VISAV Limited is proud to support schools across Nottinghamshire by funding powerful knife crime awareness talks delivered by Alison Cope.

Alison’s story is both moving and impactful. In 2013, she tragically lost her son, Josh (a grime MC also known as Depzman), to knife crime. Since then, Alison has dedicated her life to educating young people about the devastating consequences of carrying a knife, using her personal experience to deliver a message that resonates deeply with students.

Through this initiative, VISAV is working in partnership with local police and schools to ensure that these vital sessions can be delivered at no cost to schools. The talks are typically aimed at students in Years 8–11, an age group where early intervention and awareness can make a lasting difference.

To date, we have funded Alison’s sessions across six schools, reaching thousands of young people with her powerful and life-changing message. Feedback from schools has been overwhelmingly positive, with staff consistently describing Alison’s sessions as some of the most powerful and impactful they have ever hosted. Students are encouraged to reflect, ask questions, and consider the real-life consequences of knife crime, not only for victims, but for families, communities, and perpetrators themselves.

By funding these talks, VISAV aims to support early prevention, raise awareness, and help young people make safer, more informed choices. Following recent incidents in Nottinghamshire, this work is more important than ever.

We are committed to continuing our support for schools and communities across Nottinghamshire, working together to make a positive difference and help keep young people safe.

VISAV Limited is proud to be working in partnership with The Marcellus Baz Foundation to support the important work they deliver across Nottingham.

Through our monthly contribution, we are helping to support the dedicated mentors within Switch Up, the Foundation’s award-winning programme. Switch Up provides vital support to young people at risk of involvement in crime, offering one-to-one mentoring, positive role models, and opportunities to make lasting, positive changes in their lives.

The impact of this work within local communities is significant. By investing in mentorship and early intervention, Switch Up helps young people build confidence, develop new skills, and choose safer, more positive pathways for their future.

We were also honoured to welcome Marcellus Baz to speak at our recent National Community Engagement Conference. His insight, passion, and firsthand experience of transforming lives through lived experience left a powerful impression on over 150 attendees. 

In addition, we were pleased to attend the Uniting Nottz forum, an initiative founded by Marcellus Baz and supported by Switch Up patrons Vicky McClure and Des Walker. The Forum bought together partners from across the city, including the Government, Police, NHS, Social Services, Council, and non-government organisations.  Members of the forum collaborate, share ideas, and strengthen collective efforts to support young people - tackling issues including mental health, knife crime, and youth violence. The forums highlight the power of partnership working and reinforce the importance of community-led solutions.

At VISAV, we are passionate about supporting initiatives that make a genuine difference, and we are proud to stand alongside The Marcellus Baz Foundation in helping to create safer, stronger communities. We look forward to further collaborations in the future. 

The Sherwood Tree of Knowledge mosaic project was a monumental effort driven by VISAV Director, Mike Douglas and funded through VISAV's social action fund soon turned into a huge, two year mammoth task.   Over 80 local mosaic workshops were funded through the scheme and over 250 local community members attended to make their own sections of the overall picture.  VISAV funded over £12,000 with the remaining total £25,000 budget being raised by local businesses FDG solar, Sherwood Business Centre and The Winchester Bar, Nottingham Community Project donated over £7,000 and finally a crowdfund by mainly Sherwood locals.  The project is a perfect example of how a great idea can bring a community together to create a piece of work which epitomises Sherwood. The Mosaic, based on Mike's original concept was created as a full sized drawing by Anna Dixon before being cut into templates for over 80 mosaic sections.  It was a 2 year project, involving hundreds of locals, each contributing in various and vital ways. Unveiled on the 23rd of June 2024, the Mosaic has become a local monument signifying the collective effort of the community.

Following a break-in and damage to stock at Mesopotamia’s base in Nottingham, VISAV donated 60 selection boxes, individually wrapped by the VISAV team, to be distributed to local families over the Christmas period.

In November 2022 VISAV donated £2,000 of new books to Brookhurst Primary School in Cheshire. The school did not have a sufficient range of genres of reading materials that exposed the children to difference, friendship, prejudice and community. It was imperative that the children had a library comprising a range of diverse titles and subjects so that they are all well equipped to be responsible citizens.

Thank you from Brookhurst Primary

Ongoing training ensures that the hundreds of Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators throughout England & Wales are able to continue their valuable, voluntary contribution to their local communities. We have committed to sponsoring the cost of ongoing data protection training for the next 12 months to help ensure that all the activities carried out by coordinators remain compliant with current GDPR legislation.

As part of our ongoing support for Neighbourhood Watch throughout England & Wales, and in recognition of the many thousands of voluntary hours that Neighbourhood Watch Coordinators dedicate to keeping their local communities safe, we were very proud to be the headline sponsors for the 2022 National Neighbourhood Watch Conference that took place in London in May.

VISAV have sponsored the Sherwood (Phone Box) Book Share which is now up and running!

Toni Price - Sherwood resident, Nottingham community worker, mum, friend and avid reader - sadly died in May 2021. Before she died, she made arrangements with Lisa and Mike of Sherwood Business Centre to buy a red phone box as a dedication to her mum, Pat Price, and as a gift to the community she loved so much.

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A friend of VISAV's Company Secretary, Adi Wood from Nottingham, is currently staying with his fiancée, who lives in Kielce, Poland, approximately 40 miles from the Ukrainian border. 

He was very keen to do something to help the Ukrainian refugees and, after an appeal by Lisa Douglas, £600 has been raised and transferred so far. 

Adi has been liaising with a local Polish charity and, with the financial donations he has received, has been  buying supplies for them to take to the border, as well as helping Ukrainian refugees who have arrived in Kielce in Poland. 

VISAV has donated £400 to the appeal and this will go a long way to buying desperately needed supplies for those in need. 

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