GAVCA

Shelley Bartlett

Consultant with GAVCA on the Down to Business Project

07968 827 308| shelleyb@gavca.org.uk

Throughout my career I have been involved in a wide variety development and sustainability related projects and programmes from inception to management and development.  These roles have spanned the voluntary and community, private and public sectors. I have spent most of my career in the voluntary and community sector working as a Project Manager, mainly in South Yorkshire and latterly in Bristol.  Three years ago I took a change of direction and left the sector to set up my own business – a CSR / sustainability consultancy.  This experience saw me working with the private sector supporting them engage effectively with the VCS.  

I am running the Down to Business project until November 2012, I generally work Mondays and Wednesdays, but can be contacted on my mobile on other days.  My role is providing support to both VCO's and the business community in terms of developing effective partnerships.

Mary Boucher

Development Worker

01242 227737| maryb@gavca.org.uk

I have worked in the voluntary and community sector for more than 25 years, in a wide range of roles from advice work; managing hostels for young homeless people; managing volunteers; generic and specialist mental health advocacy; and as a member and Chair of several management committees.  The breadth of the work I have been involved with reflects my passion for the rights of all people to have their voice heard, respected and, where appropriate, acted on.  And the work I do with GAVCA enables me to support organisations to have the necessary tools and resources to run effectively and for their benefit of their respective constituency of interest.  

As the Organisational Development Worker for Tewkesbury, Cotswolds and Cheltenham, I support voluntary and community groups with all aspects of their organisational management and development: from the initial setting up; trustee roles and responsibilities; project funding; budget forecasting; strategic planning and through to winding up or organisational merger.  I am available to talk things through with; share ideas and as a link person who can provide put groups in touch with one another who may have similar aims passions.   And if I can’t help, I may well know someone else locally who can.

I have worked and lived in many parts of England, and have lived in Gloucestershire for the past 6 years, and I feel very lucky to live in a county with some of the best gardening conditions of anywhere.  Not that I am a great gardener, I dabble, but I do love to visit other people’s and eye up the size of their cabbages.

Angela Gilbert

Support Services Manager

01242 227737 | angelag@gavca.org.uk

I can't remember a time when I haven't been involved to some degree in the voluntary and community sector. Starting from volunteering roles working with children and young people, to my working life where I have worked for over 20 years in the sector. This has been in a variety of roles including youth and community work, developing activity programmes for children and young people, managing community organisations, developing policy frameworks and supporting groups with organisational development.

I started work at GAVCA in 2006. My role is Support Services Manager and together with a fantastic team, we provide direct support to organisations, training and learning opportunities and opportunities for the vcs to network and get its voice heard.

In my life outside of work I'm a trustee of a trust fund, involved with my local church, I try to find time to do a spot of gardening now and then and to keep up with the hectic demands of family life!

Gabi Gogan

Volunteer Services Manager 

01452 509707 | gabig@gavca.org.uk

My love for volunteering started while I was at University in Romania, and I never looked back. Since I graduated in 2000 I have worked in the Voluntary and Community Sector for a number of volunteer-involving organisations as Volunteer Manager. I recruited, managed and supported fantastic teams of volunteers engaged in community work, environmental projects and more recently in a social enterprise. I quickly realised that complex skills were needed when managing volunteers, and I found that both challenging and rewarding. I went on and did a Train the Trainer/PTTLS course so that I could share my knowledge and skills with other volunteer managers through designing and delivering training on Volunteer Management.

I am very fortunate to manage a high calibre team of volunteers and colleagues at GAVCA. Together we help people in Gloucestershire to find suitable and rewarding volunteering roles. We also help organisations to recruit volunteers and we support volunteer managers to maintain good practice in their work with volunteers.

I believe that each of us is unique and that truly is beautiful. I enjoy getting inspired by the myriad of volunteers and wonderful people around us. Outside work I am a volunteer Master Composter, helping my fellow gardeners to get more out of their garden. I am always on the lookout for new ways to be more sustainable and kind to our planet and people.

Hannah Gorf

Partnership Support Officer

01452 522600 | hannahg@gavca.org.uk

I work in the Partnerships Team at GAVCA and I support partnership working by ensuring there is effective 2-way communication between the Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) and the public sector.

I do this through supporting our VCS representatives on various multi-agency groups as well as servicing VCS thematic groups and forums. I also write bulletins to ensure the sector has up to date information about events, training, policy and strategies in the county.

By ensuring the VCS are kept informed of what each other are doing, as well as what is happening within the public sector, the VCS has a chance to voice any concerns, needs or ideas to people who can help, for example someone within the VCS, a commissioner of services or the Lead of a Strategy.

I am happy to discuss any of this with groups across the county, so if you would like an informal chat, do get in touch.

John Gray

IT Support and Building Management

01452 332424 | johng@gavca.org.uk

My work combines two disparate roles: IT Support and Buildings Management.

Before joining GAVCA I worked in a large financial organisation which had thousands of PCs and hundreds of servers, so dealing with the hardware and software of GAVCA's rather smaller number, including the connection from our Cheltenham office, is a more manageable proposition.

Combined with this I have responsibility for the buildings management of Beatrice Webb House, in which there are four further charities and a commercial organisation, requiring close liaison with the Corporate Property Department of the current leaseholders, Gloucester City Council.

Outside work, a few of my interests are Early Music (say 1200–1750), canals & waterways, and carefully-crafted puns. On non-work days I occasionally sort out problems with people's PCs, laptops and internet connections.

Roisin Harte

Grants Administrator

01452 336273 | roisinh@gavca.org.uk

I have worked at GAVCA – with a few breaks here and there – since 2001, first as part of the VCS Assembly Team and more recently as the Administrator for the Performance Reward Grant Fund.  

My current role is to ensure that the information about the Performance Reward Grant Fund gets out far and wide, that the decision-making panel are well supported, and that the successful grants are carefully monitored.   This is a one-off pot of money and we hope it will leave a lasting legacy for the VCS in Gloucestershire.

Prior to working at GAVCA I spent five years working with volunteers in a project for older people.   This was when I first jumped from the private sector to the VCS and haven’t looked back since!

Jane Jarman

Development Worker

01452 509708 | janej@gavca.org.uk

Although I am the newest recruit to GAVCA, I have worked in or with the voluntary and community sector since the early 1990s. I enjoyed a similar VCS support and development role as the Forest of Dean Rural Community Fieldworker for seven years before managing a major £2m scheme for young people in the Forest for five years. Through this scheme we set up the FoD Youth Workers Network, which I continue to chair, as well as its subgroup the successful Forest Youth Forum.

Before moving to my last job managing the grant giving programmes for a Gloucestershire based charity, I returned briefly to a role similar to my early Probation Officer career, when I spent three years working with children and young people at risk of offending – and their families.

I have mostly worked in the Forest of Dean, where I live, so covering Gloucester City will be a fresh challenge although I think many of you here will recognise me from my grant giving days. Outside of work, I am a governor at Gloucester College, am passionate about gardening, do increasing amounts of biking and always yearn for the sea.

Charlee Kay

Receptionist/ Volunteering Assistant

01452 332424 | admin@gavca.org.uk

I am the first point of contact for anyone getting in touch with GAVCA and in my role as receptionist I perform general office duties for GAVCA and its members.

In my role as volunteering assistant I support the volunteering brokerage service across the county. I can help your organisation by giving advice about how to write effective volunteering opportunities and also can help individuals find the right volunteering role for them.

I also assist my GAVCA colleagues, including providing support to our training co-ordinator.

I have a Level 3 Award in Community Leadership, which I enjoyed studying for and has given me insight into the Voluntary and Community Sector and local communities.