BPRCVS: A Legacy of Community Support (1990–2000) Part 6

Rebuilding Community in a Decade of Challenge and Change  
As the new millennium approached, the communities of Burnley, Pendle, and Rossendale found themselves navigating the complex legacies of industrial decline. Once proud centres of textile manufacturing, footwear production, and heavy engineering, these East Lancashire towns had borne the brunt of post-war deindustrialisation. The closure of mills, factories, and coal depots in the 1970s and 1980s had left economic scars that were still raw in the 1990s.  
Unemployment remained persistently high, and many families who had relied on stable, skilled work across generations were now struggling to make ends meet. With limited job prospects and a welfare system undergoing major reform, the region faced an identity crisis and a growing need for support services that could fill the void left by shrinking public provision.  
Amidst this turbulence, the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Council for Voluntary Service (BPRCVS) emerged as a vital force for stability, empowerment, and hope. No longer just a coordinator of voluntary organisations, BPRCVS became a lifeline for individuals and families at risk of being left behind. The 1990s marked a profound period of growth for the organisation—not only in the services it delivered, but in its geographic reach, its social impact, and its role in shaping the wider third sector across East Lancashire.  ​

This was a decade in which the very definition of "community support" was reimagined. From crisis food parcels to long-term accommodation projects, from carer advocacy to regional volunteer infrastructure, BPRCVS embedded itself into the daily lives of thousands. It operated at both a grassroots and strategic level offering practical aid to those in immediate distress whilst also advising local authorities on community care plans, funding models, and inclusive service delivery.

It developed partnerships with everyone from housing associations and GPs to schools and churches. Through this web of collaboration, BPRCVS extended a safety net beneath the region’s most vulnerable—without judgment and without bureaucracy.  

At the heart of this work was a deep respect for the power of ordinary people to do extraordinary things. Whether through volunteer drivers ferrying elderly residents to the shops, or youth-led environmental projects rescuing frogspawn from drying ponds, BPRCVS never lost sight of the value of personal agency. It treated volunteering not simply as a civic duty, but as a form of empowerment—a way to rebuild confidence, develop skills, and reclaim a sense of belonging.  

This decade also saw BPRCVS invest in its own future. Under the leadership of figures like Dorothy Lowe and Terry Hephrun, the organisation pursued a long-standing vision to create a central hub for the voluntary sector. It was a physical embodiment of BPRCVS’s philosophy: that social change happens best when people work together.  

Through innovation, tenacity, and compassion, BPRCVS helped steer Burnley, Pendle, and Rossendale through one of the most challenging periods in modern history. It did not wait for solutions to come from above—it built them from the ground up. And in doing so, it not only sustained lives, but helped to reweave the torn fabric of community itself.  ​

Community in Crisis: Early 1990s Social Challenges

Young Volunteers in Action – Pupils from Ivy Bank and Towneley High join forces with BPRCVS at Burnley’s Kwik Save in the early 1990s, encouraging shoppers to donate tins and packets for emergency food parcels. Their efforts supported struggling families across the town during a time of increasing need.

The early 1990s were no ordinary time for Burnley, Pendle, and Rossendale they were years when the very foundation of community life was being shaken to its core. Once the roaring heartlands of Britain’s industrial machine, East Lancashire entered the decade carrying the weight of redundancy, boarded-up factories, and a growing sense of abandonment.  
The national mood wasn’t much brighter. Britain had just stumbled out of one recession in the late 1980s, only to fall straight into another by 1991.  
The banks were wobbling. Interest rates soared. And for towns that had already lost their economic lifeblood, this second blow was crippling. Unemployment spiked across the UK. 
In Burnley, the jobless rate surged well into double digits. Pendle’s textile towns saw waves of layoffs as even the last surviving looms fell silent. And in Rossendale, shoemakers shut up shop as cheap imports flooded the market.  
But it wasn’t just jobs that vanished. Security vanished. Pride vanished. And as national policies shifted, support structures began to collapse too.  
The 1990s ushered in a new era of austerity and welfare reform. Benefit eligibility tightened. Local authority budgets were slashed. The 1991 Social Security Act brought stricter means-testing and tougher sanctions. Meanwhile, changes to housing benefit left thousands of tenants teetering on the edge of eviction. For many, this wasn’t just a financial crisis it was a social and emotional one. It was a new kind of poverty; one made worse by isolation and the growing belief that they’d been forgotten by those in power.  
And yet, amidst this growing despair, there was a light still burning.  
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Enter BPRCVS the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Council for Voluntary Service. At a time when national systems were failing, BPRCVS was rolling up its sleeves. It wasn’t about making headlines it was about making a difference. Quietly, practically, relentlessly.  

The food itself came from a patchwork of generosity churches, schools, local mosques, and community members bringing what they could. Harvest Festivals became critical supply drives.  

While the nation debated budgets and benefit caps at Christmas, BPRCVS volunteers packed hundreds of festive hampers, delivering them to elderly residents who would otherwise spend the season alone. These weren’t just deliveries they were acts of kindness with messages that said: You still matter. We haven’t forgotten you.  

And still, the need kept growing.  

The Distress Relief Fund, first formed in the 1950s, was revived and reinforced. It didn’t hand out cash it handed out dignity. Struggling families could receive beds for their children, working cookers, warm winter clothing, all coordinated discreetly and efficiently. In some cases, BPRCVS staff or volunteers would go shopping with applicants, making sure their needs were met with compassion.  

And make no mistake: this was no charity handout culture. BPRCVS didn’t see poverty as weakness it saw it as something created by systems, not individuals. The goal wasn’t just to ease suffering it was to build resilience.  To create a web of care that could catch people before they hit rock bottom.  

Behind all this work was a remarkable coalition: social workers, teachers, faith leaders, pensioners, college students, and those who had once needed help themselves. The crisis didn’t divide them it united them.  

BPRCVS became the beating heart of that effort.  

Its office on Hammerton Street hummed with activity phone calls, emergency referrals, meetings with local agencies. It wasn’t glamorous. It was often exhausting. But it was real work that changed real lives.  
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The early 1990s were a time when the cracks in Britain’s social fabric became canyons. But in Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, those canyons were bridged by kindness, coordination, and a belief in community.  

The Gulf War Appeal: A Community United in Support  

In early 1991, as the First Gulf War dominated headlines and British troops were deployed to the Middle East, BPRCVS once again proved that its reach extended far beyond domestic hardship. In a powerful show of solidarity, the organisation launched the Gulf War Appeal in partnership with the Burnley Express, offering local people a direct way to show support for service men and women stationed on the front lines.  

This appeal was more than a fundraising initiative it was a rallying call. In just a matter of weeks, it mobilised schools, businesses, community groups, and families across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale. At its heart was a simple but deeply human idea: to send a piece of home to those far from it. 
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Dorothy Lowe, Chris Cheeseman, and Lina Hey pack comfort boxes during BPRCVS’s Operation Granby appeal in early 1991. In partnership with the Burnley Express, the campaign united the community to send hundreds of shoeboxes filled with essentials and morale-boosting items to troops from Burnley and Pendle serving in the Gulf War.

Local shoe manufacturer Lambert Howarth donated hundreds of empty shoeboxes. United Carriers stepped in to offer affordable transport, helping the parcels reach troops stationed in the Gulf just two weeks after the appeal was launched.  
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Charity events were held in churches and community halls, schools collected toiletries and stationery, and donations poured in. People gave books, writing sets, sweets, disposable razors, phone cards, and personal messages small comforts that carried enormous emotional weight.  
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By the time the hostilities ended, the appeal had sent around 900 parcels, with an estimated value of £5,500 in donated goods. The feedback from troops was overwhelmingly heartfelt. One letter, received by BPRCVS from Sergeant Dave Leyland of Earby, captured the gratitude felt by so many on the front lines. He wrote to thank “everyone back home,” saying that the letters and parcels “were the biggest single factor in the Allies winning the war so quickly.”  
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It also served as a reminder that BPRCVS’s mission went far beyond its borough boundaries. Whether responding to crisis at home or showing solidarity abroad, the organisation remained steadfast in its belief that when people come together, powerful things happen.  ​

Tackling Homelessness and Youth Marginalisation  

Throughout the early 1990s, the Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Council for Voluntary Service (BPRCVS) recognised that while the effects of poverty and recession were widespread, no group was falling through the cracks faster or harder—than young people. Youth unemployment was rising fast, family breakdowns were becoming more common, and the support systems that once offered a safety net were increasingly stretched to the limit. Nowhere was this more visible than in the growing number of 16 to 25-year-olds experiencing homelessness across East Lancashire.  
For BPRCVS, this was a call to action.  
BPRCVS had its ear to the ground. In 1987, through its Community Concern Group, the organisation began tracking a worrying rise in young people turning up at food parcel distribution points without stable accommodation. Some had been kicked out of overcrowded or unsafe family homes; others were leaving care or fleeing difficult domestic situations. The lack of affordable housing, rising benefit restrictions, and a patchy statutory response left many in a state of constant instability—sofa-surfing, staying in unsafe lodgings, or sleeping rough.  
BPRCVS responded with characteristic determination. By 1990, it had launched the Housing for Young People Project, a pioneering initiative aimed at offering both shelter and structured support to some of the borough’s most vulnerable residents. Working with Burnley Borough Council, Bradford and Northern Housing Association, and various local contractors, BPRCVS transformed a series of standard three-bedroomed flats into shared, communal living spaces known as bedsits.  
BPRCVS didn’t stop at providing a roof. At the heart of the project was its commitment to holistic, human-centred care. Staff such as Reverend Chris Cheeseman, the original Co-ordinator of the project, and later John Elson, the dedicated Accommodation Officer appointed in 1992, offered consistent, compassionate guidance.  
Partnerships also played a key role. Collaboration with Crisis UK, the national homelessness charity, brought valuable resources, training, and legitimacy to the local programme. A grant from Crisis UK meant BPRCVS was able to appoint a Field Worker, Joe Shirras, whose face-to-face engagement with residents significantly deepened the impact of the project.  
By 1992, the project had grown from a single pilot property to a multi-site network of supported housing, with plans underway for a purpose-built development of eight self-contained bed-sits on Albion Terrace. 



BPRCVS understood that housing was just the beginning. Real change came from community through connection, empowerment, and belief. Residents were encouraged to engage with volunteering opportunities, job training, and even support other service users. This peer-based model allowed many young people not only to survive but to thrive.  
In the face of national indifference, where homelessness was often treated as a consequence of personal failure, BPRCVS told a different story, a story of potential, not punishment. In doing so, it helped shape the future of dozens of young lives across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale.  
BPRCVS was building second chances - doing so one young person at a time.  
To be continued… watch out for the second instalment of this article tomorrow. 
The East Lancashire Voluntary Sector Resource Centre: A New Home for BPRCVS  
By the mid-1990s, it was becoming clear to the team at BPRCVS that the voluntary sector in East Lancashire had outgrown its scattered, makeshift offices and improvised meeting spaces.  
For decades, the organisation had operated from its long-standing premises at Hammerton Street in Burnley a building full of history and memories, but increasingly unfit for the scale of ambition BPRCVS was beginning to embody.  
Chief Officer Dorothy Lowe, whose leadership had already steered the organisation through major expansions in service delivery and regional reach, set her sights on a new goal: to create a centrally located, purpose-built community hub—a space where voluntary, community, and faith-based organisations could work side by side, access shared resources, and develop stronger collaborations. It would be more than just an office block.  
In 1995, writing in the organisation’s Diamond Jubilee publication, Dorothy stated with conviction:  
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"One of my personal goals is to secure funding for a centrally located community resource and information centre in Burnley and I have always said that I would not retire until this was achieved."  ​

It was a bold vision, and one that required significant investment. But as was often the case with BPRCVS, where there was passion, determination, and community need, solutions soon followed. ​

The Former Water Board Offices on Yorkshire Street In the late 1990s. Soon to become the East Lancashire Voluntary Sector Resource Centre, a new hub for BPRCVS and community organisations across the region. 

By April 1998, thanks to the work of a dedicated steering group and strong partnerships with regional charities and funders, BPRCVS had secured a £437,000 grant from the National Lottery Charities Board to make the project a reality.  
A long list of buildings was considered everything from the Old Court House and Burnley Wharf to Post Office premises, Bank Parade offices, and even modern business parks on the edge of town. One building stood out: the former Water Board offices on Yorkshire Street. Centrally located, substantial in size, and solidly built, the property offered both accessibility and room for growth.  
By February 1999, the purchase was finalised for £150,000, and BPRCVS formally took possession of the building later that year. What followed was a period of extensive renovation and redesign, including the installation of disabled access, meeting rooms, private offices, and shared facilities. Within six months, the East Lancashire Voluntary Sector Resource Centre known locally as "Yorkshire Street" was officially open for business.  
The new centre was an immediate success. It quickly attracted a range of tenants and partner organisations, each bringing their own specialism to the collective mission of community support. The British Trust for Conservation Volunteers was the first to move in, followed by the East Lancashire Deaf Society, the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, and many others. For the first time, these organisations could work in close proximity sharing ideas, resources, and a sense of common purpose.  

Kim Coverdale, Wildlife Trust, one of the first tenants (and still a tenant today) summed it up perfectly: "The original reason we moved in was that too often voluntary groups become inward-looking. But here, you network naturally with people doing different things. It’s not just about services it’s about relationships. And this building makes that possible.

Staff and volunteers moving office supplies into the new CVS Centre on Yorkshire Street—marking a new chapter for BPRCVS as it established a permanent home for community support in East Lancashire.

From the front reception to the communal kitchen, it was a place where residents, staff, and service users felt welcome.  A centre rooted in community ownership, not just organisational identity.  
For BPRCVS, the centre also represented an essential shift in infrastructure.  
No longer confined to a corner of town, the organisation now had the space, visibility, and facilities to match its expanding role across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale. It became the beating heart of local civil society the place where a campaign might be born over coffee, a housing crisis resolved in a private room, or a young volunteer find their first placement and sense of purpose.  
The East Lancashire Voluntary Sector Resource Centre future-proofed the voluntary sector for the 21st century. It created a legacy that continues to serve the people of East Lancashire to this day.  
Dorothy Lowe did eventually retire handing the helm over to Terry Hephrun. Dorothy’s ambition for BPRCVS had once again proved that community is strongest when it has both a place to gather and a shared dream to pursue.  
Carers Contact: Answering a Silent Need  
In 1995, a quiet but significant shift occurred in social policy.  
For the first time, national legislation began to formally acknowledge what millions of families had long known that unpaid carers were the backbone of community care in Britain. The introduction of the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 was a watershed moment.  
It recognised the unique challenges faced by those providing ongoing care for loved ones with long-term illnesses, disabilities, or age-related needs. Across East Lancashire, this legislative change echoed loudly, particularly in communities already strained by poverty, poor health outcomes, and under-resourced statutory services.  
The Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Council for Voluntary Service (BPRCVS), with its ear to the ground and a history of responding to evolving social needs, quickly realised that this change in policy had uncovered a vast but largely invisible population. Carers, many of them women, many elderly, and many juggling multiple roles, had been struggling in silence, often unaware they had rights, or even that they could ask for help.  
BPRCVS launched a Carers Helpline, initially staffed by volunteers and supported by a small project team. The phone line quickly proved indispensable.  
Within months, the volume of calls grew as word spread among GP surgeries, community groups, and social workers. Many carers phoned, not to ask for services, but simply to talk, to share their burdens, to ask questions about benefits, or to find out if what they were doing even counted as caring.  
The project was soon expanded into a dedicated service: Carers Contact. By the turn of the millennium, it was supporting over 340 carers across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale and that number was rising every month.  
BPRCVS understood that isolation was one of the deepest wounds a carer could suffer and so the project set out to rebuild social connection and personal wellbeing through a packed programme of events and opportunities.  
The now-famous "Carefree Days" became a highlight of the calendar. These included day trips to York, Blackpool, Southport, and local beauty spots brief but cherished escapes from the 24/7 responsibilities that many carers faced.  
For many attendees, these were the only breaks they’d had in years. Other initiatives included pamper sessions, gentle exercise and yoga classes, and basic computer training, which helped carers stay connected in an increasingly digital world.  
Young carers, often overlooked and under-supported, were given space to connect with peers, attend activity days, and build skills that would help them cope with their unique challenges. BME carers, particularly in Asian and Eastern European communities, were reached through translated materials, community liaison workers, and culturally sensitive events. The project became a model of inclusive practice, long before such language became widespread in the voluntary, community and faith sector.  
One of the project’s crowning achievements and still one of its most referenced legacies—was the development of the A–Z Guide for Carers.  
This comprehensive, user-friendly directory brought together every known support service a carer might need: from transport and home adaptations, to respite care, support groups, disability benefits, and disease specific organisations like the Alzheimer’s Society or Parkinson’s UK. Tangible proof of BPRCVS’s commitment to not just listening, but equipping and empowering.  
As the decade closed, BPRCVS’s model of carer support began influencing wider discussions in East Lancashire about the role of unpaid care in the NHS and social care ecosystems. Carers Contact had not only improved lives it had helped change the conversation.  


Driving Change: Communicars and the Spirit of Volunteering  
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The seeds of the idea for a volunteer-led transport scheme were planted in 1936, when the Burnley Citizens’ Guild first proposed community-based transport for the elderly and housebound. It would take decades of social change, rising awareness of isolation, and the quiet persistence of the voluntary sector for the vision to become reality.  

By the early 1990s, the need was urgent and undeniable. Public transport services across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale were becoming increasingly limited particularly in the rural villages and outlying areas that many elderly or disabled people called home. Cuts to bus routes, mobility difficulties, and the rising costs of taxis left countless individuals effectively stranded.  

People missed hospital appointments, gave up on social activities, or simply stopped going out altogether. Isolation wasn’t just a risk it was becoming a way of life.  

In 1993, drawing on its long tradition of grassroots coordination, BPRCVS united several small, informal driving schemes that had popped up in Rawtenstall, Haslingden, Pendle and Burnley.  
These had been run by dedicated local volunteers, but lacked the structure and sustainability needed to keep going in the long term.  

Under BPRCVS’s leadership, these fragmented efforts were brought together into a single, cohesive service: Communicars.  

Communicars was simple but transformative. A team of trained and vetted volunteer drivers used their own cars to transport people to essential appointments, shops, hairdressers, lunch clubs, day centres, and social events.  

Clients paid a small mileage-based fee to cover expenses, but the service was run with empathy, not profit in mind. For many users, it wasn’t just about getting from A to B it was about being seen, supported, and part of the world again.  

Drivers often stopped to help people to their door, waited during appointments, and chatted along the way turning what could have been a transactional service into something altogether warmer and more dignified.  

In an era when statutory services were stretched thin and transport barriers often undermined care, BPRCVS filled a critical gap.  

Each journey was a quiet act of community care. The drivers, retired men and women, part-time workers, young parents with a few hours to spare were the lifeblood of the service. BPRCVS supported them not just with training and insurance, but with community and recognition.  ​

It was about freedom, dignity, and connection. It was about showing that no one should be left behind because they couldn't drive or afford a fare and, in every journey, made, in every door held open, in every kind word exchanged on the way to the GP or the post office, the spirit of BPRCVS shone through compassion in motion.  ​

BPRCVS celebrates National Volunteers Week in the early 1990s, thanking over 50 volunteers for their dedication and service. Pictured centre is Ruth Palmer, Chair of the CVS, joined by staff and a few of the volunteers honoured during an evening of entertainment and appreciation at Central Methodist Church.

By the close of the 1990s, Communicars had become one of the most cherished and well-known services in BPRCVS’s growing portfolio.  
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Sustaining and Expanding Volunteerism  
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The 1990s were a golden age for grassroots engagement in Burnley, Pendle, and Rossendale and much of that momentum was driven by the tireless work of the BPRCVS Volunteer Bureau.  
At a time when economic hardship and public sector cuts were threatening the fabric of community life, volunteering emerged not just as a compassionate response, but as a powerful tool for social cohesion, personal growth, and civic revival.  
BPRCVS had always believed in the power of volunteering but in the 1990s, that belief became a strategic priority.  
Recognising the changing nature of both community needs and individual aspirations, the Volunteer Bureau expanded its reach, refined its systems, and repositioned volunteering as something far more dynamic than just “helping out.” It became a pathway to opportunity, confidence, and connection.  
In 1991 alone, the bureau coordinated over 400 volunteer placements a record-breaking figure at the time.  
Volunteers found themselves visiting isolated elderly people, assisting people with disabilities, supporting families affected by Alzheimer’s, serving meals, running charity shops, planting community gardens, staffing advice centres and more! The scope of roles reflected the diversity of need—and the flexibility of the local volunteer spirit.  
Importantly, BPRCVS ensured that volunteering was accessible to all. Whether someone was retired and looking to give back, unemployed and seeking structure, or a young person hoping to gain experience, the bureau matched skills and interests with meaningful opportunities.  
The organisation’s philosophy was clear: volunteering benefits everyone.  
As Jane Hadley, Volunteer Bureau Organiser at the time, put it:  
"Promoting volunteering has a two-fold effect: new people offer their services, and more of the community gain from their help." 
It wasn’t charity it was exchange, empowerment, and investment in human potential.  
In 1992’s Volunteer Week, BPRCVS organised a festival of gratitude and awareness. Nelson’s Arndale Centre hosted a vibrant exhibition, featuring information stalls, personal testimonies, and interactive displays.  
Meanwhile, a series of thank-you evenings were held across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, giving long-time volunteers the recognition they deserved and inspiring new recruits to come forward.  
BPRCVS also understood that volunteering could be a powerful route back into the workforce. For many people displaced by the economic upheavals of the 1980s, voluntary roles offered a chance to rebuild confidence, learn new skills, and re-enter employment.  
The bureau worked closely with Jobcentres, local training providers, and community groups to ensure that volunteering was recognised not as a gap in a CV, but as a gateway to a new chapter.  
For some, it even led to a career: former volunteers went on to become support workers, care staff, administrators, and project leads within the very organisations they first encountered through BPRCVS.  
The bureau also led the charge on diversifying the volunteer base.  
Efforts were made to include people from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities, as well as those with disabilities, carers, and young people aged 14 to 25.  
Volunteer stories were often captured and shared in newsletters, local press features, and at public events, helping to build a culture of appreciation and aspiration around civic service.  Telling a tale of resilience, dignity, empowerment, and the belief that everyone had something to give.  
As the decade ended, BPRCVS’s volunteer infrastructure was more than just a support function it was a movement in its own right, sustaining dozens of projects across the region and providing the heartbeat for community action.  
Extending Influence: Regional Leadership and Inclusive Practice  


By the mid-1990s, BPRCVS was no longer just a local support body it had become a strategic force across East Lancashire, recognised for its ability to bridge grassroots insight and regional policy.  Playing a pivotal role in shaping how health, social care, and community development were planned and delivered.  
At the heart of this evolution was BPRCVS’s involvement in the implementation of the NHS and Community Care Act 1990 a landmark piece of legislation that sought to revolutionise the way care was delivered in the UK.  
The Act placed new responsibilities on local authorities to assess individual needs and ensure services were person-centred, whilst also creating new opportunities for the voluntary sector to play a role in delivering tailored support outside of traditional hospital or residential care settings.  
BPRCVS seized the moment. With decades of grassroots experience and established partnerships across Burnley, Pendle, and Rossendale, strengthened its position as a bridge between statutory services and community needs.  
The organisation took part in Lancashire County Council’s Community Care Planning Group, bringing the voices of local charities, service users, and volunteers into spaces where decisions were being made.  
BPRCVS helped shape the content and delivery of community care plans, particularly those focused on older adults, carers, people with disabilities, and those experiencing social exclusion.  
One of its key contributions was advocacy for stable and sustainable funding. In countless strategy meetings and consultations, BPRCVS lobbied for the introduction of three-year funding cycles for voluntary organisations, arguing that short-term grants undermined service stability and innovation.  This continues today. 
BPRCVS became a key regional voice in challenging this precarious model and their efforts contributed to a broader movement that led some funders and councils to re-evaluate their approach to community grants and contracts.  
In parallel, BPRCVS also played an active role in shaping statutory complaints procedures under the new Act. It sat on several local review panels, helping ensure that the voices of service users particularly those let down by failing care systems—were heard, documented, and acted upon.  
While policy and strategic work expanded, BPRCVS never lost sight of its grassroots mission. During the 1990s, it deepened its commitment to under-represented communities, particularly those with growing Black and Asian populations.  
Recognising the barriers faced by many Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) residents, especially Asian women, BPRCVS launched targeted initiatives designed to build confidence, improve health outcomes, and increase access to learning and support.  
Among the most successful were its sewing and health education workshops, which blended practical skills development with crucial health awareness in a culturally sensitive environment.  
Through these initiatives, BPRCVS helped reduce cultural isolation, empowered women to advocate for their families, and created bridges between traditionally marginalised communities and mainstream services.  
Some participants went on to engage in volunteering, ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) classes, or became community health champions. In every case, BPRCVS demonstrated its hallmark approach: start with what people need, build trust, and create pathways to something greater.  
By the end of the decade, BPRCVS was no longer just Burnley’s CVS.  
It was a regional leader, connector, and innovator, shaping practice, influencing policy, and modelling inclusive support at every level.  
It had proven that local knowledge could inform national change, and that when the voluntary sector is truly valued and supported, it can reach people in ways no statutory system ever could.  
A Decade of Deepening Impact  


The Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale Council for Voluntary Service (BPRCVS) stood as more than just a local institution it had become a cornerstone of East Lancashire’s resilience, a trusted architect of community-led change in an era of uncertainty.  
What began as a coordinating body for local charities had evolved into a dynamic engine for social innovation, grassroots empowerment, and policy influence. Its work during the decade not only supported thousands of people directly, but fundamentally reimagined what community service could look like in the modern age.  
It tackled crises not as isolated emergencies but as symptoms of deeper social disconnection. Whether launching Communicars to combat isolation, developing Carers Contact to support the hidden backbone of care, or pioneering youth housing projects to offer vulnerable young people a second chance, BPRCVS led with compassion, not charity and with coordination, not chaos.  
One of the organisation’s most profound strengths was its ability to hold the personal and the political in balance. While volunteers delivered food parcels, drove neighbours to hospital, or staffed advice desks in church halls, the CVS team was also shaping strategy advocating for longer-term funding, sitting on statutory review panels, and ensuring marginalised voices were heard in county-level decision-making.  
It built partnerships not just with other charities, but with councils, housing associations, GP practices, schools, and national funders always acting as a bridge between systems and people, between policy and lived experience.  
Throughout the decade, BPRCVS also became a model of how to grow without losing your soul. It professionalised without becoming bureaucratic. It expanded its regional influence while staying rooted in local streets, neighbourhoods, and voices.  
The opening of the East Lancashire Voluntary Sector Resource Centre in 1999 was not just a milestone of bricks and mortar it was a symbol of permanence, progress, and the organisation’s commitment to building a better future from the ground up.  
Crucially, the 1990s also saw BPRCVS double down on inclusive practice. Through health workshops for Asian women, support services for young carers, and community engagement with diverse cultural groups, the organisation challenged the idea that some people were “hard to reach.” Instead, it asked different questions: Are we reaching in the right way? Are we listening with the right ears? That commitment to genuine accessibility and empathy helped build trust where formal systems too often faltered.  
Underpinning all of this was one simple, radical idea: everyone has something to give. In an age when many institutions were pulling back, BPRCVS stood firm in the belief that community is made stronger not by what it has, but by what it shares. Volunteers are not auxiliary they are essential.  
Their contributions, whether a phone call, a shopping trip, or a moment of kindness, formed the invisible threads that stitched the region’s social fabric back together.  
As the new millennium dawned, the legacy of the 1990s was unmistakable. BPRCVS had not merely weathered the storms of economic downturn and social fragmentation it had transformed them into opportunities for solidarity, creativity, and reinvention. It had proven that when local people are trusted, supported, and connected, they can meet challenges head-on and build something stronger than what came before.  
BPRCVS entered the 2000s not just as a service provider, but as a movement, a living example of what collective care and visionary leadership can achieve. It had redefined the very meaning of voluntary action, not as a gap-filler for a retreating state, but as a powerful, permanent force for dignity, belonging, and hope in East Lancashire. 
If you would like to get involved in BPRCVS work, please email [email protected] 
Watch this space for the next instalment of BPRCVS:  A Legacy of Community Support.