A MAJOR constitutional change is planned as The Association Teesdale Day Clubs becomes operational again.
The association, which runs eight weekly lunch clubs across the dale, is to convert into a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).
Strategic manager for the association Andrea Hobbs said this will offer better protection against liability for trustees and make the organisation more attractive to grant funders.
She added that the move was made possible through a £30,000 grant from the Community Foundation for Tyne & Wear and Northumberland’s (CFTWN) Growth and Resilience Fund.
The cash is spread over two years.
Ms Hobbs said: “We hope this change will attract new people from our community to volunteer to be trustees, especially in areas such as human resources, legal knowledge and marketing, and also give funders confidence, and open funding doors that are otherwise closed to us.
“Changing the constitution is a lot of work for the trustees and for me over the next year or so, but it is the right thing to do now.
“The last year has been so challenging for us in so many ways. Competition for grants is always tough in the voluntary sector and we feel this will only increase not decrease in the next few years.”
The growth and resilience project includes the continuation of a new communications role for the charity.
As part of his role Mick Carr produces the monthly members newsletter, is working at improving the social media posts for the day clubs and is hoping to increase wider public awareness of what the day clubs offers people in the area.
Adam Lopardo, director of community relations at CFTWN, said the organisation was delighted to offer a second year of support to the day clubs.
He added: “The partners were impressed with how Teesdale Day Clubs had adapted services during the lockdowns of the last 16 months and were pleased to continue to support them as they restart their in-person programmes and build on the work we’ve supported to date.”
The lunch clubs re-opened last month after offering several weeks of support group meetings to ease people back into their usual routine.
Ms Hobbs said: “Everyone is so delighted to be back seeing their friends and neighbours, and we have had so many compliments to the team for all their hard work.
“Our re-opening has gone extremely well and we’ve had excellent support from our volunteers and regular venues to achieve this.”
During the pandemic the association was able to access five different pots of Covid-specific money including some from Teesdale Action Partnership and the County Durham Community Foundation.
This enabled the group to provide meals at home for its members as well as to buy personal protective equipment for volunteers and to pay overheads and salaries.
Some of the funding also paid telephone expenses for staff making calls while working from home.
