicity and information to promote Healthwatch to organisations and to the general public
Ensure the development and maintenance of effective stakeholder and customer relationships through professional, calm and positive communication at all times
To provide specialist communications support but also to support other team members to plan and deliver communications appropriately
Healthwatch
We are the independent champion for people who use health and social care services. We’re here to make sure that those running services, put people at the heart of care. Our sole purpose is to understand the needs, experiences and concerns of people who use health and social care services and to speak out on their behalf. We focus on ensuring that people’s worries and concerns about current services are addressed. We work to get services right for the future. This post covers both Healthwatch Swindon and Healthwatch Bath & North Somerset
The Care Forum offer a fair application process with a shortened person specification, Interviews which utilise scenario questions, presentation and assessment to accommodate the differing strengths of candidates.
All applicants are reminded that applications are most likely to be successful if they are written clearly to align with the numbered points in the person specification.
The Care Forum is a strongly committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all members of the community. The Care Form does NOT accept CVs. This post is subject to right to work checks.
Message from Pam Webb, CEO Voluntary Action Swindon
As we all work together in these unusual times to support the residents of Swindon, I’m delighted to introduce two new faces to VAS and at the same time to thank and bid a fond farewell and wish all the very best to Andrea Barrett who leaves us next Thursday to take up a new post with a Mental Health charity in Newbury closer to where she lives.
Joining us on 2nd June as Inclusion and Collaboration Development Manager, is Jol Rose . Jol moves from his current role of development officer at Wiltshire Council where he has been providing support to the small business/social enterprise sector. Prior to this Jol’s career has included working in service provision in the NHS, the voluntary sector and being self employed. Jol has also volunteered for Oxfam and currently volunteers for the Swindon City of Sanctuary charity, organising the weekly drop in café supporting refugees and asylum seekers to meet each other and other communities. Jol is really looking forward to using his range of skills in an area he is passionate about and will be leading our equality work and supporting collaboration across the sector.
Joining us on the 8th June, to replace Andrea as Funding and Governance Development Manager is Carol Willis. Carol has spent the two years as Portfolio Manager for Healthwatch Swindon and Healthwatch B&NES, where her role has involved ensuring a public voice to local partners and stakeholders to influence the commissioning of health and social care including chairing the Engagement Safeguarding Board. Previously she has worked in Adult and Community Education, Swindon Colleges and Swindon Borough Council. Having written successful funding bids herself and engaged with many a Board, Carol is looking forward to combining her range of skills with her passion for the voluntary sector. We’ve also moved this to a full time role in anticipation of the funding and government needs of the sector going forward into the post COVID recovery phase.
I’m delighted to welcome Jol and Carol to strengthen the capacity and knowledge at VAS at a time when our support to the Swindon Voluntary Sector as well as our work to ensure that Swindon remains a welcoming and inclusive town has never been more critical #NEVERMORENEEDED.
The whole team at VAS looks forward to working with you all to ensure that, together, we can provide the best possible support to those that need it most in our local community as we work through and beyond the current COVID-19 Pandemic.
If you have ever visited TWIGS Community Gardens on the Cheney Manor Estate in Swindon, you will have experienced the inspiration, peace and tranquillity that has benefitted thousands of people over the past 21 years.
TWIGS offers opportunities for people experiencing mental health issues, to regain confidence and self- esteem through learning new skills and participating in gardening and other therapeutic activities – and they are not giving up now!!!
Social distancing requirements prevent the 60 plus, current service users, from attending TWIGS to participate in a wide variety of gardening and craft activities. A skeleton staff team have been doing what they can to maintain the gardens and the contents of the polytunnels, caring for and feeding the chickens (and collecting the eggs!) and maintaining the fish pond and its residents.
“We had been sharing our thoughts on how we could maintain contact with, and support the people currently registered with the project. Supportive telephone calls were a starting point”, said Alan Holland who has been Manager of TWIGS for the past 21 years. “Then we thought of all the plants our service users and volunteers had been growing and nurturing in the polytunnels, to be used both at TWIGS gardens and to sell to the hundreds of visitors who attend our open days and special events, and the idea of putting together gardening packs emerged”.
Having contacted all the service users/people currently registered with the project, the staff and volunteers at TWIGS put together over 40 gardening packs containing plants, seeds , compost , pots , sweet peas and willow to climb them up. These kits have then been delivered to the homes of all the people expressing interest in the idea.
“Everyone we have delivered to has really appreciated their packs which we hope will continue to give pleasure and satisfaction over the coming weeks/months and help maintain a supportive link with the project” continued Alan.
“Our concern for people with mental health issues is at the forefront of all our work and, together with our colleagues at The Olive Tree Café and the Pinecones Café – all part of the same, local charity , The Recovery Tree Charity , and working towards the same end – we are determined to ensure that we do whatever we can under the present circumstances, and that our services will continue to be available, whenever we are free to offer them once again. We look forward hopefully to the day we can all garden together again in the beautiful gardens on Cheney Manor”.
For further information on TWIGS (Therapeutic Work In Gardening Swindon) and The Olive Tree Café (both projects now part of The Recovery Tree Charity – No. 1149848) check the websites : twigscommunitygardens.org.uk and theolivetreecafe.org.uk
Are you motivated to improve health and social care? Do you have a track record of developing and support volunteers?
Healthwatch Swindon, hosted at The Care Forum, is recruiting for Volunteer Support Officer.
The post is 26 hours per week, £22911 – £26317 pro rata (NJC 15-22)
Fixed term until end March 2021
The closing date for applications is 12 noon, Thursday 7 May 2020. Interviews will be held on Thursday 14 May using video calling.
All applicants are reminded that applications are most likely to be successful if they are written clearly to align with the numbered points in the job description.
Main tasks include:
Develop a team of volunteers with a variety of strengths, knowledge and skills to grow and lead the Healthwatch project
Support the volunteers to contribute to programmes or pieces of work which deliver against the Healthwatch Swindon contract specification
Extend and diversify the reach of volunteer recruitment, and work to motivate and retain recruited volunteers
The Care Forum is a strongly committed to equal opportunities and welcome applications from all members of the community. The Care Form does NOT accept CVs. This post is subject to enhanced DBS and right to work checks.
Care Home Volunteers Befriending Now Being Delivered by Post
Despite the majority of Care Homes now being closed to visitors, Care Home Volunteers’ (CHV) amazing befrienders are still managing to keep in touch with residents by writing cards and postcards, bringing much cheer, news and continued contact.
CHV volunteers usually spend one-to-one time visiting the most socially isolated residents in local care homes, offering companionship, chatting, sharing interests and making a difference to their day. In some cases the resident may have no other visitors.
Dawn regularly volunteers at a local care home. “I usually visit several residents but as I can’t at the moment, I thought that I would send them a CHV greeting card to brighten their day instead’.
Norman Edwards, Chair of Care Home Volunteers, said, “Staff in care homes are doing an amazing job of continuing to provide a fantastic service to those in their care. With staff now under increasing pressure, knowing that the residents have this contact has meant a great deal.”
One local care home manager reflected that, “This lovely gesture has really lifted the spirits of our residents and staff, many of whom are very isolated by the current situation. It’s really heartening to know that others are thinking about us, even though they are probably isolated and missing contact with loved ones of their own. It’s so lovely to see communities coming together again to support each other in these very difficult times.”
Jeni Burchell, Volunteer Coordinator for Swindon, says, “As soon as we heard that care homes were likely to have to close their doors to visitors we started to think about other ways CHV volunteers could stay in touch with the people that they normally visit, so we had some special greetings cards printed for them to send. Writing is such a lovely gesture, as the residents who receive the cards know that someone cares and is thinking about them plus they feel more connected to the outside world. Also, volunteers have really missed the contact they have with the residents they visit and are really enjoying keeping in touch in this way. For some of our volunteers this has become a family affair, we have even had volunteers’ children send in pictures, which in no small way brings cheer to the residents.”
For more information about becoming a volunteer Befriender please contact Jeni Burchell on 07922 507848 or at swindon@carehomevolunteers.org.uk
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Joining us on the 8th June, to replace Andrea as Funding and Governance Development Manager is Carol Willis. Carol has spent the two years as Portfolio Manager for Healthwatch Swindon and Healthwatch B&NES, where her role has involved ensuring a public voice to local partners and stakeholders to influence the commissioning of health and social care including chairing the Engagement Safeguarding Board. Previously she has worked in Adult and Community Education, Swindon Colleges and Swindon Borough Council. Having written successful funding bids herself and engaged with many a Board, Carol is looking forward to combining her range of skills with her passion for the voluntary sector. We’ve also moved this to a full time role in anticipation of the funding and government needs of the sector going forward into the post COVID recovery phase.