2019 - 2020 Volunteer Centre Western Isles Annual Report Actively encouraging, supporting and promoting volunteering. Working at the heart of our communities since 1997 A certificate for Employer-Supported Volunteering was presented to the Isle of Harris Distillery for their commitment to community volunteering by allowing staff to take (paid) time off to help with local projects. This is the first award to an employer in Harris but we hope to see more gaining this recognition in future years. Shona Macleod and Harrison Wood, Isle of Harris Distillery, with the certificate for Employer-Supported Volunteering. We encourage our staff to get involved in local community volunteering, with paid days to participate in social, charitable and environmental activities. Isle of Harris Distillers 2 Actively encouraging, supporting and promoting volunteering Contents 4. About Us 4. Manager’s Report 5. Chair’s report 6. Our Trustees 7. Our Staff 8. What We Do i. Third Sector Interface Western Isles (TSIWI) ii. Building intelligence iii. Connect iv. Building capacity v. Voice 27. Finances www.volunteercentrewi.org 3 About us Volunteer Centre Western Isles is an • facilitate adult and youth volunteer independent local charity with offices and awards that recognise the staff in Lewis, Harris, Uist and Barra. achievements of volunteers We provide information, advice and support • facilitate volunteer awards for to individuals interested in volunteering, organisations who provide the best volunteer managers, voluntary groups, clubs experience for their volunteers and organisations, private and public sector • gather statistics and carry out research organisations and companies. into volunteering in the Western Isles We: which we share with local and national • offer free, confidential support to government people who want to volunteer and • constantly work to raise the profile of groups/ organisations who involve volunteering as a positive force with volunteers prospective volunteers, local policy • provide a brokerage service, matching makers and community leaders volunteers to volunteer roles in We are committed to serving our rural hundreds of local and national communities in ways that best suit their organisations needs throughout the Western Isles. We are • support community events that are passionate about volunteering; we support often run entirely run by volunteers and encourage it in all forms. Managers Report Focused, streamlined, flexible – that is what we aim for. Over the year we developed new streams of their volunteers. of work such as the new intergenerational This year saw us overhauling our database projects in Barra and Lewis, ran the system, revising our work plan to a new Bra Bank and other projects across the structure we share with our TSI partners, islands, used feedback from volunteers and always trying to ensure our staff can and organisations to raise concerns about focus their time on what matters most to gaps in volunteering provision, publicised the VC and our customers. Meeting with a wide range of opportunities and placed over 100 organisations gave us information volunteers in many of them. We have spent about the volunteering scene throughout a lot of our focus on working with young the islands and with our popular Volnet people, through the Wood Foundation’s meetings we helped link up organisations, Youth Philanthropy Initiative in secondary sharing good practice and common issues. schools and the Saltire Awards, which we Grateful thanks to all our staff over the year promote to young people in every island. for all their hard work and innovation, and We have now chosen to run regular simple to our board for their excellent support to us ceremonies to present Saltire Awards to and our services. Teamwork is everything! young volunteers and have encouraged organisations to recognise the achievement Kirsty Macdonald 4 Actively encouraging, supporting and promoting volunteering Chair’s Report This has been a very different year and down from the Board. Our sincere thanks to with our AGM having been delayed until her for all her work and support in her time August I have also included reference to on the Board. April to July in this report. Our intergenerational work has developed Staff working from home, meetings via significantly during this past year and in ZOOM, Lockdown, communities almost March we continued this intergenerational coming to a standstill, events throughout the work during COVID lockdown with care islands cancelled, links to the mainland very homes. limited and so much more..... The Scottish Government Ready Scotland Throughout the Volunteer Centre has Volunteer response to COVID also began continued to deliver on its key policies, in March and we been involved in this despite these difficulties, and as some of development throughout. I am also pleased the many restrictions start to ease we are to report that we are fully engaged in all looking forward to the future in a very the local TSI partnership as it continues positive manner. to strengthen. We also now have a new As Chair I offer my sincere thanks to all website: www.tsiwi.org volunteers, staff and Board members who Finally, as a number of you will already have contributed throughout these difficult know, our joint manager, Kirsty Macdonald, times. You are a credit to yourselves, our will be retiring at the end of September organisation and to the Western Isles 2020. She has been at the heart of the community that we are all a part of. excellent work and development of the I am also pleased to report that our funding Volunteer Centre since she joined the during the past year from the Scottish organisation over twenty years ago and I Government and our local council has know that you will all wish her well in the continued, enabling the VCWI to continue to future. deliver on the wide range of work that it has After discussions with Suzanne Macaulay, been involved in. our other joint manager, she indicated This year we have appointed two new staff her wish to take on the role of Manager members in Uist; Vicki Manchester and in of VCWI. This was put to the Board who Lewis, Marion Wilson. They have settled in unanimously approved the appointment and very well and are valued members of our she will take on the full time role after Kirsty staff team working throughout the Western leaves us. Isles. This has been a momentous year in so many Jo Bagrie and Steve Hankinson have joined ways and I thank you all for your continued our Board this year, and we welcome them help and support as we continue the very both. important work of the Volunteer Centre. One of our Board members, Janet Macleod, Clive Rowlands has announced that she will be standing Chair www.volunteercentrewi.org 5 Welcome to our 2019 /20 annual report. This year’s annual report is response to community Due to this changed and different from our normal need during lockdown. An increased workload, we format. Due to COVID19, army of volunteers have have delayed our AGM and our work has changed helped with roles such as produced a smaller annual considerably over the last pharmacy and shopping report this year to show few months and along deliveries; making scrubs, you the highlights of our with all others working in face masks for health work during 2019 - 20. A both statutory services and social care settings more detailed annual report and the third sector, we and performing any roles with detailed statistics and have worked to respond required to look after narrative is available on our to community needs and those who were shielding website. We look forward develop our service to meet in order to keep our to continuing to encourage, these needs during the communities functioning support and promote lockdown period. The role and the vulnerable safe. volunteering across the and value of volunteers has We have been proud Western Isles over the never been more apparent to assist with this in coming year, in whatever than over the last few supporting community way it is required. months, where community groups and volunteers Suzanne Macaulay volunteers have led the throughout lockdown. Joint Manager Volunteer Centre Western Isles Trustees Chair Clive Rowlands Volunteer Treasurer Christine McKee Volunteer Secretary Catherine Burgess Volunteer Janet Macleod CnES Community Learning and Development (Lewis) (Resigned February 2020) Sonja Macleod Chest, Heart and Stroke Scotland Eoin Macneil Voluntary Action Barra and Vatersay Denise Symington Volunteer Catriona Morrison CnES Community Learning and Development (Uist) Jo Bagrie Volunteer Steven Hankinson Volunteer Volunteer Centre Western Isles is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) No. SCO27472 6 Actively encouraging, supporting and promoting volunteering Our Staff We believe that Managers people are the most Kirsty Macdonald (Jobshare) important part of [email protected] any organisation. Suzanne Macaulay (Jobshare) This is why we place [email protected] so much value in Administrator & Finance Officer support for our staff Angelique Macdonald [email protected] and volunteers. Development Workers (Lewis) Bellann O’Brien [email protected] Marion Wilson [email protected] 95 Cromwell Street, Stornoway 01851700366 Development Worker (Harris) Kate Langley Old Primary School, Tarbert 01859502636 [email protected] Development Worker (Uist) Vicki Manchester 41 Airport Road, Balivanich 01870602604 [email protected] Development Worker (Barra) Katherine