Outlook Summer 2010 Edition (Plain Text Version) Walford Hall Carey Street READING RG1 7JS 0118 957 2960 www.readingassociationfortheblind.org Email: readingblind@yahoo.co.uk Reading Association for the Blind is a Limited Company registered in England. Company No. 3354127. Charity No. 1062433 TIME FOR A BREAK! We have had some lovely weather and hopefully we will get a few more days before the nights draw in. Thanks to the wonderful sunshine our garden is looking stunning. Sadly we had a burglary from the garden and items were stolen, but this has not deterred us and Mick, Janet, volunteers and members have continued with their hard work making it look superb! There is an array of plants in all colours along with vegetables and herbs. We would like more members to become involved with the garden even if it is just deadheading or watering. It is a beautiful place to take time out and enjoy a cup of tea surrounded by the glorious show. This year we have entered the Reading Evening Post small gardens competition so let’s keep our fingers crossed! Our sincere thanks go to Janet Hayward and Mick Paige who are totally dedicated to the garden and the volunteers who help them. The garden is for you so come and enjoy it! Dawn Singleton Manager INSIDE THIS ISSUE:- Reading Half Marathon Raising Funds Social Club Reading 4U Wanted! Talking News Summer Events READING HALF MARATHON This year’s Reading Half Marathon proved to be a great success, not only for everyone that entered, but also for RAB. The Phillips family, Martin, Sandra and Holley ran in the event and donated an amazing £2000. Nick King (father of our member Rebecca King) and our lovely host from the Mansion House, Andrea, also raised £1000 between them. RAB are overwhelmed by the donations and send our sincere thanks to them. The Half Marathon is a fantastic event each year and raises a huge amount of money for many charities. We are very lucky to have been chosen by these wonderful people. Thank you so much! SUMMER EVENTS Wednesday 28th July Fish and Chip Lunch at Walford Hall Cod & Chips delivered fresh from probably Reading’s best Chip Shop, Deep Blue. Buttered roll & cup of tea included. Cost £5. Wednesday 4th August Afternoon Tea Dance at Walford Hall Why not come along to the Hall for afternoon tea and enjoy the dancing. Dance tutors will be attending to waltz or maybe even tango with you! Time to be arranged. Cost £4. Wednesday 11th August A guided tour of the Madjeski Stadium The tour will include a visit to the trophy rooms, changing rooms and pitch to see what goes on inside the Royals' stadium. This will be followed by light lunch at Walford Hall. Leave Walford hall 11.30am prompt. Cost £6.50 Wednesday 1st September Bingo at Walford Hall. Walford Hall is going to have a proper Bingo session with lots of great prizes to be won. Refreshments will be provided so why not come along and have a go! 12 noon until 2 pm. Cost £4 SOCIAL CLUB The Social Club has been very active and have enjoyed meeting once a month at Walford Hall. Last month saw the much loved Molly Denton Dancers return. This is always a popular event and we thank Molly and her dancers for giving their time and joining our members. There are lots of other great things planned for the rest of the year as you will see below so please come along and join in with us. Transport is available if required. Dates for your diary:- August 10th Garden Party at Tom Barker’s. September 7th Gwen Barton - Tales of Dizzy Lady & Artefacts. September 14th NO MEETING October 12th Talks from a “Puppy Walker” - Guide Dogs November 9th Mary Prior talks about New Zealand December 14th NO MEETING December 16th Christmas Meal January 11th 2011 The Swallowfield Singers OUTDOOR EVENTS AND STALLS RAB were fortunate to take part in many events during the past few months. Thankfully the sun shone on each day and made participation even more enjoyable. A team of volunteers from our clubs pitched up and sold items that our members have made throughout the year. Knitted items, cards, baskets, woven chairs and even homemade cakes and plants were available at our stalls. We were also fortunate to collect at Tesco stores. The volunteers worked tremendously hard and the events raised just over £600 in total. Without our volunteer’s RAB would struggle to raise much needed funds. Thank you to all who help us however they can. READING COMMUNITY RADIO LAUNCH This month Walford Hall hosted the launch of Reading Community Radio. The team greeted almost 100 guests who enjoyed music from The Silver Surfers, Tudor Lodge and Kid Napped. Refreshments and a celebration cake were served after the entertainment and tours of the studios met with great enthusiasm. Having the radio station upstairs at Walford Hall will help to give RAB publicity as well as a monthly rent to help boost our funds. If you have an interest or know of an organisation in Reading that you would like to have broadcast, the team have kindly offered to show our members how to use the equipment so that you will be able to produce your own show. It sounds daunting, but with the wonderful presenters there to help, you will wonder why you didn’t have a go sooner! We hope this is the beginning of a long and friendly relationship and wish Reading 4U every success. WANTED AT WALFORD HALL! We desperately need the following items and hope you can help:- Wool (especially pink) Buttons of any kind Fabric scraps (but no clothing thank you) And we are also on the lookout for Hand-operated Sewing Machines. PERSONAL ASSISTANT MATCHING SERVICE (PAMS) THE FIRST 3 MONTHS Since RAB sent out my article outlining this new service from Ryder-Cheshire Volunteers in May, 9 people been accepted to work towards becoming Approved Personal Assistants. Some of them are already qualified to NVQ level 2 or 3 in Health and Social Care. Although a few have no previous experience, they show equally important qualities of a caring nature and dependability and are now working through Reading Borough Council’s training. We are making progress towards our first target from the Department of Health of five Personal Assistants ready for work by the end of June. Because the project is to develop new ways of arranging personal care, we welcome feedback and are making improvements as a result. As a charity, Ryder-Cheshire Volunteers has been set up and run to enable physically disabled people the chance to pursue leisure and learning activities. We have been running for over 25 years across the country and have had a branch in the Reading area for nearly 2 years. For more information on PAMS, please contact Jill Hunt, Coordinator – Personal Assistant Register, Personal Assistant Matching Service, RCV (Reading), 448 Oxford Road, Reading, RG30 1EE. Tel: 0118 948 7042. Email: jill.hunt@rcvreading.org.uk RAB Summer Events We still have a few places left for some of the Summer Events. They will be held every Wednesday during the six week Summer break at Walford Hall. Along with the Summer Events Janet Hayward will be organising meals at the Bird in Hand. If you would like to join us please ring Dawn or Janet at Walford Hall 0118 957 2960 to add your name to the list. Transport will be available if required. Wednesday 28th July Fish & Chip Lunch Wednesday 4th August Afternoon Tea Dance Wednesday 11th August Madejski Stadium (FULL!) Wednesday 18th August Boat Trip (FULL!) Wednesday 25th August Studley Grange (FULL!) Wednesday 1st September Bingo Session at Walford Hall Tuesday 7th September Walford Hall re-opens THE PATHWAY TO LEISURE AND LEARNING FOR DISABLED PEOPLE Ryder-Cheshire Volunteers was formed in 1986 by Sue Ryder and Leonard Cheshire to support physically disabled people (known as members), who were still able to live in their own homes, to access leisure, learning and sporting activities which would otherwise be off limits to them. The choice of activity is completely up to the member, and it could be something that they have had to give up due to their disability, something that they would like to get better at, or simply something that they have always wanted to try. RCV support this activity by matching each member with a volunteer with a similar interest, so that they may pursue and explore the chosen activity together in a long term partnership. In Reading we are currently serving 15 members of the disabled community but we expect this to continue to grow as more people learn of our service, so if you have an interest in cooking, swimming, art, singing, museums, gardening, theatre, football, sports or in fact any activity that you would like to try out with a new friend then we’d love to hear from you.  For more information on activities partnerships, please contact:- Lucy Burden, 0118 956 0564, Email lucy.burden@rcvreading.org.uk Website: www.rcv.org.uk TALKING NEWSLETTER We hope that you enjoy our newsletter and find the articles interesting. We produce the newsletter in printed format, email and in the past by cassette tape. Unfortunately cassette tapes are rapidly dwindling and becoming very difficult to buy. We are currently in discussion with Reading Talking Newspaper and are hoping that our newsletter will be available at the end of their recording. If you usually receive our newsletter in spoken format and would like to continue to do so, it is strongly advised that you contact Dawn or your Visiting Officer (if you have one) so that they can arrange for the new system to be sent to you. The system is free of charge and you will also receive local news. If you have a printed copy or email version of our newsletter but would like to receive Talking News, you are very welcome to apply too! Contact Dawn: 0118 957 2960 SUMMER BREAK Walford Hall is preparing for its summer break. Other than the Summer Events each Wednesday, the hall will be closed. We will re-open on TUESDAY 7th SEPTEMBER 2010. Our answering system will be checked on a regular basis so if you leave any messages we will contact when possible. Tel: 0118 983 1083 Email: readingblind@yahoo.co.uk