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2008 News
November 2008
Learning Disability Today Exhibition
Annabelle
Lambourn, Harriet Michael-Phillips, and Franc Thurgood represented
Support for Living at this year's Learning Disability Today Exhibition.
Running for over five years, Learning Disability Today celebrates what
is being achieved to enable people with learning disabilities to live
full and active lives through the sharing of best practice, debate on
policy, participation in engaging zones, and networking with hundreds of
people with learning disabilities and professionals working in the
sector.
October 2008
Party-Time!
As the last vestiges of summer disappear and the nights draw in, minds at Support for Living turn to .... parties!
A Diwali Fair was held at one of the Perivale houses, and brought some welcome light to the gloom of mid-October.
A couple of weeks later, a hugely successful Halloween party was attended by about 300 people, most of whom came in costume.
September 2008
Supporting People in Brent
This month, Support for Living took on the support of around 60 people with learning disabilities in Brent. This accommodation-based service, funded through the Supporting People programme, is our first service in Brent, and means that we now work in five different local authority areas. Staff transferred to Support for Living from 3 different employers, under the TUPE regulations which protect their terms and conditions of employment. Nigel Turner, Chief Executive, said, "I am delighted to welcome a new group of service users and staff to Support for Living. Over the coming months we will all be working to get to know each other better and will be building upon the already excellent relationships between service users, staff and commissioners."
August 2008
Michael Rosen 1943-2008
It
is with great sadness that we learned that Michael Rosen, Chair of the
Support for Living Board, died unexpectedly, on 25 August. Michael
had been a keen and enthusiastic member of the Board, and played a major
part in the successful merger of Harrow Consortium for Special Needs and
Ealing Consortium. He was energetic in his support and encouragement of
Support for Living’s work, and effusive in his praise for our staff. He
embraced the changes we are making to become increasingly
person-centred.
Michael was active in many areas of community work. When he joined the Board and spoke at his first AGM, he said he “wanted to give back something” to the wider community, because he himself had been blessed with a good life and a loving family.
Our thoughts are with his family. He will be missed by many.
July 2008
The British 10k Run - Fundraising for Breakaway
Tessa Hazzard writes: On Sunday 6th July seven staff members were joined by five others to run or walk 10K to raise funds for Breakaway. The group of energised and slightly nervous runners gathered at Piccadilly Circus at the statue of Eros. As we mingled with thousands of other runners and athletes from across the country our group began to get a little nervous at the daunting prospect that lay ahead.
It turned out we had nothing to worry about, the weather was lovely and although there were slight showers – it was a welcome way to cool down. Some excellent times were made, most notably Harriett Michael -Philips who completed the race in under an hour.
Once
we had all crossed the finish line we quickly made our way to a local
pub to meet with all the people that came out to support us during the
race and have some much needed refreshments. As we all swapped our
stories of the race and complained about various aching body parts we
estimated that that we raised nearly £2,000 for Breakaway. Not bad for
less than an hour and a half’s work.
Thanks to all those who took part and made it such a memorable day. If you’re interested in running in next year’s British 10K race please email me at tessa.hazzard@supportforliving.org.uk
June 2008
Football Fun Day
After two and a half months of preparation the football fun day finally arrived. The planning committee consisted of Laura Tully, Kevin Sasso, John Keaveny, Yvette Watson and Finola Sullivan. On a limited budget, skills were developed for negotiation and an ideal venue was sourced, thanks to the generosity of Kajima Partnerships and Jason Stocks, their Activity Development Manager. We were able to use the facilities at Brentside High School.
And
what a success it was! Thankfully the weather was wonderful and
the preparation on the morning went without too many hitches and then,
right on time, the first players arrived.
Kevin was match organiser extraordinaire and was ably assisted by Emma Mackintosh and Aaron Potter as referees. Everybody had a wonderful time, goals were scored by too many to mention and the atmosphere was great.
The day culminated in a nail biting final between ‘Team Andy’ and Ealing FC and the eventual winners with a score of 5-4 was ‘Team Andy’. Nigel Turner, Chief Executive, presented the winners’ medals and a trophy, as well as ‘Best Player of the Day’ trophy to Adrian Botley.
May 2008
Quality checkers
A quality check is a good way to find out if a person's support is good enough. A team of quality checkers meet with people with learning disabilities who live in their own home with support to see what they feel about their support and housing they get. The quality checkers team is made up of people with learning disabilities and other people who support them. Quality Checkers use the REACH standards in Supported Living to help show how good services should be. The Quality Checkers pack was developed by the It's My Life Team who were supported by Skills for People. The It's My Life Team were also involved in creating the REACH standards. In April, the It's My Life Team came and ran two days of training for 15 people on how to be a quality checker. Everyone enjoyed the training and planning is now taking place in carrying out quality checks on the support provided by Support for Living.