Newsletter
Issue Number: 2/2012
August 2012
New Patron!
We are delighted to announce the Duke of Devonshire as our new patron. The Duke
and Duchess visited Sedgemoor and Framley where they met a number of our residents,
members of staff and Trustees. The Duke and Duchess enjoyed tea and scones prepared by Sedgemoor residents with the help of Jackie, our resident cook. They were
shown plans of the redevelopment scheme and were taken on a tour of the building by
Lesley Coombe and Kelly Gregg.
Following his visit the Duke sent us a letter saying: “Thank you so much for allowing us to
become involved with Eastbourne Mencap, it is a privilege to be able to help. We were
most impressed by everything we saw and heard. We look forward to getting to know
Eastbourne Mencap better with more visits. Thank you again for your marvelous welcome and for arranging such an inspiring visit.”
We hope to work closely with the Duke and his advisers at the Chatsworth Estate Office
in Eastbourne over the coming months and years.
Local, Lasting Support
Visit by Duke and Duchess of
Devonshire
Left: Our Chairman explaining the Sedgemoor
redevelopment plans to the Duchess.
Right: The Duke, Duchess and Paula with
Kelly Gregg in her bedroom.
Left: Karen Medhurst with the
Duchess.
Right: Nicky Pinkney waiting for a spin in
the Duke’s Mercedes.
Page 1
Take a seat
Individually designed chairs have been donated to Eastbourne Mencap residents by the
Royal Cannaught Masonic Lodge.
Worshipful Master of the Royal Masonic Lodge, Gary Sivers and three of his fellow masons,
John Laing, Steve Purnell and Richard Wooler visited our Greensleeves residential home on
July 5 to present a cheque for £1600.
This will be used towards the cost of purchasing individually made chairs from Thorndale
Furnishers, Hailsham to meet the requirements of each of our 11 residents at Greensleeves.
The Royal Connaught Lodge raised £1,000; a further £600 was donated by the Provincial
Grand Lodge of Sussex.
Greensleeves is a residential home for those nearing or of retirement age with learning and
physical disabilities. It was opened by Lord Brian Rix in 1993 and has been a home for older
people with learning disabilities from the Eastbourne area since that date.
Page 2
News from Greensleeves
Hi all!
For past eight weeks the residents of Greensleeves have been
immersed in a hive of arts and crafts activity every Thursday
afternoon.
Led by David from Sussex Downs College, the residents created
self-portraits, collages of their key workers and wonderful drawings and carvings out of plaster. All the projects were started from
scratch. The residents even helped make the plaster and watch it
go from liquid to solid state right before their eyes.
Every session started with some relaxing Tai Chi (a form of martial
art/Chinese meditation) followed by rolling a ball to each other.
This often proved quite hair raising as there was usually three
balls on the table and we had to roll the balls to each other at an
increasingly faster rate.
Thank you David for the hours of pure fun. You have been a real
inspiration to all of us who took part.
Green Fingers at Greensleeves
Greensleeves has now got part of the garden sorted and some of the residents have
helped to plant lettuce, tomatoes and strawberries. A bird feeder has also been
erected and has attracted many feathered friends that we enjoy watching. Julie Barnett
volunteered to keep the feeder stocked up and is doing a marvelous job: Thank
you Julie.
New faces at Greensleeves
We would all like to welcome some new staff: Dave, Jo and Mel who have fitted in with the team like they
have been here forever and the residents all really like them.
Well done to Debbie Walter who also joined us (officially) on March 1 Debbie has proved to be an amazing
manager. She came to Greensleeves at a time when many changes were being made, and although there is
still a way to go, she has worked extremely hard, with the help of Ellie Slade, our deputy manager, to
implement these changes.
Melynda
Melynda, Greensleeves
Page 3
News from our CEO
‘Good’ ratings for all three homes
We are delighted to report that all three of our residential homes have received
good reports by CQC (Care Quality Commission) following a recent inspection.
The full CQC reports are available on the CQC website www.cqc.org.uk or you
can request a copy from our head office on 10323 722034.
Senior Management Changes
We are pleased to advise you a number of key staff have been given additional responsibilities to enable
them to deal with the day to day management of our business:
Debbie Barton Finance Director, will work closely with the residential homes manager on financial budgets
each month and to provide a financial health check to the Board of Directors each month. Debbie will also
carry out checks on petty cash and the residents’ monies at the Homes.
Paul Durrant, Head of Operations. Paul, who is our Head of Human Resources and Training is now responsible for Health & Safety and compliance. This includes carrying out monthly audits at our residential homes
and day services in conjunction with the Health & Safety Manager, Kevin Howell.
Paula Thompson— Head of Residential Services, Paula will continue her role at Sedgemoor and in
addition, will now also supervise the managers of Greensleeves and our day services.
New recruits at the Hive of Activity
We have recruited Simon Burley and Darrell Wright as new Support Workers at the Hive to cope with the increasing numbers who enjoy our Workshops and Day Services.
Calling all coffee lovers
We will shortly be opening a brand new coffee shop just around the corner from the
Hive of Activity. Located at 70 Seaside, the coffee shop / drop-in centre has been
kindly funded by our Chairman to help raise the profile of Eastbourne Mencap in the
town.
Planning permission for the change of usage is currently being processed and we
hope to be open for business in six to eight weeks time.
The Hive Coffee Shop will be open for all our members, residents and day service users who want to call in
for a cup of coffee or a chat. While this is not an official advice centre, our staff and volunteers will be available to listen to suggestions, issues and concerns.
Page 4
Royal Mencap
As many of you may be aware, every three years we enter into an affiliation agreement with
Royal Mencap. This enables us to use the name “Mencap” under licence because we share
similar visions and values. In recent years this vision has changed in that Royal Mencap
has switched all its residential homes to Supported Living whereas the families and friends
of Eastbourne Mencap obtain reassurance that their loved ones are being cared for in a
safe residential environment.
In he last 12 months David Long and Peter Plowman have been to a number of meetings
with Royal Mencap who want to develop a much closer working relationship with us. If we
do not enter into a new partnership agreement with Royal Mencap then we will be prohibited from using the name “Mencap”.
As a result we have prepared a paper for the Board of Trustees putting forward the advantages and disadvantages of entering into this new partnership with Royal Mencap or going
our own way. Once the Board of Trustees has come to a decision in the best interests of
our residents and their families, it will be put to the members and voted on at our AGM. We
expect to hold the AGM in November.
Membership
At recent Board meetings we have been discussing membership fees. Last year this was
£12.00. We are keen to attract new members, particularly younger ones, and the Board
has agreed that in future no membership fees will be levied. We will, however, be seeking
members support in different ways such as Gift Aid donations, legacies etc.
We will be sending a letter out seeking your support in these ways in the near future.
Peter Plowman
CEO
Page 5
Information Item
HOUSING BENEFIT
The Government is reducing the amount of housing benefit some people can claim. We wondered if
some of our members who may be on housing benefit, would be interested to know the changes that are
being made.
If you claim housing benefit to help pay your rent you may be affected by changes from April 2013. The
changes mean that some people will get less housing benefit than they did before.
HOW MANY BEDROOMS DO YOU HAVE?
From April 2013, if you live in a council or housing association home and you have one or more “spare”
bedrooms your housing benefit may be reduced.
This could affect you:
If you are 16 – 61 years old
Even if you only get a small amount of housing benefit – for example, if you are working
Even if you are sick or disabled.
WHAT HAPPENS IF YOU HAVE A “SPARE” BEDROOM?
If you have one “spare” bedroom your housing benefit will be cut by 14% of the rent you pay every week.
If you have two or more spare bedrooms, you will lose 25%. If your benefit is cut you will have to pay your
landlord the difference between your housing benefit and your rent. For example:- “Mr. & Mrs. Smith live
in a two-bedroom flat costing £70.00 per week. At the moment housing benefit covers the full cost of
their rent. Under the new rules they will have one spare bedroom. Their housing benefit will be reduced
by 14% (14% of £70 = £9.80). Their housing benefit will be reduced by £9.80 to £60.20 per week. They
will have to pay £9.80 towards their rent.
At Head Office, we have all the relevant information that may be able to help you, please do give us a ring
on 01323 722034. If you wish to get more information about the cap on benefits you can also call the
Government’s information line on 0845 605 7064.
CHANGES TO COUNCIL TAX BENEFIT
From April 2013, if you are of working age and claim council tax benefit, the amount of support you
receive may be cut. This is because the Government is reducing the amount of money available and
asking local councils to run their own schemes.
If you have any questions about this information, please ring Eastbourne Borough Council on 01323
410000, as each individual circumstances are different.
Page 6
ROBIN CLUB
Date:
Time:
Venue:
Saturday 18 August 2012
10.00 am — 3.00 pm
113 Pevensey Road, Eastbourne
HALLOWEEN DISCO
Date:
Venue:
Time:
Tickets:
Sunday 4 November 2012
113 Pevensey Road
4.00 pm — 7.00 pm
£5.00
HAPPY GO LUCKY CLUB CHRISTMAS PARTY
Date:
Venue:
Time:
Tickets:
Saturday 8 December 2012
113 Pevensey Road, Eastbourne
4.00 pm — 8.00 pm
£5.00 to include raffle
Page 7
News from the Hive
Love in a Box
This year we will be filling some shoe boxes to send abroad for children
who really do not have anything for Christmas. We will try to cover the
age range from babies to teenagers and would like items for both boys
and girls. Good ideas for things to go in the boxes include flannels/
soap; toothpaste/brushes; jewellery; hair accessories; hat/gloves; pen/
pencils; notebooks; puzzles and sweets etc.
We need to have our boxes filled and ready to go by the end of October
hence the early notification. The boxes will be passed on through Jill
McKay’s church – Victoria Baptist Church.
If you have an empty medium sized shoe box that we could use, please
send it along.
I will gladly answer your queries and eagerly await your donations.
Thank you for your support.
Yvonne Spooner, The Hive of Activity (Tel: 01323 722034)
If you would like more information or to make a donation please visit
our website www.eastbournemencap.org.uk
Contact Us By Post
Eastbourne & District Mencap Ltd.
113 Pevensey Road
Eastbourne
BN22 8AD
Contact Us By Telephone
Telephone:
Fax:
@
01323 722034
01323 748926
Contact Us By Email
[email protected]
Pictures by PhotoSymbols © 2009 / 2010
Eastbourne and District Mencap Limited
(A company limited by guarantee)
Company Registration No: 6182982 (England
and Wales).
Registered Charity No: 1125686
Reg. Office: 113 Pevensey Road
Eastbourne
BN22 8AD
(Affiliated to Royal Mencap Society).
An East Sussex County Council
Approved Provider of Residential Care Services
for people with learning
disabilities.