Staff, executive members and volunteers from Cheshire Asian & Minority Communities Council attended the West Cheshire Together event concerning ‘the Big Society’ hosted by Moira Chapman (Chair – Stronger Group) on Monday 7th March.

Representatives from Third Sector groups and organisations across Cheshire met in the Ellesmere Port Civic Hall to consider matters related to the current political climate and the Safer, Stronger West Cheshire Partnership (Stronger Group). The main thrust of the event was centered around four workshops which highlighted four commitments/ambitions from Cheshire West and Chester Council  Sustainable Community Strategy:

• Recognising, celebrating and engaging with our diverse communities
• Building and developing the role of the third sector
• Developing and promoting appropriate and accessible ways to increase people’s ability to influence decision-making
• Increasing volunteering by supporting, enabling, and celebrating volunteering in all its diversity

The workshops utilised a technique known as ‘pinpoint facilitation’ which was designed to allow sizable groups to quickly address different topics. Feedback from the event indicates that while the technique was very effective in generating a large number of responses, it limited the amount of actual discussion that could take place in favour of capturing snapshots of opinion. Several participants had the expectation of a large-scale discussion and this was curtailed due to a lack of time; however, this was the stated intent of the workshops and they can be considered successful in achieving their aims.

CAMCC Manager Nadia Ali and Rahima Ahmed (West Cheshire Multi-Cultural Women’s Group) facilitated the diverse communities workshop and found the experience to be more than worthwhile. We were amazed by how much our communities were already doing in working towards the strategies that the West Cheshire Big Society Action Plan are trying to implement. People were identifying gaps in their organisations that other people had already found a way to resolve, reinforcing the need for togetherness in the sector.

The day’s speakers, including the keynote speech by Richard Caulfield (Voluntary Sector North West) were very well-received. Humorous and informative, Richard’s talk delivered some much-needed levity into topics which are deeply affecting the sector.

Going forward, the information and opinions gathered from the event will be collated and considered in developing future strategies for the region. We would like to thank everyone who attended our workshops and would greatly receive any additional feedback.