The Business Exchange Bath & Somerset Issue 14: Winter 2019 | Page 44

POSITIVE BUSINESS 80 YEARS OF CITIZENS ADVICE IN BATH Citizens Advice Bath & North East Somerset (BANES) recently held a tea party celebrating its 80th anniversary and outlining its plans for the future. Les Redwood, Chief Executive Officer of the charity tells us more… As 2019 draws to a close, I look back on a year of great change in the journey of our 80-year-old charity. In September 1939, Citizens Advice BANES started work from a converted horsebox van in Queens Square – resolving many housing, financial, legal and benefits queries from the residents of BANES for free – just as we do now. We recently celebrated this anniversary with a superb vintage tea party (delivered by The Secret Tea Party Company) at The Hilton Hotel, supported by BBC Points West and our irreverent Ambassador, Dr Phil Hammond. During the event, we also looked forward to 2020 by launching our new ‘Six Pillar’ strategy, highlighting our new direction and ambitions for sustainability and growth. Additionally, I have been undertaking some charity lobbying with our MP, Wera Hobhouse and Lord Foster at The House of Lords. We are also working with the wonderful James Carlin of the Bath and North East Somerset 3rd Sector Group (3SG) on the ‘Compassionate Communities’ project - a partnership between Citizens Advice, 3SG, Bath and North East Somerset Council and Virgin Care, which backs community building and support across the county. On 26th November, we held our Citizens Advice BANES AGM. The Major of West of England Combined Authority (WECA), Tim Bowles, supported our charity, talking through WECA’s ambitions for ‘Inclusive Growth’ as part of the Local Industrial Strategy. Finally, I would personally like to thank Anita and The Business Exchange team for all their excellent work in 2019 and wish Anita luck with her second charities’ conference up at The Bath Racecourse in February! Les Redwood, CEO, Citizens Advice B&NES For more info: www.citizensadvicebanes.org.uk To find out more about Citizens Advice BANES or to offer your support, email: [email protected] Choose Love in 2020 with Come2Calais Following a moving trip as a volunteer at the refugee camps in Calais, Bath resident, Emma Naysmith has set up volunteer aid trip scheme, Come2Calais, to help refugees who are still sheltering on the French coast. If you’re looking to do something good in 2020, why not volunteer your time and go on an organised weekend trip to the refugee charities with Come2Calais. Emma regularly takes groups to France from Bath to get a sense of what’s really going on across the border, as well as offering help and assistance to make refugees lives as comfortable as possible whilst living rough in Calais. Emma said, “We all travel together in a carshare convey to either Dover Ferry or the Euro Shuttle to Calais. “Once we’ve arrived, we go to the Help Refugees aid warehouse, where you will find a wide range of easy, but much needed tasks to choose from, including working in the Refugee Community Kitchen. Volunteers do everything from preparing vegetables for the daily meals, to helping unload deliveries of clothes and food donations, also preparing firewood. “After our work is done for the day, we head to a local clean and lively youth hostel where we book shared rooms. Supper is organised in a local café or bar just a short walk away from the hostel.” 44 www.tbebathandsomerset.co.uk The next trip planned is the weekend of Friday 17th-Sunday 19th January. The trip costs approximately £85 and this covers a share of petrol, the Channel crossing and two nights in the youth hostel. Breakfast and lunch is included on the Saturday and Sunday. Volunteers are encouraged to bring a packed lunch or money for refreshments on the way to Dover and to budget 10-15 Euros for supper on the Friday and Saturday nights. Emma added, “People of all ages volunteer from 16-86 years. Come2Calais welcomes sixth formers if they are accompanied by a guardian. “You can come as an individual, with friends or colleagues. Why not Come2Calais as part of a team building exercise? By volunteering your time, you help make a difference to extremely vulnerable people stranded in Northern France.” To find out more about Come2Calais and to sign up to a trip email: info@come2calais. org or visit: www.come2calais.org Emma Naysmith, organiser of Come2Calais