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LATEST NEWS
Monday October 10 is World Mental Health Day
World Mental Health Day is happening on Monday October 10 and the theme this year, set by the World Federation for Mental Health is ‘making mental health and wellbeing for all a global priority’. Mental Health UK is therefore asking people to look after number one. With everything taking place in the world it is easy to feel powerless, but it is important to remember there are lots of elements of our life that we can manage and control.
Mental Health UK has some information on how to help look at what items are within your control. Visit their website for further information.
What's happening locally?
On Monday October 10, Loughborough Wellbeing Centre (situated at Asha House in Loughborough) is hosting an event with partners from 10am-2pm. This will include stalls and plenty of information will be available.
As part of the event, we are encouraging people to be active for their mental health. To achieve this on the day you can complete a #mentalhealthmile. There will be the opportunity to take part in a stationary cycle or a walk. The cycling challenge will be available for the duration of the day.
Colleagues can come and complete a mental health mile (a three-mile option is also available) as part of a guided walk around Queens Park and Loughborough's town centre. This event will start at 12pm.
There will also be a pledge wall where you can pledge to do something to support a friend or colleague, for example make a colleague a cup of tea, smile at a stranger, etc. Hope to see you there!
A flier for the event can be found on the intranet. There is a QR code on the poster for anyone who would like to make a donation to Loughborough Wellbeing Centre. Any donation will go towards the centre's support of people struggling with their mental health.
Meet your Mental Health First Aiders
We are showcasing our MHFA's in One Charnwood to highlight who they are and how they can be of assistance to CBC colleagues.
This week, senior sports development officer Andrew Doodson introduces himself as one of your mental health first aiders:
"I became a MHFA because I believe passionately that we all have a responsibility to look after each other. A considerable amount of our time is spent at work and we owe it to ourselves and those around us to create an environment that we all feel supported and respected within.
"Every one of us copes differently with the toll of maintaining a healthy balance in our mental and physical wellbeing, by raising greater awareness and increasing our understanding and knowledge of mental health we can all be part of breaking down the daily challenges of life, and collectively finding a solution.
"Please always remember to be kind to yourself and to others around you, remember even a corridor conversation can go a long way."
If you would like a private and confidential chat with Andrew, contact him at Andrew.doodson@charnwood.gov.uk or call 07894297130.
Financial wellbeing webinars taking place next week
A series of webinars on financial wellbeing for World Mental Health Day next Monday. The sessions will be hosted by a panel of experts on the 10th and 11th of October at 1-1.30pm and will cover the following subjects:
- Why sheltering from the financial storm is crucial, now more than ever
- How today’s climate impacts and shapes our financial Wellbeing
- The effect of financial stress on our Mental Health and relationships
- How to weatherproof ourselves to tackle this ‘financial storm’
- What you can do if you feel stuck, and don’t know where to turn
Appointment of head of economic development and regeneration
As you know, we carried out a Leadership Review at the Council to ensure our structure is cost efficient, customer focused and to increase the strategic focus, capability, and skill in priority areas.
Within this review, a new role was created – head of economic development and regeneration. This role will be responsible for not only economic development and regeneration but also town centre operations, events and place-shaping.
After a very competitive recruitment process, Chris Grace has been appointed as the new head of economic development and regeneration.
Chris brings valuable experience to the role, having worked in similar roles at Plymouth City Council and Chelmsford Borough Council previously, as well as being at the forefront of efforts to deliver the Town Deal award for Loughborough and securing Charnwood’s allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
Congratulations, Chris!
Much-deserved praise for the CCTV team
Police Commander for Charnwood Neighbourhood Policing Area Inspector David Stokes took to Twitter to congratulate the Council's CCTV team last week.
On Wednesday (September 28), Insp. Stokes tweeted: "Congratulations to Charnwood CCTV team, who have been awarded policing certificates today, for work which has led to more than 10 arrests in the last two weeks. Well done team."
Well done to CCTV advisor Robyn Hutchinson (pictured below with her certificate) and the whole team for all their great work!
CCTV advisor Robyn Hutchinson with her certificate from Leicestershire Police.
Letter of Thanks from HM Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire
The official representative of His Majesty The King for the County and City of Leicestershire, Lord-Lieutenant Mike Kapur, wrote a letter of thanks to the Chief Executive Rob Mitchell.
In the letter, the Lord-Lieutenant expressed his gratitude to colleagues at Charnwood Borough Council for the work undertaken locally to mark the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, and accession of His Majesty King Charles III.
The Lord-Lieutenant visited the Council offices and wrote in our book of condolence, and wrote that he was "very moved by the outpouring of grief across the County. I do not underestimate the work required to pull such things together at short notice, so please do extend my thanks to the authority as whole."
Thank you for your donations!
The MacMillan Coffee Morning took place on Thursday (September 29) and there were two star bakers who we have to shine a light on. Thank you so much to customer experience improvement officer George Little and finance and income officer Elaine Aldridge.
The cakes were extremely popular and tasted amazing, and the donation pot was quite heavy, so thank you as well to everyone who donated. We will let you know how much we raised as soon as we have the final tally.
Tenants awarded for their talents in annual garden competition
Council tenants from across the borough have received awards for their gardening talents in the annual tenant garden competition, which is split into six different categories and showcases gardens of all shapes and sizes. Overall, there were 32 entries in this year’s competition.
The event is always a highlight in the CBC calendar and a lot of the credit lies with principal officer - customer engagement older persons services Sally Ramalho and customer engagement officers Andy Everitt-Stewart and Helen Kennedy, who organise the tenant garden competition and the awards event. Well done, team!
Well done to principal officer - customer engagement older persons services Sally Ramalho and customer engagement officers Andy Everitt-Stewart and Helen Kennedy.
All the winners at the tenant garden competition awards 2022.
Community work together to install defib at Loughborough bowls club
A bowls club in Loughborough is on its way to becoming ‘heartsafe’ thanks to support from CBC and the Joe Humphries Memorial Trust (JHMT).
Queen’s Park Bowls Club in Loughborough has a new defibrillator for use during cardiac emergencies. CBC has helped to cover the installation costs, and the bowls club purchased the defibrillator. The storage cabinet for the equipment has been supplied by local heart charity JHMT.
 Representatives from the Council, Queen's Park Bowls Club and Joe Humphries Memorial Trust with the defib in Queen's Park, Loughborough
New-look recruitment section is live
The new-look recruitment section on the CBC website is now live and we think it looks great! It's easy to navigate and there's lots of great and useful information. More importantly, it showcases CBC to potential applicants as a great place to work and live.
Check it out at www.charnwood.gov.uk/working_with_us.
Thanks again to everyone who was involved in the photos. Any feedback you have is more than welcome. Please send it to communications@charnwood.gov.uk.
Freshers’ Bazaar
Well done to colleagues from cleansing and open spaces, events and communications for attending the Loughborough Students’ Union Freshers’ Bazaar on Sunday on the university campus.
The event was packed and thousands of leaflets were handed out promoting Discover Charnwood, our open spaces campaign Explore the Outdoors in Charnwood campaign as well as Loughborough the town with partners Love Loughborough and Loyal Free.
Lots of students picked up bags and information and chatted to staff from the Council and Love Loughborough.
The recycling team also chatted with students about the importance of recycling right and we also dropped in some useful information on elections.
It was a great opportunity to promote the borough and town and talk about our services.
Well done all and it was certainly a busy day!
Next virtual staff briefing on October 27
We are holding a virtual staff briefing on Thursday, October 27 at 11am. Chief Executive Rob Mitchell will lead the session and update colleagues on a number of issues.
If you have any specific topics or questions you would like covered, please submit them using the link below before midday on Thursday, October 20.
Leader's Viewpoint: Supporting communities through grants funding
Cllr Jonathan Morgan, Leader of Charnwood Borough Council, gives his monthly Viewpoint update by video for September. In the video, he talks about the Council’s grants which are given to a variety of organisations and groups across the borough for a variety of projects.
Click on the image to watch the video.
We’re looking for a few carol singers!
As we plan ahead to Christmas (83 sleeps to go), we’re planning a few fun festive events at CBC for December. We’ve already booked in our three Charnwood Christmas Thank You events (looking for another name for this) and we’ve had a bright idea to do a bit of carol singing. But we need some volunteers.
If you are a greater singer or not so great singer but willing to give it a go, please contact eleanor.montgomery@charnwood.gov.uk.
We’ll organise a few practice sessions and it won’t be too taxing and what better way to help spread some festive cheer at Christmas.
Exciting new cast unveiled for Sleeping Beauty pantomime at Loughborough Town Hall
Loughborough Town Hall and producers Little Wolf Entertainment are excited to reveal the full cast for their eagerly-awaited new pantomime Sleeping Beauty, which begins rehearsals soon and opens November 19, 2022 – January 2, 2023.
This year the West End is coming to Loughborough. Victoria Lucie, Jake Reynolds and Harry Polden will star as Princess Rose, Prince Vince and Mervin The Magician respectively, alongside a host of stellar names from the world of theatre.
Kaarp Benefits newsletter for October
Many of the theme parks preparing for "spooktacular" events, so book now for a great day out with all the family this October, read the newsletter or visit the 'Going Out' section for more details.
If you are planning a 2023 holiday, book now for the best choice, whether you are planning to stay in the UK or travelling further afield. Visit the travel section for all the latest offers and to book.
LOGIN = CHARNWOOD
PASSWORD = BENEFITS
REGULAR FEATURES
Information on cost of living support and advice
The Council has put together a webpage to signpost people to the support available to help with the rising cost of living. Staff may also be interested in viewing the webpage.
We know some staff live outside the borough so we have put together some links to web pages created by other councils in different areas. The links can be found on the intranet.
Starters, movers and leavers
A warm welcome to tenancy support officer Wendi Griffiths, who starts at CBC today. Best of luck in your new role, Wendi.
Leaving CBC at the end of the week is street warden William Parr. Good luck in your next venture, William.
Staff compliments and feedback
We have received some lovely messages from customers. You can view them on this webpage.
Email communications@charnwood.gov.uk if you have received feedback from customers or would like to compliment one of your colleagues on the compliments webpage.
Jobs at CBC
All available jobs at Charnwood Borough Council can be found at www.charnwood.gov.uk/jobs.
Online Training Portal
The Charnwood Online Training Portal is a one-stop shop for training resources related to Office 365, Teams and SharePoint so that all staff can get the best out of the programmes.
Check out the online training portal on the intranet here: https://charnwoodbc.sharepoint.com/sites/O365CL.
The training portal will be updated regularly. Keep coming back and please feel free to leave feedback via the site, or email the ICS Helpdesk if you would like to make a suggestion for the site.
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