Spring Street was visited today by Lorraine Regan and Kate McAlistair, who are part of a team carrying out a PSA 16 diagnostic visit in Oldham.  PSA 16 is a Public Service Agreement which aims to increase the numbers of socially excluded people in stable accommodation, employment, eductaion and training.  Lorraine and Kate spoke to residents, representative of our partner agencies, our Oldham Floating Support and the Greater Manchester Offenders service.   Pictured are Lorraine and Kate with John Lloyd, staff member, and residents who had just completed a Learn2Cook, Cook2Learn session - with takeaway meals for our guests.

 

This week, New Charter's Central Neighbourhood office hosted and supported Learn 2 cook, Cook 2 learn for the first time in Tameside.

 

Learn 2 Cook, Cook 2 Learn is an initiative developed jointly by Threshold, Bjuiced and Inspiri which highlights cooking as a fun, practical learning experience and which provides a huge range of other benefits.  Whilst learning how to cook, the delegates also learn a lot about themselves and focus on core transferable skills which are great for the employment market – budget management, project management, numeracy, literacy as well as developing confidence and improving self esteem.

 

The session, held on Wednesday 17th February, was carried out through support from the targeted support fund and in partnership with WISH and was very well received.  One of the delegates said "I thought today was a very good experience, I really enjoyed it.  I learnt to be confident and not to let things get me down and I also learned a few cooking techniques"

 

After the groups had cooked their meals, a 'master chef' style tasting was judged by Taff Jeffrey, a New Charter board member who said

"The food is really good.  All the groups have worked incredibly hard and have worked really well together.  It's been a successful day"

 

For more information about Learn2Cook, Cook2Learn, please don't hesitate to contact Andrew Atherton on andrewatherton@thp.org.uk.

 

From February 2010, the New Charter neighbourhood office in Dukinfield will be staffed once a week, on Wednesdays, by Threshold Floating Support staff.  We will provide a drop in service for local residents, providing housing related support to existing customers, help with signposting to other services and identifying potential new referrals for ongoing floating support.

We will be running events over the coming months at the venue which will be devised and planned in consultation with our existing customers and those who visit the drop in service.  These wil include such activities such as healthy eating and budgeting skills. 

For more information, please contact the Floating Support team on 0161 301 2691.

An open event was held at our new offices at Aksa house on Wednesday 20 January which was a great success with lots of key agencies coming along to network informally.  Representatives from Oldham, Stockport and Tameside Supporting People teams were amongst the guests .  A special thank you to Jane Ibbotson and her colleague, Leza, who came along to carry out Reiki treatments which were enjoyed by many.   Thank you to everyone who helped make the event a success.

 

 

 

The Threshold choir braved the elements on Oldham's snowiest day of the year to give three performances to the public.   We performed twice at Sainsburys, with a lunchtime break and performance at the Salt Cellar cafe on Church Walk.  A great time was had by all raising £65 to support future events.  A special mention goes to Bonita and Helen for their Away- in- a- Manger duets, and for Neil, who braved the icy weather on crutches, to provide a fantastic bass support.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

                                             

Glamorgan Place held their Christmas party on 15 December 2009.

The party was arranged thanks to a donation from Chadderton & Failsworth Rotary Club who also provided a huge sack of presents for Santa to give to the children.

Stanley Road Children's Centre provided their function room free of charge which was very much appreciated.

The day was a huge success and mums and babies had a fantastic time, as did Gail and Lisa from the Glamorgan team.

Glamorgan Place staff and customers would like to say a special thank you to Father Christmas (aka Geoff Thompson), Diane Baxter and Neil Thomas for their support and contributions to a fantastic day.

On Friday 11 December Threshold staff celebrated their achievements of 2009 at an end of year celebration event held at The Street in New Charter Housing Trust's headquarters building in Ashton.

Prizes were presented for the following awards:

Employee of the Year:
Audrey Murphy

Extra Mile Award:
Jason McKenna

Inspiration Award:
Andrew Atherton

Customer Involvement Award:
Lisa Re

Service Improvement Award:
Claire Roach

Learning Award:
Saida Ghaffar

Partnership Award:
Oldham Floating Support

Well done to all!

A number of other staff received long service awards for five and ten years service.

Threshold staff from our Stockport Offenders Service (SOS) supported a fantastic event organised by Stockport Supporting People team to mark Supported Housing month.  With stalls from all the main providers and other agencies, plus activities including community singing and aerobics, it was a fun event with important messages about the value of these services to over 4,000 people in Stockport.  A brave Sandra, one of our customers, spoke movingly at the opening of the event about her experience of being supported by our service and the difference it has made to her life.  Read her story by clicking  The Zone/Our Stories

Pictured are three of our staff at the Threshold stand. Thanks to the Supporting People team for organising this inspiring occasion.

 

              

Threshold challenged Greater Manchester Police to mixed five a side football matches at Oldham Leisure centre today.   A team comprising Threshold staff and customers played against a police team including Community Support Officers, who patrol the streets where some of our schemes are located. This was a great opportunity to develop community relationships and have fun at the same time.  Rumour has it that the police team won by a narrow margin but by the end if the afternoon everyone had lost count of the exact score!

This occasion was run as one of a series of events across the region to mark Supported Housing Month raising the profile of the valuable contribution to communities played by supported housing schemes.

 

 

 

Threshold staff have made a significant contribution to rough sleeper counts in both boroughs.  Results came in a zero in both cases, however staff regularly work with people who have spent occasional nights on the street, and others who "sofa surf" at friends homes or have lived in very insecure housing.   Many thanks to Jannah Murphy, Sadie Ghaffar and Suzanne Harvey who took part in the Tameside count on 19 July, and to Mathew Noone and Stuart McNair who took part in Oldham's count on 22 October.