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Carers, trains and your news

April 2018

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Cultural Awareness

Photos from the event

Pages 6

Diary Dates

In this issue:

National Award Winner

We’re delighted to announce that our very own Jack Homer is the national winner of the Care Newcomer Award in the Great British Care Awards 2018.

Jack, who is a support worker at Potternewton Day Service, won the regional Award back in Autumn 2017. Winners from each of the nine regions were then invited to compete again to become national champions in the prestigious awards hosted by Care England. At a gala evening in March held at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham, 900 of the very best in social care heard Jeremy Vine announce the category winners.

Entrants for the Newcomer category were people who had come into employment in the care sector between January 2016 and March 2017. The judges described Jack as “an inspiring young man who is very passionate about impacting people’s lives”. Well done to Jack and everyone who has supported him to achieve this accolade.

www.aspirecbs.org.uk

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Learning Disability Week Outline programme for 2018 in Leeds

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Service News from across Aspire

Caring for Carers

The snow forced us to cancel our first carers’ information session for 2018. Luckily most people were able to make the second date in March when we welcomed guest speakers Kate and Bashiran from Chapeltown Citizens Advice Bureau.

They talked about the Learning Disabilities Project and explained they offer free, confidential, impartial and independent advice on many issues including benefit checks, welfare reforms, housing and financial assessments to people with a learning disability in Leeds and/or their family carers.

Here at Aspire we made a Commitment to Carers that we would raise staff awareness about the needs of carers. Therefore we were very pleased to welcome West Leeds Carers to our annual day service staff training days where they delivered carer awareness training.

We are undertaking our annual Family Carer Satisfaction Survey. If you are a family member/carer you should receive a questionnaire with this newsletter. We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete the survey. This is an opportunity for you to let us know what you think of the service Aspire provides to your loved ones and the impact these have on their life. We use all the feedback we receive to help us improve the services we offer.

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Train Tour Thrills

Wyatt and David - people we support at Richmond Hill base - have been on a tour of Leeds train station. They really enjoyed the tour and even managed to have a look around a Virgin train cab. Both said the tour was really informative, interesting and had many surprises. They thought it was all enjoyable with parts of it being “awesome”! Already there is a plan to invite Wyatt and David back soon so they can have a go on the Virgin simulator. The tour was organised by staff member Patrick Lynch and management at Network Rail. We’re hoping to work with Network Rail to organise more tours in the future for people we support.

Sally’s Fundraiser

Well done to Sally M who held a fundraising day for McMillan Cancer. Sally arranged everything herself with support from staff and invited people to her flat to buy drinks, buns and crafts.

She must have been rushed off her feet because she raised over £97 for the charity.

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Your News Congratulations to the group based at Hillside who raised £110 from their Zombie walk. They invited Vicky from Oggles to visit them at their community base. Oggles is a very small charity run by Vicky and her husband which looks after hedgehogs – as many as 40 at a time. The walkers presented Vicky with the cheque and lots of food for Vicky to take back to feed all the hedgehogs she rescues. Fun at the Valentine’s Day Fair The Gardening Works group based at Meanwood Valley Urban Farm have been doing some useful community work by clearing the branches and logs from a wind-fallen tree. It was blocking the cycle path on the Meanwood Valley Trail after a stormy night in January, so these helpful gardeners have made the trail passable again. Philip achieved his ambition to swim with sharks! Very brave! It looks as though the community bases in the west have been keeping very busy over the winter months judging by all the photos they’ve been sending in. There’s been sport (tennis, snooker and bowling), museum visits, music making and arts & crafts – including making props for their Sailing video.

Cultural Awareness

Our annual event to raise awareness of cultural diversity took place at the Irish Centre on York Road. Once again people from across Aspire plus other third sector organisations enjoyed a fabulous day of entertainment, food and fun.

There was no shortage of ‘famous faces’: Amy Winehouse (Becci Barker) , The Muppets (Dramarama), Alice Cooper, Madonna, Elvis, Tina Turner, and The Beatles (Ginger Cat Theatre Company) to name but a few.

The Moving On group from West Yorkshire Artlink, Dreamcatchers, wrote and performed two brilliant poems and Inder ‘Goldfinger’ brought his ever-popular dhol drum. There was a dance session led by Bramley day service and the photo booth plus the fabulous Sky Fallers who rocked the audience (together with their new backing dancer and saxophonists).

There was some wonderful food available too – chilli & rice, jacket potatoes and Albanian cheese and spinach Bureku.

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DIARY DATES

Pawsome Coffee Morning - from 12 till 2:30 at Hillside in aid of Cats Protection

NEW closing date for nominations for the Tenfold Awards. For nomination forms or to buy your tickets for this fantastic event, go to website at: www.tenfold.org.uk/awards/introduction/

17th

April

19 April - Leep the Bridge

Club Night at Tiger Tiger, 7-10pm

15 May - Lunchtime

performance at The Broadway on Dewsbury Rd; entrance is £3 including buffet

22 May - Performance and

workshop at Armley Denison Hall Club & Institute 10:30 to 12:30

25 May - Workshop for

Meanwood Festival at Holy Trinity Church 11-2

5th June - Performance at

Leeds Kirkgate Market 11:30 – 2pm

4th July - Workshop at

Otley Courthouse from 11am-1pm; entrance is £1 for Aspire customers and £2 for others (carers go free)

6th July - Private birthday

party in Morley 13th July - Aspire’s South

Summerfest in Middleton park

14th July - Kirkstall Festival

on the Ruins Stage at lunchtime.

Sky Faller Gigs

Staff Ramblers Group calendar: 15 April, 12 May, 26 May, 16 June, 15 July, 18 August, 20 October, 18 November, 15 December – contact janice.judd@aspirecbs.org.uk for more details

Apr to Dec

Sky Fallers are always in demand and have been keeping pretty busy over the last few months with Valentine workshops for Aspire at Naburn Court and Crossgates Community Centre plus an Easter workshop at Bramley Day Service.

They’ve also given public performances at our Cultural Day, Leeds Kirkgate Market, the PHAB Club on Scott Hall Avenue, a workshop for Health for All at The Bridge Project and played for the Living Potential Care Farm 1st Birthday & Award Ceremony at Wetherby.

X Factor Auditions: Thurs, 3

rd May - Elder Road WMC

Thurs, 10th May - Garforth WMC

Thurs, 17th May - Seacroft WMC

Closing date for applications is Friday, 20th April Contact Billy Guy or Hayley Johnson

May

6

Aspire Customer Awards 2018 – closing date for nominations is 1

st May. Contacts:

julie.lill@aspirecbs.org.uk or emily.garland@aspirecbs.org.uk)

1st

May

25th Apr

Hello & Farewell Welcome to our first cohort of student nurses for 2018.

Evaluations from last year’s pilot for offering work placements within Aspire were particularly positive. So, we are again offering 30 student placements in total: 15 students from Leeds Beckett University arrived in March and a further 15 students will join us in July.

The aim is to heighten the students’ understanding of learning disabilities which will benefit the people we support should they come into contact with nurses in the future.

We wish David Brown, Traudi Schiller, Ann Walls, Denise Hood, Ravinder Saundh, long, healthy and happy retirements. We also wish Sue Laverick (our Finance Director) all the very best in her new role with Amazon.

Keep on Running

The snow and ice put paid to family carer Kate Henshall’s running for a while but she’s back to it again now.

Kate is determined to achieve her goal of running the equivalent of the distance from Leeds to Paris before she hits her 60

th

birthday. With just over three months

to go it looks as if she is still on track having clocked up 460 miles of the 500 miles target she set herself. Kate really appreciates all the support she has received so far and wants to send a massive thank you to everyone who has sponsored her. She is sharing the money she raises between Aspire and Yorkshire Cancer Care. It’s not too late for you to show your support for Kate by going to her sponsorship page at:

https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-display/showROFundraiserPage?userUrl=KateHenshall&pageUrl=2

Strong Foundations It’s hard to believe that we are already six months into our landmark partnership with the Leeds Rhinos Foundation. Over 200 of the people we support have taken part in sessions led by the Foundation’s Disability Coordinator, Chris Godfrey, exploring basic rugby and movement skills through fun inclusive games. The partnership also delivers

healthy living sessions giving people access to good advice on how to live a healthier life through making positive diet choices and staying active. (Read the article on the Foundation’s website at: http://www.leedsrhinosfoundation.org/news/32215.php#.WsCxacuovIW) For those who prefer rugby of a different code, there is always a great turnout for the mixed ability rugby sessions held at Middleton Leisure Centre with Yorkshire Carnegie.

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News Team

News writer & editor – Carol Benson Newsletter producer – Saffron Cuccio e-News producer/narrator – Shaun Pilkington Reporters – Ailsa Ryder, Caroline Terry & Tim Snell

Don’t forget to tell us your good news stories so we can let everyone know about them. Please send them to: carol.benson@aspirecbs.org.uk. The next issue of our newsletter will be out in:

July 2018

Aspire Community Benefit Society Limited is a registered society in England and Wales under the Cooperative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014.

Registered number: 7062 HMRC Charities Reference number: EW36148 VAT number: 215 0549 36 Registered Office: Unit 2 Westfield Chambers, Lower Wortley Road, Leeds LS12 4PX

Broken Bones When Philip C went to watch a football match independently recently, he wasn’t expecting to return home with a broken leg! Unfortunately, he was knocked down by a car after the game and sustained serious injuries.

Leeds United Football Club has been very supportive and has even given Philip a free season ticket for next year. Happily Philip is recovering and is looking forward to watching more games in the future.

The newsletter is available as a hard copy or to download from our website. If you prefer to watch an accessible e-news version, this can also be found on our website at:

www.aspirecbs.org.uk

Sad News We are sad to report the deaths of Aaron Tarbottom, and Trevor Lawrence who we have supported over the years. They were much loved and will be missed by all those whose lives they touched.

Our deepest condolences go out to their families and friends.

And Finally We’d like to say a huge THANK YOU to staff for some of the extraordinary efforts you have gone to during the snow days to ensure that people have had the support they needed during the recent bad weather.

Andy Rawnsley, our Chief Executive said, “I’ve heard of countless incidents when our staff have gone above and beyond to make sure the people in our care are safe and that colleagues have been supported. Collectively we deliver a great service and, at times like these, the care and commitment that we have shines particularly strong”.

Gender Pay Gap New legislation was introduced in 2017 requiring all employers with 250 or more employees to publish statutory calculations every year showing how large the pay gap is between the male and female employees.

Gender pay reporting is a different requirement to carrying out an equal pay audit.

Our Gender Pay Gap report is available on the publications section of our website.

We still have some work to do, but it’s a really positive report showing our median gender pay gap at only 1%.