Headline. Swindon News 2018

Transcription

1 Headline Swindon News 2018 Summer 2018 Hats For Headway National ABI Week Headway Swindon raised awareness for National Action For Brain Injury Week 2018 by designing and decorating cowboy hats to wear for Hats for Headway Day on Friday, 18th May. In the week leading up, we hosted our very own Headway Hoedown! The Headway centre was decorated in a Wild West theme with hay bales, Saloon doors, cacti and cowboy silhouettes. Clients enjoyed Western related activities in the afternoon such as quizzes, wagon wheel challenges, Country and Western music, singing and Line Dancing. We were lucky enough to welcome Liden s Line Dancing Group U3A, who kindly taught us a few steps. It was a fantastic new, fun way to raise awareness which everyone thoroughly enjoyed. Please read Debi s and Gary s review below: Debi For hats for Headway we had a cowboy theme so we had a Headway Hoedown with line dancing, hot dogs, Country and Western music and hay bales. Headway was decorated with a cowboy theme and all the hats that we made were hung from the ceiling. It was a fun week and all the work we did was themed on cowboys. On the Friday I came to Headway dressed as Jessie from Toy Story. I enjoyed the week and it was nice to see all the staff with their checked shirts on. Gary Headway Swindon had an activity of us all decorating some hats to raise awareness of brain injury. They were judged where one of the ladies won a prize and I came second. In the afternoon we all were accompanied by a small live country and western line dance group. I requested the one step forward song which they played and showed everyone how the dance goes. We all enjoyed the day very much and were given the hats we decorated to take home. 1 Inside this issue: New starters 2 Would you like to volunteer at Headway Swindon? 2 My Story 3 Volunteer s Tea Party 4 Carers Week 4 Wimbledon Baking Scones 5 World Cup Art and Craft Model making 5 London Marathon 6 AFL Telecommunications 6 Alan s sponsored walk 6 Thank you s 7 Dates for your Diary 8

2 New Staff Stewart Senior Support Worker I started with Headway Swindon in June 2018, I have come from a background working with adults with learning disabilities, my last position was that of the registered manager of a home. I really enjoy supporting people to achieve their full potential, when the opportunity arose to be part of this fantastic charity organisation, I could not turn it down, there is such a positive, uplifting atmosphere about the place and I look forward to my future here. Brad Support Worker I have always loved making a difference to peoples lives in any way possible, I look forward to what the future holds at Headway continuing to make a difference. All of the staff and clients are all amazing. It s great to be apart of such a good organisation. Stacey Office Manager I joined Headway in May 2018 as the Office Manager and come from a primary education background. Everyone has made me feel very welcome at Headway and I love being a part of such a friendly, supportive environment. I enjoy learning new things and am looking forward to getting involved with some marketing and fundraising events. I am currently working part time, as I am a Mum to a beautiful little girl who keeps me busy and entertained on days when I m not at work. Become a volunteer As we have been celebrating our wonderful volunteers for all their hard work and dedication, we thought we would take this opportunity to go on the hunt for more volunteers to join our fun and friendly bunch! If you would like to volunteer or know of anyone else who would like to volunteer at Headway Swindon then please get in touch by calling our lovely volunteer co-ordinator Josephine Fliski on or send an to: Josephine@headwayswindon.org.uk We would love to have Why Volunteer? - It s Fun - It can be a rewarding experience - Training opportunities - To be part of a friendly team - To gain new skills - Help others regain & learn new skills you as part of our Headway Swindon Family! What skills do you need? Ability to think outside the box. Being supportive Respect of others Accept responsibility Sense of humour Empathy Commitment What you can volunteer for Wednesday Social Group 10:30am-12:30pm General Learning Support (any day Monday-Friday between 10:30am-3:30pm) Polish Speaking (Tuesday & Friday 10:30am-2:30pm) 2

3 My Story I am a qualified Speech and Language Therapist I qualified from Birmingham City University in the summer of Since then I have worked as both a Teaching Assistant and a Speech Therapist with deaf children and young people. I love my job it s fulfilling and rewarding, but also challenging. I decided in 2015, after working for a few years and feeling quite settled in my job role, that I would like to pick up some volunteer work on Fridays, as I only work Monday to Thursday in my Speech Therapist role. I decided that I would like to find somewhere I could use my skills to support adults, as I had worked with children and teenagers for so long I wanted to try something different. I love working with young people, but 4 days in a row seeing teenagers for speech and language therapy is definitely enough! I researched online, and came across Headway. Here was a chance to provide much-needed support to adults who had been left with many difficulties after strokes and head injuries. Here was a place my skill set could be useful, and I would feel like I was making a difference to people s lives. I made an enquiry straight away, and was invited to come and see the centre and speak with Sheryl. I think I started at Headway as a volunteer in September 2015 (it s been so long I actually can t remember exactly!). I know I spent my first few months volunteering at the old centre in the Headlands Industrial Estate, before moving to the current centre in Dorcan. I definitely felt a bit nervous at first there were so many new people to meet and so many names to remember! I can be quite shy, especially with new people, so I had to find my feet and my confidence. Now, well, I can t imagine not being part of Headway! I always look forward to my fortnightly visit it genuinely helps me wind down after a (usually) very busy and manic week at work. Everyone is so friendly and welcoming, and the clients really do treat each other like family. To them, it is a second home somewhere they can be themselves and not have to worry too much or feel too stressed about their difficulties. Headway is a place they can feel safe and feel supported, and receive the help they need to make improvements. And I love that, I love being able to be a part of their lives and their journeys. I enjoy working with everyone who attends Headway on Fridays I never know who I m going to be working with, and I like that I get to work with lots of different people. Naturally, as a Speech and Language Therapist, I enjoy the language based activities more than some others (*cough* maths *cough*), but I m happy to get stuck in and get involved with whatever is going on during the day! I particularly enjoy doing craft activities and cooking, as it s something different for the clients which allows them to learn and practice so many different skills. They make some amazing things! Themed days and activities are also great fun, for example when the Olympics or other sporting events are coming up you can t beat a good boccia tournament! Overall, I think Headway is a fantastic place, and everyone works so hard the clients to improve their skills, and the staff and volunteers to ensure everyone is supported in the right way for them. I will certainly not be making my way out of the door any time soon as long as I am in a job which allows me to have my Headway Fridays, I will keep volunteering here! 3 Written by our Friday volunteer, Amy (pictured middle)

4 Volunteers Tea Party On Friday 8th June 2018, Headway Swindon held our own Tea Party in aid of Volunteers Week to show how much we appreciate all their hard work, time and dedication they give to us. They all do a fantastic job of helping to support Headway Swindon clients and help with day to day jobs around the centre. We were donated a variety of delicious cakes from Morrison's and clients made beautiful paper flowers with individual messages to our volunteers showing their appreciation. We have now created our new floral feature wall to show our gratitude to all our volunteers. From all of us here at Headway Swindon, we would like to say a special thank you to all our volunteers we are so grateful for what you do. Please read below Janice s review of the tea party: Anyone that knows me will know that two of my favourite things are tea and cake, so I was delighted to receive an invitation to the Volunteers Afternoon Tea to celebrate Volunteers Week at Headway. On arrival, my fellow volunteer and I were given certificates accompanied by cheers and clapping by staff and clients and a lovey boxed cupcake to take home. We were then shown the wall of handwritten appreciative comments made by clients, which I found quite moving, and collected our beautiful handmade paper flowers with a little thank you message attached. After having our photos taken we were treated to tea with proper china cups and saucers and there was a variety of cakes. It was lovely to meet other volunteers that I don t normally see as they come on different days. I know that Julie will agree that it made a change from making the tea ourselves! Carers Week We have also been celebrating Carers Week as they do such an amazing job looking after those in need of a little help and support. Everyone at Headway Swindon think that all the carers do an absolutely fantastic job and are so thankful of the care and attention that they give So as a token of appreciation, our clients made individual flowers for carers to take home which were made from tissue paper and had a tag on it with individual messages thanking carers for all that they do. So we would also like to say a special thank you to all the carers. 4

5 Wimbledon Please read Diana s review of baking scones below: We recently made scones from scratch in the centre to celebrate Wimbledon. They were made by myself and other clients. We had help from the volunteers and staff. It was very nice. I believe it was because we were given the ingredients by Morrison s that was kind of them. We say thank you for being so helpful and so kind. My scones were very nice and enjoyed by all my family. Thank you. World Cup 2018 The World Cup at Headway By Jason. None of us at Headway could go to The World Cup, so Headway brought The World Cup to us. We had a sweepstake and we all picked a team and a lady called Davida won with France. We had chances to watch it when it was on in the day and the centre was decorated with different flags representing the countries and we did quizzes regarding football. So thank you to Headway, we all enjoyed the 2018 World Cup. Just a shame England didn't win it. Model Making Hi I m Kevin, I haven't been here too long. I was asked to do a model of a J Type Jaguar so I teamed up with Bob (Titanic man) and we both started this project. We both had our own jobs and ideas Bob supplied me with the parts and I took it on myself to fit it all together. All the pieces that constructed the wheels and main frame were very fiddly so sometimes I got fed up as my fingers were too big for the little parts that you had to get in the smallest holes to get the nibs in to hold it in place for the cement glue Sometimes I wish I had eyebrow tweezers to hold it in place. It is definitely a way of getting different parts of the brain working but don t forget its all fun and we had a good lesson talking whilst enjoying what we are doing. I am looking forward to finishing this model off. 5

6 London Marathon A huge congratulations and thank you to Paul Coles and Nancy Lawson who braved the heat and ran this years London marathon in aid of Headway Swindon. They both individually ran the marathon on Sunday 22nd April Paul raised a wonderful amount of 175 for Headway Swindon Thank you so much! A special thank you to Nancy Lawson who s mother attends Headway Swindon once a week after suffering a brain injury. Nancy completed the marathon in an incredible 4 hours and 39 minutes what an achievement! As well as completing the Marathon, Nancy held a coffee morning and hosted a clothes swap to help fundraise towards her target of Nancy has raised a massive 5, for Headway Swindon which is absolutely fantastic! Thank you so much for your support and dedication, we really appreciate your support. AFL Telecommunications ltd Swindon On the 30th May, CEO, Jane Weston and one of our clients Debbie visited Swindon s AFL Telecommunications ltd as they hosted their annual Imagine That! Campaign where charities are put forward to see if they would like to attend to explain what service they provide and how they help people, then workers can choose if they would like to sign up to a just giving monthly payment scheme to their chosen Charity where a certain percentage is given from their pay to the charity. On the day we raised 1,344.84! AFL Telecommunications matched donations through payroll giving from monthly donations from their employees. Thank you so much for inviting us to be part of your campaign. It was a lovely experience and it was a good way of spreading the word about Headway Swindon within the community. Bingo and Raffle Evening North Swindon Club A huge thank you to the ladies from the North Swindon Club, Anne and Cath, who raised an amazing amount of 1, by organising a bingo and raffle evening on Saturday, 14th July. The evening was a great success with over 100 people who attended, including our CEO Jane Weston and one of our wonderful clients Steve who put us forward to be the chosen charity. Thank you to Anne and Cath for organising and hosting such a fantastic evening and to everyone who attended to help raise money for Headway Swindon. 6

7 Thank you We have been delighted with the support we have received this year. Our total funds raised to date, are 22, for Thank you to everyone who has helped us to raise this fantastic amount. Thank you! We would like to say a special thank you to: John Kennedy, for your monthly donation. Kayleigh Williams, for continuing her running campaign The Run For Recovery. Watson fuels, for their kind donation from the proceeds of their tuck shop. Members of the Gooch chapter, for their kind donation. Nationwide Building Society, for raising money from a dress down day at work. The Dolphin, for the proceeds from hosting a coffee morning. Morrison's (Dorcan), for the donation of cakes for our volunteer tea party and for the ingredients to make scones and the supply of extra scones. Millets Farm, Studley Grange Craft Village and Butterfly World, The White Hart Inn & Cotswold Wildlife Park, for their kind donation for a prize in our summer raffle. Debi P, for her kind donation by raising awareness of brain injury on Hats for Headway Day by dressing up as Jessie from Toy Story. Alan N, for completing a sponsored walk and giving all proceeds to Headway Swindon. 7

8 Dates for your diary... Headway Swindon Summer Raffle 1 Summer Raffle Tickets On Sale! When: The draw will take place on Monday 20th August 2018 Where: The Headway Swindon Centre Summer Raffle Cost: 1 Per ticket Please see a member of staff Connect with us on social media to stay up-to-date with our latest news, we have lots of exciting activities planned for the centre in Headline is kindly printed by Headway Swindon Supporting local people affected brain injury. Ground Floor, Avocet House, The Dorcan Complex, Dorcan, Swindon, SN3 5HQ Telephone: info@headwayswindon.org.uk Website: Affiliated to Headway the brain injury association a registered charity 8