December 10, 2024

Cumbria CVS’s AGM saw 100 people gather at the Roundthorn Hotel, Penrith, for a powerful day of collaborative conversations.

The event used an Open Space Technology format, which invited attendees to create the agenda on the day, starting with the question “How might we work together and support one another, as people who care about Cumbria, to build on what’s good and create sustainable futures?”

Amongst those sharing their ideas were Cumbria’s Lord Lieutenant, representatives from both Councils, BAE systems, Cumbria Community Foundation, UCLan, Active Cumbria, CADAS, CAfS and a huge range of organisations from across the county.

The day started with our AGM, hosted by our Chair, Sheila Gregory, who spoke about the many new and ongoing projects managed by Cumbria CVS. She also spoke of the challenges, including funding cuts, and changes in the external environment, including new local authorities and changes in NHS systems, and how we’ve helped connect the sector with these, observing that “Partners, members and stakeholders help make CVS what it is”.

Outgoing Chief Executive, David Allen, then spoke about some of the powerful memories of his time with us, including hearing from South Lakes Poverty Truth Commission’s commissioners, meeting some of the 1700 children supported by the Inspiring Barrow programme, and the positive feedback received from charities we’ve supported.

Looking forward to 2025-26, David highlighted that we will be working on 30 different projects across the county, increasing our focus on the mid-Copeland area, and getting involved in the new Volunteering For Health project.

As his time with CCVS ends, David highlighted that the Government’s relationship with the third sector needs to be a partnership, and offered three pleas to everyone attending the AGM: Spend time finding innovative ways to support each other; That support from funders for core costs is much appreciated and funding for longer periods is needed for stability; and a call to think big, be ambitious, a keep striving to make the world a better place.

David concluded by introducing our new CEO, Carolyn Otley, saying that it was “Great to be passing the baton on”.

Presentations from Treasurer, Charles Watt, and Chair of the HR Committee, Kim Ward, followed, with Kim echoing David’s earlier thoughts, saying “The voluntary sector are experts in their field – we’re in the best possible place to provide support”, and making an impassioned plea for longer-term funding and multi-year agreements.

Sheila then introduced new Trustee Claire Kenwood, and led voting for the re-election of trustees, with Charles Watt, Kim Ward and Jon Rush all retaining their positions.

Guest Speaker Alex Scott, HM Lord Lieutenant of Cumbria, then explained his role, saying it was a privilege to witness the great work the charity sector does in the county. Having attended the Inspiring Barrow celebration event earlier in the year, he highlighted the huge achievements of the programme, but also expressed his sadness that it has ended. Talking about a research project on how to create a better Civil Society in Cumbria, he said that people want inclusive community interaction and a vibrant community.

HM Lord Lieutenant concluded by praising the voluntary sector, as “they play a critical role in supporting communities”, and also CCVS for playing a “fundamental role in our communities”.

Honorary CCVS President, Mike Taylor, then agreed to continue his role for another 12 months, and thanked Operations Manager, Ali Phillips, for her hard work over the years, following her recent announcement that she is to leave the organisation in February.

Mike then presented departing CEO David with gifts, thanking him for being “extremely active in raising Cumbria CVS’s profile and in making the voluntary sector’s voice heard”.

Our Powered By Communities session then commenced, with introductions from the hosting team and an explanation of the format for the day. Attendees the populated a ‘marketplace’ with ideas for topics they wanted to host a discussion about.

24 slots were available, and these were rapidly filled with a fascinating range of subjects, including; How do we sustain volunteer engagement?; How do we ensure we include voices from the diverse community?; and How can the NHS really develop and improve interaction with the VCSE sector in Cumbria?

Attendees could then choose which conversations to participate in, with the ability to move around as they wished during the day. The thoughts, ideas and suggestions of each group were captured by notetakers from the Cumbria CVS team, collected in interactive online spaces that were made available after the event.

You can view the collected outputs from these here

A concluding session saw the groups feed back what they had discussed, and highlight key takeaways. Amongst the range of fascinating and insightful thoughts shared were:

• Leaders should value networking and sessions like this
• People are the experts with Lived Experience – use them
• Cross-sector collaboration should focus on the needs of service users, not our own agendas
• Work is need on how smaller organisations can connect with the NHS via infrastructure organisations like Cumbria CVS
• Build transparency and trust – it takes courage to challenge the barriers

Watch Sarah Jewell, from Let’s Get Digital West Cumbria, talking about the conversation she hosted, on the value of networking with organisations you may not traditionally link with:

 

 

The session was very well received by participants, with comments including “A great event thank you to all the organisers.” and “Thank you for yet another fantastic AGM – Cumbria CVS does critical work across our county and their team is second to none! I so valued the facilitation and the conversations and opportunity to connect with others!”

Watch Craig Russell, Natural Kendal, and Sarah Jewell, Let’s Get Digital West Cumbria, explain the value of attending Cumbria CVS’s AGM:

 

Cumbria CVS District Manager, Westmorland and Furness, Gabi Lipska, praised everyone who contributed, saying “ I’m beyond happy and grateful for the leap of faith and trust in Cumbria CVS, the process and each other we all showed on the day. What we witnessed at the AGM was Community Power in action. We all got the taste of how it looks in practice and, whilst we may have different roles, we are all community members learning together how to be better. As we are dedicated to continue working in this highly participatory way we will soon be inviting you to join a community sense making activity online. Together, we will work with a record of our AGM conversations to collectively reflect, look for patterns and insights and plan – diving deeper into the practice of being together in meaningful conversations that drive action.”

And incoming CEO, Carolyn Otley, said “It’s always fantastic to meet with our members, and partner organisations, at our AGM, but this year’s “Powered by Communities” approach certainly felt a bit livelier than usual! I was really impressed by the depth, energy and passion of the conversations taking place on the day, and look forward to seeing where this takes us next.”

We want to thank everyone for their amazing energy and collaborative spirit and for sharing their experiences and their valuable contributions. What great conversations!

Watch a video from the day here:

All photos by Tom Kay www.tomkayphotographic.com and Cumbria CVS.