Centre Report November 2024

Report for Centre User Group November 2024

Introduction– Jacquie Winning, CEO

A warm welcome to our winter edition of the Centre Report where you will find a summary of our recent news, events and activities as well as an overview of what we have coming up.

Firstly, a big thanks to Sight Loss Ambassador, Volunteer and Centre User Laura Cluxton who recently completed the Supernova 5K run in the dark event and together with husband Joe and raised a whopping £1600 thanks to the generosity of everyone who made a donation. This money will be put to good use, helping us to continue to deliver a wide range of social activities for people with Sensory Loss across Forth Valley.

Some of you may remember Jenn Pow, previously Head of Audiology at FV NHS and recently retired. I’m delighted to report that Jenn has come back to help out at the Centre, taking on the interim p/t role of Deaf Awareness Adviser whilst we await the start of our new permanent staff member, joining our Team in December. Jenn brings a wealth of experience and knowledge of the impact of hearing loss and deafness and has already started developing resources which will help up to reach more people with hearing loss and deafness who may want to take part in our social groups. I’m sure you will join us in welcoming Jenn and the other new Centre staff who you will hear about later in this report.

Our Braille group are now well underway with their plans to commemorate the introduction of Braille in 1824 by taking part in UK wide celebrations. Look out for some #Braille200 information about our Centre event on Thursday 23 January 2025 which will use Braille inspired Art to express the vital importance of this communication tool for blind and partially sighted people. More information will be shared on our facebook page @FVSensoryCentre.

We were delighted to host a celebration of BSL Heritage earlier this month at an event which saw groups of Deaf School Children and Adult BSL Users attend the Centre for a talk and film show about Deaf History and Culture.

2. Recent Feedback Summary

We continue to seek feedback from our Centre Users so we can improve, develop and refine our services. Recently, we received useful feedback about the acoustics of our meeting spaces and, as a result, we have changed the venue for future Centre User Group and Board meetings to the Tech Hub as we’ve been told it’s preferred by people who are hard of hearing. Our tutors are another source of feedback as they share with us what helps their classes to be successful. We’ve recently changed our group registration process, the format of our catering provision and the level of volunteer support for certain groups in response to suggestions and requests from our tutors.

Our Team hosted a Halloween party for adults with learning disabilities. We received lots of positive feedback on the day from attendees and their support staff who all enjoyed the event and arrived in fantastic costumes. One participant told us, “I love Halloween and really enjoyed the party at FVSC. I especially liked decorating the apples, as well as colouring the pumpkin and ghost pictures. I had a good time.”

Our BSL OAP Group also entered into the Halloween Spirit and dressed up in very convincing costumes. We were delighted to be asked to judge the best Halloween Outfit. It was a difficult decision as everyone looked so amazing.

3. Community Fundraising Summary

As well as providing a fun activity for the people who came along, the Halloween party was also a fundraising opportunity for us. Many activities, including chocolate apple decorating and spooky crafts, were available for an optional donation. We also had a Halloween-themed bake sale, spider splat game, tombola and raffle and raised a total of £300 to go towards the running of our Centre.

Following a generous donation from local MP Euan Stainbank, we launched our House of Commons Whisky raffle in October. Raffle tickets can be purchased at our Welcome Desk for £1. Our preparations for the Winter Fayre in November picked up pace and we appealed to local businesses and organisations for prize donations. November and December are shaping up to be packed with fundraising activity and prizes galore.

4. Groups Summary September/October 2024

Our groups and activities programme got back into full-swing following the summer.

September’s Lego group meeting included a zip-line challenge for which everyone built a contraption to travel via a suspended wire. There were various levels of success! October’s meeting was Halloween-themed and they built, amongst other things, a Disney Haunted Mansion and a Graveyard.

History Group enjoyed an outing to the Hunterian Museum’s Kelvin Hall exhibition in September. In October, they were visited by John Bennett who delivered his presentation on the topic of Rabbie Burns. John offers a variety of interesting presentations and will be returning to The Centre in future.

In September, the Book Group met to review, “And the Mountains Echoed” by Khaled Hosseini. In October they reviewed “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and, “The Mistletoe Bride and Other Haunting Tales” by Kate Mosse. In November, they will be reviewing, “The Black House” by Peter May.

A trio of Centre Users accepted an invitation from Bo’ness Hippodrome to attend their Taste of Silents event, “Neil Brand’s Silent Comedy Triple Bill.” The group received a warm welcome from the Hippodrome staff and have expressed interest in returning for “HippFest” in March 2025.

October saw the arrival of Caroline Nisbet into the role of Wellbeing and Activities Coordinator. Caroline has been busy attending as many groups as possible to introduce herself and to gather feedback and ideas about what the participants would like to happen in future.

Plans are well underway for Centre Users to attend an Audio Described Pantomime to get into the festive mood. Oh yes they are!

If you would like to find out more about any of our activities or classes please email carolinenisbet@forthvalleysensorycentre.org or telephone 01324 590888.

5. Attendance Figures

During September and October 2024, 380 people used the Sensory Room and our groups and classes welcomed 1937 attendees. Cafe Tiki was visited 1557 times and there were 826 visitors through the door for NHS Appointments. These numbers break down as follows:

	September	October
Groups and Classes	931	1006
Sensory Room	163	217
Health Clinics	432	394
Café Tiki	691	866

6. Volunteering Summary September/October 2024

In September, we took part in SVE’s Inspire Volunteering Awards to a resounding success. Our nominee, deaf volunteer, Colin Watterson, won the grand Inspire Award! Colin volunteers as a sighted guide, does home visits and helps with the promotion and running of events. Nothing is too much trouble for Colin. The Inspire Award couldn’t have gone to a more deserving winner! We are so proud of Colin.

This year we have five students from Stirling University and St. Andrews University carrying out placements with us. Their planned projects will include marketing of our new groups, publicising and documenting the benefits of our garden and researching and implementing a framework for the Centre’s partnerships. They’ve all chosen to The Centre for their placements because they want to learn more about blindness and deafness so please feel to stop them for a chat.

Also in September, we took part in this year’s Freshers Fayre at the Forth Valley College. This was a great opportunity for us to raise awareness of the different volunteering roles we have at the Centre and of some of our different groups. As a result of this, we have also done some informal sensory awareness sessions with the college’s health and social care classes and raised awareness of how charities like the Centre can fill a deficit that statutory services can’t fill.

We had four corporate volunteers from Certas Energy come spend a day with us in October to help prepare The Centre’s outdoor spaces for winter. They did a fantastic job clearing the grounds to make our grounds safer for everyone to walk on. They also helped with weeding, cutting back overgrown bushes, removing any tired decorations, and helping with a general clean and tidy. Now our garden team are working on their last harvest of the year and are then going to begin planning what to grow and plant for next year. If you see Jean in the garden, I know she’d love to have a chat about all their upcoming plans!

7. Youth and Family Update

During September and October, the Youth Group returned to its weekly Friday timeslot and standard activities, which included baking, different craft activities, board games, lego building and gaming with Triple Tapp Tech facilitating a larger accessible gaming night. The group also met our Deaf Awareness Advisor.

October also saw the departure of our previous Youth and Family Worker Susanne, to whom we are thankful for her hard work and dedication in building up the Youth and Family Groups.

To help with the transition of the group and provide some continuity, Zander our Development Manager stepped in, attending the Youth Group as interim support, and the various committees and meetings that support youth and families within Forth Valley, including Child Protection training and attending the Steering Group at Windsor Park Primary where they have been learning about their rights as laid out in the UNCRC.

At the end of October we welcomed our new Youth and Family Worker, Melissa Condie, who is excited to bring her skills and experiences from studying child development and working as a support worker for children and adults with additional support needs to the role. We look forward to her update in the next Centre Report. If you would like more info our Youth Group or to discuss our Youth and Family provision within the Centre, please contact Melissa at melissacondie@forthvalleysensorycentre.org.

8. Sight Loss Ambassador

September and October kept our Sight Loss Ambassador Laura busy providing more tours for Stirling MP Chris Kane, Forth Valley College’s Karyn King, some nursing students and our new team members, Caroline and Melissa.

Laura also had her information stall at the Sensory Service Information Day at Raploch, in Dunblane Library and at The Thistles Shopping Centre in Stirling, our previous Deaf Awareness Advisor Abi also attended the latter for the second half of the day. She continued to raise awareness about accessibility issues through meetings with Scotrail and Link Housing, providing her top 5 tips for supporting someone with Sight Loss at the latter, where our Deaf Awareness Advisor also provided her top 5 tips to consider when communicating with some who is Deaf or has Hearing Loss. Laura also attended Clack Locality Planning meeting and participated in the Digital Health and Care Partnership Citizens Panel’s Conversation Café, NHS Inform’s accessibility review and later joining the Digital Citizen’s Panel in creating feedback for the Scottish Government.

Laura has also been receiving training in preparation to facilitate RNIB’s Living Well with Sight Loss sessions in the new year. She also had a good introductory meeting with a Yoga instructor who wants to offer Yoga sessions for those with Sight Loss in Clackmannanshire, something is being followed by our new Wellbeing and Activities Coordinator Caroline, and Development Manager Zander.

And lastly Laura facilitated and participated in the monthly Lego group. If you would like to arrange a centre tour or if you have an event you would like our Sight Loss Ambassador to speak at, please contact Laura by email lauracluxton@forthvalleysensorycentre.org

Summary

Thanks for taking the time to read our latest report. I hope this has given you a glimpse into recent activities at the Centre. If you are around in the Centre in the mornings you may have noticed that Duncan McPhee has returned to our Team, this time to support us with the cleaning and janitorial work at the Centre. Duncan replaces Meagan who we said goodbye to last month as she moves onto pastures new. Why not come and visit us soon to find out more about what we offer or take part in one of our wellbeing activities. Café Tiki opens Monday to Friday 9am–3:30pm and offers fresh home-made soup, fairtrade teas and coffees and a selection of home baking. Our Sensory Garden is 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 MBE CEO, 20 November 2024

Email: jacquiewinning@forthvalleysensorycentre.org