An evening of celebration Alex`s Story

Blue
Pumpkin
Bistro
Purple
Onion
Chatterbox
Needs You!
An
evening of
celebration
Alex’s
Story
TRUST
TALK
Driving Up
Quality
Meet the
Board
Blue
Pumpkin
Bistro
DECEMBER 2015 • ISSUE ELEVEN
Trust’s Annual Dinner and Dance
An Evening of Celebration
We all had the opportunity to celebrate
both individual as well as the collective
achievements of the Trust at our Annual
Dinner and Dance held on 20th November.
Chris Chennell, Chief Executive at the Trust,
said: “I am delighted and proud to be able
to share these celebrations with our staff,
clients, their families as well as the Trust’s
many friends within the community.
“Every year this event is our opportunity
to take time to give special recognition to
those individuals who have successfully
completed qualifications over the past
year; plus a chance to reflect and
celebrate everyone’s role with the Trust.
Without whom the Trust would not be the
organisation it is today - an organisation
built on our strong values of equality
and mutual respect which ensures that
we provide everyone with the same
opportunities for personal development
and progress.”
More than 35 awards were presented
to staff and clients during the evening
including the Lady Verdin Trust Diploma
in Specialised Support, City & Guilds
Diploma in Health & Social Care Level 3,
Personal Progress through Employment
Entry Level 3, Personal Progress Certificate
Entry Level 1, Award in Understanding the
Principles and Practice of Assessment and
Safeguarding Children.
Esther honoured with the
Chief Executive’s Special Award
Emily McCormack receives her Award in
Personal Progress through Employment
Long Service Awards were presented
to Roz Jaycott, Gbola Folorunso, Cyriac
Thomas, Sabu Ulahannan, Louise Powell,
Tendai Mudzudza, Natasha Parker and
Jan Marks for 10 Years’ Service and Tony
Lee for 10 Years’ Service as a Trustee;
Kerry Gardener for 15 Years’ Service and
Kath Brassington, Geoff Hyde and Dorothy
Chennell for 25 Years’ Service.
New for this year was the Chief Executive’s
Special Award which was presented
to Esther. The award was presented in
recognition of her work with orphaned
children, selflessly putting the welfare of
others before herself not only in her role at
the Trust but elsewhere across the world.
Catering provided by the team at the Blue Pumpkin Bistro.
Catering at the event was once again
provided by colleagues at the Blue
Pumpkin Bistro headed up by Ian Myers,
plus live entertainment was provided by
The Tom Seals Band.
The Chatterbox
Group needs you!
CHATTERBOX
NEWS
Following the successful catering of the
Trust’s Annual Awards in November, the
Bistro has a busy December ahead as
Bistro Manager Ian Myers tells us:
“As well as a special Christmas menu, we
will also be serving a Christmas lunch to
the residents of Pickmere Court on 17th
December. We are expecting to serve
about 80 covers and the menu will consist
of melon or minestrone soup to start,
roast turkey with all the trimmings plus a
vegetarian option and Christmas pudding
with mince pies. All volunteers welcome to
assist in the service!
We have also welcomed two new faces
to the team. Megan Lightfoot has been
appointed Bistro Supervisor and has been
with us for a month now. Megan was
previously at Oulton Park and will prove to
be a valuable asset to the Trust.
Sharon Anslow has also joined us and will
have specific responsibility for working with
clients and helping them to set achievable
objectives they can work to.”
BLUE PUMPKIN
CHRISTMAS FAYRE
MENU
SUNDAYS ONLY
MINESTRONE SOUP
ROAST TURKEY
OR PORK WITH ROAST
POTATOES & SEASONAL
VEGETABLES
CHRISTMAS PUDDING
& MINCE PIES
Blue Pumpkin Bistro
Pickmere Court, Rose Terrace,
Crewe CW1 3ET
01270 536564
We are looking for anyone who receives
a service from The Lady Verdin Trust to
come and join the Trust’s client group
Chatterbox. The group looks at ways
that we can make things better for all
the clients of the Lady Verdin Trust.
So, if you like;
• Telling people what you think
• Listening to others talking
• Learning about new things
Then the Chatterbox Group could
be for you!
We want to hear what you think about
lots of different things. It’s a good way
to meet people, to have some fun and
have your say.
The Chatterbox group meets
every four weeks at the Lady
Verdin Trust Office from 5 - 6pm.
They are next meeting on
10th December then on 7th
January 2016.
If you would like to come along or would
like to talk to somebody about it, please
speak to David, Carl, Andrew, Michael,
Jeffrey, Joseph and Matthew or contact
Patrick on 01270 504962 or Caroline
on 01270 653913. We hope to see
you soon!
What’s on
Enjoy the festive season with some fantastic events organised by
The Purple Onion during December.
WEDNESDAY 16TH
DECEMBER
CHRISTMAS DISCO
7PM-11PM
£6 per person (includes buffet),
fancy dress optional!
WEDNESDAY 23RD
DECEMBER
CHRISTMAS KARAOKE
7PM-9PM
£4 per person, come
and enjoy in the fun!
CHRISTMAS CAROL
SERVICES
Join us for a special Christmas
Carol Service at the Purple
Onion on Thursday 17th
December and Friday 18th
December at 2pm.
Entry is free
and mince
pies, mulled
wine will be
on sale. Plus
there will be
a raffle.
READING GROUP - The Purple Onion’s Reading Group, launched a few
months ago, is proving to be a great success. If you fancy popping along,
then it’s every Thursday at 2-3pm - if please ring or pop in for more details.
Driving Up
Quality Event
Alex’s Story
In September we held our second Driving
Up Quality self-assessment day at Hunters
Lodge in Crewe.
We were one of the first organisations in the
country to sign up to the Driving Up Quality
Code. The Code provides a fundamental
foundation for us as an organisation
and it is vital that we continually assess
and review our systems, processes and
behaviours for the benefit of our clients.
We were delighted with the attendance
on the day which included clients, their
relatives and friends as well as any person
who has dealings with us on a professional
basis including commissioners, housing
associations, health professionals, care
managers and others, including Edward
Timpson MP.
Alex busy working in the Blue Pumpkin Bistro kitchen
Alex, 21, lives with his mum, dad, brother
and sister in Middlewich. He started
receiving support from the Lady Verdin
Trust in 2014; we met with Alex to
find out more about the support he
receives and his hopes and plans
for the future.
“I have a Support Worker from Lady
Verdin Trust every Saturday and every
two weeks on a Sunday. They are very
nice and help me lots. We go out and
about and they always accept what I
want to do – we sometimes go bowling,
swimming, plus nice, long, adventurous
walks.”
Alex went to Reaseheath College from
the age of 16 until 21, where he studied
Entry Level and then Foundation Level in
agriculture. With the additional support
and help of the Trust, Alex is now leading
an active and busy life as a young adult.
Alex adds: “Since leaving College,
life is so much better. I volunteer for
the Countryside Rangers voluntary
group and help maintain places like
Brereton Quarry and sometimes
prune or weed an area in Sandbach.
I also go to a Looking Forward group
on Monday and work at the Blue
Pumpkin Bistro on Thursdays and
sometimes at the weekends
- I really enjoy doing room service
and the dishes in the kitchen.”
As Alex continues to build his
confidence and skills, Alex is looking
forward to the future: “I’m learning
how to fix bikes as part of a project
called Bren Bikes in Chester and
I’m hoping they will help me to
find a job afterwards. Plus, in the
future look at independent
supported living.”
There was also a good mix of staff from all
aspects of the organisation including the
Purple Onion, Blue Pumpkin as well as the
back office functions like Accounts, HR and
Training.
The focus of the day was to enable and
encourage open and honest discussion
and debate about all aspects of the Lady
Verdin Trust and its services. Each group
worked through each of the five main areas
of the Driving Up Quality Code assessing
the Trust against them and from their
debate drawing up a list of three items that
were thought good and three that needed
improving for each of the five areas.
More information about the outcomes and
actions of this day will be featured in the
next newsletter.
Training News
Diploma News
Congratulations to everyone who has completed their Diploma in Specialised Support
who received their certificates at the Annual Dinner and Dance
Congratulations to the following colleagues
for achieving their Diploma in Specialised
Support: Sally Oakes, Sian Battams,
Kim Brown, and Benjamin Marembo. All
have completed 14 training sessions with
The Lady Verdin Trust covering a variety
of specialist subjects giving them extra
accreditation for another 6 City and Guilds
units on top of the 17-19 units required to
gain their Level 3 Diploma in Health and
Social Care, leading to 21 extra credits.
We would also like to congratulate
Benjamin Marembo, Emily Williams, Sally
Team News
We are delighted to
welcome lots of new
faces to the Lady
Verdin Trust team:
Row 1: Paul Roberts,
Carla Harding,
Sharon Thorley,
Megan Lightfoot,
Row 2: Tracie McCreadie,
Rachael Edwards,
Monique Robinson,
Claire Blunstone,
Carl Cawley,
Carley Williams,
Leanne Davies,
Thomas Katticaren
and Charlie Tingey
who has returned after
a few years out whilst
having a family.
Row 3:
Oakes, and Bethany Thomson for gaining
their City and Guilds Level 3 Diploma in
Health and Social Care.
We also have Patrick O’Grady and David
Clough who have achieved their Entry Level
1 Personal Progress Certificate; plus Kerry
Gardener and Judith Fraser have passed
their City and Guilds Assessors Award
and are now fully fledged Assessors; this
makes 13 Assessors and three Internal
Quality Assures in our Training, Assessing
and Quality Assurance team (TAQA). As
the Trust has developed we are also now
providing Children’s Services, to support
this area, four members of staff have gained
their Safeguarding Children award: Sara
Dean, Sian Battams, Geraldine Dunne and
Thalia Morris.
Dorothy Chennell, Director of Training
and Development, says: “To me all of this
shows a ‘can do’ attitude, we look at not
only the needs of our staff but also the
needs of our service users, we build on
their strengths and work with their specific
needs to develop the confidence to grow.
Congratulations to you all in your success!”
Meet the Board
Sarah is Director of Quality and Safeguarding for Lady Verdin Trust’s sister company
Choice Support and has supported people with learning disabilities for almost 30 years.
What do you think are the key strengths
of the Trust?
The Trust is a relatively small, local
organisation that is embedded into the
community. They have a huge amount
of experience and the staff are extremely
trustworthy, loyal and committed. It really
has been brilliant to work alongside them.
What do you think are the biggest
achievements of the Trust so far?
Personal Facts
The main achievement for Lady Verdin
Trust is that they are still a well-respected,
viable organisation after over 25 years;
something that can be difficult to maintain
in this day and age. The organisation, and
rightly so, has a fantastic reputation which
they should be extremely proud of.
Name:
Sarah Maguire
Age: 50
Lives:
Shropshire
Background:
As a Trustee on the Board at Lady Verdin Trust, she brings with her an
extensive background of skills. Having previously worked as a Training
Manager where she pioneered new initiatives for developing training in
the work place, Sarah has also completed a MA in Applied Psychology
of Learning Disability Services. Sarah has also worked as an Operations
Director of a large national learning disability charity, is part of the steering
committee for the Driving up Quality Alliance and a founder member of the
Association of Quality Checkers.
Join us on
Facebook!
Hobbies:
When she isn’t working Sarah enjoys spending time with her two children,
going to the cinema and restaurants with friends, and also has a huge
passion for cooking.
Since the Lady Verdin Trust and Choice
Support merged, how do you think
both organisations have benefitted?
The merger of Lady Verdin Trust and
Choice Support has already helped
improve both organisations. Working with
a smaller company like the Trust means
we have had an opportunity to experience
the unique, personal touches that the Trust
provides for their clients. Also, the Annual
Awards evening is a lovely event and it’s
wonderful to see everybody together
celebrating. On the flipside, working
alongside Choice Support means the
Trust now has greater access to the latest
sector reports and information helping to
improve its overall quality of service for
clients.
What is your main role on the Board?
With over 30 years’ experience in the Adult
Care sector, I really do focus on quality
within the organisations. I have a lot of
experience in involving people who have
experienced services in checking the
quality of what they receive.
We’re encouraging all our staff,
clients, commissioners, family
and friends to join our Facebook
page to keep up to date with all the
latest Trust news. All of our events,
announcements, news stories as
well as general updates will be
posted to keep everyone informed.
To find us on Facebook
please visit
www.facebook.com/
Ladyverdintrust
The Lady Verdin Trust, 196 Nantwich Road, Crewe, Cheshire CW2 6BP T: 01270 256700
T: 01270 653916 (24-hour duty team) E: [email protected]