Training & Events

We are excited to have you here and to introduce you to our training programs and events.

We offer a range of specialist training courses designed to develop the skills and knowledge of the diverse Voluntary and Community Sector in Bolton. All our courses are tailored in line with what you tell us you need and are designed to be accessible to all levels of staff and volunteers.

We offer a range of specialist training courses designed to develop the skills and knowledge of the diverse VCSE sector in Bolton.

  • High quality
    All our training is delivered by suitably qualified trainers who offer a wealth of experience and up to date knowledge on current issues in their field – this way, you can be confident of a positive learning experience that aims to help your organisation be the best it can be.
  • Relevant
    We have listened to what you tell us and have designed our specialist courses to meet the challenges of the sector. We believe in utilising the skills and knowledge that already exist within voluntary and community organisations in Bolton and where appropriate, will offer training delivered by our member organisations.

Our courses are designed to be accessible to all levels of staff and volunteers.

Listing of current and upcoming public events.

Tuesday 30 July 2024 at 1.00pm

This session explores the basics of what is meant by equality, equity, diversity and inclusion, looks at related legislation and includes time to discuss what this looks like in your organisation and what more could be done.

The session is aimed at volunteers and members of staff who want to know more about equality, equity, diversity and inclusion.  

By the end of the session attendees will be able to define what equality, equity, diversity and inclusion means, why it is important and understand what this looks like in their own organisation and what more can be done.

When: 30th July, 2024 1:00 PM through 02:30 pm Where: The Bolton Hub, Bold Street, Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Tuesday 6 August 2024 at 10.00am

This session is suitable for any current Trustees wishing to refresh their knowledge and for those considering becoming a Trustee.

The session will cover:

– The role of the Trustee board and the six main duties as stated by the Charity Commission

– Trustee liability

– Conflicts of interest

– Eligibility 

When: 6th August, 2024 10:00 AM through 11:30 am Where: Online via Zoom

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Wednesday 14 August 2024 at 10.00am

Have you got a query about your social business or idea? Wondering where to start, who to talk to or what to do next? Then come and have a chat with Karen Smith, Director of Turn up the Value.

This session offers a space to explore ideas and queries with an experienced coach, social accountant, and business owner. There’s no need to book for this, just drop-in.

 

When: 14th August, 2024 10:00 AM through 01:00 pm Where: Bolton Central Library Le Mans Crescent Bolton, BL1 1SE

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Thursday 15 August 2024 at 11.00am

This session aims to explain the basics of legal structures and the importance of understanding which is the right one for your organisation.

Choosing your legal structure is important for so many reasons. This session will outline the main legal structures open to VCSE organisations. Together, we will look at the next steps you need to take to adopt a suitable structure.

This session will be online via Zoom. 

When: 15th August, 2024 11:00 AM through 12:30 pm Where: Online via Zoom

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Tuesday 20 August 2024 at 1.00pm

Are you thinking about recruiting volunteers, new to volunteer management or would like a refresher on best practice? Then join us for this introductory session.

This session will –

outline good practice in volunteer management

explore volunteer motivation and barriers to volunteer recruitment

help you to recognise which policies and procedures are recommended to effectively manage volunteers

help you to understand best practice to retain volunteers and improve their experience. 

When: 20th August, 2024 1:00 PM through 03:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold street Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Tuesday 3 September 2024 at 11.00am

Join us IN PERSON at the Volunteer Development Network  at THE BOLTON HUB on Tuesday 3rd September 11:00 – 12:30.

Does your organisation have volunteers? Would you like an opportunity to meet other volunteer managers, share good practice, Then book a place at our Volunteer Development Network. The forum is great opportunity to connect and share learning with other information on CVS support.

  • At this forum, we will be looking at recruiting a chair for the forum, seeking expression of interest, and reviewing the terms of referance.
  • Debbie Mercer will talk about reviewing the Bolton CVS training programme offer.

Have a look at the attached agenda and minutes of the last meeting held on Tuesday 11th June 2024

 

When: 3rd September, 2024 11:00 AM through 12:30 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold Street Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Friday 6 September 2024 at 10.00am

Safeguarding is everyone’s business. Effective safeguarding is more than just having a safeguarding policy, particularly in the current climate. This face to face session will look at the wider issues that come under the safeguarding umbrella, including recruitment, health and safety, and much more. 

This session will help you to:

  • Be more confident in understanding the wider context of safeguarding within the sector.
  • Be aware of best practice, current issues and policies and how they can be embedded within your organisation.
  • Reflect on current practice and identify areas of development. 
  • Share knowledge and experience.

This is a face to face session, we look forward to seeing you at The Bolton Hub.

When: 6th September, 2024 10:00 AM through 12:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold Street Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Monday 9 September 2024 at 1.00pm

Would you like to understand the key principles of a solid cashflow forecast, and be supported to develop a framework for your own? If so – this is the session for you!

|Join Adrian Ashton – social enterprise and charities consultant for over 15 years – to explore cash flow forecasting for your social enterprise. 

The key to operating a successful social enterprise is a diverse and robust model of income generation; including trading, investment and some grant funding. Key to developing that model is a solid plan – a cashflow forecast. 

Investors and funders alike need to see that your business has a forecast that makes sense – Adrian can talk you through the best approach to achieving this, ensuring your forecast complements and builds on your business plan.

This will be a small group workshop, providing lots of opportunity for chat, both with Adrian and other social enterprise peers

When: 9th September, 2024 1:00 PM through 04:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold Street Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Wednesday 11 September 2024 at 12.15pm

Safeguarding is everyone’s business, and it is important that we all work together to protect people who need help and support. Staff and volunteers in voluntary organisations have a key role to play in making sure that people using their services are protected and kept safe from harm. This session is suitable for staff and volunteers, including committee members and trustees, who are responsible for safeguarding good practice, as well as anyone responsible for volunteers and who support volunteers and staff as part of their role.

 

This session will help you to: 

Understand what safeguarding is and your role in safeguarding adults at risk

Recognise an adult who may be in need of safeguarding and how to take appropriate action

Understand how to raise concerns about someone

Understand dignity and respect when working with individuals

Be aware of the policy, procedures and legislation that support safeguarding adults processes

Be able to identify how you can take learning from the session and use it in your organisation.

When: 11th September, 2024 12:15 PM through 03:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub, Bold Street, Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Wednesday 18 September 2024 at 10.00am

These 30 minute, 1:1 sessions are for anyone who has started to look at their organisation’s social impact and needs some support to move forward.

Karen Smith, Director of Turn up the Value, is a social accountant with more than 7 years’ experience in the sector. She can help you navigate the most effective ways to capture your social impact and guide you through processes and tools that will help you shout about the work you do.

These sessions will run as 30 minute, 1:1 appointments. You can book your slot by emailing propergood@boltoncvs.org.uk.

When: 18th September, 2024 10:00 AM through 01:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold Street Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Wednesday 18 September 2024 at 1.00pm

Are you a social enterprise, trading charity or co-op that would like to know more about public sector procurement? This session will give an overview of the opportunities available, the systems and frameworks around them and the new legislation that will hopefully make procurement more accessible for your organisation.

As grant funding becomes increasingly difficult to secure, and awarding bodies become more demanding in their mission to maximise the measurable impact of the money they give out, many organisations are now considering procurement as part of their income generation plans. But tendering for public sector contracts can be tricky for smaller organisations with limited resources and skillsets.

The Procurement Act 2023 bring changes to the public sector procurement landscape. Barriers have been removed, and steps have been taken to make tendering for contracts easier and more equitable for smaller sized bidders with lower turnovers.

Join Jim Cheetham-Potts for this 1-hour presentation to explore how understanding public sector procurement could benefit your organisation.

 

When: 18th September, 2024 1:00 PM through 02:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold Street Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Friday 20 September 2024 at 9.30am

This Mini Visual Impairment Awareness Training (VIAT), delivered by Henshaws, is a practical and engaging training session, aimed at helping people understand the barriers faced by people with a visual impairment. Over 2 million people in the UK are currently living with sight loss, which is expected to rise by 2.9 million by 2030; making visual impairment awareness more important than ever before. Would you or your staff know how to interact with a visually impaired customer?

This Mini VIAT is suitable for staff and volunteers and will cover: •    Key sight loss facts, tips and guidance •    Challenging visual impairment stereotypes and misconceptions •    Experiencing what it is like to be visually impaired using our sight loss simulation glasses •    Practical tasks  •    Learning how to respectfully and safely guide someone with a visual impairment.

VIAT can benefit you by:

  • Enabling you to understand sight loss, and the experiences faced by visually impaired people everyday
  • Attracting new customers
  • Improved customer experience and higher quality service
  • Setting your organisation apart and giving you a unique selling point
  • Demonstrated Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
When: 20th September, 2024 9:30 AM through 12:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold Street Bolton BL1 1LS

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Monday 23 September 2024 at 9.30am

This full-day accredited training course is for people who have a specific responsibility at work, or in voluntary and community activities, to provide basic first aid to a range of people in first aid emergencies. Cost: £70 per participant.

The Health and Safety (First Aid) Regulations 1981, state that all employers must assess the need and supply appropriate first aid provision – this one day Emergency First Aid at Work course meets with this regulation. Although anyone can be ‘appointed’ – will they have the knowledge to effectively Prevent injuries becoming worse, Promote recovery, Preserve life?

This course is delivered by Bolton based Bright Direction Training.  Bright Direction Training has a strong focus on social value we have chosen to support the community and voluntary sector through provision of training for volunteers and staff to give them qualifications to support their roles and benefit the wider community.

Just some of the feedback from previous participants:

"It was a very enjoyable and informative course which brought me right up to date with what I had previously qualified in a few years ago."

"That was the best training I’ve ever been on – I learnt loads and the day went really quickly."

Course Objectives: This one day course is a fun-packed training day where practical participation is essential – so come prepared to get down on the floor and act out injuries! This exciting course has been developed to help learners retain information better by relating it to individuals work space and everyday life. This course covers:

• The Law relating to First Aid

• Dealing with the incident

• Artificial Ventilation’s and CPR

• Recovery Position

• Shock

• Choking

• Bleeding, Breaks

• Burns

• Epilepsy

On successful completion of the Emergency First Aid course each delegate will receive a certificate which is registered with the awarding body.

Terms and Conditions

Payment of fees

To secure your place or places, fees must be paid in advance – please do not register before you have arrangements in place to pay.

Payment for this training should be made no later than 21 days before the course start date by BACS / bank transfer only to the following account:

 

Bolton CVS,

Sort Code 16-00-06

Account Number 11725108

(Royal Bank of Scotland)

Where course fees are not received 21 days prior to the course start date, the registration will be cancelled, except where the registration is made after this time when fees must be paid within 24 hours.  We reserve the right to restrict future registrations onto paid-for training courses where payments are late.

Refund Policy

Refunds will be made in accordance with the following arrangements where a registration is cancelled

  • Over 6 weeks before date of training 100% refund
  • Between 6 and 5 weeks before the date of training 75% refund
  • Between 5 and 4 weeks before the training 50% refund
  • Between 4 and 3 weeks before date of training 25% refund
  • 21 days before date of training 0% refund
When: 23rd September, 2024 9:30 AM through 04:30 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold Street Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Wednesday 25 September 2024 at 10.00am

Are you a social enterprise, trading charity or co-op? Are you looking at ways to transition your income from grants to traded income? Would you like to explore some of the diversification options available? And would you like some support in having conversations with your trustees, directors or CEO’s about those options? Then this is the session for you.

Organisations are often encouraged to 'diversify their income' (i.e. not be wholly reliant on grant funding). But it can be hard to start thinking about charging for services and support that has always been offered for free. There can also be some challenges around the suitability of an organisation’s legal form in developing such income streams.

This workshop will explore the various benefits of starting to do new things to generate income, as well as ways to spot and avoid any risks that doing so might create.

It will introduce ways to identify what the most realistic and 'best' ideas might be for an organisation to start to generate new types of income, and look at how to make sure that everyone within your organisation understands and supports the decisions related to doing so.

When: 25th September, 2024 10:00 AM through 01:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold Street Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Tuesday 29 October 2024 at 10.00am

This session explores the basics of what is meant by equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, looks at related legislation and includes time to discuss what this looks like in your organisation and what more could be done.

The session is aimed at volunteers and members of staff who want to know more about  equity, diversity and belonging.  

By the end of the session attendees will be able to define what equality, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging means, why it is important and understand what this looks like in their own organisation and what more can be done.

When: 29th October, 2024 10:00 AM through 11:30 am Where: The Bolton Hub, Bold Street, Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Wednesday 6 November 2024 at 1.30pm

This session is suitable for any current Trustees wishing to refresh their knowledge and for those considering becoming a Trustee.

The session will cover:

– The role of the Trustee board and the six main duties as stated by the Charity Commission

– Trustee liability

– Conflicts of interest

– Eligibility 

When: 6th November, 2024 1:30 PM through 03:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub Bold Street Bolton, BL1 1LS

Book Now

Wednesday 29 January 2025 at 12.30pm

This session explores the basics of what is meant by equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging, looks at related legislation and includes time to discuss what this looks like in your organisation and what more could be done.

The session is aimed at volunteers and members of staff who want to know more about  equity, diversity and belonging.  

By the end of the session attendees will be able to define what equality, equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging means, why it is important and understand what this looks like in their own organisation and what more can be done.

When: 29th January, 2025 12:30 PM through 02:00 pm Where: The Bolton Hub, Bold Street, Bolton, BL1 1LS

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Wednesday 12 February 2025 at 12.30pm

This session is suitable for any current Trustees wishing to refresh their knowledge and for those considering becoming a Trustee.

The session will cover:

– The role of the Trustee board and the six main duties as stated by the Charity Commission

– Trustee liability

– Conflicts of interest

– Eligibility 

When: 12th February, 2025 12:30 PM through 02:00 pm Where: Online via Zoom

Book Now