South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils, with Oxfordshire Community and Voluntary Action (OCVA) are jointly hosting the 2016 South and Vale Voluntary and Community Sector Forum to give groups the chance to keep up-to-date with local sector news, develop their skills and find out about funding opportunities.


The free one-day networking forum, on Wednesday, March 23, at Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot, will bring together organisations which work across South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse districts to hear about the current position for the voluntary and community sector and explore key topics, with a focus on volunteering, funding and training.


Councillor Elaine Ware, cabinet member for corporate strategy at Vale of White Horse District Council, said: “Delegates from last year told us that it was an excellent forum and opened up a whole new world. Hopefully, both community and voluntary groups will learn something from this event that will prove useful and practical.”


Judith Chen, training officer for OCVA, which supports non-profit groups and volunteers, said that with the sector working harder than ever to provide services in the local community, there was a high level of interest in the annual conference.


She said: “During the day we will address areas of interest both at a local level and within the national context. Delegates will hear updates from the leaders of South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils and senior Oxfordshire County Council representatives.


“Insight and advice will be provided by experts for topics we know are at the top of organisations’ concerns. This will include our funding and information fair which will be held over the lunch period to allow delegates to meet with a range of large and small local and national funders to get help with finding and applying for funding.”


Judith said that due to demand for the conference, it would be necessary to reserve a place to secure attendance at training sessions and a small facilitated information session to explore issues of concern and share good practice.


She said: “We know that people want to get together with other delegates to discuss matters of particular concern and share their own experiences, so our facilitated session is designed to get the most out of the opportunity. Of course it is also a particularly useful time to develop networks and contacts.”
The afternoon training sessions will follow up on some of the morning’s themes, with a focus on recruiting and retaining volunteers, managing with limited resources, bid writing and social media.


The conference will be held from 9am to 4.30pm at Cornerstone Arts Centre, 25 Station Road, Didcot, OX11 7NE.


For further information and to register: http://ocva.org.uk/south-vale-forum/ or email: training@ocva.org.uk or call 01865 251946.