East Hampshire CAB recently held its Annual General Meeting followed by a district meeting. Over 60 members attended, from all three East Hampshire bureaux, Alton, Bordon and Petersfield. Participants included trustees, volunteers and staff. They were joined by Damian Hinds, who gave the opening address. The values of CAB as an organisation along with the future of advice in East Hants were two of the subjects discussed.
Speakers included Jon Stuart, East Hants & Havant CAB, CEO, Phil Ladds, Chair of the Board of Trustees and Natalie Webb, 2020 Vision for Advice Project Manager. Natalie Webb took this opportunity to run a workshop with participants on how they viewed the role of an advice service in the area. Natalie said “The 2020 Project, which has been funded by Government funding through the Big Lottery offers an ideal opportunity to review advice provision in the area and ensure that the service is meeting the need of the community.” Attendees of the day took part in workshops to help to shape future services.” The brainstorming exercise threw out some interesting results. For example, while everyone agreed that a free advice service available to all members of the local community was important, participants did not feel that being associated to the national organisation of Citizens Advice was paramount in providing a good advice service to East Hants.
Damian was actively involved in the sessions and shared his view both in the workshop and in
his address to participants. He acknowledged that Citizens Advice had a unique ability to help
individuals and influence social policy at Government levels. He commented that lobbying is a big part of political life and CAB is just one of many organisations that focus on bring social policy issues to the attention of the Government. He thanked CAB’s valued contribution to the East Hants community and praised the work of CAB nationally.