Holman House Official Opening 1st July 2013

HOLMAN HOUSE

On 1^st July 2013 I went to the official opening of Holman House, a Mayday Trust accommodation in Bedford. The building was named after Chris Holman who has been a trustee for Mayday for over 10 ½ years. Holman House is a new and improved accommodation that houses up to 19 people. A tree was planted to mark the opening day.

 

Chris Holman told everyone how he felt proud and honoured to have building named after him. He explained how he is confident that the recent changes to Mayday will enable Mayday to empower and encourage clients to use their strengths and abilities to find hidden talents and widen their horizons for a new and satisfying future. Chris Holman stated that since 2003 Mayday has changed beyond all recognition and this would not have been successful without staff and clients willingness to accept change.

On the day I had the opportunity to speak to some of the people involved with the scheme including a worker from Impart Links. Ken told me how this was a really big project and an absolute joy to work on. The building was previously a school and lots of stuff was left behind so first things first they had to clear it out and then the knocking down of walls started. After the layout of the building was as it should be Mayday Trust sent in interior designers to set out the layout of the rooms. At the opening day CEO Pat McArdle and some residents were presented with a book that Impart Links had put together to show their journey on the project.

I also had the chance to speak to one of the residents about the new building. Cece is 28 and at the time of the opening she had only been living with Mayday Trust for 3 weeks. She explained that she thought that the building was really cool and her room is on the top floor with an en suite which she really likes too.

 

The residents worked on the garden, planting flowers and vegetables and putting together garden furniture they all said they were very proud of the work they had done.

 

Written By Fiona McCance

Mayday Reporter

Trip To Parliament With Mayday Trust

9^Th September 2013

On the 9^th September I went to the Houses of Parliament with a group of people from Mayday Trust. We had a tour round to in the morning and out tour guide was brilliant, she explained to us all in detail what each bit was about and I found it very interesting. I learnt a lot of new things there for instance;

Did you know that the Queen has an entrance that only she can use and she can’t use any other entrance? It’s called the sovereign entrance.

Did you know that it is against the law for the queen to enter the House of Commons? That’s because it is believed that if a royal leader should enter then they may sway the debate.

Did you know that there are 19 floors underneath the Houses of Parliament? It’s a bit like an iceberg.

After the tour we had the opportunity to meet the MP of Rugby Mark Pawsey. The group gathered a list of questions for him to answer.

Mark Pawsey offers an Open surgery for members of the public in Rugby to visit and see him about any issues they have on Friday afternoons. He enjoys ensuring that people’s voices are heard in Parliament. We asked Mark Pawsey what his proudest moment is, he told us how he enjoys standing up in the House of Commons and he takes a lot of pride in his role as MP of Rugby as this was his birth place and he has resided there for most of his life.

Another question we put to Mark Pawsey was, how do you feel the welfare reform will benefit young people in supported accommodation like Mayday Trust? Mark explained that he believes that the welfare reform will encourage people into work as they will be better off working than on benefits.

One member of the group asked, what is your opinion of Mayday Trust accommodation and would you consider living in a Mayday scheme for a week or so on the benefit that a lot of clients of Mayday receive JSA £56 P/W. Marks response was very interesting, he said that he likes the layout of the schemes he has visited and said that he thinks it allows people to have the privacy they need but also a place to socialise and engage with others. He said that to stay in mayday accommodation for a week would be a great opportunity to see how decisions in Parliament affect the public first hand. He would appreciate the understanding the challenges that are faced by people in supported accommodation.

We asked Mark, if you could change one thing in today’s society what would it be? Marks response was plain and simply for people to have more regard for one another and to be more open minded.


Written By Fiona McCance
Mayday Reporter

Learning Ability Foyer

Ok so I have given up on uploading my PDF as it appears to not work.

So I have taken the work from that and put it as a plain post ... Apologies for such a delayed report on this.


On 18th July 2013 I went to the Learning Ability Foyer in Rugby to meet some of the clients that attend and take part in one of the activities. The activity I took part in was art. We were making faces on a cardboard cut-out to look like our own. We had a choice of different colour wool to use for our hair and different colours and sequins to make our facial features. Everyone enjoyed the activity and the end result was great. The activity was run by two members of staff from Mayday Trust. It was clear to me that both the staff and the clients were thoroughly enjoying themselves and once the activity was complete the clients had the choice of what they would like to do with the rest of their time. The activity cost just £10 for non residents of Mayday and for those who live in Mayday accommodation it was only £5. The Learning Ability Foyer are committed to providing meaningful activities in a social environment for people with learning abilities. I got the opportunity to interview one of the guys.





My name is Sam, I am 18 years old and I have been living with Mayday Trust for 1 year. I like it there and I have made lots of new friends. I used to live with my Nan but she had to move and couldn't take me with her so I came to Mayday Trust. Mayday has helped me to socialise, meet new people and gain confidence. I go to the Learning Ability Foyer in Rugby most weeks and I enjoy taking part in the different activities. My favourite ones are Art and Music and Drama. There is lots for me to choose from including Healthy Living and Speak up - current affairs which I also enjoy. I don't always go to all the activities but that doesn't matter because you don't have to. It is really cheap and because I live with Mayday it only costs me £5 for each activity.  I am looking at doing some voluntary work at The Hub, I want to do this because I want to help out and keep myself busy. When I leave Mayday I want to get a place of my own and Mayday are helping me to understand how to set up and manage bills. Mayday has helped me a lot and I am really glad that I came to them.

 

Below is some pictures of the great day ... Can you guess who is who ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Written By Fiona McCance

Mayday Reporter

Saturday 6th October - First session leading up to Creative Collisions Conference

Saturday 6^th October

 

Today I went to London for the first session in the lead up to the Creative Collisions Conference. Initially I was really nervous as this was my first time travelling alone to a place I had never been and meeting people I had never met before. When I arrived everyone was very welcoming and I felt at ease as part of the group of young people. We did some ice breaking activities and group work (problem solving) this was to see how we would gel as a team. We then went off into pairs from the organisation we were representing and produced a poster with information about the organisation and what our role is within it. After I presented my piece everyone clapped and said I did really well presenting on my own and I seemed really confident. I am so proud of myself for doing everything I did today and I feel like I have achieved so much. I can’t wait to meet up with the group again and plan what we will be doing at the conference in November.

 

Thank you Foyer Fed for this amazing opportunity once again J

 

Fiona McCance

Update on BBC Radio Northampton Work Placement September 2013

Hey Lads and Lasses

I contacted my mentor at BBC RN today to introduce myself and find out what sort of things I will be getting up to and all I can say WOW !!!!!!

I'm so so SO excited about this I cant wait to get there and learn so many new things.

Day 1 - Admin , Health and Safety, go through policies and procedures and then get some training on the recording and editing equipment.

Day 2 - Lunch program - going out with the reporter and shadowing them

Day 3 - Breakfast program - go out with reporter and if feel confident enough possibly interview some members of the public !!

Day 4 - Early program - out and about with the reporter

Day 5 - Choice of repeating what my favourite bit was or chance to experience a different area. My mentor suggested possibly going in with the production team and seeing how they put a show together !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I'm thinking I may chose that .



So I rang up and explained who I was and the lady said she knew who I was and was excited about me going to do some work experience with them. She was lovely and explained that my schedule as such was made to fit my interests ... she said to me that she could see from my application that I am very keen on the reporting side of things and so she has got me getting involved with the reporters ... HOW AMAZING IS THAT ... She took the time to read my application and set up an experience relevant to me ... I'm so happy and glad that Rhian told me about this because I would have never applied if it wasn't for her encouragement. THANKS !!!!

So ... in September I will be writing on here to tell you what I'm getting up to and by the sounds of things its going to be AMAZING !!!!


Fi :)

SMMT Learning Forum

My visit to SMMT

Today I went to visit SMMT to discuss the partnerships between Mayday Trust, Foyer Federation and various automotive companies. I was excited to hear about what different manufacturers were doing with the young people that had been working alongside them on their work readiness and employability opportunity.

Various automotive manufacturers including Ford, Toyota, BMW and Unipart Eberspacher have taken on groups of young people from Mayday Trust and Foyer Federation to give them the opportunity to take part in a work placement where they will gain work readiness and employability skills. The aim of this is to get young people ready for work and provide them with a great bit of experience to add to their CV and ultimately tackle youth unemployment.

I will be writing 4 short stories to give an outline of what each company have been offering their candidates and how this has benefited both the company and the young people. I also got the opportunity to interview the interim CEO of SMMT and I hope to upload this soon too.

 

Enjoy :)

Fi :)