annual report 2015/2016btckstorage.blob.core.windows.net/site448/avsed 2015-16...recruitment and...

Aireborough Voluntary Services to the

Elderly with Disabilities

Annual Report

2015/2016

Charity Registration: 1048902

AVSED Annual Report 2015/16

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Office

Suffolk Court Silver Lane

Yeadon LEEDS

LS19 7JN

Telephone: 0113 250 1702

E mail: [email protected]

Website: www.avsed.org.uk

Committee Members

Chair Ken Elliott

Vice Chair Brian Myers

Treasurer Neil Moffoot

Secretary Ann Turner

Isabella (Bunty) Burgon-Byrne, Roger Halliwell, Edward Lamb, Wendy Hanson, Graham Downes

(from Oct 2015), Cllr Ryk Downes (in an advisory capacity)

Staff

Minibus Transport and

Front page: Ron and Denniss enjoying the Eric Morecambe statue at Morecambe Seafront

Volunteer Recruitment, Training

and Development Officer (VRTD Officer)

Sarah Rogers

Community Cohesion and

Diversity Officer (CCD Officer)

Sharon Ahmed

Activity Support Worker

Ella Baxter

Minibus Driver (part-time)

Don Robertson

Minibus Transport and Equal Access Organiser Rick Lamb

Project Coordinating Manager Sarah Lunt


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Mission Statement

The primary object of the charity, as set out in the charity’s constitution,

is the relief from isolation (without distinction of colour, ethnic origins, nationality, political or religious opinion, sex or sexual orientation) of the

older people, many of whom have disabilities, living in the community of Aireborough within the City of Leeds.

Aireborough Voluntary Services to the Elderly with Disabilities (AVSED) provides a

unique service to the older people of Aireborough, many of whom have various disabilities. Designed to support those who wish to remain living independently at

home, AVSED aims to continually update and expand its socialisation and healthy living services to meet the changing needs of Clients. By relieving social isolation and

providing Volunteers who care, great improvements should continue to be made in

the quality of life of all our Clients and Volunteers.

Background Information

AVSED is a registered charity (registered in 1995), managed and run by registered Volunteers with the support of six paid staff, and covers an area of approximately 18

square miles. The charity is governed by a constitution

Founded in Yeadon in 1992 by a group of caring local people who recognised the loneliness and isolation of older disabled people living in Aireborough, AVSED is run

by a Management Committee of nine Volunteers, which by including older people with disabilities, reflects the makeup of the organisation. A local Councillor has been

nominated by Leeds City Council to attend Committee meetings and provide support.

All Volunteers, and all Clients who pay an annual subscription to receive services from

AVSED*, are registered Members of the organisation. Each registered Member may nominate and vote for Management Committee representatives at the Annual General

Meeting. A postal vote is arranged if necessary.

(*£15 for a single person or £20 for two people living in the same dwelling in 2015/2016)

Although AVSED is an independent registered charity, it works within the Leeds Older

People’s Neighbourhood Network (around 35 separate organisations spread across the city) and, in particular, with the seven charities within the NW PCT area. The co-

ordinators of these organisations meet together on a quarterly basis prior to a meeting with senior staff from Adult Social Care (together with representatives from

the Neighbourhood Network organisations in the west of the city) and provide support

for each other.


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Chair’s Report

2015/16 has been a very busy year for all the members,

volunteers and staff with an increase in the amount of activities and events that have created a better sense of what AVSED is

trying to achieve in the local community. We have secured a new home for AVSED which will be in the ANSA clubhouse in Nunroyd

Park: this will provide a Hub for all our planned services and activities. Transferring to this property will give us the “Benefit of

Change,” and has been possible with a grant from the ASDA Foundation. We applied to the Department of Transport for a new

Minibus under a scheme for the Third Sector, and I am pleased to announce this bid was successful. The new minibus will be delivered later this year.

The Management Committee have decided to make AVSED a ‘Charitable Company,

Limited by Guarantee’ which will give us a legal identity and help us when applying for future funding. Looking ahead, a great deal was achieved in 2015/2016 and there

is much more to be done in the year ahead including finalising our preparations for future funding applications, which will include Leeds Adult Social Care and the Big

Lottery. The way we have progressed this year gives me great confidence that we will meet

our objectives set for 2016/17: to help older people in Aireborough live a full and involved life by reducing their social isolation.

Project C oordinating Manager’s Report

As you can see from the rest of the Report we achieved an incredible amount during

the year, which is due to the hard work and dedication of both Staff and Volunteers. It is quite exhausting in fact remembering it all! We are satisfying, and in fact

exceeding, the expectations of our funders in terms of the targets we have achieved and the impact of our services on local older people. We also show a high level of

satisfaction amongst our members and volunteers, which is the whole purpose of our organisation. At a time when charities are under scrutiny in the media for various practices like cold

calling and financial mismanagement, I am very proud to say we have always, and always will be, fully transparent in our charity management, aims and objectives.

Here is to a bright future for AVSED.

2015/2016 was a year of settled staff levels at AVSED which was a

great relief to both myself and the Trustees. Sharon hit the ground running in her new role as CCD Officer, and both Ella and Sarah Rogers

were already flying in their new roles by mid 2015. It was fantastic to

have the opportunity and the time in the latter part of 2015 to actually put parts of the business and strategic plan in action and start planning

for the future of AVSED when I knew the day to day running was in safe hands.


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AVSED Finance

During 2015/2016 we received a contract, grants and donations from all the

organisations and individuals listed below:

Contract: Adult Social Care, Leeds City Council – year 1 of a 3 x 1 year rolling contract

to provide services for older people in Aireborough. We have had confirmation this contract has now been extended until March 2017, with assurance Leeds

City Council have a strong commitment to continuing their support of the Leeds Older People’s Neighbourhood Networks.

Grants:

The Big Lottery Fund Grant – Fourth Year (of five) grant entitled ‘Socialising

Seniors’ to allow us to enhance the capacity of AVSED to help more older people in Aireborough

Frank Parkinson Yorkshire Trust – Fourth Year (of five) grant to part-pay the monthly lease-hire charges for our Renault minibus

Horsforth Live at Home Scheme (lead scheme in a three-way partnership with Otley Action for Older People) – funding additional services for people with

low-level memory loss Lloyds Bank Foundation for England and Wales – second year (of 2) grant

to pay for the salary of our part-time minibus driver The Department of Transport – successful in a grant application for a new

minibus, which should be with us mid to late 2016. This is a gift in kind rather than a cash donation and the minibus will be created to our specifications.

Leeds Community Foundation – grant for our Winter Buddies Scheme Green Hall Foundation – grant for 50% of the salary of our part time minibus

driver for 1 year.

Fundraising:

AVSED Office Staff – ran the 10k Abbey Dash in November 2015 and raised £1250 (see right)

David Elliott – completed the Brownlee Triathlon at Harewood House and raised £342.50

Gift Aid – from individual contributers who had completed a Gift Aid Form, plus from the Gift Aid

Small Donations Scheme (which we were eligible to apply for this year as we have successfully applied

for Gift Aid for the last 2 years) which allowed us to claim 25% on cash donations of £20 or under, even

if a gift aid form had not been completed. Will Writing Scheme – Morrish Solicitors in Yeadon

raised £300 during May 2015 with a will writing scheme

Asda Foundation – grant for £15,067.00 towards building a new office to facilitate our

premises move Picture to Right: Sarah Leonard from Asda

Guiseley Live at Home presenting the cheque to Ken on a foggy morning


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Guiseley Art Club – raised £200 for AVSED through sales at their annual exhibition

(picture right, Sarah receiving the cheque from Michael Hillas, Chairman)

Organisational Donations: Yeadon Methodist Church Women’s Fellowship,

Guiseley Methodist Church and Guiseley Methodist Church Tuesday Fellowship

Asda – ‘Chosen by you..given by Us’ green token

collection scheme at the Guiseley Live at Home Store. We received the most tokens of the 3 competing

organisations and were given a cheque for £200 (picture

left, Sarah receiving the cheque from Sarah Leonard, the Community Life Champion at the store)

Health and Wellbeing Fair – raised £197

YAODs – Yeadon Amateur

Operatic and Dramatics Society

raised a total £217.91 during 3

bucket collections (picture right shows the

Christmas Carol singing and collection at High

Trees Garden Centre, and

picture left shows Ella receiving the donation

cheque from Malcolm

Kleiman, the Vice Chairman

of YAODS )

AVSED Christmas Raffle – raised £220 (Cora helping Sarah to draw the raffle numbers at Cuppa and

Company)

Donations:

Kind donations in memory of the following former

AVSED members: Connie Norton, Sybil Firth, Shirley Battersby, Gordon Dunn, Douglas Richardson and Mary

Kellegher Individual Donations: many small and large

donations from members, volunteers, family/carers and supporters of AVSED, too many to list. Thank you, for

each and every amount.


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Our main income stream again this year was through Grants, the largest of these being from the Big Lottery which consisted of 33% of our entire income. We still very

much rely on the Contracts and Grants established and maintained by AVSED Staff.

Expenditure was comparable to the last financial year, with slightly increased staff costs due to the continued implementation of the National Living Wage. We used

some of our unrestricted balance brought forward from the previous financial year to plug the small gap between income and expenditure.

32.0%

33.0%

10.0% 1.0%

5.0%

7.0% 12.0%

Adult Social Care Contract

Big Lottery Fund Grant

Other Grants

Subscriptions

Donations

General Fundraising

Other Income (investment, minibushire, activity income etc.)

57.0%

2.0%

12.0%

11.0%

1.0% 14.0%

2.5% 0.5%

Staff Wages (incl. NI & pension)

Staff & Volunteer Expenses

Transport Costs (vehicle hire, fuel& maintenance)

Support Costs (office, stationery,printing etc.)

Recruitment and Training

Activity Running Costs (room hire,tutors, refreshments, etc)

Depreciation of Assets (minibus,equipment etc.)

Sundries

Annual Income 2015/2016 - £188,936.00

Annual Expenditure 2015/2016 - £193,366.00


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Our Registered Volunteers

We have an excellent team of registered Volunteers ranging from 18, to a newly

recruited Volunteer Befriender who is a very spritely 90 years of age! With a mix of experience from just about every walk of life you can think of, our Volunteers show

care and commitment to the older people of Aireborough as they run a myriad of services for AVSED.

Our Volunteers work:

as Trustees in three separate weekly social centres, and Cuppa and Company

as befrienders to provide support at appointments, 1:1 shopping or on trips out

as minibus drivers and escorts

with fundraising, marketing and administration as leaders of small groups/specialised activities such as our Tai Chi classes,

Chair based Exercise Classes, Friday “Fish ‘n’ Chip” Home Delivery service, and minor repairs – to name but a few!

as much needed ad hoc volunteers to ‘fill in’ any gaps as IT support gurus

……. and 101 other ways that help our Clients.

With the recruitment of our new VRTD Officer we really wanted to use this financial

year to show our appreciation of the volunteers and value the work they do for the

our members as well as the local community. Our volunteers attended two outside

events: in May 2015 Sandra and Eddie Lamb attended the Lord Mayor’s ‘Thank you’

event on behalf of AVSED volunteers (picture below left), and during National

Volunteers’ Week (1-7 June 2015) a team of volunteers competed in a Ten Pin

Bowling Competition along with other charities (picture below right, from left to right

John, Bernie, Kim, Sue, Carlo and Ken)


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No one, especially the Volunteers, should underestimate the value of their work and

dedication. Due to their long term commitment, AVSED has grown steadily over the years and is now able to help hundreds of older people, many with disabilities, living

at home in the community of Aireborough, to maintain their independence. Thank you!

Registered Volunteers who have served in 2015/2016

Theresa Angove, Denise Arnott, Christine Baguley, Sue Best, Roy Blanshard, Sheila

Bower, Kim Broadhead, Bunty Burgon-Byrne, Margaret Clark, Beryl Claughton,

Christine Coen, John Davies, Annette Dewhirst, Jo Dixon, Dorothy Downs, Ken Elliott,

John Foster, Sue Kellett, Janine Garnett, Maureen Gough, Roger Halliwell, Wendy

Hanson, Bernie Harrison, Carlo Harrison, Tony Hemingway, Claire Hepworth, Joyce

Heslop, David Hirons, Sheila Hollings, Tessa Holmes, Moreen Holt, Shelagh Hooten,

Anne Hudson, Diana Jenkins, Peter Jenkins, Dorothy Jones, Michael Jowett, Christine

King, Eddie Lamb, Sandra Lamb, Tina Lawrence, Alexis Mannion, Jean Mason,

Dianne Midgley, Elaine Miller, Carolyn Moffatt, Neil Moffoot, Geoff Mott, Brian Myers,

Bridget Napp, Paul Napp, Pauline Noonan, Sasha Ollerenshaw, Hilary Pank, Ellie

Pearson, Sarah Penketh, Patricia Pinder, John Ratcliffe, Jill Reilly, Aaron Sanders, Pat

Sands, Jean Sawyer, Hazel Shaw, Alan Sheath, Pat Simpson, Susan Stevens, Ann

Turner, Andy Walker, Anna Webster, Edna Wild, Alan Willey, Eileen Wilshaw, Colin

Wrigg, Anne Yeadon.

AVSED Members

In March 2016 we had 479 registered members of AVSED. This figure includes clients (those who are over 60 and live within Aireborough), affiliated members (over 60s

who live outside of the area, in sheltered housing complexes not supported by AVSED, and those who access our transport regularly to attend sister groups) and our

Volunteers.

During Volunteer week we also ran our

own target bowls event at Rufford Park

Bowling Club. We had glorious weather

and a lovely buffet lunch, followed by the

presentation of prizes for the winning

team, and thank you certificates to

volunteers (picture left: Beryl, Pat, Ann

and Hazel receiving their target bowl

prizes from Ken for the highest score)


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Our youngest client was 61 years of age, and our oldest was 102!

75% of our members were women 50 new clients joined us this year, and 50 left.

278 members started a new service/activity provided by AVSED

The feedback we receive is, on the whole, overwhelming positive, which makes all the hard work more than worth-while. Members are in general very pleased with the

variety and quality of services and activities available at AVSED. The transport, trips out, and care and consideration of the volunteers and staff were most important to

the members. They also feel

less isolated/lonely

an improvement in their mental health and wellbeing more involved in their local community

it helps them maintain their independence services are affordable, but they wouldn’t mind paying a reasonable increase

There were many comments about what activities they would like AVSED to provide

in the future, including more varied trips, pottery, gardening, art and crafts, dancing, pamper days, bird watching, walking, cake decorating, I-pad sessions etc. There was

a feeling that a local’ hub’ for older people would benefit AVSED members and give them a real sense of belonging. There were also thoughts it would save AVSED

money and give us the ability to expand and diversify our services.

The questionnaires identified a few areas where we need to improve:

activities / services which improve the physical health of members (53% of members felt no improvement in their physical health since becoming a

member of AVSED) investigate the costs of providing activities weekends/bank holidays/summer

evenings in the future (62% of those interviewed would be interested in this) increase the sense that members have input/influence over services available

from AVSED (over 50% of those who we talked to felt they didn’t have any input in this, although the majority said they were happy with our services and

felt we do, and will continue to adapt to their changing needs)

Reg and Jack enjoying lunch at Newsholme Manor

Afternoon Tea at Thursday Social Centre


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AVSED Services

AVSED services in 2015/2016 included:

General advice and information Bi-monthly Newsletter

Memory Loss Support (see below) Health and Wellbeing Support

Handyman Service Full needs assessment

Accessible transport to the majority of our activities

Pastoral care telephone calls

Personal 1:1 Shopping Trips (non grocery)

1:1 appointment support (non hospital)

Carer Support Help with form filling

Advocacy Referrals / signposting to other

agencies Mobility Aid Loan

Transport:

These buses are extremely well looked after, with regular safety checks and servicing, as they are amongst our most valuable resources. We will be welcoming a new

minibus to our ‘fleet’ in mid to late 2016, as outlined in the funding section of this report.

Memory Loss and Dementia: We have continued this year to provide additional services for members with memory

loss to enable them to have access to all our activities for as long as possible. These included:

Telephone prompting for our activities Carer invoicing for members who attend our activities but who struggle with

bringing purses/wallets/money Newsletter visiting – for those without carer support who find it difficult to read

the newsletters, telephone the office to book activities/outings, make the

payment, then record what they were booked on to

AVSED’s two minibuses continued to be used

every day of the week to provide transport not only for our own activities, but to provide

accessible transport to other local groups for older people, without which they would be

unable to attend. Regular weekly bookings include The Tuesday Convent Day Centre

(which unfortunately closed in March 2016), Rawdon’s Darby and Joan Club and Yeadon

Methodist Church’s Sunday Worship transport, as well as various residents’

associations, which have been set up in

sheltered housing complexes in the area.


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Leeds Older People's Forum was successful in applying to Leeds Innovation Fund to

run two training programmes delivered to staff, volunteers and carers of three Neighbourhood Networks – Cross Gates & District Good Neighbours’ Scheme CIO,

AVSED and South Leeds Live at Home Scheme. Carers Leeds offered two half-day Dementia Training sessions at each of the Neighbourhood Networks (staff, volunteers

and carers were invited), and there was also a full day training session about Cognitive Stimulation Therapy, teaching us ways to help maintain the cognitive skills

of individuals with early stage memory problems.

We are very lucky to have an active support community locally in terms of Memory

Loss Services, with two independent Dementia Cafes (The Forget me Not Café, and Memory Lane Café) plus a new Memory Lane Activity Day Centre which started in

March 2016. Support is available therefore for members who can no longer attend our activities due to the advancement of Alzheimer’s and Dementia.

Signposting: During this financial year we signposted our members to the following services to help

them maintain their independence and improve their health and wellbeing: Leeds Directory – for reliable tradespeople

Care Ring – emergency button for activating at home Trading Standards

Local Ironing Service

West Yorkshire Fire Service Dental Advice Line

Local care agency Local Dog walker

A sister Neighbourhood network Alzheimers Society

Carer’s Leeds Council Pest Control

AVSED Activities

In 2015/2016 AVSED continued to provide the following regular activities, which

combined offered nearly 200 member places to socialise each week:

Quarterly Outreach “Windmill” Day Trips Friday Fish and Chip Home Delivery

Service 3 weekly social centres

1 coffee morning – Cuppa and Company Monday afternoon trips out

3 Tai Chi classes 2 chair based exercise classes (with a

weekly member led quiz at one class) Befriending for members unable to

access regular activities


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Social Centres:

The Social Centres enjoyed a raft of activities including:

Male Voice Choir and a Rat Pack Tribute), birthday celebrations, Christmas parties,

reminiscence sessions and instrumental performances.

Monday Afternoon Trips:

Windmill Trips:

Windmill Trips’ are supported day trips for which we hire the ‘Windmill Coach’ (see picture right):

a specially adapted 46 seat coach, complete with a passenger lift so we can take AVSED members with

a variety of disabilities. Up to 15 wonderful volunteers look after our members all day long,

either pushing a wheelchair or just ensuring they have some company and are in the right place at the

right time.

* book/cake/ bric a brac stalls, quizzes, pie and peas, clothes

stall, various talks (e.g. Noel Nostalgia, Scams and Frauds, Doorstep Crimes, Local Solicitors, West Yorkshire Fire

Service, Silver Links, Water Aid, Local History, Marks and Spencers etc), singers and groups (including Emma James,

Terry Williams, Young at Heart, YAODs, The Brotherhood

* Graveleys, Otley Golf Club, Murgatroyds, Dick Hudsons, Newsholme Manor, Millstones, The Wharfedale (see

picture left), The Stansfield Arms, Wetherby Whaler, Wheatley Arms, The Royalty, Horsforth Golf Club, Asquith

Arms, Halfway House and Websters

They also enjoyed lunch trips out to local venues such as:

Monday afternoon ‘trippers’ were spoilt for choice with lunches at: The Fleece (Farsley), Calverley Arms,

Graveleys Fish and Chip Restaurant (Horsforth), Brownlee Arms (Horsforth), Newsholme Manor,

The Hitching Post, Hawthorn Farm, The Half Way House (Shipley) and Websters Fish and Chip

Restaurant (Idle)

trips to: The Royal Armouries, Tong Garden

Centre, Roundhay Park, Yorkshire Dales Icecream Parlour, Caring for Life, White Rose Shopping

Centre and Golden Acre Park

Articles from the Marks and Spencers’ Archive


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This year we visited Millstones for some Wartime entertainment, Hull to visit The

Deep, Morecambe Bay for some sea air, and York Designer Outlet Village for some bargain shopping, via the Wetherby Whaler in York for festive fish and chips!

Annual General Meeting: In a slight change to the norm we held a ‘new and improved’ AGM this year which

included Pie and Peas and afternoon entertainment by the brilliant Emma James. We make no secret of the fact that we wanted to attract more attendees to this annual

event in order to celebrate our achievements, make members feel involved in AVSED as a whole (not just individual groups and activities), and share our plans for the

future; this ‘ploy’ seemed to work as we had over 80 attendees, compared to our normal 20-30!


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Ad Hoc activities:

This was a bumper year for ad hoc activities! They included:

* Guiseley Art Club Annual Exhibition

The local Art Club had their most successful Annual Exhibition ever recorded in

October 2015 at the Guiseley Methodist Church. They were generous enough to

invite us to have a stall there, plus donate 10% of the sales from the art work which amounted to £200.

* Health and Wellbeing Event

On Friday 24th July 2015 we held a Health and Wellbeing Day at Yeadon Town Hall

which attracted over 80 people during the day. Stalls holders included Care and Repair, Community Heart Research, Morrish Solicitors, Home Instead, Arthritis Care,

Carers Leeds, Guiseley Walking Football Club, PEP team and Leeds Mind, Tina’s Complimentary Therapies and our own stalls and Tombola. Refreshments Smoothies

were kindly donated by Innocent drinks, and there were lots of healthy snacks available. Our Chair Based Exercise Class tutor, Jenny Wilson, also carried out a

short taster session with members from the groups. A well attended and informative day.


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* Poppies Trip

* Christmas Party

On Tuesday 22nd December 2015 we provided a 3 course Christmas Meal at Guiseley Methodist Church for local older people who might have been spending Christmas

alone, and/or who had experienced a particularly difficult year. They were welcomed in to the Church foyer by The Woolpack Ukelele Band, enjoyed a soup starter followed

by Turkey and all the trimmings, then mince pies, were entertained with some singalong Christmas songs on the guitar by Mike Rossiter and even had a visit from

Santa with a bag full of Christmas Presents! Home Instead initiated the ‘Give a Gift to a Senior’ appeal so we would like to thank for them all their help with this. One

member wrote in a card “Many, many thanks for the wonderful Christmas Party…Although I didn’t know any of the other party-goers everybody joined in and

enjoyed every minute. The food was excellent, piping hot and plenty of it. The room was lovely and Christmassy and the music really made everyone want to sing and

join in.”

On Friday 6th November

we descended on the Yorkshire Sculpture Park

to see the iconic poppy sculpture. It was very

impressive and a fantastic day was had by all.


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*Hydration Week Tea Dance

Sarah Rogers and 3 AVSED members attended a

Tea Dance at Leeds Civic Hall in June 2015 which looked at living well into older age, including

keeping active and hydrated. Betty and Audrey had lots of fun on the dance floor!

* Panto

On Wednesday 30th December 2015 16 members, accompanied by 5 volunteers,

enjoyed a matinee performance of ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ at the Alhambra Theatre. It was great fun and we all particularly enjoyed the parts in 3D and getting to wear

those trendy glasses!

* Winter Buddies Scheme

This was funded by a ‘Winter Wellbeing Community Grant’ through Leeds City Council. It aimed to provide additional services to the most isolated of our members

during the Winter months (December to March), and those who required additional support during this time. We were lucky this Winter was not particularly cold, but the

seven volunteer ‘buddies’ still provided services such as regular telephone calls (116 made), friendly visits, and deliveries of essential groceries and prescriptions (48 visits

carried out to hospital and home). The feedback from one member was “Thank you

so much for caring.” This service was essential in maintaining the health and wellbeing of local older people, as winter is a time when people can become

particularly isolated and depressed, therefore more likely to access the local health services. Prevention is better than cure.


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What’s new this Year

Student Placement

AVSED Christmas Card

Premises move

We hope it will:

unite our services

give all members a sense of ‘belonging’ to AVSED as whole, as well as their own

particular group or activity

allow us make efficiency savings as we won’t have to ferry people to venues

across Aireborough, it will reduce our staff travel costs, and we will save money

by combining office and room rental fees

allow us to pool our resources and make them available to ALL groups via a

resource cupboard (including games, quizzes, the Wii machine etc.), which also

Part of the Strategic and Business plan

developed at the beginning of this financial year involved an aim to create a local Hub.

We are pleased to say the grant from the Asda Community Foundation has allowed us

to realise this dream and start building an office within our new Hub at the ANSA

Clubhouse in Nunroyd Park, Yeadon. (left:

view of the Clubhouse from Leeds Road)

Many of our members, and even volunteers, find their social circles gradually reducing over

the years, and Christmas cards becoming fewer and fewer. We wanted to ensure

everyone received at least one card this year, so Ella designed this fantastic card which we

had printed to send to all AVSED members, ex staff and AVSED supporters, to spread the

festive cheer.

Ellie Pearson joined us for a 3 month student placement (between November 2015 and February 2016) from Bradford

College as part of her BTEC Health & Social Care course. She attended various activities including Monday exercise, Tuesday

Social Centre and Tai Chi classes, as well as escorting on the minibus. Thank you for your help Ellie, and we wish you success

in your future nursing career.

Albert the AVSED bear looking very festive!


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avoids the cost of duplications (i.e. one bingo machine and 1st Aid Box to

maintain rather than 6 or 7)

give us appropriate storage so volunteers/staff do not have to store resources

at home/in cars to take with them to various activity spaces

increase the opportunities to share important information in a timely manner

(yes, we can have a notice board!)

provide on-site support for members and volunteers

allow us to offer more, and a greater variety of activities over time

allow us to work more closely with other local groups and services

As well as the positives outlined above, the added bonuses with this venue are: A good amount of parking for people who self-transport

the minibus drop off point is right next to the entrance which would allow

members who currently require a wheelchair to access certain venues (such as St

Johns Church Hall, which has a long path to the entrance) much more

independence as they may be able to walk the shorter, and flatter, distance to the

activity space

There are also possibilities to expand and enhance our services with:

a small ‘first aid room,’ which could be used as a space for visiting therapists

and health professionals to provide services whilst members are attending

activities e.g. health checks, chiropody, alternative therapies etc.

use of the outdoor space available in the park (we’re thinking health walks,

raised beds with flowers/vegetables, Tai Chi on the lawn etc.)

Incorporation

On 1st April 2016 we became an incorporated organisation. We now have a legal identity which not only protects the individual liabilities of our Trustees, but gives us

more 'clout' when applying for grants and contracts. During this process we have also removed the 'with disabilities' part of our full name as we want to attract ALL local

older people to join AVSED and therefore relieve the social isolation and improve the health, wellbeing and independence of as many local residents as we can. We want to

try to shift the view we are just for 'people in wheelchairs,' and other misconceptions that unfortunately the word ‘disabilities’ still holds. Our name will still be ‘AVSED,’ but

now it stands for ‘Aireborough Voluntary Services to the Elderly.’ The general day to

day running of AVSED will not be affected in any way, and we are still a charitable organisation which operates not for profit. We now have a new charity number

though, 1165792, and also a Company Number, 09882948.


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AVSED Suffolk Court, Silver Lane

Yeadon Leeds

LS19 7JN

Tel: 0113 250 1702 Email: [email protected]

Website: www.avsed.org.uk

Charity Number: 1048902

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