grape vine - brunelcare

grapevine

January 2014

Photo taken by the late John Crew of

Cote Paddock 18/6/1954 – 10/7/2013

“John Crew a gentle man who loved nature".

Inside this issue:

Christmas and New

Years celebrations!

News from Tenants Voice

New Chair of Trustees

and much, much more.

Housing and

Tenant’s Numbers

Housing Team:

01179 144 257

Emergency

Maintenance

Freephone

(8.30am - 4.30pm)

0800 072 6308

Brunelcare Head Office

Saffron Gardens,

Prospect Place,

Whitehall, Bristol

BS5 9FF

T: 0117 914 4200

F: 0117 954 3881

[email protected]

www.brunelcare.org.uk

Registered as a charity

(201555) and at the

Homes and

Communities Agency

(LH0269)

Grapevine is also

available in larger print

and other languages.

For a copy please

telephone:

Kirsty Hirst on

0117 914 4232

grapevine January 2014 3 2 grapevine January 2014

TENANTS VOICEWe can make a difference!

A WORD FROM

Starting a New Year is very much

like starting a new exercise book at

the beginning of the new term at

school, plenty of room to write up

new ideas, so it is with Brunelcare.

We are again going to hold a Photo

Competition with 4 categories, and also

introducing a new competition for “Unsung

Heroes” on our sites; this will have 2

categories, one for tenants and one for staff

who go above and beyond to help. Check

these out in the Tenant Voice minutes when

they are put on your notice boards or look out

for the article in this edition of grapevine for

more information.

This year we have an Action Plan of targets in

various areas, which the Tenant Voice as a

group will work towards achieving, again

more details on this in the TV minutes.

The Question of the Months are still being

asked to find out tenant views on different

subjects. January’s question of the month is

on the computers in the communal lounge,

trying to find out how they are being used or

not, and seeing if training would make a

difference.

Once again please take time to read the

minutes of Tenant Voice meetings to see

what’s being done on tenants behalf, and

don't hesitate to ask your representative to

bring questions to the meetings.

If as yet you do not have a Tenant Rep on

your site now is the time to appoint

somebody. We can make a difference.

Joanna Fryer

Chair of Tenants Voice

At the end of 2013 James Magness

stepped down after four years as the

Chair of Trustees:

I first became a Trustees in 1998 and then again

in 2008 and chaired the Board from mid-2009.

My reason for becoming involved in Brunelcare

was that whilst I have a love of animals, I love

people more and for the past twenty years

since retiring have found the needs of the

elderly to be compelling.

Over the past five years Brunelcare has

successfully achieved a number of important

goals. The opening of the Waverley Gardens

VSH scheme, the redevelopment of Saffron

Gardens Care Home to include flats and a new

Head Office, improvements at Robinson Care

Home, continued substantial investment in the

housing stock, year on year expansion of the

number of hours provided in Community Care

and the purchase of Woodland Court retirement

flats. In addition the staff have embraced new

ways of working that result not only in savings

but also improvements to the services provided.

All of this has been achieved as Brunelcare, like

many other charities providing care for the

elderly, have had to face continuing cuts in

funding by national and local government.

In addition the Board itself has embraced

changes that have improved the governance of

the charity.

It has been both a privilege and a pleasure to

have served Brunelcare and I leave knowing

that the Board of Trustees comprises a group of

people who have not only the professional skills

required to do the job but also individually the

necessary commitment, concern and common

sense to ensure that hand in hand with the full

time staff Brunelcare will succeed in achieving

its aim to help vulnerable individuals make the

most of each day.

In James’s place we have welcomed

Steve Boardman as our new Chair of

Trustees. Steve is a management

consultant with over 20 years’ health

care expertise, having worked in and

consulted with the NHS, the private

sector and health care businesses.

I am very proud to have

been asked to take over as

the next Chair of Brunelcare.

I want to pay tribute to the

work done by my

predecessor, James

Magness, as both a Trustee

and as Chair. He has

worked tirelessly for

Brunelcare over many years

and provided calm and wise

advice to the Board.

The next few years will undoubtedly be an

enormous challenge. Our aim is to help meet

the needs of an ever increasing elderly

population. However, we are working in the

context of an austerity policy which imposes

significant cuts in the public sector finances that

pay for our services and in the benefits system

which supports many of our tenants, residents

and clients. Fortunately, we have an excellent

management team and wonderful, committed,

caring staff. I am confident that we can uphold

the tradition and values of Brunelcare to

provide top quality care for elderly people in

Bristol, South Gloucestershire and Somerset.

All change with the Chair of Trustees

Come andjoin us!

grapevine January 2014 5grapevine January 2014 4

Chestnut Close is a very active site

and have many and varied activities

each week, but we recently added to

that our latest Fish and Chip supper.

We have about three a year as they are so

popular and only last Saturday (5th October),

we had a very successful Table Top sale in

the community room.

It was well attended by our residents and

their relatives, with lots of interesting things

on sale, supplemented with tea, coffee and

cake!

We made nearly £350 which will be

distributed to various charities in due course.

We have donated to some charities already

this year e.g. Hearing Dogs for the Deaf and

the Red Nose Day fund, as well as a very

successful ‘Blooming Great Tea Party’ held in

aid of Marie Curie Cancer Care. So you see

we have been busy.

Mrs Amelia Evans celebrated her 90th

birthday at the end of September, joining

several other non-agerians on site. Amelia

particularly likes her fish and chips so is

always pleased when we have a fish and chip

supper.

We have had our share of sadness with some

of our residents going into nursing homes,

and we sadly said farewell to long-term

resident Mr Dennis James who passed away

suddenly in June.

Dennis was the Treasurer for our Residents

Association for many years, and on the

committee for about 10 years. He was a

helpful person on site and is sadly missed.

He leaves behind Flo, his wife children and

grandchildren. Flo is the lady who has

organised our monthly outings for a number

of years, our thoughts and prayers are with

her and the family at this difficult time.

We also have had several new residents

recently, and we hope they will settle into

their new environment and be happy with us.

And now we are coming up to Christmas and

all that this blesses time of year means.

Where has the year gone? So it just remains

to wish everyone at Brunelcare a very Happy

Christmas and a peaceful, prosperous and

healthy 2014.

Chestnut CloseActivities at Marie Curie Tea Party

We had a Chestnut Close ‘A Blooming Great Tea Party’on 31st July for Marie Curie.We raised £150.

Social Evening One of our Social Eveningswith music and dancing –a very good evening and agood time had by all.

Coach trip and steam train One of our summer coach trips fromChestnut, arranged by Flo James. We went by coach to Bishops Lydeard then by Steam train to Minehead on the18th July, it was very hot. We had a great day and a good time hadby all.

St George’s Day Tea party held toraise funds forcharity

grapevine January 2014 76 grapevine January 2014

Janet Anderson of LongmeadCroft, cooks a Sunday Roast forthe tenants in the CommunityLounge.

It is a welcome treat and brings a lot of

people of out of their flats for a couple of

hours to enjoy the company and chat

(and the wine!!).

GOODBYE ANDTHANK YOUAs you may already be aware Ann

Irving (Housing Director) left

Brunelcare on the 31st December to

follow a dream of running a family

business. The article below is from

Ann to say goodbye and thank you.

”I would like to take this chance to say

good bye to everyone and thank you for a

fantastic 6 years. I have worked with some

amazing people and have felt very

honoured to be part of Brunelcare.

We have achieved so much and I am very

grateful for all the hard work, dedication

and commitment from the staff.

Housing has gone from strength to strength

and some of the highlights that have been

achieved include:

• Overall improvement in customer

satisfaction levels

• Improved tenant involvement on all

levels from individual consultations

about kitchens and bathrooms

through to Tenants Voice

• Improved service from the repairs team

• Improved our Extra Care services

• Improved our Support services

• Maintained good reputation with our

inspectors

So that just leaves me to say a huge thank

you to everyone for making my 6 years so

enjoyable and I wish you all the very best

for the future“.

ACTIVITIES AT CHESTNUT CLOSE

Mr Tape

As always the residents of Chestnut Close

enjoyed their Christmas meal held at the

Blue Bowl West Harptree.

A good time was had by one and all. Dress

sense was optional. Well done Ron for

getting into the Christmas Spirit.

FLOWER SHOW AT CHESTNUT

Mrs Hawkins

We were not lucky in the Brunelcare in Bloom,

but pleased to say Chestnut tenants did well

once again in the Stockwood Amateur

Gardening Association Horticultural Show.

We took 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prizes, also a silver

cup for most points awarded in several classes

including 1st for knitting, 3rd for card making

and 1st for a photo of a rose. Entries from

Yvonne, Madge, Monica of Chestnut Close.

BIRD STORY

Mrs Hawkins, Chestnut Close

This little bird flew into our entrance hall of the

flats at Chestnut Close.

We found him on the door mat rather stunned

and was able to photograph him before my

sister-in-law and myself helped him to hop down

the stairs. He did go into another flat so we

helped him back out, he then was able to fly out

to the garden seat then fly up into the trees.

He did leave his calling card in several places.

LongmeadActivities at


Flexi at Maple CloseWe have had a verybusy few weeks withmany activities &events so thought wewould share some ofthem with you...

Activities at Maple Close

Bob and Marion Kelson

Maple Close and Macmillan Nurses

Landscape Gardening & Our Christmas Tree

Tenants of Maple Close celebrated 2 years of Flexi class in

style with afternoon tea accompanied by Tenants from

Eglin Croft who joined them for the celebration.

Also in attendance was Matthew Firstbrook from Management. Flexi

Class is run by Site Officer, Karen Hulton at several sites. The party was

well attended and enjoyed by all including Maples’ oldest resident

who enjoys the weekly class at the age of 96.

During 2013 tenants of Maple Close have enjoyed many good celebrations

for many occasions.

For this we say a Big Thank You to organisers of these events, without them it wouldn’t

happen. A Big Well Done to Maureen for her Fund Raising day for Macmillan – a good result.

May 2014 be the same for all of us.

On the 5th September we celebrated our 60th anniversary.

We want to say a Big “Thank you so much” for all your cards and gifts, you helped us to enjoy our two

days of celebrating with you and our family. Thank you everyone. Bob and Marion of Maple Close

Brunelcare would like to thank Landscape Services for donating a Christmas

Tree to our Head Office and Saffron Gardens Care Home.

Landscape Services have for several years maintained our gardens across all our sites and

were only too pleased to help bring some festive cheer to Saffron Gardens. Pictured are a few

residents of the care home along with our Care Manager Lin Fiest and Martin Lomax from

Landscape Services.

On September 17th, Maple Close arranged a coffee morning in aid of

MacMillan Nurses.

We raised the grand total of £537, all the helpers were delighted, Maureen Ricketts, Bett

Creed, Rene Davis, “Little Bett”, Anne Taylor, Jan Laird and Angela Solomon. Thank you for all

your help and support.

Flexercise atMaple Close

FundraisersMaureen and Betty

Our magnificentChristmas tree!

Bob & Marion’s60th Anniversary

MacmillanFundraiser


Chestnut Celebrates New Year’s in StyleThe tenants at Chestnut had a celebration to bid farewell to 2013 and had a

fabulous evening having a sing song. We all had a good time with our New

Years’ party and with good food.

Chestnut Get-togethers During 2013The tenants at Chestnut Close regularly get together. Here are some of the

highlights:-

Bristol budget consultation –

YOU HAD YOUR SAY!

“

“In November a consultation period

started in Bristol, with local residents

being asked to comment on the

proposed budget cuts to cover the

£90m shortfall projected by 2017.

The proposed cuts covered a variety of

services and issues around the city, and one

of the main concerns that were raised

amongst you was the change that will result

in a fee for the pull cords that are fitted in

your flats.

On the final day of the Bristol Budget

consultation, two tenants hand delivered 350

responses directly to the Council House on

College Green. We also understand that a

further 150 responses from Brunelcare

tenants were logged online.

As a result of this response, we have learnt

that five of the 15 proposals that have been

removed or reviewed from the consultation,

were as a result of your feedback. They are:

1. Review of housing related support

provided to independent sector

sheltered housing scheme for older

people

2. Ceasing older people’s warden and

alarm services within independent older

people housing schemes

3. Introduce charges for Older People’s

Housing Alarms in sheltered schemes

4. Reduce Older People Extra Care

Housing Warden

5. Cease funding for a specialist floating

support service for older people

The feedback on the updated budget for all

of these proposals was:

Whilst we are committed to reviewing these

services for older People in 2014, this saving

will be removed from the 14/15 budget so

that the review is not driven by delivering

specific monetary savings. Public

consultation and the cumulative equalities

impact assessment have raised concerns

about the impact on older people of reducing

preventative housing related support. Six of

the top seven proposals with most

disagreement fall into this category and all

have been removed so they can be reviewed

to find the best way of providing the service.

The Housing Team will of course keep you up

to date on any further developments to come

from the budget consultation. They would

like to send a big thank you to everyone who

took the time to input their views into the

consultation and it goes to show what we can

achieve when we all have a say.

Staff, tenants and residents from across the business came together to

celebrate at the Brunelcare Christmas Carol Service on Tuesday 17th

December.

The event took place at a new venue in Stockwood and we welcomed children from

Waycroft Academy school to sing with us.

It was lovely to see so many people celebrating together and enjoying themselves – we

hope it helped everyone to feel festive!

BRUNELCARE’S CHRISTMAS

CAROL SERVICE 2013


Christmas as St Barnabas was

celebrated in style with the

additional celebration of

Norman Tayor’s birthday.

A huge thanks to Norman and Pearl

who paid for the meal for all the

tenants personally. A great time was

had by everyone. Marilyn, Jackie and

Barry did most of the cooking so a

huge thanks to them as well!

Christmas at St Barnabas

ROOM HEATERSUSING SUPPLEMENTARY HEATING

Room heaters are a convenient way to

provide focused and localised heat which is

particularly suitable in a room for people,

but beware they can be expensive to run.

They use a lot of electricity when used to

heat a room quickly; it is much cheaper to

heat a room using a central heating system.

Ideally room heaters should only be used as

a secondary or supplementary source of

heating and even then it’s important to use

the right heater.

Types of heaters

These prices will vary as electricity prices

change.

It is far better to heat your home using the

night storage heaters, if you are unsure of

how to get the best out of your heaters

please ask a member of staff for help.

THE CALLSYSTEM ANDCENTRAThe call system installed in your

home is not just there for

emergencies, although it is the

quickest way of raising an alarm.

It is also there as a communication

method for you to report things like:

• Property faults.

• Contacting staff when they are

on site.

• If you have lost your keys and can’t

get in, you can ask a neighbour to

pull their cord.

• Issues with strangers on your site.

The call system is monitored by Centra

who are there 24 hours a day, 365 days a

year waiting to help you.

You can test your system anytime you like,

just pull the cord and when Centra answer

just let them know you are only testing

the system, they won’t mind, they would

prefer you test the system regularly rather

than waiting until you need it and then

find a problem.

Don’t forget we also have an out of hour’s

maintenance team and tenancy team

available to assist you should you need it,

and the best way to contact them is pull

the cord.

Radiant bar fire Oil-filled radiator

Convector Heater

Fan Heater

Type of heater Average cost to run

Radiant bar fire 36.5p per hour

Convector heater 24.2p per hour

Fan heater 24.2p per hour

Oil-filled radiator 12.2p per hour

Brunelcare in BloomIn 2013 we celebrated a decade of

beautiful blooms and the incredible

dedication and hard work that you

commit to making the gardens

around you beautiful.

The dates for the 2014 competition are as

follows:

✿ Entry packs to be sent out by the end of

February

✿ Entries to be received by 28th March

✿ Judging to take place in mid-July

The competition will have the three

categories for you to enter as a site, which

are Community Garden, Container Garden

and Edible Garden. Good luck!

2013 saw the introduction of our first

annual Tenant Photography Competition

and thank you to everyone who entered.

We set the challenge of four categories to capture

life as a Tenant at Brunelcare, and we were not

disappointed. With a total of 70 photographs

entered the judges were put through their paces

to select the winners, who were:

A Day in the Life - Eric Ellis, Eglin Croft

Garden Life - Dawn Rowswell, Cote Paddock

Room with a View - Robert Harris, Emmanual

Court

Home Sweet Home - Malcolm McNamara,

Westminstere Court

The bar has been set high in 2013 but we look

forward to seeing what the Tenant Photography

Competition will bring us in 2014, further details

on which can be found on page 14.

Quotes:

“Photography has been a passion of mine for many

years with fond memories of the early 50s where

my Box Brownie was always close to hand.”

Eric Ellis, Eglin Croft – winner

“This was the first time I’ve entered a competition,

so it was a nice surprise to win.”

Dawn Rowswell, Cote Paddock – winner

“I’m very surprised I won as my camera is quite old.

This challenged me though as I had to work out

how to put the picture onto the CD to send it off,

and now I know!"

Malcom McNamara, Westminstere Court – winner


Tenant PhotographyCompetition2013 also saw the introduction of a new

competition to encourage you to get out and

get creative with your camera!

We received 70 entries to the inaugural

Tenant Photography Competition which was

a fantastic result, so in 2014 we will be

running the competition again.

We have decided to change a couple of the

categories so this year they are:

• Garden Life (Capturing the flora and

fauna in your garden)

• Day in the Life (Capturing the day to day

activities around your site)

• Wildlife (Capturing bugs to bees or

finches to foxes in your garden)

• Coming Together (Capturing events with

neighbours, family and friends on your

site)

Please keep a look out on your noticeboards

for information on the competition, but some

key points of information for you are:

Opening date: 1st February

Closing date: 29th August

Email entries to:

[email protected] (Please

include the category in the title of the picture)

Postal entries (either prints or digital files on

CD or USB) to: Caroline Flynn, Photography

Competition, Brunelcare, Saffron Gardens,

Prospect Place, Bristol BS5 9FF. Please include

an entry form.

Ask your site officer for an entry form or email

[email protected] to

request one.

TENANT’S COMPETITIONS AND AWARDS

Tenant CommunityAwardsThis year we are introducing a new set of

awards to highlight the community spirited

work carried out by neighbours and

members of staff. The categories are:

Outstanding Neighbour

Outstanding Staff Member

To nominate someone for these awards

please ask your site officer for an entry form

or email

[email protected]

to request one. Entries can then be emailed

back or posted to: Caroline Flynn, Tenant

Community Awards, Brunelcare, Saffron

Gardens, Prospect Place, Bristol BS5 9FF.

The closing date for nominations is August

29th, and please look out on your notice

boards for further information.

BUDDING DAVID

BAILEY’S PUT THEIR

SKILLS TO THE TEST

A Day inthe Life

GardenLife

Roomwith aView

HomeSweetHome

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