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Cornwall has a picture-postcard image. That image isn’t accurate or true for many of
the families that live in Cornwall, for a variety of reasons.
What’s important for individuals and communities is not who, or how is delivering services
it is just that they get the support they need, when they need it.
The voluntary and community sector is organic in Cornwall. It’s there because it has to
be there because, to some degree, there is nothing else. The local authority supports
what we do, but actually that doesn’t reflect on the partnership.
It is an equal and balanced partnership.
I think Cornwall Works, as an umbrella branding, means that we’ve got a kind of simple route way
for public, private, voluntary and community sectors to all deliver a service.
We don’t take drivers from central government, we don’t take drivers from local government.
We talk to a. the community, b. the family and c. the individual, and it’s about giving
them the power to make decisions for themselves.
From the perspective of really isolated, rural communities, like Pendeen down in far-west
Cornwall, er, it really needs a partnership approach.
It brings access to different types of communication; different conversations happen, with members
of the voluntary sector.
They’re out there actually working alongside communities, within estates and behind people’s
front doors. I think, unfortunately, because of the circumstances they are living in, not
everybody gets to really enjoy and take advantage the beach and our environment. In my spare
time I’m a coach for St. Ives Surf Life-saving Club. Grassroots, volunteer-run club that
take as many as 85 children over the weekend and provides them with some training around beach
safety, water skills, but, in all essences, it is fun and is around community and sharing
a good time and our environment with their friends.
I just mainly like it in the water.
Volunteering is absolutely essential, to keep everything going. It keeps communities growing.
We can’t pay for everything and the government can’t pay for everything. We have to take
responsibility for providing opportunities for our children.
I think, as with a lot of complex problems, the answers are actually here within our own
communities. I think with the right support, er, and our range of partners,
we can actually come up with the solutions ourselves.
Cornwall as a place is actually pretty unique and I think our approach is pretty unique.
I think the partnership with the voluntary and community sector just gets us closer to
our communities and also to some of our most vulnerable individuals and those facing the
greatest challenges.
We both bring different experiences and different forms of expertise to the coalition to tackle that.