grapevine - brunelcare

grapevine

Summer 2015

Inside this issue:

Shaun in the City and Brunelcare

Brunelcare do care!

Emmanuel Court Develop ments

Chestnut activities

and much, much more.

2 grapevine Summer 2015

This year Brunelcare are

sponsoring a Shaun in the City

sculpture called ‘Sparkles the

Unicorn’, part of the Bristol

‘Shaun in the City’ trail from

Monday 6th July to Monday

31st August.

The flock of 70 sculptures appear in iconic

locations and green spaces all over Bristol,

before being auctioned to raise money for

Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal, the

Bristol Children’s Hospital charity in

October.

This is a great opportunity to raise the

profile of Brunelcare, along with raising

money for Bristol Childrens’ Hospital.

Nick Park CBE, creator of Shaun the Sheep,

Aardman Animations says:

“It’s been a busy year for Shaun, he has just

launched his first movie and now he has his

very own arts trail! Shaun is such a well-

loved character with so many fans around

the globe, I am sure many will flock to

Bristol to be part of the fun.”

Shaun in the Cityand Brunelcare

“

“

Brunelcare are finding ways to involve friends,

family, residents and our local communities in

the sponsorship, along with looking forward to

seeing Sparkles in the Bristol trail this summer,

located at Horfield Common!

Our thanks to staff and residents for knitting

100+ little Shaun's. They will be sold in aid of

The Grand Appeal. Here is one of the first

knitted Shaun’s that his owner, Lucy Davis, in

Brunelcare’s Finance team, took with her to

complete the London sculpture trail!

Wallace & Gromit’sChildren’s Foundation.Charity no. 1043603Shaun the Sheep & Shaunin the City ©& ™ AardmanAnimations Ltd 2015

To find out more please visit

www.shauninthecity.org.uk

Sparkles pictured with our CEO Paula Kennedy

(left) and Emily Golden (right) the designer

grapevine Summer 2015 3

Brunelcare do care! We sometimes hear that

Brunelcare don’t care. We

do care. Over the last couple

of years we have been

asking tenants questions

about our service and we

have been adapting our way

of working, to put you at the

heart of what we do.

We also make referrals to and liaise with

GPs, Social Workers, Care Direct, Mental

Health, Chiropodists, Opticians, Home Care

Agencies and many more bodies to help

improve the health and welfare for you, our

tenants. Brunelcare can provide aids and

adaptions for your home to help you

maintain your independence. This can

range from a grab rail to a level access

shower.

Some tenants need help with difficult issues

such as hoarding and alcohol abuse. We are

continually developing our knowledge to

help us work together with you to overcome

difficult times.

Wills and funerals are not an easy subject to

discuss but we are available to advise and

point you in the right direction to set this up.

Marigolds is an in-house service that offers

help with all household chores including

one-off spring cleans and escorting to and

from hospital appointments.

This is just a summary of the work we

undertake on your behalf.

If you have any issues or concerns or would

benefit with help from us please don’t

hesitate to speak to any member of the

team. We would like to reassure you that

everything you discuss with us is treated in

the strictest of confidence.

One of the main things you told us was that

the sites were too quiet, with little or no

activity. Of course this varies from site to site

but we have been trying to facilitate a range

of activities on sites i.e. bacon butties,

flexercise, quizzes and cream teas.

We thought it would also be of interest to

you all to know the other areas of support

we offer:

Over the last 12 months we have received

over £8,000 in charity grants to help tenants

overcome financial difficulties, along with 10

Crisis Prevention Loans. This is to help with

debt management and to ensure that

everyone can manage financially.

On behalf of tenants, we have applied for

and been successful in securing several

benefits:

• Attendance Allowance: 34

• Carers Allowances: 4

• Housing Benefits and Council Tax relief: 174

• Disability Living Allowance/Personal Independent Payment: 12

• Blue Badges & Bus Passes: 12


Tenants Voice

celebrated its

6th Anniversary

in February

this year.

The group, which was originally formed in

2009, has gone from strength to strength

during this time and has recently received

interview training to help in the recruitment

process for new members of staff. They

volunteer their time each month to help

Brunelcare improve its services so that they

are appropriate and required by tenants.

Don’t forget to look out for the Chairs report

in Grapevine for more information on what

the group are currently working on, or check

the minutes from their meetings which are

put up on site notice boards.

Tenants Voice6th Anniversary

If your site does not have a Tenants Voice

Rep and you would like to find out more

please contact Debs Holvey on

0117 9144 233 or email

[email protected].

There was 2 monks and they had 2 big dogs. We

did bring big bones for the dogs and meat for

the monks. The community room in Cherry Tree

Close was the house that they lived in and there

was an archway to enter the yard and you

needed to ring a big bell on a rope, for them to

open the door. One monk was very tall about

6ft 1” and the other monk was about 4ft. The

tree in the community garden was there in

1963. When I came here to live with my wife,

Pamela, in 2010, I knew I had been here

before.

A Blast from the past at Cherry Tree Close

David HancockBack in 1963 when I was 15 years old, most Saturdays I worked for a butcher in

Fishponds Road by the name of S.M.Church. Dave Parsons and myself delivered meat

to people’s houses. Dave Parsons had a van and we delivered to Cherry Tree Close.

5grapevine Summer 2015

The Call Systemand CentraThe 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, for 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. You can

also pull the cord to report 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 hours maintenance team and

tenancy team available to assist you

should you need it, and the best way to

contact them is pull the cord.

Last year Brunelcare ran Tenant

Community Awards

and included a category

for ‘Outstanding Staff

Member’.

This was done so that tenants had an

opportunity to recognise the hard work of

the Brunelcare staff who are unsung heroes

on sites. The staff who won were Denver

Jones, Jean Cierocki and Karen Hulton. We

would like to offer a big well done to all

three members of staff for their hard work,

diligence and care. You all help people

make the most of their lives.

No need to go out in all

weathers to pay your rent, you

can just ring Allpay on

0844 557 8321 anytime day or

night and pay via the Automatic

Account Payment System.

All you need is your debit or credit card and

your Allpay payment card. Call the number

and follow the instructions on the

automated system using your telephone key

pad to enter your details, and that’s it. It’s

quick and easy so why not give it a go.

0844 557 8321

Staff Awards

Easy ways topay your rent

6

Childhood MemoriesMy first Fag Age 9 - By I Cleaver

Medal of Gratitude

grapevine Summer 2015

Mrs Wilson shouted “Irene and Pearl come

over here.” Oh what does she want now eh?

“I need one of you’s to do my shopping”.

Pearl jumped in “I’ll do it for you Misses”.

Myself and Pearl were standing outside the

old lady’s door waiting for her to give us the

shopping list. “Isn’t it great Pearl” I

whispered. “We’re gonny get money for

sweeties today. “That’s what you think”. “Eh

what do you mean by that Pearl?” “You’ll

see”. So we got the shopping for the old lady

and she told us to keep the change. “Pearl,

Pearl so much money did we get.” Both of

us ran like hell down to the shops. I walked

over to the sweetie counter. “Look Pearl,

come and see big gobstoppers, red ones

green ones”. I turned round, she wasn’t

there. I looked at the inside window, she was

outside holding a small bag. I ran out

shouting “what did you buy? ” Pearl said

“Let’s walk down the road a bit”. “Ok”. We

were in the park when Pearl opened the bag

and pulled out a box of matches. “Are we

gonny make a bonfire with these?” “No” she

said and then pulled out fags, five

Woodbines. I looked surprised at her, I

didn’t how to smoke. “Would you like to try

it Irene?” “Ok”. Then she opened the fag

packet and gave me 2 cigarettes and 2 for

herself. The other one she halved it and lit

up her half, puffing away she looked like

she had smoked for years. I tried my half, it

wasn’t very nice I nearly choked on it so I

gave my friend Pearl the rest of it to smoke.

Lily Dagger, 90 years of Blagdon

Close receives a Medal of

gratitude for her services to the

Womens’ Land Army.

Lily was just 17 when she enrolled into the

Womens’ Land Army, and stayed there for

nearly 3 years. Lily remembers potato

picking on her first day and how back

breaking it was. Lily worked on many farms

throughout Gloucestershire during her time

in the land army. Lily will be traveling to

Arromanches this month for a reunion with

all the women that worked during the war

in the Women’s Land Army.


Maple Close

get togethers

During 2014 tenants of Maple Close

really enjoyed many good lunches,

lovely trips out and many get

togethers. All thanks to David, Barbara,

Wendy and Maureen. Without these

people it would not happen. A big

thank you and a good 2015 to

everyone.

Eglin Croft would like to thank

Mr Nagar and family for their kind

donation of £200 towards a meal for

our tenants. The meal was kindly

organised and prepared by members of

Brunelcare staff. This left a balance of

£120 which we donated to charity for

diabetic research. Mr Nagar has since

moved to another Brunelcare site

where we wish him every happiness.

Meals at Eglin

Emmanuel Court, located in

Clifton, is a Grade II listed

building and has been open

since 1981.

Brunelcare have recently completed a

refurbishment project of the 64 flats located

within the Sheltered Housing scheme. The

aim of the project was to carry out a

refurbishment of each of the flats to

enhance the facilities for all of the tenants.

The project was divided into two parts, the

first of which was the urgent replacement of

all of the windows to the building. This was

then followed by an optional internal

refurbishment of the flats to include

additional insulation to external walls,

replacement of kitchen and/or bathroom

and a full redecoration. We gave each of the

tenants the option as to the amount of

refurbishment works they wished to be

carried out within their flat as we felt that

they should give Brunelcare the steer on

how much they would like done as this sort

of refurbishment can be very disruptive. The

outcome has been a successful project that

took place over a period of 18 months.

Where internal works have been completed,

those tenants now enjoy a slightly larger,

brighter and more functional kitchen space,

a more functional and open level-access

shower room, attractive double-glazed

windows and a more efficient use of energy

due to the improvements made to their

insulation.

Emmanuel CourtDevelopments

8

Birthday - 80Violet a tenant at ChestnutClose was 80 on the 28thJanuary and gave a lovelytea party for the tenantswhich was great foreveryone and had a familyparty later in the week.

Birthday - 90Dorothy was 90 last summerand also had a party for herfriends, family and tenantsof Chestnut. Everyone had agreat time.

Birthday - 92Madge was 92 last October(2014). At a coffee morningshe opened her cards and wehad nice cakes.

Chestnut activities

HalloweenKaren’s Halloween Tea atChestnut which everyoneenjoyed very much.


ChristmasChestnut tenants had aChristmas 2014 dinner atthe Blue Bowl. All had anice meal and a goodtimewas had by all.

9

Heathers Leaving Do We were all very sorry to seeher go and wish her all the

luck for the future.

American Holiday I spent a month in America visiting twin cousinsfor Christmas, one lives in Phoenix Arizona and theother in Tuscan Arizona – about 2 ½ hours driveacross the desert. We all had a great time together.The Phoenix one had grapefruit and two orangetrees. The Tuscan one has a desert garden which hashad an award. (Yvonne Hawkins)

Operation Christmas Child Christ the Servant was an activeparticipant in putting together Christmasboxes for disadvantaged children in EasternEurope. Photos of boxes brought into Christthe Servant church for the Sundaymorning service. The content of the boxesare then checked by volunteer helpersbefore being sealed and packed into biggercontainers ready for dispatch into lorriesfor Romania.


10

SculpturesThis fantastic sculpture

was made by Adrian Smith,

a tenant from St Barnabas

Close.

He made the swan out of scrap metalin 1980. The body of the swan is madefrom the tank of a motorbike, the neckis part of a car exhaust and the wingsare horse shoes. For the last 10 yearsthe swan's home has been a localhealth centre but now it is beingdisplayed in the garden at St Barnabasfor all the tenants to enjoy.

what a week!

The tenants of St Barnabas held a

‘Time 4 a Cuppa’ on the 4th March and

raised £75. Thank you to all who

supported this event.


Time 4 a Cuppa

RAISED

£75

National Give & Gain Day, held

every year on 15th May is a

celebration of the incredible

power of employee volunteering.

Companies of all shapes and sizes support

their community through volunteering

services. Give & Gain Day is an opportunity

for community organisations to celebrate

what business volunteers can achieve.

Brunelcare were incredibly fortunate to be

so well supported this year. All Brunelcare

sites were asked to submit a project that

they would like volunteers to help with. I am

pleased to say that everyone had their

request fulfilled, plus quite a few additional

projects were taken on. We had over 100

volunteers help us for a day and almost

£1000 in donations. 76 clients were treated

to pampering or an enjoyable day out, plus

residents and tenants at 3 sites are still

enjoying the makeover the gardens

received.

We had 4 different companies help us, all of

whom were extremely generous in their

time, enthusiasm and donations. Some

companies returned from volunteering with

us last year and many volunteers returned,

one lady was on her fourth visit to us! Many

of the volunteers have asked to return, and I

have even signed up 2 as regular volunteers

as they were so engaged with the

volunteering!

Liz Ehlers, Volunteers Coordinator, Brunelcare

WOW

TenantCommunityAwards 2015

Forget the Oscars and The

Brits, our Tenant Community

Award is the one everyone

wants to receive.

This is because its your friends and

neighbours on site that will have

nominated you for this prestigious award.

Alternatively you can nominate a fellow

tenant on site who has gone above and

beyond to help you or the site as a whole.

This could be the person who tends to the

gardens or a neighbour that takes you

shopping each week or the site committee

for all their work in organising activities on

site. We also have a category for you to

nominate staff as a thank you for them

when they go above and beyond to help

you or your site. For a nomination form,

just ask your site staff, but remember the

closing date for entries is 31st August.

Breakfastat Eglin

Tenants were treated to a full English

breakfast which was organised by Site

Officer, Karen Hulton. The meal was

enjoyed by all. We thank Karen and all

the staff who kindly helped make a very

successful and enjoyable morning.

Brunelcare Housing

Maintenance are replacing the

handyman service with a new

Please speak to staff, look out

for posters on your site or call

01179 523373 for more

information.

First ResponseService


12

GSC Garden News


Marion at Good Sheppherd

Hello everyone!

I thought I’d write a newsletter

about our garden for us all so

here goes….

As you may have seen, we have taken

delivery of a tipper load of composted

manure which Alan, Mac & I have managed

to spread around much of the garden before

the rain came. Many thanks to Mac and Alan

for help and also to Mac who brought us a

wheelbarrow. Alan has taken up the ‘Tree

protectors’ that he made so he can oil them.

He will replace them in the spring when

lawn mowing recommences. Thanks for that

Alan, our trees need protection! Thank you

Mac for all the watering and help and

Monica thank you for all the cheerful pots

you give us. Thank you to Peter for the

beans and to Brenda for the ‘litter pick-er-

upper’ which I deployed yesterday in the

front hedge and back lane. Many thanks to

Pat who donated two wheelbarrows and to

Cliff who’s magic application of

sequesterone tonic turned the hydrangeas

in the back the most beautiful hues of blue

and lilac.

Also thanks to Joanne whose wild patch is

so lovely. It is said that every garden should

have a wild patch for the fairies and

Joanna’s bit must be teaming with them!

And very many thanks to Ian whose

beautiful lilies fragrance the air and delight

us every summer. I would also like to thank

Gloria, Airforce John, Doris and Ron for their

kind donations. With all this kindness and

help I am able to really make the garden

improve year on year, Gloria has also

bought up the tables and chairs – thank you.

The manure we put down is well composted

so does not smell so have no fear.

I keep a garden fund now to which I donate

and put all other donations into, to keep an

account of where all the money goes. You

may see the books if you wish. I am

confident that next year the ground will be

very fertile and much easier to dig and

hopefully we will have a lovely show of

flowers next year. I am planning more

cosmos, asters, chrysanthemums and more

dahlias and poppies next year, as well as

buying English blueberries next autumn to

replace the invading Spanish bluebells. Of

course the contract gardeners are so helpful

– I wouldn’t manage without them. They

have been very helpful in cutting back the

overgrown hedge out the back and I will ask

them also to cut back the hedge between us

and the church. I have put some raspberry

canes into the bed between us and the

church to fill the gaps there, this was my last

job of the year and I am putting the garden

to bed with a good feed.

Thank you so much for the help and

appreciation and if you have a particular

favorite you would like to see next year,

please let me know. I love our beautiful

garden - long may it flourish. Bye for now,

Marion.


On 22nd June

2015 Paula

Kennedy

joined

Brunelcare as

our new Chief Executive,

succeeding Helen Joy who has

retired after 11 years as CEO

with Brunelcare.

Paula has had a very successful career in

the social housing and care sectors, joining

us from Herefordshire Housing where she

was the Managing Director.

Paula says: "I am delighted to have been

offered the opportunity to join such a great

organisation as Brunelcare and I look

forward to getting to know all of the people

that have made it such a great place to

work with such a strong reputation amongst

its customers".

Helen Joy, during her last week with

Brunelcare, said: “I will treasure my

memories of Brunelcare. I know that

Brunelcare can look forward to many more

years providing services that help people

make the most of their lives”.

For further information, please contact:

Helen Chick, Marketing Coordinator

[email protected] /

0117 914 4258 / 07788 391292

Brunelcare appoints

new CEO, as

Helen Joy retires Residents living at Brunelcare’s Maple Close

in Stockwood, Bristol, celebrated VE Day

70th Anniversary on Friday 8th May in style!

40 people came together in total to

celebrate, inviting friends and family, young

and old, to join them. The party-goers

included a lively 92 year old and 96 year

old! Plenty of effort was made to create a

nostalgic atmosphere for the party,

complete with issuing ‘Telegrams’ as

invitations, asking everyone to stand in a

sentry box as if they were going off to war

and having their photos taken as they

arrived; to dressing up in service uniforms,

and 1940s fashions. There was bunting and

flags decking the room and VE Day 70th

flags abundant.

The food was even themed, with party-

goers enjoying Clarks pie, mushy peas and

chips for only £4 a head. A local musician

donated the money he was given for

playing to charity, providing plenty of old

war time tunes including a few Glenn Miller

favourites to get everyone ‘in the mood’.

War stories were swapped during the party,

with Cissy (92 years) fondly remembering a

happy incident on Valentine’s day when she

was stationed on the Isle of Man serving as

a Red Cross VAD (Voluntary Aid

Detachment) nurse in a hospital during the

Second World War.

Cissy said: “I came down for breakfast that

Valentine’s day to find a note addressed to

‘Frankie’, that was my nickname when I

served at the hospital. When I opened the

note, it contained a poem which I can

remember word for word to this day. It said:

“We think of Frankie every day, She really

should be ours, With measles, mumps and

chicken pox she’s our darling Valentine.””

Rob and Wendy, residents at Maple Close

and organisers of the party said: “It was

hard work but we did enjoy organising the

party! We feel we are putting something

back into our little community here, with

help from the other tenants.”

Brunelcare residents were ‘In

the Mood’ at VE Day party!


Tenants’ PhotoCompetition 2015It’s back, and with some new fresh

categories to test your photography skills.

The new categories are:

• Summer in a Shot

• Shaun in the City

• Sports / Games

• Wildlife

So whether you see someone tucking into

an ice cream, playing or watching a game or

sport, a squirrel in the garden or you go and

visit Brunelcare’s own Shaun the Sheep,

Sparkles, during the Shaun in the City trail

there is something for everyone. So make

sure you have a camera with you to catch

the winning shot.

Remember the entry deadline is August

31st. See your site staff for more details

and an entry form.

-

ENTRY

DEADLINE

31st AUGUST

Home Service is a three year

programme of work bringing

great art to older people in care

homes funded by Arts Council

England and The Baring

Foundation.

As a part of the project at Robinson House

this spring we have been developing and

facilitating a series of sessions around the

theme ‘Bringing the Outside In’. Working

with a storyteller,

photographer and

visual artist, we

have created

activities that

explore outdoors

nature and our local environment. The

sessions have involved walking, collecting,

clay work, collage, model making, life

history work, storytelling and photography.

A key part of the project is collaboration

with staff at Robinson House, through

highlighting and sharing the wealth of

creativity that is already there, and

developing new ideas together. We are

currently developing kits, which can be used

by visitors to the home and by staff to

engage with residents in a creative way.

Home Service fromRobinson House

Housing and

Tenants’ 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 - brunelcare

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