Newsletter for volunteers and supporters of Home-Start Charnwood
Hello from Helen
Date: February 2014
Let’s start with a BIG thank you...
To Zoe and her boys who completed the Santa Fun
Run and raised £365 in sponsorship, Ruth Sibson
raised £100 & Lilian Limb raised £30 .... Bravo!
Ruth Gillespie: whose choir trekked around local pubs
singing Christmas Carols and raised £117.14
Holy Trinity Church: as part of their annual donations
to local charities £100
Loughborough Lions : who continue to be loyal
donors and supporters, and gifted £200 to families via
gift vouchers.
Zoe, Tom and Ben - looking a little
apprehensive before the start of the run.
Many thanks to all those who sponsored
them.
Pat Chadwick and husband: who forfeited Christmas
cards and donated £100 to Home-Start instead.
Brilliant idea!
Loughborough Cricket Club: A generous gift of £350
Christmas Market Stall: Christine Hallam worked her
magic again and raised £31.50
Good Shepherd Church: £100 towards the work of
Home-Start and God’s blessing for the year. Lovely
sentiment.
A
smiling
Nancy
receives
the
Loughborough
Lions
cheque
from
President Sue Denton and our ‘friend’
Denis Coxon
Babblebrooke Day Nursery: £150 from the ‘Great
Charnwood Bake Off’ and coffee morning. Event
organised by our ‘Parent Champion’, Kelly Hutton.
Our Trustee Board – with a couple of new faces
Left to right:
Sarah Howitt & Ava, Helena Hansen-Fure,
Peter Hughes, Elena Folkes, Tina Robinson,
Sheila Driver, Betty Hammond and standing
In front - Julie Hillman (Vice Chair) and
Lilian Limb (Chair)
At the January 2014 meeting we were delighted to welcome
Sheila Driver as our newest co-opted Trustee. (2nd from
right). Sheila is a recently retired School Head who worked
closely with Sure-Start and a board of Governors. Her
experience and skills will bring increased benefit to us in
areas of Safeguarding and the Big Hopes Big Futures Projectwhere the emphasis is on being ‘school ready’.
You will also see one of our younger supporters on the far
left of the picture... Sarah’s baby (Ava) regularly attends all of
our business meetings.
The date of the next public meeting is March 14th at 12.30.
You can see we are a friendly bunch so pop in and say hello.
Home-Start Charnwood, 46 Derby Road, Loughborough, LE11 5BX Tel: 01509 239786
E-mail: enquiries@homestartcharnwood.co.uk www.home-startcharnwood.co.uk
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Safeguarding updates:
At a recent European Child Safety Alliance meeting concerns were raised about the potential poisoning risk to
children from the liquid nicotine solution used in e-cigarettes. An incident was reported where a 2 year old child
had recently died after ingesting the liquid. The risk comes from both the liquid refill and the e-cigarette. As
with other poisonous items, please advise parents and carers to lock their e-cigarettes and the refills away. They
should be stored in a high kitchen cupboard, out of sight and out of reach.
A Level 2 Safeguarding Course covers the basics that everybody who works with children, young people
and/or families needs to know: normal child development, how to recognise abuse and neglect and what to do
if you have a concern about a child.
By the end of the session delegates will have:
Considered aspects of normal child development
Identified some of the signs and indicators of abuse and neglect
Considered factors which indicate a child or young person may be at an increased risk of harm
Ensured a child focus is maintained
Discussed what to do in response to concerns
Identified who to talk to if they have a concern
An awareness of the LSCB
Next Available Course: March 13th - St Martin's House - Leicester
Other Training and Events:
Wednesday 5th March CANCELLED due to lack of interest. (Speech & Language Therapists)
10am till 12.00
Speech & Language Therapists
“Training, Information and Support meeting”
Tuesday 25th February
Tuesday 8th April
Open House and Networking Lunch
10.30 – 12 followed by lunch
This planned
training
session
is likely
weHOPES
have received
very little
interest. If ONLY
Come
along and
meet some
of our
localto be cancelled asBIG
BIG FUTURE
VOLUNTEERS
you were
planning
onwith
attending,
Health
Visitors,
along
other please contact us as soon
This as
is apossible.
‘Cluster Thanks
Meeting’ for our BHBF trained
supporters of Home-Start Charnwood. This
volunteers & aims to offer new information about the
event has received an encouraging
next steps of the project, review progress, reflect and
response, call office to reserve a place.
share. Facilitated by Ruth Consterdine & Julie Garbett
In response to requests in the Annual Conversation, we are also ‘liaising’ with the Adult Mental Health Service,
the South Asian Women’s Project and an Alcohol and Drug Support Service to try and source more information
and training sessions for this year.
Home-Start Charnwood, 46 Derby Road, Loughborough, LE11 5BX Tel: 01509 239786
E-mail: enquiries@homestartcharnwood.co.uk www.home-startcharnwood.co.uk
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Quality Assurance Standards and Review details:
Many thanks to those of you who recently completed a ‘Volunteer Questionnaire’ as part of the QA assessment
process. These will become an important piece of ‘evidence’, and are being collated towards our forthcoming
QA Review.
On April 15th there will also be 30 minute telephone interviews with a ‘sample’ of families, volunteers and
referrers with the QA Reviewer.
This is the way these selections will be made: - Our scheme will be sent a list of 10 families (who have been
identified through MESH data). We will then approach these families in an attempt to get at least 4 of them to
agree to be interviewed. Volunteers will only be asked for an interview if the family they support are on the list
and agree.
Quality Assurance Frameworks offers a structure for the systematic monitoring and evaluation of the various
aspects of a service, to ensure that standards of quality are met. The Home-Start model is based on a program
of Self Assessments against 8 defined Quality Standards, but these are reviewed by HSUK on a 5 year cycle. It is
a QA system which is endorsed by the Charities Commission, and is an important part of our funding
requirements also.
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Quality Assurance Standard
Governance & Strategic Planning
Learning and Improving
Managing Resources and Finance
Managing Staff
Managing Volunteers
Managing Information
Welfare of Children and Supporting Families
Working in Partnership
If you feel that there is anything you would like to specifically contribute or say, then please contact Helen.
A busy start to a new Year
After a much welcome break following all of the Big Hope Big Future training and project planning during the
end of November and December, the new referrals during January have already thrown us into a hectic schedule
of arranging initial visits and assessing how volunteers can support and assist these families.
The total number of referrals we received is 22 families. This is much higher than usual, and the themes or
presenting factors continue to be: low mood, struggling to manage behavior issues, debt and financial
pressures, relationship breakdown and isolation.
The ‘reality’ of how the organisers are going to manage these workloads and how we are going to provide
support to these enquiries is a bit ‘tricky’. There are 7 volunteers currently ‘available and waiting’ to be
matched, and there is a waiting list of 21 families (yes, the math says it all!). The only way families will be
helped is if some volunteers can support 2 families, and this might mean that each home visit is slightly shorter
than usual or where one family is working towards closure, there might be fortnightly visiting. The other
consideration is that the BHBF support, which is only intended to be for approx one hour each week is in fact an
‘additional’ programme of support being piloted by the scheme – it is not intended to ‘replace’ the traditional
home visiting offer to vulnerable families.
I’m sharing this information so that if Janet, Sharleen or Zoe approaches you to ask you to consider some
additional help or flexibility, you can at least appreciate the position that they are coming from.
So far, we have never turned one family away – it would be a shame to have to do it now.
Please Note: The end of our financial accounting year is March 31st. This means that all expenses
incurred or outstanding for 2012/13 should be submitted as soon as possible by or immediately after
that deadline
Home-Start Charnwood, 46 Derby Road, Loughborough, LE11 5BX Tel: 01509 239786
E-mail: enquiries@homestartcharnwood.co.uk www.home-startcharnwood.co.uk
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Getting to know a bit more about your team…..
Nancy Chudasama – Office Manager
Janet Donnell – Organiser
Nothing more dangerous than an inflamed woman
on a mission!! I’m starting the spring by buying
some gas for my blow torch. I finally got round to
getting some glasses (it’s an age thing...) to help
me see close work, and will now complete that
silver bracelet I’ve been working on for ages. The
work bench (ie dining room table) had better watch
out.....!!
At the moment I am learning how to be a 21st century parent,
experiencing teenage tantrums with a 16 year old boy and a
girl going to be 14 soon. There are tricks of negotiation
between how to encourage and balance their education and
social life (which seem to be always the top priority for
them). We are doing our best, as they say- KEEP CALM
AND CARRY ON!! But it shows in our changing hormones,
sleepless nights, hair going grey, head going severely bald
(in my husband’s case!)
Na’deen Carter
Finance Administrator
I’m animal mad…..
Oscar is my Springer
Spaniel and Bryn is
my horse. They keep
me fit and sane.
My guilty pleasures in
life are chocolate and
Gary Barlow (with or
without ‘Take That’).
One day I hope to be
his PA so watch this
space!
Sharleen Taylor
Organiser
Zoe Richardson
Organiser
One month into my New
Year’s resolution on trying to
lose a little weight and get
fitter. The scales may not be
going downhill as much as I
would like but have lost a
couple of inches. This
showed when I went for a run
at the weekend and had to
hold my running trousers up
the whole way round.
This summer I will be
th
celebrating my 25 wedding
anniversary. My husband’s
view is that ‘you get less for
murder’ but has agreed it’s
a milestone worth marking.
So.... we are off on a cruise
to Bermuda!! We have
plans to take a trip into the
Bermuda triangle so I will
make sure all my affairs are
in order before I go. X
Aitch Marsh –
Community
Development Worker
We spent New Year on
a canal barge in
Amsterdam with friends,
and as the fireworks
were exploding over us
at midnight my partner
proposed to me………..
So I have returned to
work as an engaged
lady, but with no firm
plans for a wedding
date yet.
Helen Wootton – Scheme Manager
Last weekend, during a night with friends, this is exactly the conversation we were having……
‘Do you have a glass half full or half empty attitude towards life? Responses included:“Well at least you have a glass”
“That’s not my glass, mine was bigger”
“This glass is simply twice as big as it needs to be”
“Who drank the other half?”
“It’s always going to be full of something, even if it’s only air!”
“We agree that the glass is both half full and half empty, so I suggest that these findings warrant further investigation
with a more representative sample of glasses and contents… but this time make mine a large one!”
I just love my mates!
Home-Start Charnwood, 46 Derby Road, Loughborough, LE11 5BX Tel: 01509 239786
E-mail: enquiries@homestartcharnwood.co.uk www.home-startcharnwood.co.uk
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