June 10, 2024

Our District Manager for Cumberland, Bridget Johns, gives us an update on what she’s been up to in April & May, including team appraisals and a get-together, spreadsheet tinkering, supporting groups in the area to become more sustainable, and delivering training…

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On 19th May I celebrated 21 years with CVS (four with West Cumbria CVS and the rest with Cumbria CVS) and this is the first time I have written a Blog!

My role is District Manager Cumberland, which involves supporting and managing a lovely group of people who deliver services mostly in Cumberland. The services they deliver are part of one of the following projects: Bedrock Basics; Community Connectors, South Copeland GDF; and Allerdale GDF.

Over the last 2 months, I have held appraisals with my team members. Cumbria CVS’ approach to appraisals is that it should be a positive experience for those being appraised and nothing should come as a surprise. It’s important to me that my team feel valued and listened to. The time we spent together was valuable in that it gave us a chance to look at what’s been going well, development opportunities, and agreeing the priorities for the next 12 months. The process of these appraisals has brought me closer to the team of people I directly support.

For all of the projects I oversee, there has been monitoring reports to submit to funders, plus meeting with them to discuss project developments. Reports include updating and reviewing the finances – ask anyone in my team, I love tinkering with a spreadsheet 😉

We’re all out and about a lot with our jobs and don’t see a lot of each other in person. We agreed that it would be great to get together. My colleague Gordon Henry led a small team of some of the West based staff (Gordon, Dan (and Missy the dog), Katharine and me) and our trustee Jo Crozier, on a stroll around Cleator Moor. We also had a surprise visit from our ex-colleague Sophie Crozier.

The walk finished in the square in Cleator Moor where Jo showed us the sculpture of her Grandad’s (Billy Hunter) hand. He was an iron ore miner from Cleator Moor and the sculpture was created by Conrad Atkinson, also from Cleator Moor.

These informal catch ups are a great way to get to know each other better and to build our relationships. Oh, I made a cake for us to finish with (don’t ask about the stress that caused me 🙈😆).

As well as working with these people, I still work directly with a small number of groups to support them to become more sustainable. I have a good reputation for helping people register charities and have supported 2 groups in the last 2 months with this process, as well as hearing a group that I worked with having their application approved by the Charity Commission🙌

I have co-delivered Trustees Roles & Responsibilities training to a Cockermouth based group with two colleagues. Not only was it great to support these people to better understand what it means to be a charity trustee, it was also gave me a handy opportunity to catch up with one of Cumberland Council’s Area Planning Manager (someone who was on my radar to contact). Subsequently, we have arranged to meet up, along with her colleague, so that I can get better understanding of how Cumberland Council’s Community Panels and Community Networks and how Cumbria CVS and Cumberland Council can work together more effectively.