Hello Newsletter – Greater Manchester Region
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.
Welcome to the Summer 2016 edition of Henshaws’
‘Hello’ Newsletter
I hope you’re enjoying the long awaited summer months as the days are lighter for longer and we seem to have an extra spring in our step. In this edition of Hello, we are very excited to announce details of our ‘Pathway to Wellbeing’ project, which is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and will be launching in July. We also have details about an exciting project we’ve been working on with Transport for Greater Manchester, which has resulted in the production of bus hailers and fluorescent wallets to make public transport easier and more accessible for people with a visual impairment.
We are excited to announce our Henshaws Awards event, which will take place in mid-June and include some great nominees from the Greater Manchester region who have gone beyond expectations– best of luck.
Happy reading
Robert Cooper, Director of Community Services
Contents
Page 2 Henshaws News and Updates
Page 5 Fundraising Updates
Page 14 Henshaws Friendship Matters Groups
Page 16 Other Groups & Information
Page 17 Arts & Culture
HenshawsNews and Updates
HenshawsPathway to Wellbeing project – launching
across Trafford, Manchester and Salford in July 2016
We received some fantastic news recently!We have been successful in securing a substantial grant from the Big Lottery Fund to deliver a range of wellbeing services over the next three years from our centre in Old Trafford, but also from community venues in Salford, North Manchester and South Manchester. Operating within local communities will ensure that our services are more accessible.
Starting in July 2016, experienced Henshaws Enablement Officers will deliver or support regular programmes of information, advice and guidance, living with sight loss courses, weekly exercise classes and monthly social meet ups in each of the four locations. In addition, our new Community Services Counsellor will offer bespoke counselling sessions in each location. To find out more and to express an interest in any of these activities please contact our First Step Team on 0161 872 1234.
The courses and services we will be running include:
Living with Sight Loss course
Living with Sight Loss is a free, six week course, which will provide you with information, advice and guidance and will help you to develop skills to make living with sight loss easier. A variety of life skills are covered to enable you to live independently, including cooking tips, safety in the home, assistive aids and equipment demonstrations, guidance on transport and iPad taster sessions. Course participants also benefit hugely from peer support and meeting other people also living with sight loss. We are regularly joined by guest speakers who provide information and advice, including Guide Dogs, Rehabilitation and Welfare Rights teams, transport representatives and the Fire Service.
Exercise classes
Our popular exercise classes are designed for people experiencing sight loss. Benefits include increased mobility, fitness and confidence as well as providing the opportunity to socialise and meet people. You can work at your own pace and the classes are designed for all fitness levels.
Coffee meet-ups
Our coffee meet-ups run monthly and provide an opportunity to socialise and build friendship groups in your local community whilst enjoying a nice cup of tea or coffee and a biscuit.
Details of planned activity in Community Hubs
Pendleton Gateway
1 Broadwalk, Pendleton, Salford, M6 5FX
MondaysInformation, Advice and Guidance one-to-one sessions (mornings).Drop-in or make an appointment via our First Step team
Exercise classes – weekly, 1.30pm – 3.00pm. Starting early July
Tuesdays
Living with Sight Loss course will run in 6 week blocks (afternoons)
Coffee meet-ups – First Tuesday of each month
Counsellor – available Tuesdays (by referral/appointment)
Information, Advice and Guidance one-to-one sessions(afternoons). Drop-in or make an appointment via our First Step team
Wythenshawe Forum
Forum Square, Wythenshawe, Manchester M22 5RX
Tuesdays- Coffee meet-ups – Second Tuesday of each month 10.30am – 12.30pm
Thursdays
- Information, Advice and Guidance one-to-one sessions. Drop-in or make an appointment via our First Step team
- Living with Sight Loss course will run in 6 week blocks (afternoons)
- Counsellor – available Thursdays (by referral/appointment)
Fridays
- Information, Advice and Guidance one-to-one sessions. Drop-in or make an appointment via our First Step team
- Exercise classes – weekly, 1.30pm – 3.00pm. Starting early July
North City Family and Fitness Centre
Upper Conran Street, Harpurhey, Manchester, M9 4DA
Mondays- Information, Advice and Guidance one-to-one sessions. Drop-in or make an appointment via our First Step team
- Exercise classes – weekly, 1.30pm – 3.00pm. Starting early July
- Counsellor – available Mondays (by referral/appointment)
Tuesdays
- Information, Advice and Guidance one-to-one sessions. Drop-in or make an appointment via our First Step team
- Living with Sight Loss course will run in 6 week blocks (mornings) 10.00am – 12.30pm
- Coffee meet-ups – Last Tuesday of each month 1.30pm – 3.30pm
Atherton House
Old Trafford, Manchester, M16 0GS
Wednesdays- Information, Advice and Guidance one-to-one sessions. Drop-in or make an appointment via our First Step team
- Living with Sight Loss course (will run in 6 week blocks)
Thursdays
- Information, Advice and Guidance one-to-one sessions. Drop-in or make an appointment via our First Step team
- Coffee meet-ups – Last Thursday of each month 1.30pm – 3.30pm
- Exercise classes – weekly, 10.30am – 12.00pm. Starting early July
Fridays
- Counsellor – available Fridays (by referral/appointment)
To find out more and to express an interest in any of these activities, please contact our First Step Team on 0161 872 1234.
Patient Support service at Altrincham Hospital
Don’t forget our Enablement Officer, Gail, is based at the eye clinic at Altrincham Hospital on Mondays and Tuesdays. Gail can support you with the following:
- Provide information about your eye condition.
- Discuss the process of becoming registered as sight impaired/severely sight impaired and what it means.
- Offeringemotional or practical support before, during or after your hospital appointment and talk through any support needs you may have.
- Signposting you to the most appropriate services and ensure you receive any support required.
- Demonstrating equipment and providing information to help you with daily living tasks.
Patient Support Service at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital
As always, we have our Patient Support Service based at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, offering these emotional and practical support services. Zoe White works Monday to Wednesday and Pauline McSalley covers the role on Thursdays and Fridays. Feel free to drop into the Patient Support Office on the ground floor at the hospital or contact our First Step team on 0161 872 1234 to book an appointment.
Henshaws teams up with with TfGM for new initiative to aid bus travel for visually impaired people
We are excited to announce that we have teamed up with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) to design new, free products for registered blind or partially sighted people, including a fluorescent orange pass wallet and a yellow bus hailer.
To help make travel less challenging, the new products indicate to bus drivers that visually impaired passengers may require additional assistance, prompting them to offer this instantly.
The bus hailer is a flip pad that consists of bold and embossed numbers and letters, with the braille version underneath. Users select the number of their bus and display it to oncoming traffic, signalling to the bus driver that they need to stop. The word ‘bus’ can be displayed if users are unsure of their bus number. The fluorescent orange pass wallet is designed to stand out to drivers from a distance, indicating to them that the user may need extra assistance boarding and leaving the bus.
The scheme has benefits for all passengers and road users as it means buses only need to stop when their bus number is displayed, keeping traffic flowing.
Councillor Fender, Chair of the TfGM Committee said: “For people living with sight loss, simply travelling from one place to another can be a challenging experience. We are delighted to be able to offer visually impaired passengers these aids to make their bus journey that bit more straightforward.
“We hope the scheme will allow blind or partially sighted people to keep a certain amount of independence and confidence in their everyday lives.
“These products will go a long way in raising awareness for people living with sight loss, as well as signalling to bus drivers that the passenger may require some additional assistance during their journey.”
Henshaws worked closely with TfGM during the design of the products, who listened to feedback from our service users and drew on similar initiatives by local authorities and passenger transport executives in the UK. Debbie Abrahams MP, Shadow Minister for Disabled People, added: “It is fantastic that TfGM recognises the needs of disabled people. The bus hailer and orange pass wallets are simple and cost effective products that have the potential to greatly improve the quality of life for visually impaired people.”
The free bus hailers and orange pass wallets are available in Travelshops in bus stations across Greater Manchester and from Henshaws. Both products come in clear plastic wallets to withstand all weather conditions and have instructions for use in braille and text.
More information is also available by calling 0161 244 1000 (7am-8pm, Monday to Friday, and 8am-8pm at weekends and bank holidays).
TfGM also recently announced it had fitted audio and visual passenger information systems to all 20 Optare low carbon emissionbuses running on the free Manchester city centre Metroshuttle routes, making travel easier to use for those with visual and hearing impairments.
To get hold of a free bus hailer please contact the Pathway team on 0161 872 1234 or drop into your local resource centre/ community hub. Orange bus wallets can be requested by contacting TFGM on 0161 244 1000.
Manchester Reducing Social Isolation project
As we welcome our new Reaching Communities Project we say a fond farewell to the Manchester Reducing Social Isolation project, which has now come to an end.
Thanks to our grant from The Big Lottery Fund we are able to run exercise classes and social meet ups in Salford, Trafford and Manchester over the course of the past eighteen months. We have taken learning from this project and the exercise classes will be continuous, enabling people to continue to get both the health and social benefits from the sessions. As a compliment to this provision, we will also be delivering information advice and guidance, Living with Sight Loss courses and counselling. These services will ensure our service users have the independence skills and mental health support to be able to then follow onto the social groups and exercise classes. We are signposting current participants to sessions running closest to them and other provisions in their area.
“I attendedthe Henshaws exercise class, which I thought was great because it got me out and about for the first time in a long time. I discovered new friends, enjoyed the exercises and the coffee and catch up session afterwardsbecause it allowed me to talk to people - I think the classes are tremendous.” Tommy, Exercise Class Participant, Wythenshawe Forum.
A call out to all smart phone users
Embracing the power of smart phone technology is changing people’s lives for the better. We’re interested to hear which applications you use, why you use that particular app and how that helps you live more independently. From the responses, our Community Services Development Manager Mark, will compile a list of top apps and share them with you in the next edition of Hello. Please email
Welcome to our new Patient Support Officer, Zoe
We recently welcomed a wonderful addition to our team at Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Zoe White. She joins us as our new Patient Support Officer. Zoe has previously worked for Action for Blind and the Jobcentre and has a wealth of knowledge about sight loss. Zoe can also relate on a personal level as she has a visual impairment herself and can be found with her trusty (and very popular) guide dog, Dusty, by her side. Zoe will be based at the eye hospital from Monday to Wednesday and Pauline will continue to provide patient support on Thursdays and Fridays. Please introduce yourself and make Zoe feel welcome. Zoe is very friendly and approachable and is looking forward to meeting and supporting our service users.
Contact the Patient Support Office direct on 0161 276 5515 or the Pathway team on 0161 872 1234 to find out more information.
Community Services staff strategy day
Henshaws staff recently attended a strategy day with a difference; the day was interactive and allowed staff to experience different areas of the services that we offer across each of our regions. These included our ‘I Can Do It’ childrens activity sessions, blind-folded exercise, an overview of our ICT pathway training and an insight into counselling. The day was finished off with a training session about Dementia delivered by our very own Sara Deegan, Community Services Co-ordinator based in Liverpool. The session encouraged staff to learn a little bit about dementia, and inspire them to help those living with Dementia live well. This means that Henshaws staff are now certified as ‘Dementia Friends’. Overall, the day was a great success and staff gave feedback that all the sessions gave them a greater understanding about the services we offer across the regions.
Jim reads a newspaper for the first time in 30 years thanks to new technology.
Jim Hough, one of service users has been living with sight loss for over 30 years. After we introduced Jim to a new piece of technology, he has been able to read printed text for the first time in 30 years.
The clever technology device, OrCam, converts printed text to speech. It can read most digital text, such as that on a television or computer,, as well as printed text, such as books, newspapers, food labels, restaurant menus, and even street signs.
Jim is a determined man who with the support of Henshaws has always achieved beyond what he believed was possible. When he originally lost his engineering job in the eighties he was told that he would never work again. Through our training in assistive technology he secured a job at a Manchester college as an IT instructor. Even when that position finished he still attended tech talk, a course where people with a VI can meet and discuss technology.
Jim says:
“At first I thought it was too good to be true. I couldn’t believe that a device was available that would enable me to read a newspaper for the first time in 30 years,”
“However following a demonstration by the manufactures OrCam in our Henshaws tech talk group I was left in no doubt that this was life changing tech,”
“I’m so grateful to Henshaws for introducing me to this device as it’s given me a new lease of life”.
Mark Belcher, Community Services Development Manager at Henshaws is a leading authority on technology developments for those with sight loss. Mark says:
“I’m so delighted for Jim as nothing gives me greater pleasure than to help somebody achieve something life changing.”
“As soon as I had this device in my hands I knew it was a game changer. Not only is it light, practical and intuitive but it works. Don’t ask me how but it just does. Not only does it read but it identifies people: it allows you to take an image of a face and tag it. It then uses recognition software so that the device will announce the name of that person when they come into the cameras view. It also recognises specific products. In a similar way to the face recognition, you can programme OrCam to recognize objects around you; e.g. consumer products, money notes and credit cards.”
To find out more about OrCam or our Tech Talk sessions, please call the Pathway team on 0161 872 1234.
Helping Jean to keep in touch with her loved ones
We recently had some fantastic feedback from one of our service users Jean, who lives in the St Helens Area that we'd like to share.
“On the 20th May 2016, I will be 85 years old and for over 15 years my family and friends have been trying to make me computer literate so that I can keep in touch with my family in Australia, but to no avail because of failing sight and I was getting completely dispirited. When my daughter Helen was home for a holiday from Australia she was so concerned that I had become so introverted that she asked a neighbour to call on me daily. I was invited to attend a training course run by Action for Blind and learnt all about the Apple iPad with voice over.