To welcome Forum Members to the meeting.

The Chairman welcomed everyone to the meeting. He explained that he would lead on the items up until the approval of the minutes, before the Vice Chairman would take over chairing of the meeting.

To receive any apologies for absence.

Apologies were received from Usha Parmar, Sarah Scott, Charlotte Lee, Elaine Keating, David Bullock, Ila Gangotra, Sheila Holmes, John Carr and David Hand.

To receive any declarations of interest.

There were no declarations of interest received.

To consider the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th June 2020.

RESOLVED UNANIMOUSLY; That the minutes of the meeting held on 16^th June 2020 were approved a true record.

To hear an update from Jesal Dhokia.

Jesal Dhokia, Transformation Project Manager, explained that the update was about the Clewer and Dedworth pilot project. The main aim was to embed community assets and engage with all sections of the community with a bottom-up approach. A project board had been created, which while it was not decision making, enabled all those involved to stay connected. A steering group had also been created which consisted of 12 community members and a commissioner from RBWM. The Youth Engagement Service had worked with young people in the area, Community Learning and Skills Service and Radian Housing had also been part of the group. These three organisations had started the consultation and had engaged with over 300 young people and Councillors across the area. Sub groups had also been formed with residents to get them involved, which were informal meetings to find out what the needs and wants of local residents were. The Health and Wellbeing sub group had been the most popular so far, with anyone interested in joining being asked to email Jesal at Jesal.Dhokia@RBWM.gov.uk.

Councillor Stimson said that it was a very exciting project and that the community had shown that they could help each other. She was looking forward to the project being rolled out to more areas in the future.

To hear from Paul Samuels.

Paul Samuels explained that Interfaith week would be taking place from 8^th–15^th November 2020. The main aim of the week was to strengthen interfaith relations by raising awareness of faiths in the UK. It was important to celebrate the contributions faiths made to their communities and it was hoped that there would be an increased understanding between religious and non-religious groups as a result of the week. Each day an inspirational quote would be sent out via email and Paul Samuels asked if One Borough members would be interested in potentially receiving these quotes.

Councillor Price said that over the year there were a number of different religious festivals that took place, but she did not know all of them and the faith groups that celebrated them. She suggested that awareness could also be raised for when certain religious celebrations were held. This was something supported by Councillor Davey.

To hear an update from Asma Aziz.

Asma Aziz explained that WAM Get Involved had received funding through the National Lottery which would help to provide training in a number of areas. A ‘volunteer passport’ was also being provided which would cover training on things like safeguarding, communication and diversity. Volunteer Management Training would be taking place on 23^rd September, while social media and Zoom training was something that WAMGI were looking to provide as it was something that had been requested by a number of groups. Asma Aziz asked that anyone who was interested in taking part in any of this training to contact her or WAMGI.

Councillor C Da Costa asked if the training was only available at certain times or if it was recorded and available ‘on demand’. Asma Aziz said that groups could discuss sensitive issues at training sessions so these were not recorded. Volunteer Passport training would be available later in the year.

Councillor Price mentioned that Councillor Davey ran a Facebook group for community groups that were involved in the Covid emergency.

To hear from Nicola Davidson.

Nicola Davidson explained that Our Community Enterprise was a funding seeking service that was supported by RBWM. The organisation supported applications to grant making trusts. Charities had adapted over the course of the pandemic but many were still struggling to balance costs. OCE could help charities to collaborate with others and help to utilise strengths, as an evaluation of activities was important to ensure that better evidence was available when applying for grants.

To hear from Vanessa Faulkner.

Vanessa Faulkner said that RBWM had achieved the gold award standard, by helping armed forces through things like special policies and events. She explained that they hoped the momentum would continue and work would be done with Councillor Rayner to come up with an action plan. If anyone had any ideas for activities that were forces related, they could email Vanessa at vanessa.faulkner@rbwm.gov.uk.

To hear an update from Anna Fallgren.

Anna Fallgren gave the group a presentation on the services that the library were currently able to offer. She explained that libraries were a valuable part of the community and were looking to continue supporting residents by opening up more services. Libraries also focussed on health and wellbeing, with things like free health checks, mental health awareness and having specially selected ‘reading well’ books. The library team had played a key role during lockdown by helping to phone those on the shielded list to ensure that they had everything they needed and organised packages with essentials. The consultation on libraries in the borough was due to start in March but had been delayed due to Covid, but was now underway. Members of the group were encouraged to take part in the consultation which was available on the RBWM website, with the consultation period closing on 30^th November 2020.

Councillor Price said that the proposals in the consultation stated that there would be no library provision on Sundays and this was something that residents needed to be aware of. Libraries were hugely important and provided more services than just books, so it was therefore vital that people took part in the consultation to have their say.

Councillor C Da Costa echoed the comments of Councillor Price and said that library workers had helped the shielded community and done a significant amount of work over lockdown. It was important to respond to the consultation.

Councillor Davey commented that older generations were being forced to go digital when they did not always want to, and mentioned that there were hard copies of the consultation available.

To receive updates from members of the group.

Josephine Crabb said that it had been a very busy time at St John Ambulance, with many of the volunteers being on the Covid-19 frontline at local and London hospitals. However, the volunteers needed to find a new premises in Maidenhead due to the York Road regeneration scheme. The team supported local events in the area but needed to have a large training room for first aid training for local employers and members of the public, an office, kitchen and lavatory facilities, a storage room, an ambulance bay and parking facilities.

David Scott, Head of Communities at RBWM, suggested that writing to Russell O’Keefe, Executive Director of Place at RBWM, would be best as he would be able to find some options.

Councillor Davey said that Braywick Heath Nursery needed financial help and suggested speaking to them as something could be possible.

David Scott said that some organisations were still not listed on the One Borough Directory. He also anyone who had not done so to send their organisations details across to Mark Beeley so that they could be added, at mark.beeley@rbwm.gov.uk.

Councillor C Da Costa said that the Covid Response Hub that she was part of would continue as long as Covid continued to be a thing. They were currently looking at next steps but still needed donations of food.

Alison Bourne, from the Dash Charity, said that their workload had doubled, with child referrals trebling. Covid had provided some more funding for the organisation which would help to deal with the extra workload.

Jane Corry said that Norden Farm had reopened and encouraged members of the group to visit. The Dementia Choir would be restarting in October online and it was hoped that it would reach more new people this way. Norden Farm were also running a number of online courses and classes along with live shows that were live streamed to the website.

Sheila Holmes, while not present at the meeting, had passed on an update to the group. The Older Peoples Advisory Forum were in the process of producing a comprehensive Newsletter. They were grateful for the support of the Older Persons Champion, Councillor Greg Jones. They were pleased to be reporting on the success of colleagues at the Disability and Inclusion Forum who had met twice this summer with a director from Areli, who were designing the Nicholson Quarter car park. 

Paul Samuels said that the Men’s Matters programme had looked at having meetings in person but were now having them on Zoom again for the foreseeable future.

Councillor Price questioned if voluntary organisations were included in the ‘Rule of Six’. David Scott explained that there were a number of different circumstances but things were changing at pace. He would try to provide an update to the group.

Belinda Dixon said that her organisation were still visiting the homes of anyone with dementia and could provide 1 to 1 therapy for an hour, so if anyone was interested they could contact her.

Valeria Pike  ...  view the full minutes text for item 169.

The dates of future meetings are as follows (all 11am):

·         Tuesday 8^th December 2020 – held via Zoom and streamed on YouTube

·         March 2021 TBC

·         June 2021 TBC

·         September 2021 TBC

·         December 2021 TBC

Members of the group noted the dates of future meetings.