"I feel like a different person. I feel brill.”  "I feel much more positive after this week.”

These were just a couple of comments made by customers who took part in the Great Lives Skillshare last week.

Aimed at helping supported housing customers and the very recently housed to learn valuable life skills, the week brought those taking part together in teambuilding, career and employment, housekeeping, confidence building and a whole range of other workshops.

Different local organisations played a valuable role running different sessions during the week. New Charter’s Community Regeneration Team gave information on volunteering, apprenticeships and employment opportunities in the Tameside area including those offered by the New Charter Group and partners.

Mental health charity Mind ran sessions at the Topaz and Bailey Hall Cafes in Ashton and Hyde providing information on their services, the importance of mental wellbeing and practical sessions on how to cook on a tight budget.

A particularly popular workshop took place at 2^nd Generations Furnishings, a volunteer-run registered charity in Stalybridge that refurbishes household items for resale to the public as well as help out the newly housed with essential household items.

Though the week is now over, the enthusiasm hasn’t stopped.  Many of those who took part also came to a Book Evening the next Tuesday, where they discussed reading they’d enjoyed, and where to find advice and support to address any reading difficulties.

The faces say it all. There were smiles all round after tenants in supported housing schemes took part in a day of gardening and DIY on Wednesday to brighten up their pads.

Threshold’s Proud of Your Pad day saw the transformation of front and back yards at the schemes, with litter removed, fences painted, gardens shaped and flowers planted.

Supported housing schemes provide a place to live for homeless people to live until they are ready to move on to more permanent accommodation.

Pride in Your Pad brought tenants together to get to know each other, learn new skills, and work together to improve the scheme.

Threshold’s activities will continue next week as current customers, former customers and staff take part in a series of skill-share events to improve domestic living and employability.

Three Threshold support workers in Greater Manchester have received a professional qualification to reward their experience and knowledge in helping homeless people gain their independence.

Zoe Webb, Beverley Clair and Joanne Carter received a level 3 Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) certificate in Supporting Homeless People – signalling the culmination of many months of hard work. 

All three of them received a ‘distinction’ – the highest possible grading for their work.

Zoe said: "Being a support worker is very demanding, and we’ve found it tough to both work and study over the last few months – but I’m glad we did. The course has enabled us to think even more clearly and professionally about the support we offer.”

Beverly said: "Learning the theory as well as the practice has been very important to me. I now feel I’ve developed a much broader understanding of my work.

The Supporting Homeless People certificate is a very new award, and the three will join only a handful of support workers in the whole country to have completed it.

Annie Hopley, chair of the Threshold board said: "The board are absolutely delighted for Zoe, Bev and Joanne. What they’ve achieved is remarkable, and it’s brilliant to see their valuable work in the community being recognised, and their careers developing as a result.”

Volunteers and staff are preparing to brave a cold hard night on Oldham’s streets to raise money for young people who have recently escaped homelessness.

Staff from Oldham-based charity Threshold will join partners in a sponsored ‘sleep out’ on the streets outside the Mahldo Youth Zone, in Oldham on Thursday 21 March.

The event will run from 7pm – 7am to raise awareness of the Inside Out project - a partnership between different homelessness charities to provide tenancy starter packs containing essential items to help newly housed young people.

These packs include things like light bulbs, bedding, pots, pans, crockery and basic cooking equipment which can often be missing when newly housed people are found a home. Money raised during the event will help to buy more tenancy starter packs to support young people when moving into their homes for the first time.

Jason McKenna from Threshold, a key charity involved in the project, said "These starter packs can be life changing as they provide young people with some of the essentials they need to live. The Inside Out service also gives advice and other support to young people to help them with their tenancy and end the homelessness cycle.”

Inside Out was set up by Threshold, De Paul UK and Positive Steps Oldham with support from Oldham Council. Last year Threshold took part in a sponsored sleep out that for raised £1,750 for Inside Out. Their success inspired staff and volunteers from the charities to do it again to help even more people.

Housing group New Charter is this week stepping up its campaign against the Government’s ‘Bedroom Tax’ with an open letter to the Prime Minister deeming the changes both ‘unfair and incompetent’.

As the Government’s new rule around ‘spare’ bedrooms begins on 1 April, Tameside-based New Charter Housing Trust Group is writing to Mr Cameron to remind him about the ‘significantly adverse effect’ it will have on ‘homes, livelihoods and communities.’

In the letter sent this week, New Charter’s Chief Executive Ian Munro urges the Prime Minister to reconsider the changes. Ian also hopes the letter will encourage more housing associations across the country to continue to speak up about their opposition to the new rules.

He said: "We’ve fought long and hard against the Government’s plans from the beginning but now that the ‘Bedroom Tax’ is almost here, social housing providers must not give up the fight to urge the Government to reconsider its decision and see the real and devastating impact the changes will have on tenants, livelihoods and communities.”

The letter questions the fairness of the cuts to Housing Benefit when they will hit the vulnerable and poorest the hardest. It also says the Government’s approach is ‘incompetent’ as it will not achieve its ‘objective of better use of social housing’.

In Tameside, around 1,700 New Charter Homes tenants will be affected by the ‘Bedroom Tax’. People with one ‘spare’ bedroom will lose out on 14% from the maximum Housing Benefit (average £12 a week) while those with two or more will lose 25% (average of £22 a week). As a result tenants will have less Housing Benefit being paid towards their rent and will have to make up the shortfall from their remaining household incomes.

The New Charter Group also owns homes in Gedling in Nottingham and Oldham in Greater Manchester. Around 360 Gedling Homes tenants and 100 Aksa Homes tenants (Oldham) will be affected by the ‘Bedroom Tax’.

Ian Munro explains the reasons behind the letter: "The ‘Bedroom Tax’ is unfair and will hit the poor and vulnerable hard. We honestly believe that the Government is introducing a policy without any appreciation of its impact on people. We will have to pick up the pieces as this policy is put into place. We feel that it is crucial that the Prime Minister is made aware that his Government is bringing in something which will have a severe effect on our neighbourhoods whilst at the same time failing to deliver the public expenditure savings which are required.”

New Charter’s action is supported by the National Housing Federation (NHF). David Orr, Chief Executive of the NHF said: "The NHF has been lobbying tirelessly at the highest levels of Government to try to get this policy changed, I am delighted that New Charter is making clear their support to our campaign to get this unfair and incompetent policy overturned.”

Staff and customers marked International Women's Day in style with an added cause for celebration. 

We have just this week heard that the future of our Oldham Vulnerable Young Women's Project has been secured for three years thanks to funding from Children in Need.  The service supports girls and young women, aged 13-19, who have suffered or are currently experiencing familial abuse. 

Steve Goslyn, Threshold's chief executive said. "I'm incredibly proud of the team who succeed in changing the lives of young women in very challenging circumstances. The work is undoubtedly life changing and helps divert many young women from very unhappy futures".

"We are delighted to be funded to continue the service and to extend it to work with vulnerable young men. The service as a result is now looking for a new name!"

Staff, pictured, joined with customers, staff and our Inspire Women volunteer partners in a lunchtime of pampering including, artwork , meditation and Reiki massage.

Threshold is proud to be part of the New Charter Housing Trust Group, one of the country’s best employers with staff giving it a top rating, achieving ‘a perfect 10’ in a Sunday Times list of 100 Best Companies to work for.

The Best Companies poll is a Michelin-style rating system for private, public and voluntary sector employers judged on feedback from staff.

Staff were surveyed from across the New Charter Group including Threshold, its Nottinghamshire landlord Gedling Homes, Oldham-based Aksa Homes and its building company in Tameside.

Out of the eight areas reviewed in the survey, New Charter ranked best for leadership and ‘giving something back.’  New Charter remain committed to the development of its staff, having invested in around 3,500 days of training opportunities last year. Over the last 12 months, New Charter have employed an additional 50 staff supporting a reduction in worklessness in our communities. 

Ian Munro, New Charter’s Group chief executive, pictured with Jane Blackburn, Director of  Organisational Transformation, and Threshold's Steve Goslyn, comments: "We’re again absolutely delighted with the results of this year’s survey and this brilliant result is testament to the hard work and dedication of our great people.

"We’re completely focused on the development of our staff and strongly believe that a happy workforce links directly to our performance and our overall customer satisfaction rating of 94%".

"We feel very privileged to be recognised as one of the top employers among some of the biggest companies in the country and I would like to say a big thank you to all staff for their continued commitment in making New Charter a great place to work.”