Hello Newsletter
Greater Manchester
Autumn 2016
We are a charity that helps people living with sight loss and a range of other disabilities to achieve their ambitions and go beyond expectations.
Henshaws, Atherton House, Talbot Road, Old Trafford, Manchester M16 0GS, Tel: 0161 872 1234
Welcome to the Autumn edition of Henshaws ‘Hello’ Newsletter
It’s been a busy summer here at Henshaws and we have welcomed lots of new staff members to the Community Services Team since the last edition.
Our Big Lottery funded ‘Pathway to Wellbeing’ project has got off to a great start in Manchester, Trafford and Salford so please pop along to say hello to our Community Enablement Officers in your area - they would love to meet you, be it for a spot of gentle exercise or just a cup of tea and a chat.
On the 16th June, we held our Henshaws Awards, a truly inspiring afternoon at The Lowry celebrating the fantastic achievements of our service users, volunteers, staff and supporters. The event was so successful that we will be running it again next year, so watch this space for further information on how to nominate.
Our thoughts have already turned to Christmas and we hope many of you will be able to join us again at our annual Carols by Candlelight Concert at Manchester Cathedral on the 14th December - it is always a magical evening.
From jumping out of an aeroplane to helping run one of our Friendship Matters Groups, there are lots of ways to get involved with Henshaws and help make an impact on people’s lives, so we hope you feel inspired.
Happy reading!
Robert Cooper, Director of Services,
North West and North East
Contents
Page 3 Community Services Staff News
Page 6 Pathway to Wellbeing – Community Hubs
Page 9 News from Oldham
Page 11 Henshaws Awards
Page 12 Friendship Matters Groups
Page 15 Children & Families
Page 16 User Voice Group
Page 17 Fundraising News
Page 18 Volunteering News
Page 20 Cultural News
Community Services Staff News
So long …
This month we said a fond farewell to two long standing members of the Community Services team.
Pauline McSalley, Patient Support Officer at Manchester Eye Hospital, is leaving us after an amazing 6 years and Lisa Young, Community Rehabilitation and Enablement Team Leader, is leaving after 5 fantastic years to join friends and family over in Australia.
Pauline and Lisa have each made a huge impact supporting hundreds of people during their time at Henshaws and will be hugely missed; we wish them both all the best for the future.
and now for the good news …
We are delighted to welcome three new members to our First Step team at Atherton House. The First Steps team is your first point of contact at Henshaws and provides a gateway to our services and support.
Deb Ryan is our new First Steps Team Leader and says, “I’m really excited about joining Henshaws and helping you and your family get access to the support you need. Most recently I worked for the RNIB’s Library Service so, if you used talking books or if you are a braille or giant print reader, we may have already spoken or even met - I’d love to hear from you if we have.”
Gemma Fairclough joins us as the new Information, Advice and Guidance Advisor working alongside Jan Sumner, helping people begin to overcome the challenges sight loss brings. “I’m focusing on supporting people in Oldham, as well as children and families, which should keep me busy!” says Gemma, who works on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Jan will continue to support people in Manchester, Salford and Trafford, working on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
We also welcome Chloe Livesey as the new First Step Level 2 Apprentice. Chloe will be based on reception taking calls and welcoming visitors, so you are sure to meet her soon.
Two new members of staff have also joined us as part of ‘The Pathway to Wellbeing’ project:
Fran Hatfield is the new Enablement Officer for Manchester who will be based in Harpurhey and Wythenshawe. Fran tells us, “I will be running gentle exercise classes, coffee meet-ups, the Living with Sight Loss courses and a weekly drop-in service in both areas so, if you live locally, please pop in and say hello.”
Sian McGarrigle is our new Community Counsellor working across four community outreach centres in Manchester, Trafford and Salford. Sian says “I provide early intervention emotional support to people who are experiencing difficulties due to their sight loss and offer a non-judgemental, confidential environment for people to explore their problems and learn new ways of coping.”
Congratulations …
to our two Apprentices, Charley Keyes & Callum Cullinane, who have both successfully completed their Level 2 apprenticeship. We are delighted that they will be staying on with us for another year; Charley to work with the Friendship Matters Groups, and Callum to work in Governance.
Charley says, “Being an apprentice, you never know what to expect, but it is so enjoyable and no two days are ever the same. We meet new people every day and hear about different experiences from people who are visually impaired.
We have learnt so much in the past year; before we started at Henshaws, we didn’t know that many of the eye conditions even existed, but we now have a much better understanding of what they are and how people’s lives are affected by them.
Callum and I really enjoy working for Henshaws and all of the service users are so friendly and chatty. Here’s to another challenging, but enjoyable 12 months.”
It will certainly be an exciting month for Callum as he has agreed to jump out of an aeroplane in October to raise money for Henshaws!
‘Pathway to Wellbeing’ - Community Hubs
Our ‘Pathway to Wellbeing’ project is up and running in local community centres in Manchester, Salford and Trafford and we’ve already had some great feedback:
“I look forward to the Coffee Mornings every month. I’ve made some new friends and it’s an opportunity to meet up and have a chat. Since I’ve started going, I’ve discovered there are lots of things that I can still do that I thought I wouldn’t be able to.”
In addition to the monthly Coffee meet-ups and weekly gentle exercise classes, we will be running regular Living with Sight Loss courses, a free, six-week course which provides information, guidance and advice to help you develop skills to live more independently. The course includes cooking tips and iPad taster sessions and advice on issues such as Welfare Rights and Transport.
Here are the timetables for each area (please note there have been some changes since the last edition of ‘Hello’):
Salford (based at Pendleton Gateway)
1 Broadwalk, Pendleton, Salford M6 5FX
Enablement Officer: Elaine Longley
Mondays:Information, Advice and Guidance - one-to-one sessions (mornings)
Weekly exercise classes, 1.30pm–3pm
Tuesdays:
Living with Sight Loss, run in 6-week blocks (afternoons), check for when the courses run
Coffee meet-ups – 1st Tuesday of each month
10.30am-12.30pm
Counselling appointments by referral
Information, Advice and Guidance - one-to-one sessions (afternoons)
North Manchester (based in Harpurhey)
North City Family & Fitness Centre
Upper Conran Street, Manchester M9 4DA
Enablement Officer: Fran Hatfield
South Manchester (based in Wythenshawe)
Wythenshawe Forum, Forum Square, Manchester M22 5RX
Enablement Officer: Fran Hatfield
Thursdays:Coffee meet-ups – 2nd Thursday of each month,
10.30am–12.30pm
Living with Sight Loss, run in 6-week blocks (afternoons), check for when the courses run
Counselling appointments by referral
Fridays:
Information, Advice and Guidance - one-to-one sessions
Weekly exercise classes, 1.30-3pm
Trafford (based at Atherton House)
88-92 Talbot Road, Old Trafford, Manchester M16 0GS
Enablement Officer: Gail Brett
Wednesdays:Living with Sight Loss, 10am-12.30pm
The next course will start on 5th October for 6 weeks
Information, Advice and Guidance - one-to-one sessions (afternoon)
Thursdays:
Coffee meet-ups – last Thursday of each month, 10.30am–12pm
Weekly exercise classes, 1.30-3pm – starting soon
Fridays:
Counselling appointments by referral
Information, Advice and Guidance - one-to-one sessions (afternoon)
To find out more and to express an interest in any of these activities, call our First Step Team on 0161 872 1234.
Patient Support Services
Altrincham Hospital: Our Enablement Officer, Gail Brett (and her guide dog Wanda) is at the eye clinic at Altrincham Hospital on Mondays and Tuesdays to offer emotional or practical support during or after your hospital appointment.
Manchester Royal Eye Hospital: Our Patient Support service continues at Manchester Eye Hospital. Please feel free to drop into the Patient Support Office on the ground floor at the hospital, to have a chat with Zoe White and meet her new guide dog Zia.
Both hospitals also have a team of friendly volunteers manning our demonstration desk, so please drop by for a chat.
News from Oldham
We were very pleased to meet so many people at our Oldham Networking Day on the 15th June, and Enablement Officer Kate Nattrass is busy looking at new services in response to all your feedback. Here are just two of the new things in the pipeline:
Oldham Tech Talk Group
We would like to introduce TechTalk into Oldham at a venue to be confirmed.
So what is TechTalk? The world is changing pretty fast with the use of computers, smartphones, tablets and devices increasing and developers busily looking at tools that would genuinely support the masses, including those living with disabilities. We believe it imperative to keep up to date and introduce any changes to the communities we serve.
The Tech Talk group would meet once a month, some physically and some virtually (via Skype/FaceTime), and some just receiving minutes of the meeting and exchanging emails once in a while. The group members would be made up of 'geeks', 'novices' and 'not got a clues', which is a perfect combination to ensure a good measure of peer-to-peer support and learning.
The session would be in two parts:
Part One - The Group Leader would discuss new technology, new applications (APPS) for your smartphone, tablet or PC/Mac, and may even cover emerging technology. Manufacturers and developers may be invited to show you or talk to you about their new hardware/software.
Part Two - Would be about you talking to your peers about the hardware, software and applications you use that help you live with sight loss. The hope is that you can support one another by sharing your knowledge and experience.
The first meeting will be about who’s in the room, and from there we can suss out the level of intervention for future meetings.
What would it cost? The group is free of charge but we do ask for a contribution of £2 to help support it.
If this is something you are interested in, please let us know; if there is enough interest we can make it happen very quickly. Email Mark Belcher at .
New Oldham based Children & Young Peoples Service
Henshaws would like to announce that, thanks to generous funding from The Stoller Charitable Trust and a legacy left to Sight Support Oldham, we are able to implement a new service for visually impaired children and young people across Oldham. Since our merger with Sight Support Oldham last year, we have been able to provide an Enablement Officer to support adults living with sight loss in Oldham. The funding we have now secured will enable us to extend this offer to children, young people and their families, ensuring our support for people of all ages living in Oldham. We will be working in close partnership with the Oldham Sensory Education Team, where the new Children and Young Peoples Enablement Officer will be based.
The role will be two fold: firstly, we will have Family Support providing children and their families with information, advice and guidance, social activities and independence skills sessions; secondly, there will be Eye Health and Prevention Support working with local primary, secondary, special schools and communities to raise awareness of sight loss, focusing on the need to educate and encourage children and young people to take care of their eyesight. This is a unique, exciting development and we very much look forward to being able to provide children and their families living with sight loss in Oldham, the support they need. We are currently in the process of recruiting and we hope the project will be up and running before the end of the year.
For more information or to make a referral, please contact Fiona McMullen on 0161 8721234.
Henshaws Awards
On Thursday 16th June, we held an awards event at The Lowry Theatre to celebrate the achievements of some of our fantastic service users and volunteers. The wonderful afternoon included performances from opera singer Denise Leigh, accompanied by Stefan Andrusyschyn and our very own Guitar Group, who performed some rock classics.
Many congratulations to everyone who was nominated and received a certificate.
The judges found it very hard to pick a winner in each category, but eventually decided on the following:
… and the winners are ...
Friendship Matters Award – Alan Montgomery, Newcastle
Technology Award – Avril Brown, Manchester
Volunteer of the Year Award – Rob Lawley, Manchester
VI Friendly Business – Walker Activity Dome, Newcastle
Young Person of the Year – Faye Wylie, Liverpool
Gillian Lawrence Award – Abdi Ahmed, Manchester
Thanks to everyone who took the trouble to nominate a fellow group member, volunteer or local business - it is a wonderful way to say 'thank you' or recognise someone who has gone beyond expectations. We will be running the event again next year and further information on how to nominate will be in our next newsletter.
Friendship Matters Groups
It’s been a busy summer for our groups. The I Spy Group were transported to Las Vegas for an afternoon of cabaret at Ryecroft Hall, our Wednesday Social Group survived a reptile encounter, and the Henshaws Hikers took on Mam Tor in the Peak District.
Henshaws runs a range of Social and Hobby groups, so call Kay George or Charley Keyes on 0161 872 1234 for information. Below is our current timetable, but please note that days and times may be subject to change.