BPRCVS: A Legacy of Community Support (2010–2025) – Final article…. For now….

Marking 90 Years of Service to Burnley, Pendle & Rossendale

In a world that has grown increasingly complex, uncertain, and at times fragmented, the role of community has taken on new weight.

For BPRCVS, community has never been a buzzword, but a bedrock principle. Over the last 90 years, from the Great Depression to the Digital Age, its commitment to grassroots care and collaboration has remained unchanged.

The 2010s were a decade of paradoxes. On one hand, we saw unprecedented technological advancement - smartphones in every pocket, instant access to global knowledge, social media bringing us closer (and sometimes further apart).

​On the other, many people across East Lancashire and beyond were experiencing a growing sense of disconnection, marginalisation, and economic strain.

Years of austerity measures had left deep cuts in public services. Youth centres closed. Libraries became quiet echoes of themselves. Mental health services were stretched to breaking point. For many, poverty was no longer a temporary condition, but a chronic state exacerbated by insecure work, food and housing insecurity.

It was in this climate that BPRCVS remained not only relevant, but vital. The organisation did what it had always done find the gaps and quietly, diligently fill them. It offered a warm welcome to the isolated, practical help to the struggling, and a route back to confidence for those who had fallen through society’s cracks.

What made BPRCVS different wasn’t just the range of services it offered it was the spirit in which they were delivered. In a decade defined by algorithms and automation, BPRCVS doubled down on what makes humans whole: conversation, connection, kindness. A car journey offered by a Communicars volunteer became a moment of companionship. A support session for young carers became a space where a child who carried the weight of the world could, for once, put it down.

The early 2020s brought with them a global reckoning. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how fragile many of our systems really were but it also reminded us how powerful local networks could be. While national headlines focused on case numbers and lockdowns, organisations like BPRCVS were delivering food parcels, conducting welfare checks, facilitating online workshops, and keeping spirits up. For the elderly person living alone in Padiham, the single mother shielding in Brierfield, the carer burnt out in Bacup BPRCVS was often the first knock on the door, or the only phone call that day.

Yet the organisation didn’t simply react it evolved. It embraced digital transformation, not as a replacement for human touch, but as a tool to extend its reach. Social media became a way to tell untold stories. Online referrals and Zoom consultations opened access for those who could not travel. And through it all, the person remained central.

Looking back across the long arc of history from the food queues of the 1930s, through the ration books of the 1940s, the rebuilding spirit of the 1950s, the social revolutions of the 1960s and 70s, and into the rapidly modernising decades that followed it becomes clear that BPRCVS has been more than an organisation.

​It has been a witness to history, and a participant in shaping it.

It has adapted to nationalisation, globalisation, digitalisation and still come back to the same truth: that the best answers often begin at the local level, among people who care enough to act.

As we stand in 2025, reflecting on 90 years of service, the phrase “helping people to help others” is not a slogan it’s a promise fulfilled time and time again. A promise made by the founders of the Burnley Citizens’ Guild in 1935, when they spoke of “personal service” and “civic responsibility.” A promise renewed in every volunteer’s act of kindness, every small group funded and mentored, every person whose life was made a little lighter because someone at BPRCVS picked up the phone, knocked on the door, or said: “We’re here to help.”
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And perhaps the most extraordinary thing? That this promise endures not in grand gestures, but in the quiet, daily work of keeping people connected, supported, and seen. It is in these small, persistent acts of care that real community is built not just once, but over and over again.

The Heart of the Sector: Volunteering in a Changed World

The BPRCVS Volunteer Centre has long been the beating heart of volunteering across Burnley, Pendle, and Rossendale. From 2010 through the early 2020s, it has exemplified what it means to “help people to help others,” forging pathways for individuals to contribute, belong, and thrive within their communities. Over more than a decade, the Centre has quietly transformed lives, boosted local organisations, and generated substantial social and economic value often against the odds of austerity, shifting social landscapes, and most recently, a global pandemic.

Between 2014 and 2016 alone, the Volunteer Centre facilitated nearly 2,300 volunteer referrals, registered dozens of new organisations, and created hundreds of volunteering opportunities, reflecting a sustained and growing network that brought new energy to East Lancashire’s voluntary sector.
This work was anchored by dedicated staff whose focus went far beyond administration to building genuine relationships with volunteers and groups.
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Outreach efforts flourished under this ethos, with the Centre regularly engaging the public in libraries, supermarkets, colleges, and job centre bringing volunteering into everyday spaces and inspiring new generations of volunteers. For example, freshers’ fairs consistently attracted dozens to the volunteering cause, while supermarket outreach in Colne and Haslingden reached hundreds with the message of community involvement.

The Centre also played a pivotal role in safeguarding and supporting volunteer-involving organisations. Over the years, it processed hundreds of Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) applications 314 in 2016–17 alone and provided vital training on safeguarding, volunteer supervision, and specialised skills.

The 2015–16 training programme served over 230 learners, underscoring the Centre’s dedication to equipping volunteers and coordinators alike.

Volunteering roles coordinated through the Centre were both diverse and indispensable. Volunteer drivers alone contributed more than 7,000 hours annually in some years, facilitating vital transport for those isolated or with mobility challenges.

Administrative volunteers, connectors, activity helpers, and community café teams rounded out a wide spectrum of roles that powered local services and enriched lives. The sheer scale of this work was clear in economic terms as well: volunteer contributions added over £115,000 of value to the local economy by 2019–20, a figure that reflected both hours given and lives touched.

Annual celebrations such as National Volunteers Week became much-anticipated fixtures, fostering community pride and cross-sector collaboration. These events, held simultaneously in Burnley, Pendle, and Rossendale, brought together dozens of organisations from health and social care groups to animal welfare charities and hundreds of local people, reinforcing the vibrant, interconnected nature of volunteering in the area.

The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented challenges, forcing the Volunteer Centre to swiftly adapt to remote working and digital engagement.

Yet even amid lockdowns, the Centre remained a lifeline, coordinating welfare checks, online training, and volunteer support to ensure that isolated and vulnerable community members continued to receive care and connection. This adaptability reaffirmed BPRCVS’s foundational belief in meeting people where they are and offering practical, compassionate help.
Building on this legacy, BPRCVS launched its latest evolution in volunteering support: the Volunteering for Wellbeing & Community Hub in July 2023.

This new initiative revitalises the spirit and function of the Volunteer Centre by providing a brokerage service that connects individuals with volunteering opportunities across the voluntary, community, faith, and social enterprise (VCFSE) sectors throughout Lancashire.
In its first three quarters, the Hub recruited 40 new volunteers into BPRCVS projects and services and supported 34 unique groups and organisations with their volunteering needs.

The Hub goes beyond recruitment by actively engaging the community through monthly forums that focus on different themes relevant to volunteering. These informal gatherings foster conversation, share best practice, and keep volunteering a current and evolving conversation in the local area.

Importantly, BPRCVS was among the very first organisations awarded the new National Association of Community and Voluntary Action’s (NAVCA) Volunteer Centre Quality Accreditation kite mark, solidifying its position as the only externally accredited Volunteer Centre in East Lancashire. The original Centre’s and now the Hub’s commitment is not just to volume but to quality, evidenced by its consistent achievement of the Volunteer Quality Accreditation (VCQA) for outstanding practice in volunteer management a distinction BPRCVS proudly continues to hold.

Volunteers remain integral not only to community-facing projects but also to the daily operations of BPRCVS itself. From reception and administrative roles contributing over 2,000 hours annually, to cooking and serving meals in the Gannow Community Café (3,552 hours), managing Foodshare (612 hours), tending the Community Garden (1,152 hours), and supporting events and premises upkeep, volunteers underpin the organisation’s heartbeat. Collectively, these efforts represent over 7,400 hours of dedicated service each year, equating to nearly £77,400 of added economic value to the local community.

This sustained volunteer input mirrors the enduring ethos of BPRCVS: that community isn’t built by institutions alone, but by individuals who choose to give their time, skills, and care. As one volunteer shared recently, “I started volunteering here because I wanted to help others, but what I gained was a sense of family and belonging.”

Reflecting back over the years from the formation of Burnley Citizens’ Guild, the BPRCVS Volunteer Centre and now the Volunteering for Wellbeing & Community Hub illustrate the power of connection between people, organisations, and purpose. They show how thoughtful, strategic support for volunteering creates ripples far beyond the individual hours given, strengthening the social fabric of East Lancashire and reaffirming the promise at the heart of BPRCVS: that through kindness and commitment, real community can always be built, sustained, and renewed.
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Carers: Recognising the Unrecognised

Another vital thread in the BPRCVS tapestry is the long-standing support for unpaid carers adults and children alike whose hidden efforts have kept families afloat in times of illness, disability, and mental distress. From 2010 to 2025, carer support evolved significantly within the organisation, not just in name or structure, but in scope, delivery, and response to local and national pressures.
In the early 2010s, support was delivered through what was then known as Carers Contact, a vibrant and far-reaching programme that offered everything from one-to-one advocacy to wellbeing groups, replacement care, pamper days, peer support, and vital emotional space. Thousands of carers registered with the service across Burnley, Pendle, and Rossendale, with 781 new carers identified in a single year at its height. The initiative helped carers develop Peace of Mind contingency plans, access “Time for Me” grant-funded breaks, and engage in support groups like the Grub Club, Café 23, and Creative Carers, which provided opportunities to reconnect with others and themselves.
The true power of this work lay not in its scale, but in its intimacy. For many, it was the first time their role as carer had been recognised not just as a functional title, but as a source of emotional and physical strain. One carer wrote: “This was the first time for ages that I could get out without my ‘cared for.’ I had no timetable to stick to and only had myself to think about. Very much a break for me.”
Equally transformative was the work undertaken with young carers. These were children, some as young as seven, who were helping to care for family members with chronic illness, mental health issues, or addiction. The support they received creative workshops, time-out sessions, confidence-building courses, buddy-up groups, and residential breaks wasn’t just respite; it was restoration. A young person wrote simply: “I feel less angry.” Another, more poignantly, said: “Young Carers makes me feel like I’m not weird for helping my mum I’m not alone.”
The team behind this work operated with a rare mix of compassion, humour, and professionalism. Across hundreds of group sessions and one-to-one visits, the service not only supported but championed the carers it served ensuring their voices shaped local policy, their needs informed public health strategies, and their day-to-day lives felt less invisible.

Over the years, carers and young carers were featured in national campaigns, created DVDs and newsletters, starred in spoken-word performances, and helped design outcome tools still in use today. Seasonal events, such as the Christmas trips, wellbeing retreats, and summer holiday programmes, became annual lifelines.
But change came, as it always does. By 2014, structural funding changes meant BPRCVS no longer delivered the Carers Contact programme in its original form. Yet the commitment to carers never disappeared it simply adapted. The work with young carers
was integrated into broader wellbeing initiatives, and adult carers increasingly found support through BPRCVS’s other strands of delivery, including Social Prescribing, Volunteering for Wellbeing, and Mental Health & Emotional Wellbeing programmes. What had once been separate strands became part of a unified approach to wraparound care.
This evolution culminated in the development of the Health & Wellbeing for Children & Families programme a modern continuation of that early vision. It brought together years of learning to support children and young people facing a wide spectrum of challenges, including those with caring responsibilities. Activities continued during holidays, offering everything from sports and crafts to confidence-building experiences and family trips.
Yet the pressures of the 2020s rising demand, limited resources, and increasing levels of family distress have brought fresh challenges.

By 2024, referrals had soared, and despite its success and popularity, the programme faced a funding shortfall. BPRCVS Trustees had funded the service from reserves for years. This could not continue. In a difficult but transparent decision, BPRCVS paused referrals from Pendle East, Burnley and Rossendale, with hopes to resume in the near future. All planned summer and October half-term activities continue, though services have been paused until funding can be sourced.
This pause is not an ending it’s a moment of reflection and resilience. The team remains in close contact with families and young people, continuing to offer what they can and advocating for new investment.

They have openly asked for testimonials to strengthen funding bids a reminder that the stories of those helped are the most powerful tools in shaping the future. As one carer once wrote in their feedback: “I have found an organisation that can offer me support.” That sentiment remains the beacon that drives BPRCVS forward.


Over the course of 15 years, the organisation’s carer support has been about far more than trips, grants, or activities. It has been about recognition. It has been about seeing those who are too often overlooked, hearing those who don’t ask for help, and offering dignity, respect, and care in return. Though names may change and contracts come and go, that fundamental purpose endures: to recognise the unrecognised, and to remind every carer, adult, child, or those in between, that their work and their wellbeing matters.

Lifted by Wheels: Communicars

From 2010 through 2025, Communicars has remained one of the most trusted, enduring, and quietly transformative services delivered by BPRCVS. A volunteer-led transport scheme for elderly, disabled, and socially isolated people, it has never just been about getting from A to B it’s been about connection, dignity, and community.

As conventional public transport options declined and isolation grew particularly among older adults Communicars offered a lifeline.

The model was simple: volunteer drivers used their own vehicles to take passengers to medical appointments, social activities, shopping trips, and essential errands.

But the impact was profound. For many passengers, these journeys were their only social interaction of the week. A friendly face, a helping hand, and a consistent presence made all the difference.

By 2011, the scheme was already making thousands of trips a year, with over 12,000 single passenger journeys completed between April 2011 and March 2012.

Even when local policy changes, such as reduced concession rates, created uncertainty, Communicars held firm. Staff attended regional meetings, responded to consultations, and advocated fiercely to protect the service for those who relied on it.

Over the years, the scheme weathered changes in funding and structure, always adapting but never compromising its values.
Between 2010 and 2025, Communicars covered tens of thousands of miles, supported hundreds of passengers, and was powered by dozens of volunteer drivers. In 2018–19 alone, volunteers completed 15,659 single trips. In 2022–23, they made 6,954 journeys across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale, covering 16,229 miles and contributing 3,487 hours of unpaid time equating to over £36,000 in economic value to the local area.

Yet the real value lies in the people. PB, a long-term passenger, joined the scheme in 2008 when she could no longer access buses. With Communicars, she could attend lunch clubs, keep doctor and dentist appointments, and visit family again. “It helps me to stay active,” she said, “and being able to socialise is a bonus.” Another story comes from MH, whose late wife was a Communicars user.

After she passed, MH became a volunteer driver himself giving back to the scheme that had supported them. “It makes me feel good,” he said, “I’m helping people who wouldn’t be able to get out otherwise.”

The continuity and warmth of the service has always been driven by its staff. Their encyclopaedic knowledge of the service, her compassion for each passenger and driver, and calm, persistent leadership have guided Communicars through both growth and uncertainty.
Volunteer drivers are recruited, trained, supported, acknowledged and thanked throughout the year.
These volunteers become more than transport providers; they become companions, listeners, and trusted faces. Many passengers request specific drivers, having built long-standing friendships over years of rides and conversations.

Even during difficult periods like the COVID-19 pandemic Communicars adapted quickly, ensuring safe protocols and continuing to support those most in need. Thanks to funding from Children in Need the addition of a 15-seater minibus in recent years, has enabled expansion of the offer, enabling group children’s and adults’ trips and community outings that reduce isolation even further.

In 2025, Communicars remains a flagship programme for BPRCVS not because it is the biggest or loudest, but because it is deeply human. It continues to make an enormous difference to people's daily lives, often quietly, always meaningfully.
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The service isn’t just about transport. It’s about restoring freedom, offering companionship, and making sure that no one in our community is left behind. Communicars continues to lift lives one journey at a time, turning miles into smiles by giving the gift of a lift.

Space for the Sector: The East Lancashire Voluntary Sector Resource Centre

The East Lancashire Voluntary Sector Resource Centre, which BPRCVS had fought so hard to bring to life in the late 1990s, became far more than a headquarters. It evolved into a sanctuary of partnership, resilience, and purpose a true physical embodiment of
what the organisation has always stood for: community empowerment through shared infrastructure.

The building’s journey from concept to cornerstone was itself a testament to perseverance.
Amid growing recognition in the 1990s that the voluntary and community sector lacked secure, affordable, and centralised space, BPRCVS championed the creation of a multi-use hub one that would serve not only its own expanding work, but the wider needs of the sector across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale. Its development marked a turning point in the relationship between the sector and the public realm: no longer would community organisations be relegated to borrowed corners and temporary offices. Here was a home built for them.


By the mid-2010s, the Centre had become a beating heart of community activity.
The building was alive with purpose. On any given day, you might pass a carers’ group meeting in one room, a trustees' board training in another, and a food poverty strategy session down the hall.
BPRCVS had worked intentionally to build not just a tenancy list, but a collaborative system: housing projects, youth charities, carers' services, mental health organisations, refugee support groups, environmental campaigns, and ethnic minority-led initiatives all coexisted under one roof.

The Centre wasn’t simply about occupancy it was about co-location with impact. Groups shared ideas, shared funding applications, shared printers and coffee but more importantly, they shared purpose. The architecture of the building was matched by a shared architecture of trust. Many tenants were supported not just with space, but with access to BPRCVS’s broader services: DBS checks, volunteer management, funding advice, and capacity-building.
Some were new initiatives, given space to grow. Others were longstanding groups who had finally found stability.

Crucially, the Resource Centre modelled how physical space when co-ordinated and resourced properly could become a catalyst for civic strength.
Local authority departments visited regularly. Regional funders held listening events and briefings in its meeting rooms. It became common for statutory and voluntary organisations to meet on neutral ground in the Centre, recognising it as a shared site of knowledge and accountability.

Over the years, the building hosted countless moments that changed lives: the launch of new mental health support programmes; emergency partnership meetings in response to austerity and later the pandemic; welfare hubs during cost-of-living spikes; and the welcoming of new migrants and asylum seekers to East Lancashire. Community groups ran their first AGMs here. Small charities moved in as two-person operations and left as established regional players.
And throughout it all, BPRCVS maintained the vision that space should enable not extract from those working for social good.

During the pandemic years, the Centre became an anchor in the chaos.
Though the building had to adapt to social distancing, hybrid working, and restricted public access, it remained operational and relevant. Staff worked to coordinate volunteer deliveries. Emergency funding briefings were held via Teams from its offices. As restrictions eased, it once again welcomed groups that had lost their venues or had become disconnected from their networks.

In the 2020s, as the demand for locally rooted community support surged again driven by health inequalities, social isolation, digital exclusion, and housing insecurity the importance of the Centre only grew. The building was never flashy, but it was deeply functional, flexible, and welcoming. It offered rooms where relationships could be built, voices could be heard, and strategies could be shaped and still does.

By 2025, the East Lancashire Voluntary Sector Resource Centre stands as more than a physical location it is an institution.

A space that holds the stories, partnerships, and solutions of hundreds of groups and thousands of people over nearly three decades.

It remains the hub from which BPRCVS coordinates its own vital work: from volunteering and group support to social prescribing and community transport. But it is also the platform upon which so many others have built their own paths.
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In an era of rising rents, shrinking office space, and creeping commercialisation of community infrastructure, BPRCVS has never lost sight of the principle that space is a right, not a luxury especially for groups delivering social value and thanks to that vision, the Resource Centre continues to offer not just square footage, but belonging.

Gannow Community Centre: A Cornerstone of Local Support

Since its acquisition in 2017 by BPRCVS, with the support of Gannow Big Local, Gannow Community Centre has grown into a dynamic hub of activity and support for the Burnley community.

Nestled in the heart of the Gannow ward, the Centre has consistently exemplified the very ethos of BPRCVS: enabling grassroots community action, reducing isolation, and supporting local people to flourish through practical, inclusive initiatives.

Over the last decade and a half, Gannow has become a key delivery site for BPRCVS’s community outreach, providing everything from volunteer opportunities and family-focused services to a thriving food share and community café programme.

Early on, Gannow Community Centre quickly established itself as more than just a building. The number of room bookings and the sheer diversity of services it hosted steadily increased.
The Centre provided space for a growing portfolio of VCFSE-led activities and services. These included mental health support groups, youth programmes, training sessions, fitness classes, and advice surgeries run by Citizens Advice and legal professionals.

The Centre attracted over 12,366 visitors in 2022/23 alone, highlighting its importance as a place for connection and opportunity. With 17 regular volunteers giving over 3,500 hours of their time in just one year, the human effort behind Gannow’s success cannot be overstated. Dedicated volunteers have all helped shape the Centre’s story not only by providing services, but by cultivating a warm, welcoming environment that is truly community-led.

A significant element of Gannow's evolution has been the deep-rooted collaboration with Gannow Big Local, a £1 million community-led initiative that sought to improve the lives of local residents through grassroots action.

Since its formation in 2013, the partnership funded over 71 local projects and invested heavily in young people, infrastructure, and family services. With BPRCVS as the Locally Trusted Organisation, the programme catalysed transformation in the area, even helping to reduce anti-social behaviour to zero within six months at one point. By 2024, the programme had come to an end, with a legacy event held to honour its achievements and acknowledge the volunteers who had strived so hard over the years to offer support, opportunity and activities to the people of Gannow and beyond.

Emerging initially as a small-scale support project, the Gannow Food Share programme has since become one of the Centre’s most vital lifelines. Operating with the help of national and local retailers including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Greggs, and Bookers and fuelled by community generosity, the initiative has directly addressed rising food insecurity in Burnley. Over the years, Food Share grew in scale and scope, helping individuals and families weather the dual storms of the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.


Between 2020 and 2023, the programme consistently delivered thousands of food bags annually. In 2022/23 alone, it provided 2,571 food bags, supporting 1,299 individuals and 527 families.

Volunteers played a central role, not just in logistics but in creating a dignified and human-centred experience for those in need. Donations from local organisations such as the Pendleside Soroptimists added an additional layer of sustainability to the service, offering female hygiene products and other essentials that often go overlooked in mainstream food aid.
One anonymous donor, once helped by the programme, now gives back every Monday; a poignant symbol of the reciprocal spirit at the heart of the Gannow Centre’s operations.
Running every Wednesday and Friday morning, the Gannow Community Café became a beacon of hospitality and warmth. Its appeal went beyond affordable meals which included full English breakfasts, light lunches, and weekly specials for a suggested donation of just £2 and instead resided in its welcoming atmosphere, created by a tight-knit team of volunteer kitchen staff. Whether local residents, workers passing through, or VCFSE staff in the area, diners found more than just food they found community.

From a modest beginning offering soup and sandwiches on Wednesday lunchtimes during the winter of 2016 to serving 411 meals in 2018/19, the café grew rapidly. In 2021/22 it saw a 426% increase, serving 2,165 meals to 2,207 diners. In 2022/23, it surpassed this again with 2,636 meals served, continuing to address not only hunger, but loneliness and social disconnection. It has become a routine part of life for many Gannow residents and a symbol of what can be achieved when local people lead with compassion.

The Centre’s outdoor space also flourished over this period, transformed into a vibrant community garden. Volunteers, Community Payback, the Prince’s Trust, and local children from the Active Gannow project helped create raised beds, plant trees, and
maintain flowerbeds. The garden has been a key site for horticulture training, youth engagement, and mental wellbeing.
Its transformation included a creative touch bird feeders made by a local artist using felled ash trees symbolising renewal and resilience.
It was also chosen as one of Burnley’s memorial sites for lives lost during the Covid-19 pandemic, with a cherry blossom tree planted in the grounds as a lasting tribute.
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From regular Volunteer Thank You Breakfasts to Children In Need fundraisers, Macmillan Coffee Mornings, legal and debt advice drop-ins, and the annual Gannow Christmas Cracker, the Centre became a platform for celebration, remembrance, and practical support. In 2021, it even hosted Deputy Labour Leader Angela Rayner, who praised the Centre’s efforts through the pandemic.

Throughout Gannow Community Centre’s evolution BPRCVS has never lost sight of the vital part the centre plays in the community. A meeting place, a hub for support and for some, a lifeline, the centre continues to evolve and meet the needs of the local community.

Resilience in Crisis: A Pandemic Response

The COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2022) was a watershed moment not just for public health, but for the very fabric of everyday life. Across Burnley, Pendle and Rossendale as across the UK lockdowns brought daily routines to a halt. Isolation surged. Services disappeared overnight. Fear was palpable. But while national systems faltered under the weight of the crisis, BPRCVS did what it has always done: convene, connect, and care.
When the first lockdown began in March 2020, BPRCVS acted immediately. Within days, the organisation pivoted into a local emergency hub. Traditional roles were suspended, new partnerships were formed, and the building itself became a command centre for emergency community response. Staff were redeployed, not laid off or furloughed.

Volunteers were rapidly mobilised. Every team transport, carers, children and families, mental health, volunteering stepped forward with flexibility and resolve.
Coordinating with local councils, health partners, and dozens of grassroots groups, BPRCVS became a vital link in the borough’s COVID infrastructure. At the height of the crisis, the organisation oversaw:
· Thousands of emergency food parcels delivered to shielding and vulnerable residents;
· Prescription runs and essential shopping deliveries through Communicars and the volunteer transport network;
· Welfare checks by phone and doorstep, reaching elderly and isolated residents who had no digital access;
· Digital support, including device loans and training, to help people access online appointments, benefits, and family contact;
· Rapid volunteer recruitment, vetting and deployment across multiple roles, from drivers and befriending callers to COVID marshals and vaccination stewards.

​Rather than retract in crisis, BPRCVS expanded. Where some services had to close doors, BPRCVS opened new pathways. Social prescribing link workers shifted from face-to-face appointments to telephone triage. Volunteer Centre staff developed virtual induction and safeguarding session
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Zoom support groups were set up for carers, parents, and people living with anxiety helping them stay connected at a time of deep uncertainty.
Behind the scenes, staff were working extraordinary hours, often from home, many while managing their own emotions, health as well as family health and caring responsibilities.

From coordinating crisis funding to setting up emergency DBS checks, the pace was relentless but so was the organisation’s determination to be useful, effective, and compassionate.


Crucially, BPRCVS also became a trusted communicator. With misinformation rife and many people unsure where to turn, the organisation provided clear, trusted, local information on social media, through emails, and via direct calls.


The organisation worked with public health leads to distribute culturally sensitive messaging across ethnic minority communities, ensuring no one was left behind in the scramble for safety and clarity.
Even as lockdowns eased and the vaccine rollout began, BPRCVS maintained momentum.

Staff supported community vaccination efforts, helped vulnerable people register for jabs, and coordinated volunteers at vaccine centres.


They ensured that those left behind by digital registration systems especially older adults and people with language barriers were not excluded.

By the end of 2022, it was clear that the organisation’s pandemic response had not only helped thousands it had strengthened trust, deepened partnerships, and elevated the role of the voluntary sector in emergency planning.

BPRCVS was recognised not just as a delivery partner, but as a strategic one. Its ability to mobilise, adapt, and lead demonstrated the true value of local infrastructure in national emergencies.


Importantly, the pandemic did not interrupt BPRCVS’s core mission. It simply re-routed its energy away from project silos and toward a collective emergency ethos. The crisis tested every system, but it proved something vital: that BPRCVS is not just a provider of services. It is a custodian of community resilience.


Now, in 2025, the memory of that time remains raw for many. But it also remains instructive. The lessons learned about flexibility, local knowledge, and compassion-led delivery continue to shape how the organisation works today. From hybrid service models to greater digital inclusion, BPRCVS has emerged not only intact, but strengthened.


In a time when everything stood still, BPRCVS kept moving and in doing so, it reminded us all what community truly means.

Partnerships and Policy: Speaking Up and Stepping Forward

Throughout the 2010s and early 2020s, BPRCVS evolved not just as a delivery organisation but as a strategic player a trusted intermediary and a steady voice in regional policy. This shift didn’t happen overnight.


It was the result of decades of consistent, grounded community engagement, coupled with a willingness to collaborate, innovate, and challenge when necessary.

As statutory systems grew more complex, and the voluntary sector increasingly found itself under pressure, BPRCVS leaned into a more assertive civic role: amplifying unheard voices, shaping local priorities, and securing vital funding for community-led responses.
The organisation’s participation in local governance forums deepened throughout the decade. BPRCVS played an active role in shaping neighbourhood-level consultations, influencing health and wellbeing strategies, and co-producing responses to poverty, housing, and inequality. This influence was not theoretical it was practical, drawn from the lived experience of the Trustees, staff, volunteers and the communities BPRCVS served every day.
Key moments in this strategic evolution included the organisation’s involvement in community asset transfers, where BPRCVS acted as both facilitator and advocate. It worked closely with local authorities and grassroots groups to ensure that community buildings many of which were at risk of closure or commercialisation could be retained, repurposed, and reinvigorated as spaces for social good.

In doing so, BPRCVS helped sustain the physical and symbolic infrastructure of local civic life.
At the same time, BPRCVS became increasingly recognised as a channel for place-based funding. With small organisations often lacking the capacity to apply for and administer complex funding streams, BPRCVS stepped forward as a trusted grant administrator and accountable body. It not only distributed resources it ensured those resources were fair, timely, and targeted to where they could make the most difference.
In doing so, it helped build capacity within smaller groups, allowing them to deliver innovative projects without becoming lost in bureaucracy.
The formation of Burnley Together in 2020 was a defining moment for this role. As part of the multi-agency COVID response and recovery structure, BPRCVS was a founding partner helping shape a coordinated, cross-sector model of support.

Burnley Together brought together local government, health, housing, and voluntary sector partners under a single umbrella. BPRCVS’s involvement ensured that the voice of the sector, and the needs of the community, remained central. It wasn’t just a seat at the table it was an active hand on the steering wheel.
Similarly, the organisation’s ongoing role within Integrated Care Systems (ICS) and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) throughout the 2020s reflects its credibility at the regional level. As the NHS moved toward more place-based planning, BPRCVS ensured that voluntary and community sector insight particularly from marginalised and underserved groups was part of the conversation. Staff contributed to working groups, health equity forums, and collaborative care pathway design.

BPRCVS was consistently described by partners as “measured, inclusive, and solutions-focused” not simply raising problems, but bringing the relationships and insight needed to address them.


This commitment to cross-sector working also extended into policy advocacy. BPRCVS regularly contributed to consultations on welfare reform, volunteering policy, mental health provision, and the future of community infrastructure. It provided real-world case studies, facilitated community voice events, and supported partners in responding collectively to changes in commissioning and public health funding.

Importantly, BPRCVS was often the bridge between communities and councils, between local ideas and national programmes, between small groups and large institutions. This intermediary role was characterised not just by its technical skill, but by a tone of fairness, diplomacy, and quiet strength.

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The organisation never sought attention but it earned respect. By 2025, BPRCVS had become not just a provider of services, but a shaper of systems. It had helped anchor the local sector in turbulent times and continued to speak out for the importance of infrastructure, investment, and inclusion. In a national climate where many voluntary sector organisations felt marginalised or tokenised, BPRCVS’s example stood out: calm, collaborative, and always grounded in its mission.

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Through every strategic shift, one value remained constant: authentic representation. When BPRCVS spoke in policy spaces, it did so from the perspective of communities it knew intimately not as abstract beneficiaries, but as neighbours, volunteers, partners, and peers. This grounded credibility made BPRCVS not only a valued partner but an essential one.

Conclusion: Ninety Years of Community in Action

In reaching 2025, we arrive not merely at the end of an article or a timeline, but at a profound juncture in the life of BPRCVS, a point of reflection earned through ninety years of lived service.

It is tempting in such moments to view history as something sealed: a collection of milestones neatly ordered. But BPRCVS has never been a static institution. It is not frozen in time. Its legacy is dynamic, evolving, and above all else, deeply human. What follows is not a conclusion in the final sense, but a deeper understanding of what this organisation has become and why its work remains vital, now more than ever.

From its genesis in 1935 as the Burnley Citizens' Guild, born during the long shadow of the Great Depression and the battle of Battle of the Somme, BPRCVS emerged in response to rising unemployment, hardship, and fractured communities.

Its founders envisioned not just charity, but civic responsibility. They saw a need to organise neighbourly care into lasting systems an effort to empower local people to help one another, regardless of class, faith, or political persuasion. These ideals, radical in their own quiet way, were shaped by the harsh context of the interwar period and the spirit of mutual aid.
During the 1940s, as Britain was thrust into the upheaval of global war, the voluntary impulse did not falter.

In fact, it grew stronger. Wartime welfare committees, Red Cross mobilisation, and ration-book mutualism brought voluntary service into the national conscience. In Burnley and across East Lancashire, civic groups, women's auxiliaries, and informal care networks continued to operate under duress. BPRCVS and its predecessors remained responsive, flexible, and in close contact with community need. It was in these years that the principle of “serving the overlooked and undervalued” became a defining thread of the organisation’s identity.

The 1950s brought a shift from wartime resilience to peacetime rebuilding.
This was the era of the new welfare state, of nationalised health care, education, and housing. Many assumed that voluntary action would wither away under the shadow of state provision. But instead, BPRCVS adapted, offering complementary, holistic support rather than duplication. The newly created Friendly Visiting Scheme and legal aid sessions for those falling through the gaps were early examples of the organisation’s unique role: responding where systems couldn’t reach, and speaking for those who lacked a voice.

As social currents transformed during the 1960s and 70s with deindustrialisation, youth rebellion, second-wave feminism, and growing ethnic diversity BPRCVS again stood ready. It was during this period that the organisation became explicitly multi-agency and multi-issue. Youth unemployment, urban decline, mental health stigma, and racial inequality demanded holistic approaches.

Under the unwavering leadership of Dorothy Lowe (Chief Officer of the 80s and 90s) BPRCVS pioneered community centres, launched volunteer bureaus, and worked in partnership with grassroots groups long before “co-production” became a funding buzzword.


By the 1980s, amid Thatcherism, mass unemployment, and local authority retrenchment, the organisation once again demonstrated its capacity for resilience and innovation.
It secured funding for enterprise support, bolstered legal rights awareness, and formalised its infrastructure services to strengthen the capacity of the entire voluntary sector in Burnle, Pendle and Rossendale. It was during this time that the identity of BPRCVS shifted from simply doing good to enabling others to do good sustainably a critical transition that underpins its present-day brokerage role.


The 1990s and early 2000s, under the guiding hand of Terry Hephrun (Chief Officer of the late 90s and 00s) saw the rise of policy-led collaboration, New Labour investment in social capital, and growing professionalisation of the sector. Here, BPRCVS expanded with purpose: launching the East Lancashire Voluntary Sector Resource Centre, developing back-office support for charities, hosting national pilots for volunteer management, and supporting a wave of self-help and identity-based groups. Crucially, this was the era of space of giving groups not just funding advice, but physical homes, infrastructure, and shared systems. This model of embedded support remains one of the organisation’s most powerful legacies.


The financial crisis of 2008 and the decade of austerity that followed marked yet another period of existential challenge. By the 2010s, libraries, youth centres, and community facilities were closing across East Lancashire. Yet under the steady and confident leadership of Christine Blythe (Chief Executive Officer 2010s to present), BPRCVS stood firm, anchoring services like Communicars, Carers Contact, and the Volunteer Centre even as statutory partners downsized or disappeared. The work became harder, the funding scarcer but the impact deeper. What made BPRCVS different was not scale, but soul: a capacity to listen, adapt, and meet people where they were.

Then came the pandemic.
The COVID-19 years (2020–2022) were a defining crucible. As explored in this part of our series of articles, this was the moment when everything the organisation had built was tested and everything it stood for was proven.

In days, not months, BPRCVS reconfigured itself into a local emergency hub. While others paused, it surged. Volunteer drivers became lifelines. Social prescribing workers shifted to digital triage. Group support officers became crisis navigators. Every role flexed to meet the scale of human need. And when the dust settled, the organisation didn’t retreat it evolved.
Indeed, the 2020s have seen BPRCVS step more confidently into systems leadership. Its work in the Integrated Care System, its role in Burnley Together, and its stewardship of place-based funding show a voluntary sector body that no longer sits on the margins.


BPRCVS has become an intermediary a trusted translator between grassroots experience and policy ambition. It retains its humility, but not its invisibility.


And yet, through all these decades, through world wars, political shifts, economic cycles, and a global pandemic, the fundamentals have never changed.
· Service before recognition
· People before process
· Relationships before results
· Care before contract
This is the BPRCVS model. Not one of bureaucracy, but of belief.

As we look to the future towards digital divides, environmental justice, intergenerational inequality, and an ever-more fragile welfare state, the voluntary sector will once again be called upon to lead with values, not just outcomes. BPRCVS is already showing what that looks like.
So this is not the end. It is a point of continuity through change.

And in this, BPRCVS is not just an organisation. It is a memory held in the community. It is the story of a young carer who felt seen. A retired man who drove neighbours to chemotherapy. A refugee who found English classes and friendship. A local group that survived because someone picked up the phone and said, “Let’s sort this.”

This, then, is the enduring message of 90 years:
That resilience is relational. That community is an action. And that helping people to help others isn’t just a phrase on a logo it is a philosophy with roots, wings, and a future.
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As this chapter closes, let the next begin with the same question that launched it all back in 1935: “How can we help?”

From community events to pivotal moments in our history, these photographs tell the story of the people, places, and projects that shaped BPRCVS. Each image is a window into the decades of dedication, collaboration, and local spirit that continue to drive us forward today.​