Hello newsletter Winter-Spring 2018 edition

We are a charity that helps people living with sight loss and a range of other disabilities achieve their

ambitions and go beyond their expectations.

Henshaws, 10 Duke Street, Liverpool L1 5AS

Phone: 0300 222 5555 Visit: henshaws.org.ukContents

Page 2 Welcome letter from Robert CooperPage 3 Henshaws storiesPage 4 Community Services newsPage 8 Fundraising updatesPage 10 Group updatesPage 12 Groups TimetablePage 13 Arts & CulturePage 15 Recipe

Hello and welcome to the winter/spring 2018 edition of Henshaws ‘Hello’ Newsletter.Hopefully, you will be aware that there have been a number of changes across Henshaws Community Services over the past few months, including the moving of staff and digital services from Henshaws Trafford hub in Atherton House to the new location of Lancastrian House on Talbot Road, and the relocation of groups previously based at Atherton House, to venues across the Trafford area more easily accessed by public transport.The moves will enable better use of the charity's future funding and support our community based strategy, which aims to help more people in their local community.Over the last two years I am proud to say we are now supporting more people than ever before, transforming our presence in the community from one central resource centre to several community hubs across Greater Manchester; this has allowed more and more people to access our services, and since we started delivering in the community two years ago, we have helped over 1300 new people.2

In Merseyside we are also changing the way we deliver services and are looking at better ways to support people in their community - similar to the changes which have taken place in Greater Manchester. As part of the changes, sadly we have made the difficult decision to transfer the services at Henshaws Newcastle Resource Centre to other local providers, as well our supported living service, ‘Yew Tree Lane’, in Manchester.I would like to thank you for your patience whilst we have been making the changes to the way we run our services, and for the much appreciated support from Henshaws volunteers and group members over the past few months.I hope this newsletter helps clarify the changes and allays any concerns you may have had, and that you enjoy this edition of ‘Hello’; as always, if you would like more details about anything mentioned in this issue, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us on our new number - 0300 222 5555.Robert Cooper, Director of Community Services

Henshaws StoriesJamie has been getting involved Henshaws’ activities and social groups in Liverpool since March 2017. He tells us his story:

“I decided to visit Henshaws after my eye sight started to deteriorate and I was becoming reliant on my partner a little bit too much. I wanted my independence back.

I first met with Kerry who helped me make a plan. We decided that my first step would be to join in on one of their Friendship Groups, as I was beginning to feel very 3

isolated. Kerry phoned me and invited me to the Welsh themed ‘Supper Club’. It was great that I was also able to bring along my partner and another friend. We had a really good time! It was nice to sit down and enjoy food and drinks with everyone.Once I started to attend the centre, I felt more comfortable being on my own and I even started to attend some groups without my partner. It’s nice to come to the centre together because we socialise and meet new people. It’s fair to say I am hooked, and I even went and visited the Everyman Theatre to see a production of the play ‘Cracked’. I would never have heard about this if it wasn’t for Henshaws!”

Henshaws offer a number of different groups and activities, and often partners and friends are welcome to attend. To find out what we have going on at the centre, our full timetable of activities is on page 12.

Community Services NewsNew phone systemOur new phone system is now up and running and you can get in touch with our team on the new number, which is 0300 222 5555. When you ring, you’ll be presented with a number of options to make sure you’re put through to where you need to be.

If you have any requests for information, advice or guidance, press number 1, and you’ll be put through to our First Step team who will be able to provide you with the support youneed. If there are no members of our First Step team available, leave a message with your number and we’ll get back to you as soon as a member of the team is free.

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Please note our operating hours are 9am-4.30pm, Monday to Friday.

Find the sport for you with VISPA Activity Day!Want to get involved in more sports and activities, but not sure where to start? The VISPA (Visual Impairment Sports and Physical Activity) taster day is for you! The event is on Monday 14th May, 9.15am-3pm, and is open to all blind and partially sighted people, with family and carers welcome. Activities will include cricket, football, running and tennis and much more.

The taster day starts from 9.15am at Greenbank Sports Academy, with a minibus shuttle service to the different activity locations including St Vincent’s School and Lifestyles Austin Rawlinson. For more information, get in touch with George on 07970 637 687 or email george.ferguson@henshaws.org.uk.

Friends Meeting House

Marie and the Liverpool team have found what seems to be a great replacement venue for many of our friendship groups at the ‘Friends Meeting House’. The venue is in a good location on School Lane, which is only a 5 minute walk from the Duke Street Centre, and is accessible from Central Station, Lime Street and Paradise Street bus station. Taxis can also drop off right outside the door.

The staff members at the centre are friendly, and they have a wide range of rooms for hire at reasonable rates. We are even hoping to continue our lunch group there, as there is also a kitchen available. A big advantage of the venue is the café which is open from 9am-3pm daily, which provides delicious food at decent prices. We are currently organising taster sessions there for all 5

interested groups, so that everyone can see the venue before making any final decisions.

If all goes well, we will be looking to move groups there by the end of April, otherwise we will continue to work with the groups to find other suitable venues.The Henshaws team will be providing VIAT (Visual Impairment Awareness Training) to all of the staff at the Friends Meeting House, and have made a commitment to support any of our service users who need to be trained on the new route.We hope this is going to be a great opportunity for the visually impaired community to socialise, meet new people and get involved in more activities. For more details, please contact Marie Hansen on 0300 222 5555 or email marie.hansen@henshaws.org.uk.

New group – ‘Restaurant Club’Due to changes in our staffing levels, we are unable to continue how we run the Supper Club, where our office was transformed into a themed restaurant every month. The group will now be continuing as ‘Restaurant Club’; where each month we will visit various restaurants in the city centre, looking out for the best value early door offers.

Please get in touch on 0300 222 5555 or email Marie at marie.hansen@henshaws.org.uk to find out the upcoming group visits.

Telephone befriending serviceFrom January 2018, we have been trialling a telephone befriending service. This is a way we can keep in touch with people who may no longer be able to attend groups at our Merseyside office, or anyone out there who would enjoy a weekly chit chat with one of our volunteers. This

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is a free service, which is available to anyone with sight loss at any age.

If this is something you would enjoy, please get in touch with us on 0300 222 5555 or email marie.hansen@henshaws.org.uk.

Do you want support getting online?We’re working with Include-IT Mersey to offer a free, personalised package of support for out of work, visually impaired residents around Merseyside to -• help you improve IT and online skills• build your confidence in using digital technologies• learn about online shopping and social media.The course is held weekly on a Monday or Thursday. Contact the First Step team on 0300 222 5555 to register your interest.

Henshaws Knowledge VillageWe return with another Henshaws Life Hack, and this time we’re sharing a hack that’s been one of the tricks from our Life Hacks eBook:

Use elastic bands around different products to help identify them. For example, one elastic band on tins of soup, two on tins of tomatoes, three on tins of chickpeas, etc. You could use this technique on various products, such as cereal boxes, salt and pepper and herbs and spices.

Mark has created a short video demonstrating this particular hack and you can see it and other tips and tricks from our Life Hack videos and eBook in action on henshaws.org.uk/lifehacks. If you have a life hack that works well for you, get in touch at

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stories@henshaws.org.uk, so we can share your useful tip with others.

Seeing AIMicrosoft’s Seeing AI is now available in the UK. Using the power of artificial intelligence, Seeing AI is a free app that narrates the world around you, describing people, text and objects, including currency recognition and a colour detector, and is currently available for iPhones and iPads. We’ve been putting the app to the test in our latest videos, which are available at henshaws.org.uk/apps.

Fundraising UpdatesA big thank you to everyone who helped sell raffle tickets or took part in this year’s Christmas events, appeal and raffle.We raised over £6,500 in our Christmas raffle – a fantastic amount that will help support our Community Services groups. We were pleased to be joined by our good friend, Ray Kelly, Atherton House Building Manager who has worked with Henshaws for 23 years, who drew the winning tickets on Friday 15th December. The winners were:£1500 – No. 14750 Mrs Teale£100 – No. 67564 M Smith£100 – No. 33371 K Crompton£100 – No. 29322 Mrs Haydon£100 – No. 31374 S McGregor£100 – No. 33032 B BradleyCongratulations and many thanks to everyone who took part and helped sell tickets.

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Henshaws Parachute Jump DayJoin Team Henshaws as we take to the skies for our Henshaws Parachute Jump Day! We have 10 skydiving places available on Sunday 29th April and Sunday 16th September at the Black Knights Parachute Centre in Lancaster if you would like to jump from 10,000ft to raise money for Henshaws. For more information and to join Team Henshaws, contact Faye Li at fundraising@henshaws.org.uk or by ringing 0300 222 5555.

Used Stamps AppealIn 2017, we raised nearly £1,000 - not bad for stamps that would otherwise have been thrown away! It won’t cost you a penny to donate your used stamps to Henshaws, where they will be turned into much needed funds to support our services.Just cut the stamps off used envelopes and drop them off at one of our centres, or post them to our Manchester Head Office. If you need any more information call the fundraising team on 0300 222 5555 or email fundraising@henshaws.org.uk.

Henshaws awardsOn June 21st 2017, Henshaws awards event returns to celebrate the achievements of our service users. There are two new awards this year, making a total of seven - Gillian Lawrence, Friendship Matters, Volunteer of the Year, Technology, Visual Impairment Friendly Business of the Year, Eye Health Professional of the Year, and the Visual Impairment Friendly Opticians. In order to give awards to the worthy winners we need your help, so if you know someone who you think deserves an award this year, we would love you to nominate them.

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You can fill in the enclosed nomination form and return to us with the freepost envelope, or you can go onto our website and fill in a form online at henshaws.org.uk/awards. If you have any questions or would like a form sent to you in the post, contact Faye in Fundraising on 0161 786 3656.

Legacy givingWe were grateful to receive a generous gift from the will of Mr David Taylor earlier this year, which will help us continue to support people with sight loss across Greater Manchester. Mr Taylor, who was an accountant, was from Milnrow and his Uncle, Eddie Stanton, was a pupil at Henshaws school in the early 1930s. Mr Taylor’s mum and dad ran a social club for visually impaired people at the Lees Street Congregational Church in Openshaw for a number of years and David’s generous gift was testament to the family’s generosity and kindness.

If you would like to know more about leaving a gift in your will to Henshaws, please contact Fiona Ashcroft, Director of Fundraising on 0300 222 5555.

Group UpdatesHave Your Say EventThank you to everyone who was able to attend the ‘Have Your Say Event’, at the Liverpool centre in January. It was great for so many people to be involved in finding a way forward, and your input will help us support you in the right way. For more information on the changes and what

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was discussed at the event if you were unable to attend, get in touch with the Liverpool centre on 0300 222 5555.

The Pogues, Hand Bell Ringers, and dancing at Henshaws Liverpool Christmas Party!From Marie Hansen, Community Services Development Coordinator:

“In December, our service users took the decision to have their Christmas party at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool for the third year running. We went on to arrange a great variety of entertainment for the afternoon!

The winter scene was immediately set when the Maghull Hand Bell Ringers, who came dressed in the most beautiful Dickensian costumes, arrived. The group played a selection of traditional Christmas Carols for all of us to enjoy, whilst we took our seats for a festive turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Crackers were pulled and hats were adorned.

After some fantastic music from our very own Sophie Thompson, we enjoyed a free raffle with kindly donated gifts, and we had twenty happy winners. We did not leave anyone to go home empty handed though; Santa arrived to present everyone with a (chocolate) hundred pound note! Our service users Wendy and Brendon then followed with their version of ‘Fairy Tale of New York’ by The Pogues, and finally, one of our service users’ great grandson sang a very touching rendition of ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree’.

The evening ended with our disco, where we boogied the afternoon away until our feet ached. It was a wonderful evening and we would like to say thank you to everyone 11

who attended and helped out. We’re already looking forward to next year’s Christmas party!”

Review of ‘Cracked’ at the Everyman TheatreAt the end of 2017, a group of our service users went to see a production of a play called ‘Cracked’. One of the attendees, Kelsey, kindly reviewed the experience:

“I attended the Everyman Theatre on 24th November 2017 to see the production of 'Cracked'. The play is predominantly aimed at social change, in regards to homelessness and mental health.

I was invited onto the touch-tour which was great; we were able to feel the different costumes, and props, which had loads of different textures and materials. I found this thoroughly useful in envisaging the play and its cast. The production itself was very vibrant! I found the characters very relatable, and most of the messages were very clear and heart wrenching. I also found the built-in audio description really useful, and although quite subtle, it really worked.

I was deeply moved by the performance and really enjoyed my afternoon and was glad I attended. Thank you to all the cast and crew.”

Henshaws Children & Families Christmas Party was a wonderful success!From Sophie Thompson, Henshaws’ Enablement Officer for Children and Young People:

“A massive thank you to everyone who came along to 12

our Children & Families Christmas Party. It was a fantastically festive day, and it was so lovely to see both old and new faces. We would like to thank the hard working volunteers who made the day run so smoothly.

We were lucky enough to have the Paw Patrol characters, Santa and two very cute donkeys attend - not to mention our super DJ Paul and professional photographer, Joel. Some of our teens even had a go at Santa Sumo Wrestling! The photos from the day are on the Henshaws website at henshaws.org.uk/liverpool, and for anyone who couldn’t make it; we will hopefully see you next year!”

Liverpool Groups TimetableMonday Time £ Yoga 1100 – 1200

£5.00 History Group (fortnightly) 1300 – 1500 Lunch Club (fortnightly) 1300 – 1500

£5.00TuesdayMusic Club 1000 – 1200 Tech Talk (2nd Tuesday, monthly) 1030 – 1200 Creative Writing (fortnightly) 1330 – 1500Walking & Talk (fortnightly) 1030 – 1200Meditation (1st Tuesday, monthly) 1200 - 1300 WednesdayBraille Group 1000 – 1200 IT Drop In 1000 - 1300Restaurant Club (2nd Wednesday, monthly) 1600- 1900

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£TBC Exercise Group 1300 – 1400

£3 ThursdaySocial Group (fortnightly) 1200 – 1400

£TBCPSS Group (1st Thursday, monthly) 1300 – 1500

Arts and CultureNew exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool Don't miss 'The Blind School: Pioneering people and places'; a free exhibition at the Museum of Liverpool, running until 15th April 2018. The exhibition tells the story of Liverpool's Royal School for the Blind, the first school for blind people in Britain and the second in the world. The exhibition explores what life was like for the pupils of the school over its 227 year history as well as the design and location of the different buildings that housed it.

The exhibition incorporates accessible methods such as audio description, BSL interpretation, and multisensory features. Find out more on the Museum of Liverpool website at www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk.

Audio Described Events – March - June 2018The following list has been compiled from information provided by Anne Hornsby of Minds Eye Professional De-scription Service, The Lowry and Vocaleyes.

Most theatre performances include a touch-tour about an hour before the performance and you can check with the Box Office or Mind’s Eye for details. Ticket prices, includ-14

ing concessions, can be checked at the Box Office, as well as seat and headset advance bookings. NB: most theatres offer special prices to blind and visually im-paired people, so please enquire. The telephone numbers are at the end of the listings.

March5 19.30 Hamlet Bolton Octagon7 20.00 Council Depot Blues Liverpool Royal Court8 19.30 Madama Butterfly (Opera North) The Lowry14 19.30 Wicked Liverpool Empire16 19.30 Circle Mirror Transformation HOME17 14.00 Cinderella (Matthew Bourne) The Lowry29 19.30 Paint Your Wagon Liverpool Everyman31 14.30 Frankenstein Royal Exchange

April3 19.30 Whisky Galore Oldham Coliseum5 19.30 East is East Bolton Octagon7 14.00 The Flying Lovers of Vtebsk HOME7 14.30 Birdsong The Lowry12 19.30 Miss Saigon Palace25 20.00 Liver Birds Liverpool Royal Court28 14.30 Relatively Speaking Oldham Coliseum

May2 19.30 The Big Corner Bolton Octagon4 19.30 Corrido HOME10 19.30 A Clockwork Orange Liverpool Everyman

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18 14.30 The Cherry Orchard Royal Exchange22 19.30 Blood Brothers Palace23 19.00 Long Day’s Journey into Night HOME24 19.30 Othello Liverpool Everyman

June7 19.30 A Taste of Honey Oldham Coliseum9 14.00 Jane Eyre (Northern Ballet) The Lowry16 14.30 Happy Days Royal Exchange20 19.30 Summer Holiday Bolton Octagon23 14.00 War Horse (National Theatre) The Lowry26 19.30 The Big I Am Liverpool Everyman28 19.30 Legally Blonde Palace

Useful telephone numbers:Mind's Eye 01204 522481 or 07889 232438Bolton Octagon Theatre 01204 520661HOME 0161 200 1500Liverpool Empire Theatre 0800 912 6971Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse 0151 709 4776Liverpool Royal Court Theatre 0151 709 4321Oldham Coliseum Theatre 0161 624 1731Palace Theatre & Opera House, Manchester 0161 245 6605Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester 0845 450 4808

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The Lowry 0161 876 2183VocalEyes 0207 375 1043

RecipeThis edition’s recipe is for cauliflower and lentil curry, from Henshaws Savoury Cooking Group. It’s an ideal recipe for any sight level, and perfect to warm you up until summer arrives!Cauliflower and lentil curryServes 6, cooking time 30 minutes.Ingredients1 large cauliflower, chopped2 onions, finely chopped1 packet red lentilsDesiccated coconutQuarter teaspoon turmericHalf teaspoon ground chilliQuarter teaspoon curry powderSalt to tasteLemon juice to tasteNaan bread to serveMethod1. Fry the onions for 4-5 minutes in a little oil.2. Add the cauliflower, lentils and all the spices including the coconut milk and salt, to the onions.3. Add a cup of water and cook on medium heat until the cauliflower is soft.4. Add the lemon juice to taste, and serve with naan bread.

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Help us spread the word!Once you have read or listened to our newsletter, please pass it on to a friend or family member, or you could enquire at your local community centre, GP, church or library to see if you could leave it there for others to enjoy.

We also have leaflets explaining who we are and what we do – maybe you could ask about leaving some of these; you can get a supply by calling us on 0300 222 5555. Remember, the more people know about us and support us, the more support we can offer visually impaired people, so please do all you can to help us get the word out.

DisclaimerAlthough every attempt is made to ensure that the information contained within this newsletter is timely and accurate,Henshaws cannot be held responsible for any information herein. This newsletter is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to be either legally binding or contractual in nature.

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