A big thank you to our expert trainers!

“More training and support for volunteers, please!”

Having heard this request several times at our Warm Hubs workshop in September, WRCC decided to introduce this as part of our Winter Warm Hubs funding offering this year. In addition to a grant of up to £500, we asked hubs to choose from a selection of short online sessions to help upskill their dedicated volunteers. “Community Energy Champions” was a compulsory session for hubs, as it provided people with practical advice and suggestions to help hub attendees facing rising energy costs as well as those experiencing fuel poverty.

We worked with some of our expert partners to organise a series of online sessions covering seven key topics. Here’s the programme we offered, which ran from November 2023 – February 2024:

• Michelle Black, WCAVA – “Introduction to Bid Writing”
• Becki Coombe, Warwickshire Hearts – “Introduction to First Aid”
• Jackie Holcroft, WRCC – “Promoting your Hub”
• Becky Laflain, NEA – “Community Energy Champions”
• Karen Minors, WCAVA – “Volunteer Management and Training”
• John Preston, Halls Together – “Risk Management” and “Safeguarding: An Introduction”

All speakers kindly offered to run sessions on more than one date, and an amazing total of 242 people benefited from the training on offer (including members of our Warm Hubs team!). 85% of those physically logged on to the sessions and the remainder who were unable to attend still received the session slides and supporting materials.

Thank you again to all our expert trainers for giving their time and knowledge to help us support our Winter Warm Hub organisers and teams of volunteers. We’ve received very positive feedback from several of those attending, particularly with regard to the range of courses on offer and the practical nature of the sessions they attended. What a great collaborative initiative!

If you would like to contact any of our expert partners directly, please email Wendy Leach for details.