EVOC Blog - EVOC

Past, Present and Future: My journey along EVOC’s 150 year-old road

20 September 2018 | Written by Lucy Ridley | Leave a Comment

Past, Present and Future: My journey along EVOC’s 150 year-old roadAs I approach my three-month anniversary at EVOC, I’ve decided it’s important to pause for a moment to reflect on what we have achieved so far with the EVOC 150 project and what’s in store over the next six months. What is EVOC 150? EVOC turned 150 years-old in March 2018 and was awarded funding […]

VOCAL Reacts to Scottish Government’s new Carers Allowance Supplement

19 September 2018 | Written by Alea Ibrahim | Leave a Comment

VOCAL Reacts to Scottish Government’s new Carers Allowance SupplementEligible carers are now entitled to a Carer’s Allowance Supplement of £221 paid out as a lump sum twice a year. The supplement is a much needed and welcomed benefit to carers who often struggle to earn an income alongside their caring duties. The Edinburgh based charity VOCAL has been supporting carers since 1994 and […]

Dr Pauline Nolan from Inclusion Scotland responds to Judith Proctor Interview

13 September 2018 | Written by Alea Ibrahim | Leave a Comment

Dr Pauline Nolan from Inclusion Scotland responds to Judith Proctor InterviewWe read with interest EVOC’s article ‘Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership’s new Chief Officer, Never Afraid to Challenge: Interview with Judith Proctor (15 August 2018)’ and were heartened by some of her commitments ensuring that local third sector organisations would play a key role in helping to address some of the current challenges faced. […]

David Hunter on Community Transport

30 August 2018 | Written by Alea Ibrahim | Leave a Comment

David Hunter on Community TransportWhen a voluntary group hears that someone is coming to talk about their transport, the first reaction is often “please don’t take our bus away!” So I’ve been privileged to spend six months at EVOC supporting an innovative project to improve transport for third sector day centres and lunch clubs. Ageing populations and increasing expectations […]

EVOC attends Social in the Gardens 2018

21 August 2018 | Written by Alea Ibrahim | Leave a Comment

EVOC attends Social in the Gardens 2018By Alea Ibrahim, Communications Intern for EVOC 150 Heritage Programme. The EVOC150 team seized the tropical Edinburgh weather last Friday and visited Social in the Gardens, organised by Edinburgh Social Enterprise. Locals and people from all over the world enjoyed a jam-packed entertainment programme of Highland dancing, storytelling and music until late in the evening. […]

Why Pride is the Essence of Community Powered Civic Action

19 June 2018 | Written by Alea Ibrahim | Leave a Comment

Why Pride is the Essence of Community Powered Civic ActionSaturday (16th June) marked Edinburgh’s celebration of Pride. Thousands of LGBTQ+ people and their allies marched from Holyrood, up the Royal Mile, over George IV Bridge and out on to Bristo Square dressed to impress, wearing glitter and smiles. Although Pride has become synonymous with glitter and rainbows, there is a deeper meaning to why […]

Guest Blog: Scottish Older People’s Assembly

30 April 2018 | Written by Ella Simpson | Leave a Comment

Guest Blog: Scottish Older People’s AssemblyGlenda Watt from The Scottish Older People’s Assembly provides a guest blog on SOPA in Parliament Clare Adamson MSP, Tom Berney Chair of Scottish Older People’s Assembly and Jeane Freeman OBE MSP and Minister for Social Security began the proceedings of our 9th Assembly in the Scottish Parliament on Monday 23 April 2018. We had […]

What it’s like to be a Trustee

23 April 2018 | Written by Ella Simpson | Leave a Comment

What it’s like to be a TrusteeMy main motivation, initially, for getting involved in charities, was that I had recently moved to Edinburgh and didn’t know anyone in the City aside from my new work colleagues. I joined a charity as a volunteer and after finding out they were looking for a new treasurer, decided to join their board of trustees. […]

The Women Who Shaped Edinburgh’s Social Welfare

8 March 2018 | Written by | Leave a Comment

The Women Who Shaped Edinburgh’s Social WelfareEdinburgh Voluntary Organisations’ Council reaches the grand old age of 150 this year. From April, we intend to spend much of the next year researching the reason for EVOC’s formation, the social and civic context it operated within, and the extraordinary people that have been involved the Organisation in some way or another. With that […]

Isn’t it great when things really are learnt from good practice?

19 December 2017 | Written by 15923 2 | Leave a Comment

Isn’t it great when things really are learnt from good practice?Isn’t it great when things really are learnt from good practice? When my colleague Katherine, David (from the Cooncil) and I set off on our 6 hour round train trip on a Friday morning to North Ayrshire I wasn’t absolutely convinced it was great use of more than one third of my working week hours […]