Volunteers celebrate ground-breaking projects

8 August 2012

Volunteers who run some of North Yorkshire’s most creative and ground-breaking projects to support people with disabilities have held a showcase event to share good practice.

Sixty five people involved in voluntary sector projects in North Yorkshire shared their experiences on an Innovation Day, celebrating the remarkable creativity and innovation taking place to provide support for people with a disability living in the county.

Representatives from projects who had been awarded financial support from North Yorkshire County Council’s Innovation Fund joined staff from the county council’s Health and Adult Services at the Burn Hall Hotel, York last week to present their schemes and learn from each other’s experiences.

The Innovations Fund is allocating £1.6m over three years to voluntary organisations to change the way adult social care is delivered. Its primary aim is to develop more flexible and personalised services which fit in better with people’s needs and where they live.

The projects represented at the York event included:

  • Creative Coffee, an exciting initiative by Creative Support to provide a refreshment service via a coffee cart in the Whitby area, which will be staffed entirely by people with a learning disability
  • Fit as a Fiddle, a scheme provided by Age UK North Yorkshire aimed at providing classes offering tailored physical activities for older people in the Hambleton & Richmondshire area.
  • All Together Now, a Skipton-based project which provides opportunities for people who care for friend or relative with a disability a disability to take some time out to look after themselves. The project offers holistic therapies, such as aromatherapy, and support groups.

County Councillor Clare Wood, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Health and Adult Services, who opened the event said: ‘The creativity of North Yorkshire’s voluntary sector within North Yorkshire needs to be valued and applauded. I have been really impressed by the huge response from voluntary organisations and local groups, which have developed some excellent proposals to reach individuals and communities where the need is greatest. “

 County Councillor Clare Wood (centre front) with volunteers and staff from the county council’s Health and Adult Services
County Councillor Clare Wood (centre front) with volunteers and staff from the county council’s Health and Adult Services

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.

Go toTop