The Weekly Surveillance report collates published national data to describe COVID-19 cases in East Sussex, how they change over time, and how this compares to other areas. It is available online together with the East Sussex COVID-19 Outbreak Control Plan. 

Our mental health has been impacted so negatively and so deeply by isolation and living with a pandemic ravaging our communities. The situation has been worsened with key workers operating to their limits and services being overstretched for almost two years now.

Our mental health within our local communities is very much at the forefront of our minds as the world learns to live with Covid. All of us at 3VA see this as a priority as we go forward into 2022.

3VA is committed to tackling this growing health crisis and has partnered with the Wellbody Wellmind Wellbeing charity.

Together, we will soon be bringing you an online day of awareness, practice and healthy mind sessions to enable you to understand, manage and form habits to promote wellbeing and mindfulness within yourself to continue to offer strengthened support and aid signposting to specialised groups for the people in your communities.

Booking details will be advertised in next week's newsletter, so watch this space.

A free event is taking place at Eastbourne’s Congress Theatre to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

Thursday January 27 is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp and each year on that day Holocaust Memorial Day is held to encourage remembrance about the Holocaust, Nazi persecution and genocides that followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur and other conflicts across the world.

The theme for Holocaust Memorial Day 2022 is One Day and will promote the hope that there may be One Day in the future with no genocide.

Various ceremonies are taking place across the country and Eastbourne’s Holocaust Memorial Day event is tomorrow (Thursday 27 January) at 7pm.

Tickets for the event are free and can be booked in advance online at www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk.

Data released this week shows that the number of deaths in the UK involving coronavirus rose in the second week of 2022.

Deaths registered in the week ending 14 January were affected by the New Year’s Day Bank holiday. In this week there were 1,557 deaths involving coronavirus in the UK, 534 more than in the previous week. This accounted for around one in every 10 deaths (10.2%).

Between 13 March 2020 and 14 January 2022, there have been 126,831 excess deaths above the five-year average in England and Wales.

The Business East Sussex ‘East Sussex Zero’ campaign can help your business on its net zero journey.

Through the campaign, Business East Sussex is highlighting the importance of net zero to local businesses and signposting to useful tools, resources and free support programmes to help businesses get closer to net zero.

Calculate your carbon footprint and see how you can reduce it here.

The Ouse Valley CARES (Climate Action, Resilient Ecosystems and Sustainability) Project is a National Lottery-funded project which aims to bring the community together to inspire positive action to mitigate the effects of climate change in the lower Ouse valley and Havens.

As part of our aim to help local communities in the Ouse Valley build resilience to the impacts of climate change, we invited organisations and community groups to pitch their ideas.

Those receiving 50 votes or more will be funded by the South Downs National Park Trust, and the two with the most votes will win an additional prize of £300 each to put towards their projects.

Now is your opportunity to vote for the project you think will make the biggest impact. Find out more here. After you have read the details of the projects and watched the pitch videos you can vote for your favourite project here.

You have until 2 February 2022 to vote.

Free courses for all residents in Wealden and Eastbourne aged 19+. From family learning to sewing and cookery, there is a mixture of courses for everyone to enjoy.

More information can be found on our website www.wealden.gov.uk/streetlearning or email streetlearning@wealden.gov.uk.

Business East Sussex provides free and impartial business advice for local entrepreneurs and businesses.

Its team of business experts is dedicated to helping you find the right support, helping your business grow and helping to make East Sussex a great place to run a business.

Call today on 01273 335878 or email  info@businesseastsussex.org.uk.

Microsoft Teams | 26 January 2022 | 3-4pm

One You East Sussex is running a one-hour session about the core principles of behaviour change and how these can be used to tackle difficult conversations around weight management within the confines of a primary care consultation.

We will be joined by guest speakers Dr Heather McKee (Behaviour Change Specialist and PhD in Weight Maintenance Psychology) and Dr Richard Pile (GP partner, GPSI in Cardiology & Lifestyle Medicine, CCG Wellbeing lead, author and Thrive Tribe clinical lead). 

Part 1: Behaviour Change: Key Principles (30 minutes) - Dr Heather McKee

Understand the key principles of behaviour change that underpin our Tier 2 Weight Management offering. Including topics such as:

• Unlocking intrinsic motivation.
• Moving away from the willpower trap.
• Helping clients establish habits that last. 

Part 2: Behaviour Change in Real Life Consultations (30 minutes) – Dr Richard Pile

How to tackle difficult conversations with patients around weight management using behaviour change principles. 

Schedule

3-3.30pm – Behaviour Change: Key Principles

3.30-4pm – Behaviour Change in Real Life Consultations

RSVP – sign up here. An invite link will be sent to you upon signing up. If you cannot make the event but would like to receive a recording, please RSVP and you will receive the recording via email.

Recovery Partners is pleased to announce its latest Heart Matters Project. 

This free online art and mental health peer support programme, for adults (45+) with mental health challenges and disabilities, delivers eight weeks’ free professionally facilitated online arts-based workshops by trained inclusive arts practitioners. Mental health peer support is delivered by trained, experienced and peer support specialists.

The project is looking to work with 24 people who are:

• 45+.
• Living in the Eastbourne and Hastings areas.
• Facing mental health challenges and isolation due to Covid, post lockdown or other issues.
• We are keen to work and engage with older people, particularly men.

Alongside the art workshops, there is the option for participants to access group and one-to-one peer support sessions.

The project will provide all art equipment and, where required, an electronic device to access the workshops with.

Workshops run weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays for four weeks, starting on 8 February. From 7 March workshops will run on Mondays and Wednesdays for four weeks. 

We are happy to receive both self-referrals and supported referrals from statutory and non-statutory organisations. For an application form or further information, please contact Anthony Stevens, Heart Matters Project Coordinator, email a.stevens@recovery-partners.org.uk or call 07826 094 533.

Willingdon Trees Community Centre, Holly Place, Eastbourne | 3 February 2022 | 9.30am-4.30pm

Learn about first aid regulations and how to manage an incident safely in this practical and theoretical session. Obtain a certificate recognised by HSE and employers.

Places are free but limited, so please register asap. Call 01323 504438 or email eastbourne@sussexcommunity.org.uk.

Online | 8 February | 10.30am-12.30pm

We are delighted to announce that we are now just two weeks away from the return of the Lewes District Community Network and we are open for bookings!

Although the on-going pandemic means that for the time being, we still cannot gather physically, we are now re-launching Network meetings throughout 2022, starting with this live online event for representatives from voluntary, community, public and private sector bodies across the Lewes District.

By coming along to this Network, you can:

• Share what is happening in your organisation and in the local communities you work in.
• Learn about services offered by others working in the community.
• Explore potential ways of working together.

Attending the Network is free, but there is limited space – even online! Demand for places is likely to be high, so we may have to limit places. To be sure of your place, please book by 12pm on Monday 7 February. Pre-booking is essential, but easy. To secure your place, please book online here.

Online | 10 February | 10.30am

LoCASE provides business support and growth grants of up to £10,000 to businesses delivering low carbon and environmental products and services. The programme also provides grants for energy efficiency upgrades.

To help local businesses understand the programme of support and the grants application process, the LoCASE Business Support team is hosting a free one hour webinar.

Zoom | 14 February 2022 | 10:30am-11.30am

The next online meeting of the Hard of Hearing Support Group is coming up. 

This is an excellent opportunity to meet other hard of hearing people, make new friends and to learn from their personal experience of living with hearing loss. It’s also an ideal chance to learn some useful communication skills that will help to reduce the feeling of isolation.

All are welcome, so put a note in your diary. For more information, please contact East Sussex Hearing on 01323 722505 or email office@eshrc.org.

Online | 15 February 2022 | 11am-12:30pm

A regular meeting space bringing together voluntary groups and organisations working to support older people. We exchange good practice, access information, find shared solutions to shared challenges and explore opportunities for working together. This informal, friendly, and supportive event takes place every third Tuesday of the month.

Just a reminder that the next online Community Network meetings in Eastbourne and Wealden are also fast approaching.

Eastbourne | 22 February | 10.30am–12.30pm

Wealden | 1 March | 10.30am–12.30pm

More details, including how to book your place, will be circulated shortly, but for now, make a note of the date in your diary.

Zoom | 23 February 2022 | 10am-1pm

This new one-module online training session will cover:

• What chemsex is.
• Breakdown of the different drugs that are used during chemsex.
• Findings from the chemsex survey.
• The impact of chemsex on individuals.
• Guidance around support for people involved in chemsex.

For more information, or to sign up, please email brightontraining@tht.org.uk.

Our mental health has been impacted so negatively and so deeply by isolation and living with a pandemic ravaging our communities. The situation has been worsened with key workers operating to their limits and services being overstretched for almost two years now.

Our mental health within our local communities is very much at the forefront of our minds as the world learns to live with Covid. All of us at 3VA see this as a priority as we go forward into 2022.

3VA is committed to tackling this growing health crisis and has partnered with the Wellbody Wellmind Wellbeing charity.

Together, we will soon be bringing you an online day of awareness, practice and healthy mind sessions to enable you to understand, manage and form habits to promote wellbeing and mindfulness within yourself to continue to offer strengthened support and aid signposting to specialised groups for the people in your communities.

Booking details will be advertised in next week's newsletter, so watch this space.

Lewes Community Kitchen | 12 & 13 April 2022

Two days of training and mentoring for people wanting to teach cookery, set up community food activities and social enterprises.

Our aim is to empower and motivate you to create projects that promote health and wellbeing, build community and sustainable food systems.

This training will help you to:

• Plan a cookery course, club or community food project.
• Be a better cook.
• Understand more about the food we eat.
• Support others in improving their cookery and everyday nutrition skills.
• Work effectively with groups and share your enthusiasm for good food.
• Develop a social enterprise.
• Make healthy cohesive communities.
• Create a sustainable food system.

In addition to the two days of training, participants receive ongoing mentoring and support. The course includes a recipe book, training manual, lunch, refreshments and food to go.

We have some bursary places available. Please get in touch with us directly if you would like to be considered for one. You can book a place here, or for more information, contact Robin Van Creveld, Community Chef, tel 07766 526217, or email robin@communitychef.org.uk.

Deadline for responses: 30 January 2022

The Sussex Health and Care Partnership is developing a refreshed weight management tier 3 service and is interested in hearing about your experiences of using these services within Sussex.

The survey will take between 5-10 minutes to complete.

Deadline for responses: 11 March 2022

People in East Sussex are being asked for their views on plans to improve the cardiology (heart) and ophthalmology (eye) services at hospitals in East Sussex.

The proposals aim to improve the care available and cut waiting times. They will also enable staff to develop their skills and expertise so more patients in East Sussex can benefit from new medical treatments and technologies.

The two separate sets of proposals have been developed over the last year by hospital doctors, GPs and other health professionals. They looked at feedback from people who use and work in local services alongside evidence of what works well elsewhere in the NHS.

Find out more about the proposals and how you can have your say here.

Tesco Community Grants is offering a funding opportunity through its Little Helps scheme, but you need to be quick as applications close on 6 February. Click here for more information.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport is launching phase 1 of the Youth Investment Fund.

The aim of the fund is to create, expand and improve local youth facilities and their services, in order to drive positive outcomes for young people, including improved health and wellbeing, and skills for work, employability and life.

Lewes District Council has received further limited funding from central government and has reopened this fund for applications. If you, or someone you know, is eligible, please apply without delay.  

If you’re finding it difficult to keep warm, buy enough food or pay essential bills, you may be able to get extra help. Residents across East Sussex can now apply for help from the Government’s Household Support Fund, which local councils are now helping to pay out.

To qualify, you must live within the council’s area, be over the age of 18, and be finding it difficult to pay for heating, lighting, water bills or food. You must also be in receipt of one of the following benefits:

• Universal Credit
• Housing Benefit
• Pension Credit
• Council Tax Reduction Benefit
• Child Tax Credit
• Working Tax Credit
• Income Support
• Income Based Job-Seeker’s Allowance
• Income Based Employment & Support Allowance

If you applied last year and didn’t complete the process you do not need to start again – you are able to login and pick up where you left off to finish and submit your application.

For further information and to apply, click below.

The next round of applications for the Social Enterprise Covid Fund opens on 28 February and will be accompanied by information webinars in March.

Grants of between £10,000 and £100,000 are available to help social enterprises with a pre-Covid income of between £20,000 to £1.8m to recover - particularly organisations whose main source of income was trading. This could be restarting certain activities in a Covid safe way, or developing new income streams.

There is a big focus on supporting diverse led organisations and they must be incorporated, have clear social purpose and asset lock. More information in the guidance notes can be found here.

Sussex Community Foundation has announced a further donation of £195,000 from East Sussex County Council (ESCC) to the Sussex Crisis Fund, specifically to support food security projects in East Sussex.

ESCC donated £100,000 to the fund in the first weeks of the pandemic. The Sussex Crisis Fund has now given out an incredible £2 million in emergency funding in just 20 weeks.

There is no set deadline for applications as reviews are made on an on-going basis.

Lewes District Council is accepting applications from businesses that are eligible for the Omicron Hospitality and Leisure Grant. The scheme was announced by the Government on 21 December in recognition of the rise in the Omicron variant and the impact it was having on those sectors.

Applications open this month

Grant applications are opening for small capital expenditure and the money must be spent by the end of March. Email office@UKYouth.org for more information.

The Afghanistan Veterans’ Fund aims to increase capacity in services and initiatives that offer supportive comradeship, engagement and wellbeing efforts for those in the Armed Forces community impacted by events in Afghanistan, and the wider veterans community.

The Office for Veterans' Affairs has asked the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust to run programmes that will award grants to improve wellbeing, resilience and promote good mental health. There are four funding strands and you can only apply to one strand. 

These grants are aimed at community-led arts and culture projects, with a focus on equality and inclusion, and which approach the subject of dying in an innovative or creative way.

We're looking for activities which take place in communities, outside of formal healthcare settings, which help make it easier for people to talk about death and dying.

We welcome applications from community arts and culture groups. For more information, visit the website here.

Deadline for applications: 10 February 2022 but opportunities available quarterly

The Screwfix Foundation is accepting funding applications for consideration at its next Trustee meeting.

Grants of up to £5,000 are available to fix, repair, maintain and improve properties and community facilities specifically for those in need.

Deadline for applications: 11 February 2022 at 5pm

Police & Crime Commissioner (PCC) Katy Bourne is inviting organisations across the county to bid for funding to help keep Sussex safe.

Grants of up to £5,000 are available for groups that provide a positive and lasting impact on the local community in Sussex.

To qualify, projects should demonstrate how they will increase or promote community safety within the local area and have a positive long-term impact. They should also be able to offer evidence to support the need for the project and show how it helps to prevent offending and reduce re-offending.

Application deadline: 25 February at 11:59pm

The Green Match Fund is a match funding campaign for charities which are working on environmental issues as part of their core mission.

All public donations made to participating charities via The Big Give website during the week of the campaign (22-29 April 2022) will be matched up to a specific amount.

Each participating charity will be awarded a ring-fenced amount of match funding which will be used to match public donations - either £2,500, £5,000 or £10,000.

Match funding is being provided by The Big Give’s Champions. For further information on the Green Match Fund and how to apply, please click the button below.

Application deadline: 28 February 2022

The #LetsCreate Jubilee Fund supports voluntary and community groups to develop creative and cultural activities as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations in June. Applicants applying for over £5,000 must partner with an artist, creative or cultural organisation to help deliver their project. 

East Sussex County Council continues to partner with Crowdfunder to support community projects to raise funds to create positive change in East Sussex.

For more information, click here.

Deadline for applications: 18 March 2022 at 5pm

Grants of up to £2,000 are being offered to promote ecological science, thanks to the British Ecological Society.

It supports projects that:

• Increase public understanding of, and engagement with, ecology.
• Stimulate discussion about ecology and its implications for society.
• Inspire and enthuse people of all ages about the science of ecology, especially those not previously interested.
• Develop skills in communicating the science of ecology.

Application deadline: 25 March 2022

The Rampion Community Benefit Fund is a grant set up by Rampion Offshore Wind Ltd and managed by Sussex Community Foundation. The fund supports projects that benefit the local community, in particular those with links to environment and ecology, climate change and energy.

Application deadline: No set deadline but payments must be made by 31 March 2022

The Voluntary & Community Sector Emergencies Partnership has ring-fenced an incentive pot of £20,000 to promote the engagement of organisations both within and beyond the partnership, to provide insight and/or intelligence on topic(s) that are emergency focussed in either preparedness or response and that ‘fill a gap’ in our collective knowledge.

Deadline for applications: 6 May 2022

Sussex Community Foundation’s next General Awards round deadline has been announced. We are encouraging applications across the whole of Sussex in the usual way but can confirm two main changes to our grants criteria from the next round. We will be open to applicants with an income of up to £2 million and will be able to consider grants of up to £10,000, rather than up to £5,000.

Our priority will be to continue to support the smallest, grassroots organisations across Sussex but the increase in income threshold is intended to allow support for a wider range of organisations, including those who have a broader reach and geography.

We hope that the increase in the grant amount offered will allow our support to extend over a longer period, so for some organisations, to fund delivery over 12 months rather than 3-6 months. Both these changes are in response to feedback received over the past year.

We will be holding our next funding advice surgery on 1 April. If you would like to register your interest, please email our grants team and we will send you the booking information nearer the time.

This event is particularly aimed at groups applying to us for the first time, those who have applied unsuccessfully in the past, or those who would like further support and advice with future applications.

Find out more about 3VA's high-quality, evidence-based free and low-cost learning opportunities. 

More learning opportunities for voluntary and community groups and organisations.

A free one-day multi-agency training opportunity to help staff work more effectively with people with a diagnosis (or traits) of ‘personality disorder’ is on offer. It is open to any community/voluntary service or staff who may benefit from a better understanding of personality difficulties.

If you are interested in booking for you or your team, please email the KUF Hub Training Coordinator.

Free Active Bystanders training sessions delivered by Survivors Network are now available to book online using this link.

The sessions last about 90 minutes and aim to help participants #DotheRightThing by:

• Recognising sexual harassment and misogynistic behaviour and understanding how it contributes to unsafe public spaces for certain groups of people.
• Understanding the impact of sexual harassment and misogynistic behaviour.
• Learning and practising tools and techniques to challenge this behaviour in a safe way.

The sessions are open to everyone.

Deadline for applications: 27 January 2022 at 5pm

Deadline for applications: 27 January 2022 at 12am

Deadline for applications: 30 January 2022 at 12am

Deadline for applications: 30 January 2022 at 12am

Deadline for applications: 31 January 2022 at 12am

Deadline for applications: 7 February 2022 at 12am

Deadline for applications: 10 February 2022 at 12am

Deadline for applications: 11 February 2022 at 12am

Deadline for applications: 31 March 2022 at 12am

Deadline for applications: 28 February 2022 at 12am

Deadline for applications: 31 January 2022 at 12am