Centre Report July 2024

 

Centre Report July 2024

1. Introduction – Jacquie Winning, CEO

Welcome to our Summer Centre Report. This summer may have been a bit of a disappointment weather wise, but I hope that our update brings a bit of a warm glow to your day.

In the previous report, I mentioned that we were recruiting new Team Members, in part, thanks to some generous funding from The National Lottery Community Fund. We also recruited a full time Operations Manager to replace Linda Burnett who retired last month. I’m delighted to say we now have most of our new Team in post. Sandy Gillone is our full time Operations Manager, Zander Gray, full time Development Manager, Susanne Robertson has additional funded hours to expand our youth and family work across Stirling and Clackmannanshire. Following successful completion of a funded training place in our Cafe, we have appointed Bruce Stewart to the part time post of General Centre Assistant. We are delighted to welcome our new staff on board to help us deliver the range and quality of services you have come to expect. We also wish Linda a very happy retirement; her legacy of positivity and kindness remains with us.

We regularly receive approaches by researchers, who are keen to gather views from people with lived experience of sensory loss. One researcher is a post-graduate Architect who is studying for her Masters at Strathclyde University and is researching the accessibility of Public Health spaces, including Health Centres and Pharmacies, for older adults with sight loss. Centre Users have already agreed to take part in this study. Our BSL Users have also been invited by Scottish Government to take part in a consultation about the BSL plan and we are in the process of confirming details for this event which will likely take place in the Centre on Wednesday 21 August. It’s great that we have such willing Centre Users who are prepared to give up their time to put forward their views to help shape the future of services for future generations. Thank you to everyone who participates in these research opportunities. Your input is clearly welcome and valued.

Our Garden Party took place on Friday 19 July and was a tremendous success. We exceeded our fundraising target and managed to raise £1351 on the day. Summer Hamper raffle tickets are still on sale and there is still an opportunity to win one of 4 fabulous prizes. The draw will take place on Friday 23 August. Thanks to everyone who turned up and also who donated items for our bottle, tombola and raffle.  Caesar and Howie, Solicitors for Older People donated 2 amazing Hampers for our raffle.

Our other recent Centre highlights are summarised below, by our Team Members. If you would like to find out more or have any questions or suggestions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. jacquiewinning@forthvalleysensorycentre.org

 

2. Recent Feedback Summary

April, May and June brought some lovely, positive feedback from Centre users.

In April we hosted an Easter Party, especially designed for adults with learning disabilities and their carers. The idea behind this was to create an event for people with additional needs that they and their support staff and family could enjoy equally. We received feedback on the day from attendees that praised the accessibility of the venue as well as the selection of activities. Both clients and support workers reported feeling entertained throughout the event and made to feel at ease by our friendly volunteers who were helping out with the activities. They asked us to run more events like this in the future.

We also had some lovely feedback from parents of our Youth Group participants about our Easter Programme run over the Easter Holidays by our Youth and Family Worker, Susanne. One young person’s mum got in touch to let us know that her son ‘had an amazing time’. Our goal is to generate similar positive feedback with our Summer Programme which is now underway.

Café Tiki has also received some high praise over the past few months about the catering it provides for groups, classes and meetings. In June, we hosted a Roadshow for the Talking Newspaper Federation. June Little, the organiser of the event, got in touch to pass on her thanks for the help she was given by staff on the day. June also asked that a special thank you be passed on to Café Assistant, Tom, for his kindness and generosity on the day. June said that, “nothing was too much effort and Tom was always happy to help.”

 

3. Community Fundraising Summary – April/May/June

Even though our Easter Party was not a typical fundraising event, we still managed to raise over £300 on the day.

Our Sponge Splat competition was launched in June and we have given our Centre users, staff and volunteers a chance to take charge and pick who they want to see take to the stalls for a soaking at our Garden Party. The most requested three members of staff will  be taking to the stalls, it so far looks set to be a close run between Development Manager, Zander; Centre CEO, Jacquie, Café Assistant Tom, General Assistant Bruce and Customer Service/Finance Assistant, Jamie. This could change on the day depending on nominations. More than £75 has already been raised from the 50p tally marks adding up. We expect to add to this total throughout July and on the day itself.

We were delighted to receive a donation of £250 from our BSL OAP group at the start of July. We also received a donation of £210 from Tom and David of Tom’s Hidden Garden, regular supporters of our Centre and £195 from Camelon Slimming World Group Leader Jacqui McMenemy. We are grateful for all the donations we receive and we are over-whelmed with the donations of items for sale or raffle at our Garden Party, including 2 hampers we have received courtesy of Caesar and Howie Solicitors. Thanks to everyone who contributes in this way. You are too numerous to list here but your kindness doesn’t go un-noticed.

 

4. Groups Summary April/May/June 2024

The Stirling Visually Impaired Group enjoyed a visit and talk from Lynsey Anderson from National Museum Scotland in May. They followed this up with a visit to the National Museum in Edinburgh where the group took part in an interactive Scottish Highlights tour.

In May and June, the Art Group completed works that are currently on display in our meeting rooms. We are making arrangements for these to be displayed at Smith Art Gallery in Stirling. Once a date has been set, we will publicise this far and wide! Plans are in place for the Art Group to collaborate on a unique and informative art work with Multiply at Community Learning Development. Watch this space.

In May the BSL User group visited The Mackintosh House in Glasgow. Due to the limited accessibility of The House, a member of the group experienced it by receiving a virtual tour provided by a staff member via an iPad. The consensus was that everyone enjoyed the visit, regardless of the format. “It was really interesting, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves” said one of the 6 members of the group who attended.

In April, the Knit and Natter group began making blankets and hats for the NHS Maternity Unit and  hearts for the stroke ward. They also started work on flowers for the Falkirk town yarn bomb and for use in our Sensory Garden at our July Garden Party.

The Book Group read A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini in April, A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman in May, and Life in Her Hands by Averil Mansfield in June. They are currently reading The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes and will be reviewing this at their next meeting in August. A plan of books for the next year is already in place and discussions are underway about producing a podcast of future meetings.

The BSL OAP Group very much enjoyed their visit to Culzean Castle on 29^th June and were grateful to volunteer Sarah Ryan for her help on the day. The group is continuing its usual schedule through the summer.

In May, the Talk & Sign group visited the Helix Park for a walk. In June they enjoyed a picnic in the Sensory Garden. Plans are in place for a beach trip to St Andrews and Anstruther in July.

We ran a trial of a Dance Class throughout May and the turnout varied between 5 and 7 people. As a result, the group is now continuing weekly with an evening session from 7-8pm. Work has begun on scoping the viability of an additional, daytime class.

The Lego Group trial which ran March-June was a success, with numbers increasing throughout the period. The Group will take a break in July and return in August when it will run monthly.

 

5. Attendance Figures April/May/June 2024

During the period April – June 2024, 464 people used the newly upgraded Sensory Room and our groups and classes welcomed 3206 attendees. Our Easter event brought in 65 visitors for an easter egg hunt and some arts and crafts. Cafe Tiki was visited 2458 times and there were 1061 visitors through the door for NHS Appointments. These numbers break down as follows:

	April	May	June
Groups and Classes	1018	1217	971
Sensory Room	185	148	131
Health Clinics	413	317	331
Café Tiki	847	864	747

 

6. Volunteering Summary April/May/June 2024

Since the last Centre Report, FVSC achieved the significant milestone of having 50 volunteers for the first time in its history. The contribution of our volunteers was celebrated and acknowledged at our Volunteer Thank You event on 7^th June. The format for the event was an afternoon tea at Dobbies in Stirling and it provided Jacquie the opportunity to express her heartfelt thanks to our volunteers who make such a significant contribution to the success of The Centre. We were joined at the event by Wendy McBeth from Volunteer Scotland who spoke about the work she does to support charities in Scotland.

For the volunteers who were unable to attend the Thank You event, pictures and details were included in the Volunteer Newsletter which was shared with staff and volunteers at the end of June. A copy was also shared with Quantum Communications who support us with external media. This has led to details of the Thank You event being reported across the region and two volunteers being interviewed for upcoming spotlight features to be used in local outlets.

Additionally, work is underway to put forward a nominee for Stirlingshire Voluntary Enterprise’s Inspire Volunteering Awards 2024. It is a challenge to choose from such a wonderful group of committed volunteers but we believe it is important to recognise the efforts of our volunteers to make The Centre such a welcoming and life-changing place.

7. Youth and Family Update

 

The Youth Group has recently enjoyed a wide range of activities including:

Cooking, baking, cricket, football, gaming, games, slime making, drama, rollerblading and colouring.

In May, Solar Bear (a theatre company) came out and led a drama workshop for our group.  This workshop included a selection of drama-based group games and our group thoroughly enjoyed the evening.  It was also a chance to experience interaction with experienced BSL users and an interpreter.

We have also joined a twilight session with Safer Communities Youth Action group where our young people had the opportunity to try rollerblading, play football and play in the playpark.  It was interesting to see them gradually increase in confidence to give roller blading a try and to join the large group football game.  It was also good to see young people from their group ask questions and encourage our group members.  We hope to link up again in the future.

We have a summer programme currently running with a good variety of activities on offer and we have a Science Workshop with Edinburgh University planned for August.  In addition to being enjoyable, this is another opportunity for our young deaf people to see older deaf role models.

Our Peer Support Group for parents and carers of children who are deaf or have hearing loss has continued to meet in-person every month.  They clearly value the chance to connect with others with similar experiences and mutual understanding who can offer practical advice.  The group is keen to remain informal and meet in-person monthly.

 

8. Sight Loss Ambassador

Laura has maintained her busy schedule from earlier this year; meeting people to talk about living with Sight Loss, speaking at events and spreading the word about the Sensory Centre.

In May she attended another Licensing Board meeting which followed on from her previous meetings with the Falkirk Licencing Officer. She found this to be a very positive meeting with lots of discussion around sensory loss and highlighting issues they had not previously been considered. As a result of this Laura has been invited to meet with the Licensing Trainer at the end of July to discuss these issues in more detail.Laura also attended a meeting between Linsey our Groups and Activities Co-ordinator and Stirling Volunteer Enterprise Radio to discuss promoting and publicising the Sensory and its groups.

Some of May’s other highlights for Laura include running an Info Stall at the Learning Disability event held in Alloa Town hall, attending the Clackmannanshire HSCP meeting, Centre User Groups meeting and Clackmannanshire VI group as FVSC’s representative.In June, Laura organised a small consultation event in partnership with Transport Scotland to beta test a travel app designed by the Scottish Government. Three Vision Impaired individuals tested out the app alongside several Deaf BSL users. Laura felt this event was a great success with lots of constructive feedback provided for them to take on board as they develop the app further.

Laura took part in a Digital NHS Consultation around using the NHS inform website for the purpose of gathering information on how the website accessibility could be improved.To wrap up June’s activities Laura set up info stalls at the Clackmannanshire Partnerships event and a Greenspace Open Day held at the new sensory garden within Stirling community hospital, with Hannah also providing Sensory Awareness training with the Simulation Specs at the latter and lastly, she attended a VI Voting information session for VI people on voting and their options for this.

6. Summary

Thanks for taking the time to read our latest report. I hope this has given you an overview of what’s on offer at our Centre and beyond! It would be great to see you at one of our groups or at one of our outreach activities across Forth Valley. Café Tiki is open to the public, Monday to Friday 9am – 3:30pm and offers fresh home made soup, hot meals and a selection of fairtrade teas, coffees and home baking at a very reasonable cost. Our Sensory Room has been upgraded with lots of new interactive, tactile sensory equipment, thanks to The National Lottery Awards for All. Why not come along and check it out. The Sensory garden is looking amazing and is in full fragrant bloom, thanks to the hard work of our garden volunteers. It’s always open during the day when the Centre is open. We look forward to welcoming you.

If you have any questions, suggestions or requests, please get in touch.

Jacquie Winning CEO, 23 July 2024

e-mail: jacquiewinning@forthvalleysensorycentre.org

www.forthvalleysensorycentre.org @FVSensoryCentre