Community Trust for Wansbeck?

All of you will remember the loss we all felt with the sad death of Sheila McGuckin. However, as was typical of Sheila, she left behind her a tremendous legacy of good practice and forward thinking.

One of her ‘visions’ was the setting up of a ‘Community Trust’ for the Wansbeck Area which could win new funds from businesses within the Area and trusts outside it to help support the community and voluntary organisations she left behind.

With the support of LEGi, the Wansbeck CVS has taken on the responsibility of researching further Sheila’s idea. As a result, consultants MCSquared Consult Ltd which has had considerable success in working with third sector organisations in Northumberland and elsewhere, has been commissioned to explore the idea further.

We do know that community trusts formed elsewhere in the UK have been successful in securing additional funds and then disbursing it to local charities and we are aware of other organisations within the North East and more locally which may do similar things. Our hope is that we can increase the size of the cake rather than take from a diminishing one.

In the next few months Peter Monaghan and Ray Hooper of ‘MC2’ will be consulting with public, private and third sector organisations over the initiative.

If your organisation has something to say or add then please get in touch with Peter either through the CVS using the contact form or directly on 0797 6589936 or email mc2squared[AT]btconnect.com.

We hope you will give this investigation your support and will let you know through this website and the newsletter how it is proceeding.