underCOVER Celebrates its 1st Anniversary

Despite the rain and the murky weather, Voluntary Action's one-stop-shop in Barrhead, underCOVER, enjoyed a successful 1st anniversary party, attracting a number of locals and volunteers for cake and a cuppa. 

The party, which took place last Saturday, 21st April, saw much local support with passers-by dropping in to celebrate and local business, Café Le Ossa, situated on Barrhead's Main Street, providing cakes and biscuits for the celebrations.

Anne Kidd, Joint Chief Officer at Voluntary Action said "the event was a great success, and helped to show how welcoming the Barrhead community has been to us."  She continued by emphasising that "it has been a truly positive experience being situated here in the heart of Barrhead, and we hope we can build on the great relationships we've built in the past year.  We're really looking forward to working with new and existing partners in the future."

In 2002, the Westbourne Centre in Barrhead was identified as a possible site for expanding Voluntary Action, and within a few years, those hopes became a reality.  In April 2006, Voluntary Action officially moved in to its new one-stop-shop, underCOVER, working to help Communities, Organisations and Volunteers in East Renfrewshire.

The building isn't only a site for Voluntary Action rather, it is a community building for organisations and individuals.  Other organisations currently involved in the underCOVER project are: Renfrewshire Association for Mental Health (RAMH), Enable Scotland and RCA Trust; all of whom have the opportunity to work together to create a positive and healthy community.

But how does underCOVER help other organisations and individuals? In underCOVER, organisations and individuals can access information, advice and training, organise meetings, network with others in the same field of interest or use the meeting room facilities all in the same building.

To celebrate underCOVER's 1st Anniversary, and to enhance our COVER of COVER (Communities, Organisations and Volunteers in East Renfrewshire), Voluntary Action has embarked on a number of new projects and re-brands, including our GroundCOVER project to enhance our garden area, the re-brand of our Newslink magazine to the its new brand of VA COVER, and the re-branding of our monthly e-bulletin from Discover to VA COVER Update.

To find out more about underCOVER or to enquire about renting office and meeting spaces, call 0141 876 9555, email: office@voluntaryaction-er.org.uk.

If you didn't get a chance to come by last Saturday, pop in to find out what's going on at underCOVER.  We're situated at 56 Kelburn Street, Barrhead; between the Lidl and Tesco car parks.