- Find out about the wide range of work carried out by the CWVA team in 2024
We’re delighted to share Cheshire West Voluntary Action’s (CWVA) Impact Report for 2024.
It was another extremely busy year for CWVA and the hundreds of organisations we support in the community sector across Cheshire West.
We’re still a relatively small team of 13 at CWVA and many of our staff are part-time so we’re very proud of all we continue to achieve.
You can read all about some of our achievements in 2024 further down this webpage, including:
Alongside this webpage, we’ve designed our Impact Report for 2024 as a document.
At CWVA, we champion the community sector – building trust, influencing and inspiring.
We’re continuing to build trusted and equal relationships with our public sector partners and we’re encouraged by the opportunities we feel this will create for the community sector in the coming years, particularly around the prevention and early intervention agenda, which is such a key part of what our sector does best.
Having said that, we’re fully aware of the challenges currently facing our sector, with funding becoming more difficult to access and demand on services continually on the rise.
While we’re encouraged by the relationships we’re building across sectors, please be reassured that we’re always championing the community sector, raising the challenges we’re facing and the steps we can take to alleviate them.
A key focus for us in 2025 and beyond is not only how we can capture the impact of CWVA and projects we’re directly involved with, but how we can work with the wider community sector to demonstrate our collective impact, helping lever in more funding and create new opportunities.
An increasing number of organisations are now accessing our support at CWVA, but we’re aware there are more than 3,100 community sector organisations in Cheshire West, according to the State of the Sector Report published last year, and we’d encourage you to get in touch should we be able to help you in any way.
We look forward to working with you all again in what we hope will be a successful 2025.
Gary Cliffe Toria Buzza
Chief Executive Chair of Trustees
“As an umbrella organisation, CWVA sets such a welcoming, positive, proactive and collaborative tone, while building effective communities of practice that make smaller and more vulnerable charities feel part of something really special in Cheshire West. As a first-time CEO, I can’t tell you how invaluable, accessible and timely free training and other support, such as the alliances and partnerships, have been. CWVA directly impacts the viability and sustainability of Live! and enhances what I can achieve in my role.” – Mary Watt, Chief Executive, Live! Cheshire
“It’s all about networking to find support for our community and, with being so busy, it’s really hard to keep on top of everything that’s happening in the area so being part of the CWVA membership provides us with those links. The newsletter’s great, telling us what’s going on, our volunteers have enjoyed the free training and it’s been useful to have access to a range of grants.” – Nicola Brown, Community Worker, Helsby Methodist Church
“Services across the Council have strong relationships with CWVA, working together to support each other’s priorities and meet the needs of our communities. The community sector is such an important part of society, offering invaluable services in many different areas, and CWVA plays an important role with supporting the sector. As a Council, we greatly value the services provided by the community sector and the real difference they make each and every day. We all need to continue working collaboratively to support our communities, and we look forward to building on our relationships with CWVA and the wider community sector in 2025.” – Cllr Louise Gittins, Leader, Cheshire West and Chester Council and Delyth Curtis, Chief Executive, Cheshire West and Chester Council
“During 2024, the Cheshire West Place team of the Integrated Care Board (ICB), Cheshire West and Chester Council and CWVA have continued to build relationships and identify opportunities for closer working across health, care and the community sector to improve outcomes. A great example of this is the renewed Community Partnerships, which are now led by CWVA on behalf of Place partners, to engage and involve local people with improving health and care in their community, focusing on the key issues that are most important to them. CWVA has increased engagement of local people and organisations, including GP practices, elected members and charity and faith groups and leaders, enabling innovative projects to be taken forward. We look forward to continuing to work in partnership to support our local community.” – Laura Marsh, Place Director, Cheshire West
CWVA has led the Vision for Volunteering (2025-30), coproducing a framework for investing time and resources into volunteering, elevating its importance and extending its reach far and wide.
While the work has been led by CWVA, the Vision for Volunteering is owned by everyone in the community and we want you to help shape the future for volunteering in Cheshire West – volunteers, organisations, policy makers and others.
To create the Vision for Volunteering, there were:
The consultation helped create five key themes for the Vision for Volunteering.
The launch of the Vision for Volunteering doubled up with CWVA’s annual Volunteer Awards as around 110 people came together to celebrate the inspiring achievements of volunteers across Cheshire West.
After working with the University of Chester, other partners and people with lived experience to develop the Local Voices Framework, CWVA has been providing a wide range of support to community sector organisations and partners in this area.
Tyra Goodwin joined CWVA as a Lived Experience Consultant in 2024, leading the lived experience work.
CWVA has managed nine different funding pots during 2024, helping distribute £332,442 to 135 different community sector organisations.
The funding pots handed out by CWVA include the Cadent Centres for Warmth project, UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF), small grants from The Chester Bluecoat Charity, Entep and more.
T loves taking part in a group run by MHA Communities Cheshire West and hasn’t missed one week, engaging with whatever the group has been doing – crafts, cake decorating, exercise, bingo, a meal out at a local pub and more.
CWVA offers a wide range of training opportunities for the community sector and partners to help organisations, their staff and volunteers learn new skills and develop in their roles.
During 2024, 395 people from 98 organisations engaged with 44 training sessions, equating to 1,220 hours of support.
Training is provided by both CWVA staff and external trainers, covering topics like:
CWVA levers in funding to deliver training for free, with the training offer regularly reviewed to make sure it meets the needs of community sector organisations and partners.
Adoption Matters attended safeguarding training and said: “The trainer did a fantastic job of delivering the information clearly and engagingly. Anecdotal explanations and examples added great value to the training course.”
Cheshire West and Chester Council engaged with volunteering boundaries training and added: “It was excellent to talk to other people in a similar role and discuss boundaries. We learnt some good techniques to let people know our own boundaries and not push others’.”
CWVA has played an invaluable role with helping Wellness Community Partnership set up as a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) and continue its journey.
Based in Ellesmere Port, Wellness Community Partnership offers support to the local community with mental health and wellness.
CWVA was first approached in April 2024 as those involved were trying to secure what was formerly Bridge Wellness Gardens.
Not only has CWVA helped the group set up as a CIO, but Wellness Community Partnership has benefitted from a range of training, in areas like governance and DBS checks, and managed to access various funding streams.
Libby, one of the founders of Wellness Community Partnership, said: “While the process of setting up as a CIO was exciting, navigating the Charity Commission’s website often left myself and other members of our team feeling confused, but CWVA’s patience and expertise helped to demystify each stage and make what initially felt like a daunting task much more manageable.
“The training sessions provided by CWVA have been of huge benefit to us and the local funding opportunities brought to our attention have been fantastic, helping us grow.
“It has truly helped us to evolve into a well-equipped, confident organisation.”
CWVA’s vision is to champion the community sector – building trust, influencing and inspiring – and a key part of delivering this is attending many meetings to help represent the sector.
The CWVA team collectively takes part in 55 meetings to help represent the sector and uses insight, knowledge and feedback gathered through alliances, partnerships, networks and more bespoke support to feed into these meetings.
Alongside the CWVA team, staff from various other community sector organisations attend strategic meetings to feed in the community sector’s perspective on the needs of local communities.
The meetings attended by the CWVA team include Cheshire West Place Partnership Committee, Health and Wellbeing Board, West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce Partnership Board, West Cheshire Children’s Trust Executive and many more.
As well as more formal meetings, CWVA regularly catches up with the Senior Management team at the Council and other public sector organisations, looking at ways to support each other’s priorities and how the community sector can play an increasingly valuable role with prevention and early intervention.
CWVA is also regularly lobbying on behalf of the community sector, as well as assessing the latest policy changes and commissions, so the sector can take advantage of any opportunities that might arise in the future.
CWVA runs successful alliances that focus on different themes, providing an opportunity for community sector organisations to create a collective vision and acting as a single point of contact for public sector partners.
The Mental Health Alliance was the first to launch more than two years ago, with a current membership of more than 50 community sector organisations. Some organisations have a specific mental health focus, while others work with under-served communities or support people in other ways.
Since the Mental Health Alliance was formed, £305,000 in funding per year has been channelled in from Cheshire and Wirral Partnership (CWP) NHS Foundation Trust and the Council to support community sector organisations.
Funding has also been levered in for more specific projects, such as Positive Mental Health for Us (you can read more in the next section) and Young Hearts, Healthy Minds, an innovative wellbeing project worth £180,000 in funding that is being delivered by YouthFed and Cheshire Young Carers in four high schools.
Young Hearts, Healthy Minds has been working with eight schools in the Ellesmere Port, Northwich and Winsford areas, engaging with 140 children and young people through group work and offering one-to-one support to another 32 people from April to December 2024.
Using the Core 10 wellbeing monitoring tool, 66 per cent of people said their wellbeing had improved, while 72 per cent reported an increase in their knowledge about managing their feelings, indicating a positive impact on their emotional regulation and self-awareness.
One young person referred to the project was found to have psychosis and needed tier four psychiatric support. By being clear on the project’s level of intervention and the support available from partners, this young person accessed the right support in a rapid timeframe.
Along with shared learning through regular networking and training, members of the Mental Health Alliance have been supported by CWVA to embed lived experience in their organisations.
Building on the success of the Mental Health Alliance, CWVA launched a Children, Young People and Families (CYPF) Alliance in early 2024, with a current membership of more than 40 community sector organisations that is continuing to grow.
The CYPF Alliance has used the first year to look at collective priorities for community sector organisations working in this area and build relationships with the public sector, with relevant Council and NHS staff regularly attending meetings and forming new partnerships with organisations.
A first CYPF Alliance Conference is also due to take place in 2025, celebrating the success of the Alliance to date and offering development opportunities through workshops that are provided largely by Alliance members.
Both the Mental Health Alliance and CYPF Alliance have sub groups, bringing organisations together to discuss more specific themes and look at opportunities to collaborate with one another.
CWVA is regularly exploring opportunities for other alliances as this model has been successful and popular, although this is dependent on funding being available.
As part of the Mental Health Alliance, CWVA and nine other community sector organisations have developed Positive Mental Health for Us, a project aiming to share the experiences of under-served communities and improve access to mental health support.
The project was funded by Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Promoting Equality and Diversity Fund, and data and insight gathered by the Mental Health Alliance has shown that people from under-served communities can be at greater risk of mental health challenges and often face barriers when trying to access support.
The aim of this project is to enable people from these under-served communities to share their lived experience, highlighting the challenges and barriers they face and working with mental health providers and commissioners to improve support for people in future.
The community sector organisations involved have played an integral part with gathering lived and professional experience in the following areas.
Alongside digital resources for Positive Mental Health for Us, two events were held to launch the project, with more than 100 people from different sectors attending.
CWVA helped coordinate a neurodiversity pathway project for NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, working with community sector organisations to capture the voices of children, young people and their families.
The aim of the engagement, which was coordinated through CWVA’s Children, Young People and Families Alliance, was to hear and use these voices to influence how the current offer across Cheshire and Merseyside can be redesigned to one that is based on the needs of people in the community.
While CWVA coordinated this project, 27 community sector organisations from across the Cheshire and Merseyside region played a key role in capturing the views of people with lived experience.
458 in-depth conversations took place – 267 engagements directly with children and young people and 191 responses from families and carers.
The Lundy Model was used for the engagement, using a checklist and feedback forms to make sure there was a structured approach across the project.
This model looked at space, voice, audience and influence throughout each stage of the engagement so people were able to express their feelings and wishes in a safe environment on their terms, giving them a voice and the power to shape and influence decisions that affect their lives.
The key findings included the following.
The following steps were suggested to improve the pathway in future.
The West Cheshire Food Partnership, coordinated by CWVA, works with a range of partners across different sectors and has a goal to make sure that everyone in Cheshire West has access to affordable, healthy, sustainable and enjoyable food to make a decent meal.
There are currently 30 organisations engaged with the Food Partnership, which has various sub groups that focus on specific areas like school food, community food security, early years food and diverse and inclusive diets.
The Food Partnership is supporting the ambition for Cheshire West to achieve the next level of Sustainable Food Places accreditation, helping bring together stakeholders from across the local food system and continuing to develop a growing good food movement of active and engaged citizens.
Council company Brio Leisure has been supported through the Food Partnership to work with community sector organisations on the Brio Bites project, helping create nutritious and affordable pre-packed meals that can be accessed by older people and others who might benefit from them in the local community.
The Food Partnership has also worked with community organisations to create a series of Food for All reports as part of the Good Food movement.
These reports share what good food means to different communities in Cheshire West and explore some of the barriers accessing food.
A new map, hosted on Plinth, has been developed for the Food Partnership, helping people and organisations find out about food support in the local community.
CWVA is developing the map further to showcase a wider range of services and the map offers plenty of new features, including an artificial intelligence (AI) search, the ability to manually search by theme or target audience and more.
CWVA started coordinating Community Partnerships in 2024, bringing together people and organisations from different sectors to understand, influence and address the needs of local communities.
There are seven Community Partnerships across Cheshire West.
There are currently around 400 people from almost 70 different organisations actively engaged with Community Partnerships through meetings, networking events and partnership projects.
The One Chester Community Partnership has been working with community cafés in the area to join the Chatty Café Scheme.
The aim of the scheme is to tackle loneliness by offering Chatter and Natter tables at venues so people can simply get together and chat.
The Community Partnership is paying for community cafés to join the scheme, with 10 already signed up and others in the process of getting involved.
Community cafés don’t need to recruit more volunteers or staff as all you need to do is offer Chatter and Natter tables, and any community cafés that join the scheme will be visible on the Chatty Café map so people can easily find venues to visit.
Crossroads Community Hub is one of the cafés already involved, seeing an increase in the number of people visiting their venue just to chat with others.
Abi, Project Manager at Crossroads Community Hub, added: “It’s been really simple as we were sent a great resource pack with the Chatty Café signs.
“We look out for people who might be sat on their own, particularly at one of the Chatter and Natter tables, make ourselves known and ask if they want a conversation.
“For the volunteers, it’s made it really easy to connect with people and start that conversation.
“We’ve definitely seen an increase in people just coming to the café rather than the foodbank we run.”
A sub group of the Community Partnership was set up in early 2024 to look at the challenges across the borders of Cheshire West and Wirral, particularly around hospital discharge and community rehabilitation services.
The majority of people had accessed these services by car – either independently or being driven by a friend or relative – while public transport was a challenge for those needing to use that route.
Neston Community Youth Centre (NCYC), with a grant from Cheshire Community Action (CCA) and using some of its charity reserves, started working with Age UK Wirral to provide low level discharge support for patients.
Supported by one part-time coordinator and five volunteers, the service has received 15 referrals, helping reduce the readmission of people within 72 hours of them being discharged.
Joan, who has family nearby and a complex relationship with them, was readmitted to Wirral University Teaching Hospital following a fall at home, spending two months in hospital.
After two failed discharges because of her social needs, Joan was supported by NCYC and Age UK Wirral in the following ways.
The Living Well Bus, which moves around communities in Cheshire West and provides vaccinations and other health checks, saw nine people in the Winsford area in April 2024.
The Winsford Community Partnership worked alongside the Living Well Bus to increase the uptake, working with local GPs to issue text messages to residents, displaying adverts in GP practices and using networks like social media to share messages through a wide range of organisations.
In November and December 2024, the uptake of people attending the Living Well Bus increased to 90.
CWVA coordinates the Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance in Cheshire West, delivering community engagement projects aimed at promoting early cancer diagnosis.
Through the Cancer Alliance, 13 community sector organisations have received funding from CWVA, working with a wide range of different groups to look at the importance of cancer prevention and early detection.
With a vision to empower people with disabilities, Live! has delivered the Our Best Chance project as part of the Cancer Alliance.
Using a funding pot of just over £3,000, Live! has run the Our Best Chance project twice over three-month periods in 2024, working with 20 people around cancer prevention and early detection.
Cancer messaging has been fed into the project in engaging and interactive ways, running exercise classes, healthy breaks during the day, focused cancer training, craft sessions and more.
CWVA, in partnership with Healthbox CIC and other community sector organisations, led a cardiovascular disease project, helping prevent cardiovascular disease by providing blood pressure checks, cholesterol surveys and signposting to other support services.
A grant of £6,000 was received to deliver this project, with CWVA levering in another £1,000 to contribute towards it, and Healthbox CIC organised a series of pop-up events and drop-in sessions in the local community during May and June 2024.
Alongside Healthbox, other community sector organisations attended the various events and sessions to support members of the public and help signpost them to relevant services.
Community sector organisations are helping medically fit people get out of hospital, return home and avoid readmission to hospital through the Community Home First programme.
CWVA has provided strategic leadership for the programme, working in close collaboration with Cheshire Community (CCA) and helping lever in funding for Age UK Cheshire, Cheshire and Warrington Carers Trust, Healthbox CIC and Snow Angels CIC to provide support in the community.
CCA’s community connectors are based at both the Countess of Chester and Leighton Hospital in Crewe, working closely with NHS and Council staff to discharge people from hospital with the help of community sector organisations.
The programme has been focused on removing barriers that prevent discharge, initial home visits to provide shopping and prescriptions, intensive face-to-face support for more vulnerable people, dedicated specialist support for carers, financial inclusion work, and strength and balancing advice in the home.
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