An evening to celebrate the time and commitment provided tirelessly by the trustees of Penwith’s five Day Centres was enjoyed by over 20 people at a special event hosted by Pengarth Day Centre, on 8th September 2009.

In addition to Pengarth, trustees from St Mary’s Haven, Hayle, St Ives and St Just Day Centre’s were also present.

Cornwall Council Councillor Chris Goninan chaired the evening and introduced a range of guest speakers who updated the trustees on a variety of topic areas.

Tony Hughes, Area Manager from Cornwall Council’s Directorate of Adult Social Care & Support, gave an overview of the changing world of both social care and local government funding.

Doug Polman, West Cornwall Interlink Officer, explained the benefits of the day centres undergoing an ‘organisational health check’ to ensure all the necessary governance arrangements are in place and offered support in helping them achieve this.

Dave Hocking, Capacity Building Manager from Cornwall Rural Community Manager, highlighted a range of opportunities availability to the day centres including training and business development.

Nigel Clark, from Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Age Concern, provided details of other support that could be accessed by the day centres as well as emphasising the need to continually strive for improvements so that the centres offer a stimulating and enjoyable environment for the people that attend.

As well as providing a ‘thank you’ to the trustees for all their hard work the event also acted as the official launch for the Penwith Day Centre Group which has recently been formalised. Despite being independent charities the partnership involves all of the five Day Centres working collaboratively together with the aim of ensuring that the sustainability of the vital services they provide for the elderly people of Penwith.

The partnership has received ongoing support from various organisation including Cornwall Council, Cornwall Rural Community Council and Age Concern Cornwall & Isles of Scilly.

To date important issues such funding, training, volunteers, and marketing of the centres have all been discussed by the group. In addition another key driver for formalising the partnership and adopting a ‘Terms of Reference’ has been the desire to give the centres a ‘voice’ and higher profile with the key decision makers and funding bodies.

The Penwith Day Centre Group meetings are held on a regular basis and include managers from all of the centres along with nominated trustee representatives. The idea of the special ‘Trustee Event’ was suggested by the group to fully recognise the hard work of all the trustees and allow them all to benefit from a networking opportunity.

The Trustee Event was so well received that it has been decided to hold to further events where once again all the trustees from the five centres are involved - allowing them to network, share best practice and listen to invited expert speakers on a variety of key topics. It is also planned that events will rotate around all of the centres allowing each one to show case the facilities on offer. Cornwall Rural Community Council has agreed to assist with the arrangements for this as part of its ongoing support for the partnership.

Chris Goninan said “This was a very successful evening because the work of the trustees and other volunteers in the community needs to be acknowledged. Also the fact that the Day Centres in Penwith are working in partnership together gives them much more strength in discussions with the commissioners”.