Regional Partnership to Capacity Build the BME Voluntary Sector in the East of England Region

Recognising the Contribution of BME Individuals to the Voluntary Sector

One of the two main aims of this project is to recognise, value and acknowledge the contribution BME individuals make to the VCS.

Our partners across the Region have hand-picked a number of key individuals in their area who have made an invaluable contribution to community cohesion in their County, read the following profiles to find out more about our 'BME Community Champions'...

Cambridgeshire Community Champions

Della Spencer

We are nominating Della Spencer for this award for her voluntary work in supporting young BME people in Cambridge in Art, Dance, and Music development, for more than 11 years.

In 1996, she set up her own business, specialising in BME Arts & Crafts. She was first introduced to voluntary work whilst working with the Princes Trust in 1994, where she assisted with art & design at Romsey Mill in Cambridge – this progressed to becoming a member of the management committee at the Black Women’s Support Group, where in 2002 she developed play scheme workshops, and dance classes.

In 2005 she went on to setting up two businesses - ‘Little D Promotions’ – which operates urban and Caribbean artist and event management and ‘Street Style dance’ which is for all ages and abilities with a core group meeting every Sunday for youth ages 8 to 17. These enabled her to discover, develop and showcase local talent at various community events, with one of the highlights being a county-wide talent show.

In 2006 she linked-in nationally with Uk unsigned when 3 of her under 18 artists gained status as national winners

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Vasaldlal Joshi

We are nominating Vasaldlal Joshi for this award for the dedication he has shown to improving the lives of the elderly and disabled people in the Indian Community.

Vasaldlal has been volunteering his time to the ICCA for the past 7 years, managing a thriving ‘over 50’s club. He organises many events and outings, paying special attention to those who are isolated. Outings include visits to temples, historic buildings, theatre, and the seaside.

Support is always at hand, and free transport is available to the disabled for them to attend the regular weekly meetings. There are regular classes, events and activities for members who are asked to contribute just 50pence per week. Many also volunteer their time to help with fund raising events. Vasaldlal has also organised trips abroad. The most recent trips have included Paris, and Holland.

I’m sure that he will not mind us mentioning that in January he celebrated his 85th Birthday!

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Tina Walker

We are nominating Tina Walker for this award for her dedication and time she has given in supporting the Cambridge Vietnamese Refugee Community over many years.

The CVRC started in 1986, and Tina Joined in 1994, and has since volunteered her time for the past 14 years! She works 5 days per week, every week, looking after all the office duties, administration and finance. The Community helps new arrivals to Cambridgeshire, and many also from Suffolk and Norfolk. Together with Ahn Tang the community worker, they run the CVRC entirely on their own these days, including dealing with all individual casework, and with around 300 Vietnamese people on their books, they are kept pretty busy!

In the words of the Ahn Tang, "Tina looks after pretty much everything here and we would not have survived without her."

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