Annual Assembly 2009

Members of the Voluntary and Community Sector Assembly met together on Tuesday 28th April for the second annual assembly. The event was held at Shrewsbury Town Football Club with over 100 delegates representing communities from all over the county and many different interests.

Delegates heard from a range of speakers who spoke about opportunities for the Voluntary and community sector. Richard Davies from Marches Energy Agency opened the conference with an innovative presentation on climate change and the steps that can be taken by local organisations such as moving to new ways of lighting and heating to reduce carbon omissions and generate financial savings. Ruth Houghton from Shropshire County Primary Care Trust and Shropshire Council's Joint Commissioning Team and Nigel Denton from Shropshire Council both spoke about the processes used to fund new and current services.

Sam Hine from Shropshire Council spoke about the development of a new agreement setting out how the Council and Shropshire's voluntary and community sector organisations will work together in the future.

Julia Baron, Chair of the VCS Assembly and Chief Executive of the Community Council of Shropshire said "It was great to see so many of our members at the VCS Annual Assembly. As well as being thought provoking and informative, the event provided fantastic networking opportunities and really helped to clarify the issues that Assembly members would like to see addressed in the forthcoming year."

Celia Bahrami, Director of the Shropshire Partnership attended the event and commented:
"Feedback from attendees has been really positive. The day has highlighted the valuable contributions made by a wide range of local groups and organisations and reinforced the opportunities for partnership working that exist within the county."

Two reports were produced for the VCS Assembly Board detailing the results from the Annual Assembly and these are attached below:

5 Annual Assembly Evaluation (68.79KB)

6 Notes from the Annual Assembly 2009 (69.94KB)

All VCS Assembly members are invited to the Annual Assembly and any VCS organisation can become an Assembly member. If you lead a voluntary or community group and want to find out more about becoming an Assembly member contact the VCS Assembly Coordinator based within the Partnership Team at Shropshire Council: phone 01743 252295.