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Welcome
Contact Ealing Office Newsletter March 2020
Address: Contact Ealing, St. George’s Community Centre,
8-12 Lancaster Road, Southall, UB1 1NW.
Telephone: 020 8571 6381 Email: [email protected]
Please see an update on how we at Contact Ealing will support
you throughout the Corona Virus crisis inside this newsletter
Our helpline Freephone: 0808 808 3555
9.30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday-Friday; free from UK landlines and UK mobiles
Facebook: facebook.com/contactfamilies (Response within two working days)
Twitter: @contactfamilies (Response w ithin two working days)
Email: [email protected] (Response within 10 working days)
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Corona Virus Update—Contact Ealing
Dear Contact Ealing families,
We were about to send out this newsletter today when everything changed
after the new advice issued by the national government last night. We
received instructions from our head office that all staff are to work from
home until further notice.
All office based meetings, workshops and family events are post-poned until further notice.
However, we are very aware how worried everyone is, and that for families with children with disabilities these are particularly anxious times. So we will continue to support you, but in different ways:
Our individual advice will continue either vie telephone or skype. If you have never used Skype before, it is free and very easy to down-load. You can continue to ring Selina on 07395913573 or Brigitte on 07908 826948 to make an appointment for an advice session.
Our group sessions will also continue, but in a different, online format. We are sending out a survey with this newsletter to find out which way works best for you (Webinars, Facebook live streams or Question & Answer sessions).
The IT Training sessions are postponed and we will aim to re-schedule them for the autumn term.
This week’s Parent Support Group on Carers’ Assessments will take place in an online format next week Monday 23rd March at 10.30am. We will send you the link to log in via email and group call.
Please remember you can always access our national helpline on
0808 808 3555
We decided to still send out this Newsletter because there is a lot of infor-
mation in it on changes here in the office, on our friends and partners and
our plans until May. We will update you on details about each session and
trips as soon as we can.
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Contents
1. Office Updates
2. Drop In Sessions in spring 2020
3. Parent Support Sessions for different community languages
4. New: This Newsletter’s Ealing Artist, featuring George Goodlake
5. Autism Parent Group
6. IT classes and Parent / Carer Support sessions
7. Our Family Trips in the April holidays
8. P.E.S.T.S. Early Years Support Group
9. Fledglings
10. Contact Ealing Steering group
11. Contact Ealing Membership Form
1. Office Updates
There have been a number of changes in the
Contact team.
We have sadly said good-bye to Alamara Awan in
October 2019 and Warda Mohamed, our Family
Workers, in December 2019. We would like to
thank them for their work with us and wish them
every success with their future.
We have been very fortunate to be able to recruit Selina Eshun as Family Worker since then.
Selina has started in January and some of you may already have met her or spoken to her on
the phone. We will recruit one more part time Family Worker over the next few weeks so that
you can continue to receive the advice, information and support you need.
The team has also said good bye to Helen Jackson, who left the manager post at the end of
January. We would like to thank Helen for all her hard work for Contact and wish her all the
best for her future endeavours. My name is Brigitte Bistrick-Bryan and I am the new Manager of
Contact Ealing. I started the role at the end of February and am very excited about this
opportunity to work with the fantastic team here.
With all these changes, we are very glad to have Satvir Birk who is providing the experience
and continuity we need for our work here at Contact Ealing. All three of us are excited about
increasing our support sessions and services for our families. You will see in this newsletter
that we are re-launching our Autism Support Group and also continue to offer parent support
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sessions in various community languages together with our friends at ISAID, the EPCF
and P.E.S.T.S. Our trips and family outings will continue over the holidays ahead.
There will be one other new addition to this Newsletter. We would like to give some
of our amazingly talented young people in Ealing the opportunity to display their art
work to our members and friends. Our first local Ealing artist, George Goodlake, has
kindly allowed us to include one of his cartoon drawings on page 5. George is 22
years old and an illustrator and cartoonist.
If you know a child or young person with special needs living in Ealing who would like
to show their work in one of our next newsletters, please do get in touch with us at
We look forward to meeting many of you over the next weeks and months.
With warm wishes
Brigitte, Satvir and Selina
Satvir is our Parent Advisor and Inclusion Coordinator. She
organises our events and trips as well as workshops. If you want to
book any of our events, please contact her on
[email protected] or ring on 0208 5716381.
Our family worker Selina is available to give information and advice
regarding your child’s condition, about referrals to specialists and
works closely with local statutory and voluntary services. She can
support parents with applications for DLA/PIP, grants and benefits.
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Family Outings/Parties 2019
It is already March 2020, and our Anniversary Party and events of the last year
feel like a long time ago. For those of you who were able to attend our Party on
the 7th December in celebration of Contact’s 40
th Birthday, we hope you all had a
wonderful time. We would like to thank Santa for taking his time to visit us during
his very busy time of year. We would also like to thank all the volunteers who
helped on the day.
Here is what you had to say.
“The friendly staff, circus, food, cake and face painting went well.”
“I liked everything and the children enjoyed it a lot”
Do you require an appointment?
If you would like to book an appointment to seek advice, information or need support filling in an application form, then please contact the Southall office by telephone on 020 8571 6381. Please ask for Selina Eshun to arrange an appointment. You can al-
so contact us by email at:
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Advice Sessions (no need for an appointment)
We will aim to run these sessions as Question & Answer ses-sions online. If you do not have access to facebook, please ring
us for individual advice.
Wednesday 25th March - Times From 10:30a.m. - 12:30pm.
Wednesday 29th April - Times From 10:30a.m.—12:30p.m.
Drop In Sessions in Community Languages with EPCF & partners
These sessions will take place as online sessions via Zoom. If you need help ac-cessing the software please ring us and we will take you through it. You can ac-
cess Zoom meetings on your phone as well as any tablet or laptop.
Parent Support Session in Punjabi, Hind, Bengali:
Thursday 2nd April 2020 at 10.30am
Parent Support Session in Somali:
12th May 2020 at 10.30am
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This is where we would like to showcase local Ealing Artists from our SEND
Community. Our first contributing artist is George Goodlake.
George is 21 years old and a passionate cartoon artist. This drawing is Manga inspired.
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To celebrate World Autism Week ( 30th March - 5th April), we are re-launching our
monthly Autism Support Group. In the meetings we will focus on different issues
that arise when you have a child with Autism, including topics such as understand-
ing Autism, behaviour that challenges, education, diagnosis, independence and
others. We aim to offer these sessions in different venues across the Borough and
to include a visit to the Springhallow Café before the summer holidays.
Our first meeting will now be a virtual meeting via an online forum on:
Monday 30th March from 10.30am 12.30pm
We will send you a link to log in shortly before the date. At this first meeting we will
explain Autism support in Ealing schools, the options available to you and general
support available.
Future meetings of the Autism Support Group:
Wednesday 22nd April, 10.30am -12.30pm
Thursday 7th May, 10.30am12.30pm
Wednesday 10th June, 10.30am—12.30pm
Tuesday 7th July, 10.30am—12.30pm
To book, please call Satvir Birk on 0208 5716381 or email [email protected]
Our Autism Parent and Carer Support Group
Would you like to become a Contact Volunteer?
We want to continue to offer more support and activities and need some help. Are you able to
help out in the office one morning a week? Or do you speak one of Ealing’s community lan-
guages and would like to help us support parents who struggle with English? Or maybe you
would like to come along to our trips and help families on the day? If you are, please contact us
on [email protected] or ring Brigitte on 0208 5716381. We look forward to hearing from
you!
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IT Classes and our regular Carer
Support Sessions:
Information and Technology Classes: A course of 6 classes at beginner level - delivered in partnership with the Adult
Community Development Academy
Sessions 3-6 are now cancelled. We aim to re-schedule them for the
autumn term.
Benefits Advice / Carers Needs Assessment
Date: Monday 23rd March 2020 from: 10:30am onwards.
This will be our first advice session delivered online. We will send out a link for
parents to log in over the next few days.
Disability Living Allowance and Personal Independent Payment
with Colin Morris from the DWP
Date: Wednesday 1st April 2020 from: 10.00 a.m. To: 12:00 p.m.
We are talking to Colin about being able to deliver this session online. We will
send out details closer to the time.
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Trip 2: Hanwell Zoo
Sorry, this trip has been postponed. We will let you know the new date in due
course.
April Holiday Events
Trip 1: London Museum of Water & Steam
Sorry, this trip has been postponed.
We will let you know the new dates
in due course.
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Booking Form –Trips 2020
Please fully complete this form, sign and return to Contact Ealing, St Georges Community
Centre, 8-12 Lancaster Road, Southall UB1 1NW or email at: [email protected]. We ac-
cept online payments via our just giving page (see details on next page).
Please tick as appropriate which trip you wish to attend:
The London Museum of Water & Steam
Hanwell Zoo
Total cost: £
Name of parent attending the trip:_______________________________________
Second parent/Carer, if attending:____________________________________
Full address:
_________________________________________________________________________
Postcode: __________________________________ Email: ________________________
Home tel: __________________________________Mobile: ________________________
Religion _________________________Language: ______________________
Ethnicity :____________________
Are there any wheelchair users attending these trips? ____________
Do you require the help/assistance of our volunteers during the events?__________
Total number of people attending trips ___________
Please complete this booking form and return back to the Southall office by 03/04/ 2020.
Name of YOUR child/
sibling
Gender
M/F
DOB/Age Disability if any School
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Online Payments: We accept online payments via our just giving page.
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Contact-Ealing
Please leave your full name and the amount you have donated
This money will then be transferred to the Ealing Office Office.
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Terms and Conditions
These trips are for Contact Ealing registered members. Please send your pay-
ment with your form. We will notify you if you have a place at any of our
events. Extended family and friends (non registered members) may attend
only if there are spaces. Priority will be given to parents/carers and their dis-
abled children.
If you are unable to attend any of the events you have paid for, please let us
know as soon as possible so that we can offer your place to another family.
Parents and carers are responsible for their children at all times. Families
should be prepared for events and accidents and bring appropriate/spare
clothing, footwear for their child. Parents will also be responsible for providing
their child with refreshments.
By filling out your details on the booking form, you understand and agree to your de-
tails being entered onto the Contact database. Your personal data will be held and used
in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 and GDPR, and will not be shared with
any third parties for commercial use. It will only be used by Contact for the purpose of
informing you about news, information and events. Normally we will contact you by
email however we may also contact you in writing. We would also like to contact you
occasionally, by post or email and text message about opportunities with Contact to
support families of disabled children. This could include information about our cam-
paigns and fundraising. We won’t overwhelm you with lots of information that you
don’t want. If you are happy for us to do this please tick the box below.
□ I am happy to be contacted about campaigns and fundraising
You can amend or remove your details or change how we contact you
whenever you wish by contacting Contact at: [email protected]
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Information on our friends and partners in Ealing.
P.E.S.T.S. are running regular play sessions for children with special needs aged 0-5 in
Windmill Children Centre.
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Fledglings– Contact’s new online shop
Contact Website
www.contact.org.uk
To help parents find the advice they need quickly and easily please take a look at our Contact website. We have the following tools on the website which you may find useful.
Our Common Questions tool which will help guide you through our online education and learning Infor-mation (and benefits, grants and money from 6 April) Turn2us
Online benefits calculator, offering independent information on benefits and other financial help you might be entitled to as a parent of a disabled child
Turn2us online grants finder to find out if your family can apply for a charity grant
Live Chat from our website helps you find information on your rights to services and support
Our library of podcasts available on our website
Keep up date with the latest developments by signing up to our What’s New e-newsletter including de-tails of online Q&A sessions focussing on key issues and concerns with tips and advice
With over 450 practical products to choose from. Now open for business, our online shop is full of aids and equipment designed to make life a little bit easier and more ful-filling for you and your child. This includes our best sellers like swimwear and accesso-ries, cutlery, continence products, toys and learning resources - all of which have been specifically designed for children with a disability or special educational need.
The website address is: www.fledglings.org.uk
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Have Your Say
Why not join our Contact Ealing Steering Group
At Contact Ealing those of you who are registered as our parents or carers can help
make decisions such as which activities/trips, workshops and events you would like
us to organise for you and your children/young people.
Our Steering Group Meetings take place approximately every 6 weeks and are held
at our Southall Office. Times will be from 10:00a.m. to 12:00p.m. and refreshments
will be available. The date for the next meeting is:
...
We do seek your views by asking you to complete the trip/event and workshop
evaluation forms so that we can plan the things that you would like and feel are
important for you and your family but there is nothing like meeting you in person
and listening to your views and ideas.
If you would like to attend the meetings please contact us by telephone or email to
confirm that you will be attending.
Telephone: 020 8571 6381 Email: [email protected]
Thank you to everyone coming to our Celebration of International Women’s Day! It was
great for the us all to meet members of our Steering Group as well as many parents.
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Main Carer’s Name:
Signature: (verbal consent can be given if GDPR statements have been read)
Date:
Mobile number:
Home number:
Email:
Full address:
What support group would you like to join with us? Carer’s support group □ Early years support group □
Date of Birth of main carer:
Nationality:
Ethnicity:
Religion:
Language:
Marital status: □Divorced □Married □Separated □ Single □Widowed
PART TWO – INFORMATION ABOUT YOUR CHILD/REN (please continue on a separate piece of paper if necessary)
Full Name of child:
Date of Birth:
Disability:
Full Name of child:
Date of Birth:
Disability:
Full Name of child:
Date of Birth:
Disability:
Full Name of child:
Date of Birth:
Disability:
PART FIVE: PRIVACY NOTICE
At Contact we are committed to protecting your privacy. Whenever you share personal data with us we aim to be clear with you, and not to do anything with your data that you wouldn't reasonably expect us to do. We will never sell your personal data to other organisations and will only ever share it in appropriate, legal or exceptional circumstances. We will only send e-newsletter and marketing communica-tions to those that have explicitly stated that they are happy for us to do so via their preferred channel(s) (e.g. email, SMS, phone) or where we have a legitimate interest reason for doing so. These communications include information about Contact's services supporting families with disabled children, and offers and information about how you can become involved, including fundraising, campaigning and volunteering. https://contact.org.uk/privacy
ARE YOU HAPPY FOR US TO GET IN TOUCH WITH YOU?
By email □ By post □ By phone □ By SMS □
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE FROM US? Tick the box selecting what you would like to receive from us:
Campaign updates about opportunities to take action on the big issues facing families □ (email only)
Fundraising updates about opportunities to support our work □
Office Use Only: Discussed Privacy Notice □ Consent Recorded □
Entered on Database □ Groupcall registered □
Please only fill this registration form if you haven’t registered with us yet or would like to update your details.