NewsletterDECEMBER 2016

2 From the Editor

2 Happy Healthy FunDay

3 The Big Picture

3 Focus on …Curtains Up!

4-6 News & Events —Hate Crime Reporting

Gateway AwardPedal PowerBarnet Parent CarerForumSherrick House

7 Being . . .Sam Bishop

8 Photo Finish

8 Diary Dates

8 How to find us

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Children petting some goats during one of the Open Door under-5s sessions at Belmont Farm

Who said you should neverwork with children or animals?

Happy Healthy Fun Day 2016 -New venue but just as happy,healthy and fun!

On a lovely, sunny day in September the eighth annual‘Happy Healthy Fun Day’ took place at Allianz Park. Thenew venue was very large and bright with activities takingplace in several locations within the park. Everything waswell signposted and there were lifts to every level soaccessibility was not an issue.

The event was an information day for adults withlearning disabilities, with many stalls offering the chance tochat to local community services, nursing and healthteams as well as pick up leaflets and brochures (and insome cases free pens and other goodies) about theservices they provide. The focus of the nursing team thisyear was to raise awareness of cancer screenings. SweetTree Farm’s stall gave the opportunity to have anencounter with a rabbit. Barnet Mencap’s stall debuted anew video showcasing our Fit2gether service, which wasvery well received - you can watch this by searching forBarnet Mencap on YouTube. Each stall was decoratedwith blue and white balloons, the theme colours of the day.

On arrival, people were given the opportunity to signup for a variety of free activities which included relaxation,travel skills, sensory stories and falls prevention, as wellas the ever popular yoga and dance. Once signed uppeople were given a different coloured sticker for eachevent they wanted to attend and a small army of helpers,all wearing a smart blue sash, made sure people got towhere they needed to be at the right time.

Feedback from these groups were that peoplereceived a lot of good information which they will be ableto use away from the day, and that the falls prevention anddance classes were great fun.

As well as the activities, there was also the chance towin prizes, including a year’s free membership of our socialprojects, by entering a quiz. The free membership was wonwas won by Naomi Mushin, with Juliette Harris as therunner up.

All attendees were given a voucher to get a healthydrink at the bar and there was lots of free fruit to snack on.If you wanted something less healthy, there were snacksavailable to buy at the bar and large tables to sit at andrelax with other attendees.

The event was officially opened by Matthew Kendall,Director of Barnet’s Adult Social Services, who spent timetalking to both people attending the day and the stallholders.

With over 150 people attending it was a huge success.Roll on next year!

A year ago we were reflecting onBarnet Mencap’s 50th anniversary. Theyear was an opportunity to think how farwe had come since the organisationwas founded. Now 2016 is ending.

This edition of the newsletter looksback at Barnet Mencap’s great dramaproduction held in the summer andHappy Healthy Fun Day, whichcontinues to attract hundreds of people.

Barnet Mencap was set up byparents and carers campaigning for theservices and support needed bychildren and adults with learningdisabilities. The Barnet Parent CarerForum is a modern opportunity forparent carers to influence the futureshape of services in the borough (seepage 5). It is always keen to attractnew members.

As the Chief Executive, I am usuallybusy, involved in meetings, and getused to telling people how the staff andvolunteers do such a good job. But inthe past few weeks I had a strong,direct reminder of this. Parent carerswrote comments and answered ourquestionnaire to say how important theMoving Up project is to them and whata difference the staff member’s supportmakes to their families. Also, atGateway’s award ceremony it wasgreat to see the excitement and senseof achievement shown by the youngpeople receiving their bronze medal,and their families who came to supportthem.

I’d like to finish by drawing attentionto the letter from Peter Carter to ourreaders and the appeal for donations,and to wish everyone well for theholidays and the New Year. We havebeen committed at Barnet Mencap todo all we can to improve support forpeople with learning disabilities andtheir families. In 2017 we will be readyto do it all again!

Ray Booth

From theEditor

PAGE 2

Earlier this year, Barnet Mencap and FixationTheatre were asked to take over the long-runningBravo! drama group.

On April 11th Barnet Mencap and FixationTheatre teachers Laura Davitt, Sarah Akokhiaand Maria Garrido were very honoured andpleased to attend their first ever session. PinaGriffin and Mandy Formosa, paved the way for asmooth handover, allowing plenty of time for thestudents to get to know their new teachers beforeBarnet Mencap and Fixation Theatre took over fulltime after the summer break, supported by thevolunteers who had been with the group for years.

The group, which consists of over 20 adultswith learning disabilities and or autism from acrossthe borough and further afield, has gone fromstrength to strength and has since renamed itself‘Curtains Up.’ They are currently in rehearsal fortheir 2017 show, which is set to be a great one,with lots of acting, singing, dancing

and jokes!Barnet Mencap and Fixation Theatre already

run the very successful Monday 18+ dance anddrama groups in partnership with each other. Thissummer they put on a brilliant performance of‘Wounded Hearts’, a production devised by theservice users themselves. Wounded Hearts followsthe story of three pensioners in a retirement homeas they look back on their experiences of war.These memories are brought to life throughflashbacks of the front-line. It had a sold outperformance at ArtsDepot. The group is alreadyback rehearsing now and devising a newproduction for 2017.

Curtains Up rehearse every Monday at The BullTheatre, High Barnet. If you’d like to find out moreinformation or get involved, please telephone 0208349 3842 or emailprojectsupport@barnetmencap.org.uk

PAGE 3

THE BIG

PICTURE

Curtains Up!Focuson...A shot from the sold out Wounded Hearts performance in the summer

PAGE 4

News&Events

Gateway to OpportunitiesGATEWAY AWARD

Hate crime has been in the news over thepast few months. A rise in crimes that featurerace or religious hatred is worrying and thisneeds to be tackled. However, other forms ofhate crime are also felt to be widespread,including those targeting disabled people, butthe number of reports remains very low.

Since last summer the newsletter has keptpeople up to date with the review of hate crimereporting in Barnet. There are plans to make iteasier to report when people are the victims ofhate crime. These changes will help peoplewith learning disabilities and their families whenthey have been the victims of crime orexperienced physical or verbal harassment. Aswell as reporting this directly to the police, theycan do it at a Hate Crime Reporting Site.Voluntary organisations all over Barnet willhave staff trained to take reports and forwardthem to the police and offer sensitive andwell-coordinated support to victims.

Barnet Mencap and HfT, an organisation inHigh Barnet for adults with learning disabilities,have volunteered to make Hate Crime Reports.We would encourage anyone who thinks theyare the victim of disability hate crime to comeforward. We will support individuals and helpthe police to take action against the people whocarry out hate crime. By building up a picture ofhate crime and incidents, the new system willhelp the police and others direct resources todeal with ‘hot spots’, such as bus stations,schools and town centres.

The new system was launched formally on10th October at the beginning of Hate CrimeWeek. Across the country there were events toraise awareness of all kinds of hate crime andpress home the message that this is somethingpeople should never have to put up with justbecause of who they are.

This year is the first time Barnet Mencaphave run the Gateway Bronze Award. Fourteenparticipants each completed a total of at least60 hours of activities across five differentareas: volunteering, hobbies, fitness, lifestyleand the Gateway Challenge.

The participants chose a wide and diverserange of activities some of which wouldn’t havebeen possible without the support of localorganisations including Timebank,Chickenshed, North London Hospice, Arsenal,Saracens and Halfords in Whetstone.

For the hobby section, three of ourParticipants - Patrick Saunders, Jacob Ghersonand Aaron Ogbeide - created a promotionalanti-smoking video with Cut Films. This wonawards in their local Borough competition andthen went on to win two more awards at theNational Cut Film Awards held at BAFTA!

Hate Crime Reporting inBarnet

HATE CRIME

Aaron Ogbeide working at Halfords as part of the GatewayBronze Award

News&Events

PAGE 5

Barnet Parent CarerForum’s AGM

BPCFHalfords were so impressed with AaronOgbeide, who did 12 hours as a voluntary bikemechanic, that they have offered Aaron thechance to continue on a voluntary basis with aview to giving him 16 hours a week paid workas soon as a vacancy comes up!

Well done and congratulations to all theGateway participants who have either finishedor are nearing the finishing line to their BronzeAward…what an amazing achievement!

The Barnet Parent Carer Forum (BPCF)held its second AGM in September at St Paul’sChurch, East Finchley. The event was fairly wellattended and it was great to see some newfaces in the audience. We were fortunate tohave a very informative talk from Belinda Blankfrom the Advocacy and Support Partnership,who acts as an independent advocate forfamilies with a child with SEND. She outlinedher role for us and there were a number of veryinteresting questions regarding EHCPs(Education, Health and Care Plans), social careprovision, transition and school placements.Belinda also runs seminars on a range ofsubjects - details of which can be found on herwebsite, www.advocacyandsupport.co.uk

Our second speaker was Phil Cockaynefrom the Good Governance Institute. Heexplained the structure of the ClinicalCommissioning Group (CCG) and its role incommissioning health services. He was alsovery interested in gaining the views of membersof the public into how they perceive the service –and he received a number of responses from theaudience on this point! To this end, the CCGwould like to organise a public consultation,details of which will be on the BPCF websiteshortly.

BPCF’s Chair, Robin Dawson, reported onthe activities of the Forum over the last year.There was a period of considerable upheaval inthe Local Authority with a lot of restructuring andstaff changes. This made it quite challenging forthe Forum to build working relationships with theLA but recently we have made some promisingprogress. Our members have been involved inthe development of the 0-25 service and theLocal Offer and are about to do some publicconsultation work with the SEN team. Inaddition, we attended the annual SENCOconference and raised our profile amongmainstream schools. We have also been activein liaising with the National Network of ParentCarer Forums and the CCG, as well as takingadvice from Contact a Family on how to develop

Cycling for allPEDAL POWER

Pedal Power is a cycling club for teenagersand adults with learning disabilities, meeting inFinsbury Park on Tuesdays and at Arsenal’sEmirates Stadium on Thursdays.

Their mission is to provide cyclingopportunities for people of all abilities, toencourage all members of the family to cycle,and to get support workers cycling too so theyencourage the people they’re supporting. Theyachieve this through a range of differentaccessible bicycles, tricycles and scooters(including duet wheelchair bikes) to suit allabilities.

Several Barnet Mencap members regularlyattend sessions at Pedal Power, but they’realways looking for more cyclists!

To find out more about Pedal Power, head towww.pedalpowercc.org or telephone coordinatorJo Roach on 020 8809 7718.

Denise taking a break at Pedal Power

PAGE 6

News&Events

During the summer months, SherrickHouse met with the National Citizen Service(NCS) as part of their Team Challenge. TeamChallenge is a project which supports youngpeople aged 15 to 17. It helps young peoplebuild skills for work and life, includingmanagement roles, and the young people aresupported by their mentor to take a lead inorganising projects which would includefundraising to raise money to completeprojects.

The helpers from the National Citizen Service - in front on their mural - who did such an amazing job in the Sherrick House garden

The chosen project was a revamp of theSherrick House garden to make it more of asensory garden which would benefit our usersgreatly. We had to give a presentation to 12young people which outlined what services weprovide and how best NCS could help andsupport the service to have the gardenrevamped. This was followed by a lot ofquestions. The enthusiasm from the youngpeople was amazing. The willingness to learnabout Barnet Mencap and the services weprovide prompted them to fundraise in centralLondon and spread awareness about peoplewith learning disabilities and autism, especiallyto the younger generation, at the same timeraising money to complete the project atSherrick House.

The revamp was completed in over 6 hoursand included completing a mural on the backwall of the garden, painting benches andgarage doors, restoring paint work to theswings and potting lavender plants andflowers.

An enjoyable day was had by all and theyoung people did a great job! Their hard workhas really paid off.

Garden RevampSHERRICK HOUSE

the Forum. Our aims for the next 12 monthsare to increase our membership, raiseawareness of the Forum among parents andprofessionals and consolidate our links withinthe Local Authority, with the goal of shaping theservices our children receive.

As always, we are keen to welcome newmembers and fresh ideas – please see ourwebsite www.barnetpcf.org.uk

W ell let me begin! I started my workingcareer many years ago, working in aretired teacher service for the

Teacher’s Benevolent Fund called Elstree Manorwith my Mum. The service was closing down so Ilooked for another job and got lucky when I wasappointed as a support worker for Royal Mencap.

This was my first experience of working withpeople with learning disabilities in a supportedliving service and I enjoyed it. I completed lots oftraining and worked in loads of different types ofServices, meeting some of the staff who havealso worked for Barnet Mencap along the way -Lorraine Jarman, Julia Hine and obviously mysister Laura Arlington.

After a few years I needed a change andcame to work at Barnet Mencap as a CommunityLink Worker with Equality Housing when we werebased at The Burroughs and Pat Jones was themanager. The team was quite small back then,but some of the staff still work here - LucyClifford, Ray Booth, Tim Forbes, Teresa Skibaand Peter Nyamekeh. As Barnet Mencap got

bigger, there was a need for larger premises sowe moved to Hendon Lane.

I’ve key-worked many of the tenants over theyears and seen so many positive changes -people who wouldn’t go out now travelling theworld unsupported - and some sadness as wehave lost people.

Again, I fancied a change so off I went tosunny Cyprus to live, only to return to BarnetMencap after an extended holiday - two years tobe exact!! And back to where I started, but nowmy long-time colleague and friend Lucy was themanager.

I worked my way up the Barnet Mencapladder and across different projects and am nowmanager of Community Services (Adults andChildren) which has not happened without thesupport of my colleagues.

Anyone who knows me knows that I enjoyfood, cooking and travelling. I have been tomany exciting places over the years: India,Barbados, Jamaica, Cuba (where I experiencedhurricane Sandy - never again!) and of courseCyprus, to name but a few.

And I love going to different restaurants, theHand and Flowers being my favourite in Marlow,give it a go if you have a chance! Then I likepracticing my cooking skills by trying the dishesI’ve tasted, my husband being the main taster andhe doesn’t put on any weight - so unfair!!

I also love animals and I am a foster carer forthe RSPCA. I currently have a cat named Pearl,who is sixteen years old and completely blind.

My family are really important to me and Ienjoy spending time with them. I went to theElstree Manor Hotel recently for afternoon teawith my Mum - yes, you read it right, it’s next towhat was Elstree Manor where I first worked -funny how life comes around.

I have recently got married to Gary after sixyears of being together. It was an amazing day,and I am looking forward to my honeymoon in theDominican Republic later in December - twoyears after we got engaged there.

I am not sure what life holds for the future, butam looking forward to hopefully being happy,healthy and enjoying married life.

All smiles! Sam with husband Gary

Being...

PAGE 7

PAGE 8

Photo

Finish

Brian and Wendy at the Happy Healthy Fun Day

Please note the Barnet Mencap office will beclosed from 24th December 2016 to 2nd January2017

Thursday 16th February 201760’s Valentine’s Night7:30pm - 11pm at The Clissold Arms, 105 Fortis Green, London N29HRService users, family carers and friends are all invited to our 60’sValentine’s Night. There will be a live band playing hits from thesixties, a raffle, and a prize for the best sixties fancy dress costume!Tickets £10 (including a drink) - to book yours, come to the BarnetMencap office, telephone 020 8349 3842 or emailbookings@barnetmencap.org.uk

Sherrick House’s ‘Just Holidays’ project providessupported holidays for adults with learning disabilities.The 2017 timetable is available now - please contactprojectsupport@barnetmencap.org.uk for a copy, or ringSherrick House on 020 8203 4860 for more information.

How to find us35 Hendon Lane, Finchley, London N3 1RTTel: 020 8349 3842 Fax: 020 8349 2192Email:projectsupport@barnetmencap.org.ukWebsite: www.barnetmencap.org.uk

Like Barnet Mencap on Facebook

Follow @barnetmencap on Twitter

Barnet Mencap Registered Charity No.1089388 Company Registration No.4274621

The next newsletter, with all the latest news and features, will appear in February 2017

Diary Dates

General Information

You can also view this newsletter on your computer! It’s on our website inthe ‘Newsletters’ section, or please email james.wheatley@barnetmencap.org.ukto be added to the emailing list, so you’ll save paper and never miss an issue!