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The
Community
Magazine
Autumn 2015
Holiday Club
success
See page 4
This publication is available in large print
Taking on
the Sharks
See page 11
Welcome
to the Autumn
edition of Bolt!
The summer is officially over
and we hope you’ve had lots
of fun.
Here at Calico we have had lots
going on over the past few
months and can’t wait for you
to read all about it, from our
very first Holiday Club, a skip
day, proposed new developments
and bringing colour and life
back to one of elderly tenants
gardens.
RIGHT UP
MY STREET
Elizabeth Street
gets creative in Blackburn
Service users at our Elizabeth Street
Project homeless scheme enjoyed a trip to
Blackburn Museum and Art Gallery, with a
pit stop through Blackburn Cathedral.
Residents were invited to visit Blackburn to
take in the history, and take part in drawing
and urban sketching.
Also in this addition of Bolt the
Money Wise team has provided
top tips to help you prepare for
the benefit cap, along with how
to get support if you’re a victim
of loan sharks.
Now let’s look back on all the
great things that have happened
it your neighbourhoods and
within Calico over the summer
months.
Bolt – “Big-up!”
Our Lovely Tenants
Julian Whitley – Editor, Harriet Gaughan – Contributor
Bolt Magazine, Calico, Centenary Court, Croft Street, Burnley,
BB11 2ED
[email protected]
facebook.com/calicohomesandenterprise
twitter.com/Calico_Group
All information correct at time of printing – errors and omissions excepted.
Calico gets Cardiacsmart
with install of ‘defib’
A defibrillator has been installed in our
Centenary Court reception area.
The defibrillator has been registered with
Cardiacsmart which assists 999 operatives
and can be used to advise callers of the
nearest defibrillator, in the event of a
sudden cardiac arrest. This means it could
become invaluable to an emergency in
Burnley town centre.
Kibble clear clutter with
Calico skip day
Residents on Burnley ’s Kibble estate were able
to get rid of their old furniture or unwanted large
waste items, thanks to a skip day organised by our
Neighbourhood Action Team for Burnley North.
Gannow garden puts resident
in bloom
Our Neighbourhood Action Team for Gannow
recently came to the aid of one of our Woodbine
Gardens residents to help bring her garden back
to life.
Sylvia is housebound and used to enjoy tending
to her garden. The team, with the help of our
caretakers, cleared her flowerbed of weeds, and
planted wall climbers and shrubs, giving her a
colourful view from her window.
3
South West success
with Holiday Club
This summer the children of South West Burnley secured £10,000
of funding from Warburtons, to create a holiday club for the six weeks
of the summer holidays.
The aim of the club was to help parents
over the summer, by providing a place for
their children to go twice a week to play
and enjoy a meal together.
Alicia Foley, Calico’s Community
Involvement Advisor ran the project,
which ran from July and staff from the
Calico Group volunteered their time to
help deliver the twelve weekly sessions.
The children worked on an ‘ideal
community’ drawing with artist Cath Ford,
whilst filming and taking part in interviews
to create a community film around
anti-social behaviour with
Huckleberry Films.
4 Contact The Great Outdoors
They also had a chance to explore and
surround the outdoors and wildlife in the
local area.
They went to the Pennine Lancashire
Forest Park to identify wild flowers, and the
Lancashire Community Farm, where they
were able to try fresh fruit and veg, and
learnt how the process of watering and
caring for them works.
With the help of Phil Dewhurst at Offshoots,
the children were able to explore the
permaculture project, which is named a
walled garden, as its location was originally
the walled kitchen garden of Towneley
Hall. The children put their taste buds to
the tests as Phil introduced them to edible
flowers and freshly grown herbs and leafs.
on 0800 169 2407 | 01282 686 300 | [email protected]
Activities within the Valley Street
Community Centre
Kevin Dand of Five Ways Boxing spent an
afternoon with the children teaching them
the correct southpaw stance and jab action,
which they then tested out by sparring in
partners. They also completed a circuit of
exercises and were asked to create their
own individual exercise, which they then
demonstrated for the group to carry out.
A Summer Well Spent
As the holiday club drew to an end the
children enjoyed an afternoon with BFC in
the Community, before their final session
of the holiday club played out as an end of
summer party before their return to school.
They transformed into vampires, dragons,
tigers and butterflies to enjoy a party
lunch complete with pass the parcel and
musical chairs.
The children worked with an artist to create
Parents and volunteers attended to hear
multiple lanterns that will be displayed at
the children’s experiences of holiday club,
the SW Burnley Lantern Festival taking place
and what they enjoyed the most. Each
on the 11th December.
child was presented with a certificate for
Burnley Youth Theatre transformed the
their outstanding contribution to their
children into astronauts for the day,
holiday club.
complete with personalised NASA letters
Leah Hughes, aged seven, a member
and Space Passports they were all set for
of the SW Burnley Holiday club said:
their trip to Mars!
They put their space skills to the test with
agility and team work games, finishing
with their own simulated trip to Mars, and
they only left one child behind.
“I love Holiday Club.
It has been the best thing
in my life!”
They ended their last session
just as they had every other
time, with milkshakes and
cookies for everyone.
For more information on
events and activities
in your neighbourhood
please visit
www.calico.org.uk
www.calico.org.uk
5
Calico announce proposed
new developments
We have recently announced plans for
new, affordable housing developments in
Burnley and Hapton.
The developments would include 22
affordable rental homes on Pomfret Street
and Blannel Street in Burnley, and nine
homes on Water Street and Back Church
Street in Hapton.
Work on site, which would be carried
out by Ring Stones Maintenance and
Construction, would take approximately
6 Contact twelve months and, pending planning
approval, should commence towards the
end of 2015.
The developments would be the latest in
our Affordable Homes and Refurbishment
Programme, which aim to build 420 new
homes by March 2019, and to continue
the refurbishment of our existing housing
stock.
For more information about the
development, call 0800 169 2407
or 01282 686300 and ask for the
Development team.
on 0800 169 2407 | 01282 686 300 | [email protected]
Home
NEWS
Bury Rough Sleepers Charity
benefits from month of
fundraising from local
business
Our Bury Rough Sleepers service has been
inundated with donations and fundraising
thanks to DTE Business Advisers.
DTE handed over a food hamper worth
£75 from the monetary donations, along
with two sleeping bags, they also collected
and handed over food throughout their
four weeks.
Successful neighbourhoods with
Scrambled Legs conquer
Color Run
Seven employees from across The Calico
Group – ‘The Scrambled Legs’ – recently
completed the Manchester 5k Color Run,
raising over £300 to create a dementia
room at our Barden View sheltered
housing scheme.
Congratulations!
Well done to Julie Lambert,
Robert Corteen and Jennifer Hefford,
who all won £50 shopping vouchers
just for completing the STAR Survey!
WIN
£50
of vouchers
www.calico.org.uk
7
Home
NEWS
Successful neighbourhoods with
Calico Creative get stuck
in a jam
Early Words Together
The first families have successfully
completed Early Words Together, a brand
new free programme aimed at improving
the learning and literacy skills of preschool
children.
Developed by National Literacy Trust,
and delivered by Calico Creative, the
programme covered a variety of free
activities that families can do at home.
More than 40 volunteers were recruited
– many from the Burnley area – to deliver
weekly, fun and simple one-hour sessions,
helping children learn and prepare for
school.
8 Contact Children from five Burnley schools
celebrated at the premiere of their new
campaign to promote healthy lifestyles,
and to help reduce the congestion created
on the daily school commutes.
With funding from Lancashire County
Council, Calico Creative, with help of the
BBC’s Louise Hannah and local children,
created the film ‘Stuck in a Jam’.
The ten minute video, featuring interviews
with the children, an animated short story
and a catchy theme tune, was played for
all at a special premiere at Heasandford
Primary School.
on 0800 169 2407 | 01282 686 300 | [email protected]
Home
NEWS
Successful neighbourhoods with
Blooming great gardens!
Our Brunshaw Neighbourhood Action
Team recently held a best garden
competition, where staff members were
asked to choose what they considered to
be the best cared-for garden in the area.
Congratulations to the winners from
Waddington Avenue, Holcombe Drive and
Carholme Avenue, who have each received
£25 garden vouchers!
Calico wins at the UK’s
Largest Diversity Awards
Investors in People
We scooped the prestigious international
award for Excellence in the Third Sector
at the Investors in People (IIP) Award
Ceremony 2015.
We have won the Diverse Company Award
at the National Diversity Awards 2015.
This achievement is a testament to the
hard work of our employees, highlighting
their dedication to the equality agenda,
after fighting off over 20,000 other
nominations to be shortlisted.
www.calico.org.uk
9
with Hannah
Buckley, Tenancy
Sustainment Officer
[email protected]
The Benefit Cap – will it affect you?
In July, the government announced the
summer budget and further plans to
change the welfare system, one of which is
reducing the benefit cap.
At the moment, households claiming
benefits can only receive up to £26,000 a
year, which works out as £500 a week. The
government are looking to lower this cap
to £20,000 a year in the near future. This
works out at households being limited to
payments of £384.61 a week for couples,
and £257.69 a week for single parents.
For more information about the
benefit cap, or to see if you are going
to be affected by the future changes,
please contact the Money Wise team
on 0800 169 2407 or
01282 686300.
The benefit cap only affects people getting
Housing Benefit or Universal Credit. If the
cap affects you, your Housing Benefit or
Universal Credit is reduced, and you will
have to pay more towards your rent.
Typically, single parents with two or more
children may have to pay more towards
their rent. A couple claiming benefits with
three or more children may find they have
to pay more towards or, in some cases, full
rent payments.
10 Contact on 0800 169 2407 | 01282 686 300 | [email protected]
Taking on the sharks!
Our Tenancy Sustainment Officers and
Neighbourhood Officers have recently
completed training on illegal money
lending.
The illegal money lending team are
here to help anyone who has taken out
a loan from an unlicensed business or,
as they are more commonly known,
a loan shark.
Loan sharks typically pose as friends or as
a community lender to victims. They will
often lend people money when they feel
they have no one else to turn to for help.
Loan sharks may use a notebook or a
payment book, but will have no valid
licence number. Most payments they
take are in cash and weekly, and
communication is usually by text
or phone.
Loan sharks threaten and intimidate
victims that are struggling to pay them
back. If you feel you are a victim of
a loan shark, there is help and
support available to you.
You can remain anonymous
by ringing the hotline 0300 555 2222.
For more information, contact the Money
Wise team on 0800 169 2407
or 01282 686300.
www.calico.org.uk
11
Keeping you safe
Once a year, a Calico Gas Engineer visits your home
to service your boiler and gas fire, to ensure that there
are no problems with your heating system.
When we visit your home we will carry out a visual inspection of any gas cookers.
However, it is your responsibility to ensure appliances within your home are safe and
serviced regularly.
Our check will help you to know if you need to carry out any repairs to your appliances.
(Please note - we do not provide a repairs service to appliances that you own)
If we find any appliances that are dangerous, we will turn off the supply to them
immediately, following your permission to do so.
If permission is denied, the Gas Engineer will contact National Grid who will attend
to make the appliance safe. For details on booking a service
from a Gas Safe registered engineer visit,
www.gassaferegister.co.uk
or call
0800 408 5500
ID card
If you smell gas, call the National Gas
Emergency Service immediately on
0800 111 999, and they will investigate the
problem free of charge.