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West Berkshire Mencap |
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Date: 10/02/2010 |
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Our president, Mr Arthur Heffernan, was recently presented with a Contribution to the Community award by Richard Beynon at the House of Commons. The award is given by “the experience corps” and recognises Arthurs outstanding achievements and tireless efforts in the local community. |
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Wednesday the 29th July was the date for the official opening of the “Wooden Spoon Suite” by HRH The Princess Royal. Unfortunately the severe weather conditions in the west country saw her helicopter diverted to an RAF station, it seemed at first she would be an hour late but unfortunately this developed into a cancellation, a quick change of plan and the opening was performed by The Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire Mary Bayliss and our local MP Richard Benyon. A grand event it was to as you can see in the pictures above taken by our resident photographer Richard Phillips. |
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A group of Gateway Club members recently enjoyed a successful trip to Paris. Heather and Terry had organised it and were assisted by some helpers and the clients carers. They went by Eurostar from St Pancras. Staying in a central hotel they had two full days and were able to do all the tourist sites including going up the Eiffel Tower, a Bateaux Mouche trip on the Seine. They also went to Versailles where they explored the town before buying bread, cheese and drinks in true French style to eat in the gardens. A great time was had by all. Enjoy the pictures here. |
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The outdoor playground is finished! Wahoo! We now have a climbing wall, a huge slide, trampoline, activity panels, music panels, zip wire and much more. Thanks to the Greenham Gift we can have even more fun - yay and thanks Greenham Common Trust and everyone who voted for us. |
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The new outdoor playground extension. |
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For the first time in over a month the Mencap Centre is fairly quiet. Last Friday saw the final day of our big main playscheme, a melee of young people with and without disabilities enjoying themselves and having fun. Each young person with a disability who attends is allocated their own trained volunteer for the day whose job is to ensure that a great time is had all day. In every survey that we do Playscheme tops the list of requested activities and we are so grateful to everyone who helps to make it happen. Without the volunteers the Playscheme would not happen, or if it did we would only be able to take about five children a day instead of the twenty five who attend daily. This year we also ran Greenfields Playscheme, this is for children with more profound needs, which was also a great success.
Normally the noise at this time is immense, children laughing and shouting and running around, this year it seemed a bit quieter and this was because we have the big new extension. The soft play room was in constant use as was the sensory room and teen chill out room. In fact one of the noisier places was my office as all the volunteers use it to store their bags so I had a fairly constant and entertaining noise of various ringtones where people forgot to turn their phones off!
Thanks to everyone who helped, volunteers, staff, drivers, donators of time and money – and we look forward to seeing you all again at the next playscheme. |
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Ofsted report that we are “Outstanding” Outstanding is Grade 1 and means “This aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality.” Here are a few extracts from the report: “Overall the quality of the provision is outstanding. There is an extensive range of experiences provided in a vibrant and stimulating environment and the successful interaction of the staff ensures that all children are highly motivated in their learning.”
“Leadership and management are outstanding and provide excellent guidance and support to all staff”
“Staff are enthusiastic and committed”
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September 2009 FRIEND’S COMMITTEE |
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We would be very interested in starting a Friends Committee to help with arranging and supporting fundraising events for West Berkshire Mencap. This is your opportunity to join some fellow members and develop your own ideas for fundraising events from quiz evenings to sponsored sky dives, the choice is yours. We appreciate you are all very busy people and any support no matter how small or large would be greatly appreciated. For further details please contact the Mencap Centre 01635 41464. |
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WEST BERKS MENCAP IS GROWING TOGETHER WITH NEWBURY COMMUNITY RESOURCE CENTRE
Growing Together took its next step on 24th November 2009, with the assistance of the Mayor of Basingstoke and Deane who planted the first tree in the Growing Together Orchard. The project will see West Berks Mencap work in partnership with the Newbury Community Resource Centre (who operate the Community Furniture Project).
The Growing Together project – a community food growing and training programme based at Cottismore Park near Kingsclere - which provides people with learning disabilities and those with disadvantages in the West Berkshire and North Hampshire area to gain accredited training, education and involvement in local food via a programme of growing rotational seasonal fruit and vegetables which will subsequently be offered for sale at the NCRC’s outlets. In addition, there are opportunities for volunteering and job creation.
Through practical involvement the Growing Together project uses greenhouses, allotments and orchard areas. In order for it to come to fruition, the project secured funding from the Big Lottery Local Food Fund (£300,000) which was made possible by the generous support of the Greenham Common Trust, which owns the site and which generously supported the project via matched funding. The project is also being supported by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council through a Voluntary Sector Support Grant.
“We are working through the first phase of the Site Development Plan, which will be completed by next May. The Plan aims to bring the currently redundant facilities on the site back into production while reducing overall energy consumption and maintenance costs of the site,” commented Kelvin Hughes, Newbury Community Resource Centre Chief Executive. “The finished site will have raised beds, two large renovated greenhouses, composting facilities, a rainwater harvesting system, an orchard, fruit cages, a ‘Quiet Garden’; as well as a training centre with classroom and office facilities, secure tool store and renovated canteen facilities. We are delighted that over the first three years of the Growing Together Project in the region of 1,000 people will benefit directly, including 6 newly created employee posts, 15 temporary positions created under the Government’s Future Jobs Fund, 90 volunteers, 60 trainees, 90 service users and many more.”
“This is a wonderful project which expands the opportunities for people with learning disabilities,” said Leila Ferguson, CEO of West Berks Mencap. The project is being developed and managed by two great teams who will be using the experience they have gained working in partnership at the Slater Centre. This is a great example of the third sector working together to provide excellent services to those that need them.” |
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Leila Ferguson was delighted to be asked to speak at the Quaker Church in Newbury on Sunday. The congregation listened to a short talk on what services West Berkshire Mencap were providing and they were joined by Miss Philomena Strang, a user of many of West Berkshire Mencap’s services for many years. The collections for the month of December are being donated to Mencap which we are very grateful for. |
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West Berkshire Mencap and Greenham Common Trust to open fantastic new supported living home in the Spring thanks to £500,000 investment. More details HERE. |
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New Supported Living Joint Venture |
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WBM Leisure Plus Drama Group put on another splendid production in the Phoenix Centre on the 15th December, entitled “Grinch Steals Christmas” it told the story of a very unhappy Grinch who, disguised as Father Christmas came down the chimney and stole all the presents, food and logs for the fire. The family decide the Spirit of Christmas is the important part and singing they convince Grinch of this too. He returns everything and everyone has a lovely time. Despite the bad weather the enthusiastic audience were treated to a wonderful production. |
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Many Thanks to the hardy bunch of souls who braved the cold weather to shake tins outside Newbury’s Tesco Extra store on Friday and Saturday the 5th and 6th of February. It was well worth the effort as a grand total of £903.78 was raised for West Berkshire Mencap funds. Thanks also to Newbury Tesco for allowing us to undertake this collection. |
