"A pathway to making life easier
whilst
giving back to the community"

COMING SOON………………….APPOINT US CARE SERVICES LIMITED…..

An exciting new company under the umbrella of Appoint Us Services CIC

Appoint Us Care will be providing :

• Gold Standard Outstanding Quality Personal Care Services
• 1 to 24 hours care
• No tied in contract
• Availability in rural  areas
• Early morning and late evening calls
• Over night care
• End of Life Care
• Specialist Care

All running along side the current services we offer

For more information please contact us on 02476998414 and speak to Leanne or Tina

We have been so busy lately that we have been remiss in updating our website.

Today we have had some lovely feedback from a solicitor about one of our advocates Patrick. Patrick has been with the organisation for a number of years  and always has his client at the centre of the work that he does

Patrick was an excellent support for xxxxxxx  on a difficult day for the client so please pass on my thanks to him, the Judge also thanked Patrick in his judgment during the afternoon.

I’m very grateful to you for all your help, especially as this one was all very last minute!

Best regards

C

CONGRATUATIONS EMILY

We would like to congratulate Emily and family on the birth of Harry Leonard

Emily will ne on maternity leave for a bit now and although her clients will be missing her, we are sure she will be kept busy!

We have been so busy lately that we havent introduced you to our latest team member Sarah. Sarah comes with a wealth of experience in the care sector and undertakes every role she does with passion and enthusiasm. We are so lucky she has joined our team.

Yesterday she took a turn in delivering pet therapy to one of our local care homes. Dexter and the residents loved Sarahs company

I am delighted to be able to get in touch to let you know that Appoint Us Services (Midlands) CIC have been recognised within our 5th annual SME News’ 2023 Business Elite Awards. I can confirm that Appoint Us Services (Midlands) CIC has been awarded as:

Most Dedicated Community Support Organisation 2023 – Midlands

We are proud to offer a range of services for people , families and carers of those living with dementia.

All of our staff

• Have a high level of Dementia Training, including the Virtual Dementia Experience
• Are all Enhance DBS checked
• Are covered by company insurance
• Have lots of experience
• Are friendly and approachable
• Offer consistency
• Are able to follow a dementia journey
• Hold hands with you along the way

Our services include:

• 1:1 Support from 1 hour to a full day allowing Carers to have a well deserved break knowing their loved one will be safe and well care for

Whether it be your first time out since lockdown, or your first time out after a while, our trained staff are here to help and support you.

You can be able bodied, walk with an aid or in a wheelchair, you can walk with a dog (Yours or ours) or just with one of our friendly staff.

To  talk further or to book a visit, please call Leanne on 02476998414. If you are a professional or an organisation requesting a supply of leaflets – again, please call.

Remember , the first step is the hardest…………..

Today staff have completed training on a new service we are now making available. “LAUGHTER YOGA”

Laughter Yoga was invented in India in 1995 by Doctor Madam Catarina. Laughter releases Dopamine, Seratonin and Oxytocin in to the body.

15 minutes Laughter Yoga equates to 300 sit ups or 10 minutes jogging and is so much more fun!

To book a session, please call Leanne on 02476998414

laughter yoga appoint us

We have been very lax at keeping this page up to date so apologies…….

NEW STAFF

This year we have had Leanne and Hannah join the team. Leanne as Operations and Admin Manager and Hannah has joined the Creative arts and Support team. We welcome them both.

Here the girls did a music session for one of the local care homes

SUCCESSES

• We are once again through to the National SME Awards. This time we are going for The Family Business Award.
• Hannah has already been accredited with the Mental Health First Aid qualification

DEMENTIA SUCCESS

All of our staff team have now completed the Dementia Experience Training and all learned lots from it. We were also able to share this with one of our care partners and family of someone living with dementia. (Leanne and Andrea share their certificates)

Our Dementia sitting services offering Carers a break , be it as a one off or regularly continues to be in demand.

We were voted  National Finalists for three awards – Service excellence, Community Business and Business Chameleon. Di and Julie went to Wembley at the weekend and were stunned and proud to be announced a Gold Winner!

The team at Appoint Us have worked so hard and relentlessly through lockdown and the pandemic. Di in particular didn’t take any time out, Chiara sang outside in all weathers, Emily, Patrick and Belle delivered Christmas to nurseries and Care Homes, and the whole team supported our clients to remain safe and well – even queuing at supermarkets for hours last year. We delivered services virtually and donated to our local hardworking hospital staff.

Well done team Appoint Us!  You should all be really proud of yourselves!

We are delighted to announce we are through to the finals in three categories of the SME National Business Awards

• Community Business of the Year
• Business Chameleon (Adapting the business through the pandemic
• Service Excellence

Without the dedicated Appoint Us Team, our customers and our followers we couldnt have achieved this, so THANK YOU all.

Heres to a win at Wembley December 3rd!

We have new posts available for a full time Creative Support Team Leader and also for Full time Support  Staff

Please follow the links below by right clicking and following to the “go to” link or see our Facebook page. Alternatively give us a call on 02476998416

https://www.facebook.com/job_opening/1083356275535326/?source=share

https://www.facebook.com/job_opening/237648234986198/?source=share

We are recruiting new staff team members to join our Support Team.

For an idea of what we do see our Support Services Page or have a look at our Facebook page

(No personal care)

(If you have a musical flair even better but not essential)

Full and Part time hours available including just weekends. All staff need to undergo Enhanced DBS check and provide references

Please contact us on 02476998416 or email us on info@appointusservices.co.uk for more information or an application form

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1005991/cic-21-3-community-interest-companies-annual-report-2020-2021.pdf

So happy to be featured in this. Its been a tough 18 months but we are surviving!

Finalists in the National SME Business Awards as Community Business 20/21…… Onwards and upwards.

We are excited to introduce our latest new team member Sharon.

Sharon has joined the Management Team and will be overseeing the Support and Therapeutic Teams as well as doing some visits herself.  Sharon comes with many years of experience in support and all things creative and we are pleased to have her on board.

As we start t come out of lockdown, we are trying to support people with health and well being and reintegration in to the community. The Support team are taking people out and about, Emily and the pet team are back creating memories inside and out, Jade is using her artistic creativity to make a difference,  Chiara continues to sing and the Mental Capacity Team are busy.

We are recruiting new staff to the team

All is good.

Did you know that we have qualified professionals able to carry out Mental Capacity Assessments for Power of Attorney, COP3 , Testementary capacity etc?

The people we have provided this service to are always very complimentary of our assessors, their reports and the time we are able to turn an assessment around in.

This service is not confined to Coventry and Warwickshire .

For further information please contact us on 02476998414/ 02476998416

As we are all planning a slow return to the new normal our Support Team are taking small steps with people to help the reintegrate back in to the community and promote independence. We are offering a range of 1:1 support including support at home, support around meal planning, shopping and mealtimes, companionship, going for walks , accompanying for first steps back to re-opening community projects etc

CARER BREAKS

People have over the last year been thrown together 24/7 meaning lots of Carers havent had a break. We offer a Carer break service where our support staff can offer 1:1 support to the cared for from 1 hour to a whole day.

OUR CREATIVE AND THERAPEUTIC SERVICES

Our Therapeutic Team cannot wait to be back with everyone…….

PET VISITS

Our lovely pets have all been furloughed now for over a year and cant wait to get back and meet you. We offer 1:1 visits indoors or out and visits to Care Homes, Schools, residential placements etc Our pets have all been temperament tested and are insured.

.

..…….AND MEET DEXTER OUR NEWEST RECRUIT……

TAI CHI , SINGALONGS AND CREATIVE ARTS

A relaxing Tai Chi session  or a Sing along can promote Health Well Being and relaxation.  Musically we can deliver Sing alongs,  Percussion, Mime etc and our Creative Team do a range of themed , seasonal and individual arts sessions.

All of these services can be delivered to individuals on a 1:1 basis or to groups such as in residential settings. The sessions can be in reality or virtually.

For more information on any of our services please call us on 02476998414 or email us on info@appointusservices.co.uk

An award-winning social enterprise with a focus on preventing social isolation among the elderly and vulnerable throughout Warwickshire and Coventry is developing a stronger voice to help all ages.

Appoint Us, a community interest company based at the Rural Innovation Centre at Stoneleigh Park, has been providing a wide range of support to the elderly and vulnerable for over five years to enhance the lives of those in need.

Part of that work has included music sessions delivered by its creative therapy team, and that service is now in demand by communities right across the area.

The service had to be adapted due to social distancing, with singalongs being performed outside instead of inside homes and as a result, enjoyed by whole streets who are now asking for repeat performances to lift collective spirits.

“It’s something we do normally all year round to bring a bit of joy into people’s lives but now there is a whole world out there that needs uplifting.”

Although the services it provides are of even greater need during the current crisis, Appoint Us has been restricted due to social distancing and its income which is all generated back into the community has been severely hit resulting in 13 staff being reduced to three.

It has been concentrating on three core services – prevention of social isolation, singing at social distance, and shopping for the elderly and vulnerable as well as continuing to provide services such as getting hot meals to existing customers and considering new ones for the service

“The shopping service that we provide, such as for sheltered accommodation complexes across Coventry and Warwickshire, is more important than ever and it’s important to keep getting the message across to the elderly that they need to stay at home and be safe.

“We are committed to using profits and income to create benefits for society and by purchasing a service from us, people are helping to give back to the local community as well.”

The company’s staff, who are enhanced-DBS checked and insured, collect shopping from ‘click and collect’ supermarkets such as Farmers Fayre, the farm shop also based at Stoneleigh Park which is now offering a contactless drive thorough service for groceries ordered online. They also offer a shopping and delivery service where staff will shop at certain supermarkets from the customer’s own list and deliver it to the door.

Mark Ryder, Strategic Director for Communities at Warwickshire County Council, said: “Appoint Us provides important services to the elderly and vulnerable at all times and is working hard to adapt to the challenges of Coronavirus.

“Its current focus in preventing social isolation and shopping is more important than ever and it is fantastic that the wider community is now calling on its services to help others through this difficult time and show their appreciation for the NHS and key workers.

Appoint Us was lucky enough to receive Councillors funding to provide Singing at Social Distance across Warwickshire. This has been recognised as having a huge impact on health and well being of key workers and the elderly or vulnerable people of the county. Videos can be viewed on the Appoint Us Facebook page.

During the lockdown period Julie has been announced as a Finalist for The National Business Womens Awards Third Sector Champion and Appoint Us is recognised as a finalist in the SME National Awards as Community Business of the Year

Anyone interested in accessing services and support Appoint Us services, can email info@appointusservices.co.uk

goor phone 024 7699 8414.  For more information, visit www.appointusservices.co.uk

Facebook Appoint Us Services

Twitter @appoint_us

Life is currently very different for everyone including us.  We have been fortunate enough to receive some funding from Warwickshire County Council to provide Singing at Social Distance in various locations across the county. This has made so many people really happy and made such a difference. Chiara and other team members have been doing a great job in co-ordinating and delivering this service.

Di and Judith are still out there shopping, delivering socialisation visits, cooking meals and have even eaten fish and chips with people in the garden.

Julie and the Child Protection advocacy team are busy too.

MEDIA RELEASE  –  Written by Alison Swann

We are delighted with this article ……thank you Alison!

An award-winning social enterprise with a focus on preventing social isolation among the elderly and vulnerable throughout Warwickshire and Coventry is developing a stronger voice to help all ages.

Appoint Us, a community interest company based at the Rural Innovation Centre at Stoneleigh Park, has been providing a wide range of support to the elderly and vulnerable for over five years to enhance the lives of those in need.

Part of that work has included music sessions delivered by its creative therapy team, and that service is now in demand by communities right across the area.

The service had to be adapted due to social distancing, with singalongs being performed outside instead of inside homes and as a result, enjoyed by whole streets who are now asking for repeat performances to lift collective spirits.

Julie Earls, director of Appoint Us, said: “We have now been approached by people asking if we will join in their street’s Clap For Our Carers with a singalong.

“It’s something we do normally all year round to bring a bit of joy into people’s lives but now there is a whole world out there that needs uplifting.”

Although the services it provides are of even greater need during the current crisis, Appoint Us has been restricted due to social distancing and its income which is all generated back into the community has been severely hit resulting in 13 staff being reduced to three.

It is now concentrating on three core services – prevention of social isolation, singing at social distance, and shopping for the elderly and vulnerable as well as continuing to provide services such as getting hot meals to existing customers and considering new ones for the service – and for the first time, is having to seek grant aid.

Julie approached the Coventry and Warwickshire LEP Growth Hub for help in accessing a government business interruption loan and, as a result of enquiries to Warwick District Council, is being issued a £10,000 grant.

She said: “We have never ever had to rely on funding as we have always been self-reliant but we can’t be because of the current situation.  The £10,000 grant is crucial in enabling us to carry on our work and retain staff, including our singer.

“The shopping service that we provide, such as for sheltered accommodation complexes across Coventry and Warwickshire, is more important than ever and it’s important to keep getting the message across to the elderly that they need to stay at home and be safe.

“We are committed to using profits and income to create benefits for society and by purchasing a service from us, people are helping to give back to the local community as well.”

The company’s staff, who are enhanced-DBS checked and insured, collect shopping from ‘click and collect’ supermarkets or Farmers Fayre, a farm shop also based at Stoneleigh Park which is now offering a contactless drive thorough service for groceries ordered online. They also offer a shopping and delivery service where staff will shop at certain supermarkets from the customer’s own list and deliver it to the door.

Mark Ryder, Strategic Director for Communities at Warwickshire County Council, said: “Appoint Us provides important services to the elderly and vulnerable at all times and is working hard to adapt to the challenges of Coronavirus.

“Its current focus in preventing social isolation and shopping is more important than ever and it is fantastic that the wider community is now calling on its services to help others through this difficult time and show their appreciation for the NHS and key workers.

“We are pleased to have been able to help Appoint Us access the government grant to support its work in these unprecedented times.”

Anyone interested in accessing and support Appoint Us services, can email info@appointusservices.co.uk or phone 024 7699 8414.  For more information, visit www.appointusservices.co.uk

The services we planned to deliver at the start of March are very different from what we are delivering mid-April! The situation changes sometimes hourly but we are doing our best to do our best!

We are currently still making lunch/tea and providing a companionship service to our existing customers and are open to new ones. We are doing lots of shopping for the elderly, vulnerable, Covid sufferers and people who are shielding. Chiara is doing monthly Singing at Social Distance although we are looking for grant funding or donations to unfurlough her and make this a free at point of delivery service. At the moment we are taking monthly booking as she is furloughed for the statutory three weeks.

Its difficult times with us being an existing paid for services with so many volunteers offering similar services at no cost. We have the advantage of being an existing tried and tested organisation, we are insured, all staff are Enhanced DBS checked, carry photo ID, have PPE and are adhering to National Health guidelines.

Had this lovely review on facebook this week and have had lots of acknowledgement of the services we are providing. See our Facebook page for some of the videos and newspaper reports on our service.

Until the lockdown I had never heard of this company but boy did they step up to the plate when they were needed. They were there to do my parents main weekly shop and deliver it right to the door. Dad is 93 and slow on his feet. They were very patient and made sure they waited until he had opened the door and acknowledged the delivery. They were also very friendly and helpful over the phone when they took the order and nothing was too much trouble. I can’t speak highly enough of this company and would highly recommend them without reservation.

Thank you for continuing to support Appoint Us

STAY  AT HOME WHERE POSSIBLE AND ABOVE ALL SAFE!

Hello all of our website followers. We hope that you are all at home and keeping safe and well.

This afternoon at 16.03,  CWR will be putting a video on to their Facebook and twitter feed showcasing some of the work we have done recently.

Cup of tea, cake, feet up and watch!

Stay safe!

Business at the moment is extremely difficult.

As an organisation, last week, we lost so much money with queue times at shops etc. we have had to re-evaluate

CISWO is a Mining Charity set up to improve the lives of former coal miners and their families. The charity understands the struggles faced by those in former coal mining communities.  And hope to help their clients to overcome some of the barriers they come up against and to support them to lead a better quality life.

During the period where home visits are not possible we are offering support with telephone enquiries and support with shopping for basic essentials and medication

The local worker for Warwickshire is Bernadette Davey, contact details are 07780958572 or Bernadette.Davey@CISWO.org.uk

Website https://www.ciswo.org.uk/

Regional Office contact number for the Warwickshire area is 01623 625767

There will be lots of people out there with clients, neighbours and family members impacted by the Coronavirus crisis. we have increased our support availability to try and create a reactive and proactive service.

Our staff are all Enhanced DBS checked and trained and as an organisation we are following and going over and above NHS guidelines.

Please share this information with anyone that may benefit from it.

At long last, we have a whole team photo  (- thanks to Leanne’s creativity!)

We have welcomed Janine, Theresa and Judith on board since our last update.

• Janine is our new Office Administrator and support to Julie.  Janine has a wealth of relevant experience including Care and Care Management and Creative Arts.
• Theresa is now in control of our Accounts and Invoicing Department and has made a massive impact already. Theresa works part-time for us and part-time in a Health and Well Being resource
• Judith came to us on recommendation and has joined the Support Team. She already has a solid client base and is most recognised for her fantastic sense of humour.

Our Creative and Pet Therapy Services are going from strength to strength and the reputation of our high-quality support continues to grow,

To follow us more regularly, please like our Appoint Us Facebook page where we post regular updates and photos. Please help us and our algorithms by liking, sharing and most of all commenting on our Social Media Posts. We are also on Twiter and Instagram.

We have had a lot going on towards the end of this year with staff changes,awards ceremonies and our first ever podcast that went out on Christmas Day.

CREATIVE TEAM

Chiara has been off in Hunstanton taking part in Dick Whittington whilst Jade has been busy doing all things Christmas back here.

Chiara returns tomorrow and will be back to delivering Music and percussion whilst Jade leads the way on creativity.

NEW TEAM MEMBERS

We have welcomed Janine to the Admin team. Janine comes with a wealth of experience in the care field and is a welcome asset to us

We also welcome Judith to the Support team.

SME NATIONAL AWARDS

We went off to Wembley early December having been nominated and getting through to the finals for Community Business of the year. We had an amazing night at Wembley stadium albeit it that we didnt win. It was a great achievement for us to reach the National finals.

LIVE PODCAST

Following the SME awards, we were contacted by a journalist who wanted t do a podcast on isolation and loneliness and wanted to use Appoint Us as an example as to how we were making a difference. He met with staff and went out with Di to talk to a client. The podcast went out on Christmas Day. The link to it is on twitter and our facebook page.

Lets hope 2020 continues with the success of the end of the decade for us

MEET CHIARA AND JADE TWO OF OUR CREATIVE TEAM

Chiara loves to sing and dance, she leads percussion sessions, encourages singalongs, gets people travelling around the world with music and reliving lots of memories. Chiara feels she has achieved if at least one of her group gets up to dance! Chiara is also extremely creative leading sessions in clay and pasta, design, painting, drawing and anything arty or creative.

Although Jade is keen to learn and develop her skills in dance and music, she is currently concentrating on planning and delivering creative sessions.

All of our sessions can be 1:1 or in groups. As funding is always an issue, we aim to produce some things that can be sold by care homes etc in order that the service can continue. Our sessions are aimed to cover all age ranges and abilities.

We offer special discounted rates for long term bookings (5 weeks or over). Please contact Julie or Kate on 02497998414 for more information.

This month we welcome some new team members to Appoint Us

KATE

Kate has joined our admin team and will be the voice you will normally hear when you call the office.  Kate comes with a wealth of Admin and marketing experience, lots of new ideas and an outgoing personality.  She already has a passion for Appoint Us and is committed to its growth and development. We are sure she will be a great asset to us. Welcome Kate.

JADE

Jade has joined our Creative Support and Support team and will be delivering Creative Support, doing a lot of the behind the scenes work and delivering some Support Services.  As the team grows Jade will be fully assigned to Creative Arts. Jade is currently shadowing staff and meeting lots of new people. We welcome Jade to the team

THERESA

Theresa has joined our accounting team and will be responsible for generating sales invoices, processing purchase invoices and chasing debt. (Hopefully, the latter will be a minimal role!) Welcome Theresa

We hope they will all be really happy working for us .

Today our staff had updated Safeguarding  Training delivered by the Ratcliffe Consultancy. It was a brilliant day and everyone learned and refreshed on many matters. Well done staff team and thank you Hazel.

CREATIVE ARTS

We have had a very busy few months. We have restructured our Creative Arts Department and welcoming Chiara on board has brought with it a whole new dimension. We are now able to offer percussion, music, sing along and dance as well as many other art based activities. We have new members joining the team too to support its expansion.

PET THERAPY

With the lambs all grown into sheep, Emily has been out and about with Agent Orange as well as Belle and Lewi. Everyone is always overwhelmed by the impact of pet therapy on individuals and groups.

SUPPORT TEAM

Our Support team have been working hard this month and  have been promoting support to people remaining independent and choosing and helping or preparing their own food as well as being integrated into the community, helping in the garden etc

AND FINALLY…….

Chiara ran Race for Life this weekend. Well done Chiara! Next year we will be submitting a team,

Some of our team have been working exceptionally hard to get their Level 2 Certificate in “Awareness of Mental Health Problems”.

Andrea is the first to receive her certificate and we are very proud as an organisation that she has achieved this.

When the other staff are accredited this will mean that 100% of our staff are trained in working with people living with dementia and over 50% trained in mental health. As an orgnisation, we see this as a great achievement.

I am the newest member of the Creative Support Team and am loving my job so far!

I have worked extensively in the arts all of my life; from the young age of 4 I studied dance then progressed to singing and drama. I then trained as a professional performer and have worked as an entertainer all over the world. As part of my work on cruise ships I taught dance, singing and drama lessons to all ages including  more mature people of up to 102!

I also trained in music and piano playing.

I have been involved with arts & crafts since I was 3 under the care of my mother who also shares this passion.

I am currently completing an accredited arts therapist course and am also taking an accredited psychology for therapists course.

My recent work has included percussion, bongo drumming and tai chi sessions.

CHANGING THE FACE OF OUR CREATIVE SUPPORT TEAM

We are happy to have Chiara join our Creative support team. Over the next few days, she will be writing her own introduction to everyone.

Chiara has a worldwide knowledge and will be delivering Sing a Long, Percussion, African Drumming, Chair Tai Chi etc along with all things Creative. She has made an impressive start and visited many homes in the area. Services are delivered 1:1 or to groups care homes, schools, hospitals etc

NEW PET THERAPY MEMBER

We also welcome Cate on board. Cate has joined our pet therapy team and is busy introducing Dexter and Amber to people. Again our pet therapy is delivered to individuals or groups, care homes, hospitals, school etc

We have new staff joining the team after Easter and along with some of our current staff will be creating a whole new department and a whole new project……..watch this space for further information………

We have been joined for two weeks by Amy who is with us for work experience. Amy is a student at Henley College studying Health and Social Care. So far she has had “boring” admin office days, shadowed visits to some elderly clients and shadowed a days pet therapy. Amy has been instinctively engaging and worked really hard so far.

We hope she enjoys her time with us.

Last Tuesday saw us pull together a wedding in 7 days, this Tuesday we turned an almost empty flat into ” home.”

The first thing we did was emptied everything out and did a good clean, supporting the occupants to participate.

We had some donations of furniture and household equipment and purchased the rest to finish it off….. a days hard work and mission completed. Before we left, a quick cookery lesson, dinner left on and our work was done.

Last Tuesday Julie was asked to be a witness at a wedding. She was honoured. The young lady in question asked if she could bring someone else as a witness as they had no one else who could do it for them. Julie suggested I could bring a work colleague. Excitedly she asked her about what she was wearing as she knew she had dreamed of a big white wedding. She said she had some leggings and a top as she had no money and no one who could help her choose a dress. Straight away the Appoint Us Team said she had to have a dress….this soon escalated and by Friday the team had pulled a whole wedding together for them.

One post on Facebook led to Sian Lewis “The Cupcake Lady” offering to make and donate a wedding cake and sourcing the groom a suit shoes and a tie, Abbie Lox Hair salon in Coundon volunteering her services for bridal hair, Jane Waldron mobile nail technician doing the nails, Ladybird Home and Gardens (Tracie Gilbert) providing the flowers, Reynolds Press doing a wedding canvas and helping with a wedding album, Jo Tony and Nevil helping us provide hotel accommodation and goodies for the night, an anonymous business contributing a cash donation which funded a wedding breakfast, Deb had been to a white tie and tiara ball and donated her tiara, as lady called Lorraine donated the wedding dress which we couriered from up North and others donating small gifts for the couple to open on the day

The remaining tasks, purchases and pulling it all together was down to team Appoint Us led by Sharon. Emma transformed the brides white pumps into something amazing and made the corsages and bouquet, Lauren and Sharon did the initial dress fitting.

The big day arrived and the sun was shining, Emma Andrea and Sharon got the bride ready whilst I supported the nervous groom. Their former Social Worker turned up and gave the smiling bride away and did the readings, along with another professional who came as a guest on her days annual leave, the registrar was amazing and the ceremony emotional and moving

The whole day was absolutely amazing and memorable. The bride and groom were thrilled and overwhelmed and thanked us for making them “feel so special”

So glad to have been part of making someone’s day memorable and special. Thanks go to team Appoint us and all who helped us to achieve this. Community Interest Company and the Community making a difference

Our Pet therapy team welcomes on board Belle. Belle is a beautifully behaved Collie cross with a lovely temperament.

Along with enjoying being fussed and stroked Belle has a passion for Coronation Street and can be seen reacting with great excitement to the music!

Welcome to the team Belle.

We would like to welcome Helen to the Appoint Us team. Helen has joined our Child Protection Family Advocacy and Support Team as a Parent Advocate. Helen has come to us from another organisation where she held a similar position and so is well versed with the systems and processes that surround families who find themselves in Child In Need Child Protection situations.

She has already made her mark here and we are really happy to have her on board. Welcome Helen!

We have been so busy the last few weeks we simply haven’t had time to update our news page…but here goes….

MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID TRAINING

Julie and Emily have done the two day Mental Health First Aid training and although it was completed a while ago now have certificates. Angela and Patrick are the next two to attend MHFA training and will complete theirs this month

LEADERSHIP WITH HORSES

We were lucky to be invited along to the launch of Jude Jennison’s latest book Leading through uncertainty. The event took place at Moreton Morrell college and was a fantastic opportunity to listen to Jude’s story, get a copy of her book and watch a marvellous demonstration of her Leadership with horses. (Accompanied by Prosecco and nibbles!) Emily from our pet therapy team was lucky enough to participate and really enjoyed herself.

MARKING DEMENTIA AWARENESS WEEK

Again we were delighted to have been included in Warwickshire County Council and The Pamela Britton Trusts Dementia Awareness Day in Leamington Spa. The event was supported by a number of local providers showing how they can support those living with Dementia and their cares. There was an empowering opening speech by Tony Britton and lots of activities throughout the day. Emily took along Lewi one of our therapy dogs along and Sharon was pampering some of the ladies.

PLANNING AN ART EXHIBITION

Emma has been busy with one of our clients reintroducing her to her former love of art and helping her to put together an exhibition of some of her work past and present to raise funds for the local church. The creative therapy department is expanding well.

The exhibition will be held at Saint Giles Church in Bubbenhall on the weekend of 23rd and 24th June. Paitings will be for sale and you may get to meet the artist herself along with Emma who leads this department.

WELCOME TO NEW STAFF

We are pleased to welcome Angela to the Appoint Us team. Angela comes with an incredible wealth of experience and also has a volunteering background. We are happy to have her as part of the team and hope she will spend many happy years with us.

Appoint Us are happy to be supporting Warwickshire County Council and The Pamela Britton Trust in bringing an event together on Thursday 24th May from 10.00am until 3.00pm at Saint Peters Church Hall, Dormer Place, Leamington Spa.
An opportunity to find out about what local services and support are available, meet people sharing the experience and hopefully come away having gained something.

Our therapy pet department will be represented there along with our Support  Team doing some hand pampering, nails etc

Please come along and give your support

My name is Rosie and I’m the cute blond in the photo above, where I’m with my best friend Bella, the black Labrador.  Bella and I both go and visit human people who like animals and who will benefit from a little canine company. We’re very friendly dogs and love nothing more than to make humans smile!

Bella and I live with our own humans (who we call Mum and Dad).  We know when we are going out to work because on those days, after our walk and breakfast, Mum takes us outside and gives us a good brush down.  Sometimes we go out to work together but most often one of us goes out with Mum and the other stays home with Dad and gets an extra walk.

Today it’s my turn to go out to see our friends (sometimes called clients) and I feel very excited and leap into the car ready for a sing along on our way to our first visit.  I’m never quite sure who we’re going to see until the car stops and the door opens and I can have a good sniff and think ah, here we are.

Our first visit today is at a big house called a care home for elderly humans.  We go into the sitting room where there are lots of people who seem very pleased to see me.  They pat my head and I let them stroke my ears and if they’re really nice I put my head on their knees and gaze up at them so they can see how beautiful my eyes and nose are.  This sort of behaviour seems to make the humans smile and that makes me happy too.

Then we jump back into the car and head off again.  Next we arrive at a place I know well and we go into a room to see just one human man who always smiles and makes a fuss of me and gives me a little treat to eat, so I lie down at his feet and keep them warm.

After that Mum and I go for a little walk so that I get some fresh air and a drink of water to keep me comfortable and then back in the car for a few minutes and I yawn and have a little doze until the next stop.  Here we go into a very big house and see lots of different humans who all seem happy to see me, so I wag my tail lots and they smile and pat me even more.  Then we go into some smaller rooms to see the humans who like to lie down on things called beds.  I can tell they like to stroke me too so if I can I put my head near to them so that they can feel my ears, which humans say are very soft.  Sometimes as well as the elderly human clients there are other people called carers and visitors who seem to be very pleased to see me too.   I’m not too sure what it means but I often hear the humans speak and say “that’s made my day”.

When I get home I’m very tired after all that smiling and tail wagging and lying on feet so Mum gives me my dinner and I curl up in my bed next to Bella and go to sleep and dream of all the kisses and cuddles I’ve had.

Agent Orange and Emily have been out and about today visiting some elderly people and some living with Dementia. It’s so nice to see what a difference his visits make to people. Quite often people who are unable to communicate verbally with other people will communicate with animals through touch, expression and sometimes words. Today he’s sporting his new head collar.

For a Limited time, we have the opportunity to offer Pet Therapy with a baby Lamb that needs bottle feeding and lots of love and attention.

We can offer this as part of our current pet therapy offer 5 for the price of 4 or as a stand alone visit. If you know of a school, care home, or an individual who would like an opportunity to see Emily and the lamb please contact the office on 02476 998414

Julie and Emily battled the snow last week to complete The 2-day Mental Health First Aid Course and are now both qualified Mental Health First Aiders. The course was really informative at teaching many ways in which Mental Health issues can affect people and the many forms and guises that it takes.

They learned the ALGEE code and how to apply it in the various situations

Approach Assess for Crisis Assist wit Crisis

Listen and Communicate non-judgementally

Give support and Information

Encourage appropriate professional help

Encourage other supports

We hope to be sharing this training with the whole staff team

HELLO. I AM LEE. I AM ON THE SUPPORT TEAM (I’m the one in the middle!)

A typical day for me starts off fairly straightforward, I usually manage to miss the worst of the morning traffic on the drive out to my first visit of the day. I didn’t have far to go this morning and after a 10 minute drive towards Coventry, I arrived at the elderly service users sheltered accommodation complex at about 10.00am, I had to be buzzed in by the management staff and made my way upstairs to his apartment. After a few minutes he opens the door for me and welcomes me in, today he was having a good day as he was already half dressed when I arrived but still wasn’t quite awake yet. I made him a cup of coffee while he finished dressing and checked if he needed any shopping doing but he seemed well stocked today. We sat down in his front room and caught up on today’s news for a bit while chatting about politics. The conversation then turned as it usually does to old Western Films. After chatting for a while we looked up the information for a new Western film coming out soon that i had seen advertised on the TV. We discussed this for a bit then the Client decided he was very interested in going to see it if possible so we decided on a day when we would go and see the film at the cinema together.

After saying my goodbyes and making sure he didn’t need anything else, I then headed off to another sheltered accommodation around the corner to visit another elderly gentleman. I had brought with me some shopping he asked for last week and when I arrived he was happy to see I had it with me after he himself had forgotten. I put all the shopping away and we sat down to discuss his favourite topics of old action films and new TV adverts. As half 12 came around I offered to make him some lunch as he usually forgets to eat much. He decided on a bowl of porridge today with syrup, which he watched as I showed him how to make it. He struggles to understand how to use his appliances but is starting to get the hang of it. We then sat back down and in between eating his lunch he quizzed me on local geography and found my lack of knowledge very funny. Before leaving we watched the weather forecast on the news and neither of us was particularly surprised at the prediction of more rain.

I then had a short drive through Coventry town centre, over to Royal Leamington Spa, to a care home. When I arrived I found the client, another elderly gentleman dozing off in the communal lounge area in front of the TV. He was very pleased to see me today and even happier when he realized I had brought him the selection box of chocolates that he had asked for. Being a bit of a chocolate connoisseur we got to talking about our favourite brands and the name Thornton’s popped up in conversation so I offered to get him some. He didn’t waste any time in trying one and was very impressed. He changed out of his pyjamas into his trousers and we went around the corner to his local pub where I bought him a bottle of beer and we sat chatting about fitness and sports. He was very fond of the pub environment as it reminded him of when he was younger and luckily we managed to wrangle our usual seats near the fireplace. When we got back to the care home, He said he felt a bit sleepy and fancied a quick lie down but was looking forward to seeing me next week as usual.

It was starting to get dark out now and I had to wade through the rush hour traffic to arrive in time for my final visit up in Nuneaton. I managed to arrive at the sheltered accommodation complex precisely on time which was surprising considering the traffic that had build up nearby. I rang the number for her apartment and she buzzed me in. When I entered her apartment I found her clearing up after a late lunch and helped her wash up and empty the bins. Once finished I made us both a hot drink and we sat down to chat in her front room for a bit about recent events. We then completed some puzzles from a puzzle book she owns which we both enjoy doing. After we had finished a few and got stuck on a hard one we decided to call it a day. She then fancied playing a board game so I rummaged through her collection as her mobility was limited until we settled on a game called “Yahtzee”. We played a few games of Yahtzee but I lost 2 – 1 :(. By the time the visit came to the end it was very dark out but at least the traffic had eased somewhat.

                A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CREATIVE THERAPIST AT APPOINT US SERVICES

Hi I’m Emma. Before I leave home, I double check that I have all the materials I need for my two visits scheduled in my diary.  I usually like to listen to some loud upbeat music in the car to wake me up and get me in a positive mood.  A bit of queen usually does the trick!  In my head I am going over what I’m planning to do with the first client I visit in the morning at a residential home in Coventry.

My first visit

I text the office to say I have arrived (check-in) and greet my first client (lady with learning disabilities). As I walk into the communal lounge, she smiles when she sees me.  She often likes to see what I have in my bag and is excited to see an envelope full of photos that I had taken of some of our activities previously.  We work as a team to stick these into her own sketchbook/album and admire all of the other photos already in there.  She is very proud to see that the book is now full and I promise to buy a new one.  We then play a doodle game where I draw part of a line and she has to carry it on until we fill the page with abstract shapes/lines etc. After an hour, our session is over in time for her lunch and it’s time to ‘check out’.

Ideas following from this session……….

She liked this activity so I may plan to do this again but on a bigger scale and using different materials and possibly on a canvas.

Time for a bite to eat

Today I have a bit of time to kill so that the residents at my next destination can have their lunch so I grab something to eat myself and as it’s a nice day, take a stroll through memorial park in Coventry.

My second visit

I don’t have to travel far to get to my next group session and ‘check in’ at a nursing home in Allesley.  I have been visiting here for a couple of years now and love that both the staff and residents know me as a familiar fixture in their week.  There are four lounges and I make my way around each one, looking for willing participants to help me mix some salt dough.  This can be a challenge sometimes as residents are either asleep or need a lot of support and encouragement.   A lady who suffers from dementia and finds it hard to communicate, took the spoon and stirred the mixture until it formed the dough.  I then put the warm dough into her hand and she pushed it between her fingers.  When rolling out the dough, she knew exactly what to do with the rolling pin and we laughed that she’d definitely done this before!  I made an impression of her hand in the dough ready to bake and contribute towards a group project at the home I’ve put together on positive affirmations for the new year.  Before leaving I put some new photos on the special Appoint Us display board in the entrance hall to show all visitors what we get up to each week.  I also text the office to ‘check-out’ and try to find a space in my car for yet more creative bits and bobs.

Ideas following from this session…………

In the car on the way home I’m thinking of the different ways I can collate all of these hands together to make one big display in the main lounge of the home.  How can I hang them?  Remember to get permission from the Manager.

I arrive home with ideas still spinning in my head and take my dog for walk to unwind and

It is extremely sad to start the New Year with the news that Fiona  Garrigan has resigned her post as a Director to Appoint Us Services to seek a new challenge.

Fiona has been with Appoint Us since day one and has shared a real roller coaster journey with remaining Director Julie sometimes testing the friendship that brought them together to set up the business. They came through many challenges with friendship in tact. The door remains open to Fiona in the future

Fiona will be greatly missed not only by Julie but by the whole staff team who wish her all the very best for the future.

Last night we attended the finals of the Coventry and Warwickshire SME Business Awards at Coombe Abbey. Greeted by Christmas lights and reindeer, we had a wonderful evening.

The highlight was in our achievement as Runner Up to “Best Community Business”. We were delighted to be chosen as finalists but to have been selected as the runner up in the category was amazing. We had some tough competition and congratulate EnV on beating us.

We are looking forward to attending the finalists ball on 28th November to see if we have won either “Best Community” or “Best Not for Profit” award. Fingers crossed!

Our Family Department is expanding.  Along with our Parental Advocacy we now also offer support to parents with children identified as Children in Need, In proceedings or those that are in need of respite sitting services.
Our staff are  NNEB trained and highly qualified -one has a degree in Early Years. They are able to give Carers a break or work with them and the children to achieve outcomes.

Our Family team can:

• Look after children when families are in meetings
• Look after children to give families respite breaks – this is particularly important to Grandparents providing Family Care of children or undergoing Special Guardianship Applications
• Working with parents to achieve outcomes

Advocates can help parents to:

• prepare for meetings with social workers
•  ask the social worker questions
• speak up and get their point of view across
• negotiate with social workers,
•  challenge social workers in a constructive way if they don’t agree with what they or
  other professionals are saying 
• remind them of what was said after the meeting to help you to plan what to do next.
• understand their rights and options and how child protection planning and
  decision-making works;
•  reflect on why social workers are worried about their child;
•  make safe plans for their child (which may include alternative care within the
  family) within the child ‘s timescales
• have their voice heard by professionals

It is good practice and sometimes important for Local Authorities to provide an advocate to ensure parents understand the process they are involved in.

To access these services or find out more please contact us

I wanted to put a post on about a fantastic piece of work our Creative Therapy Team had done following on from Art in the Park. Emma has created a stone garden that now welcomes visitors to The Rural Innovation Centre.

Before I have had chance to do that we were notified that we won “Best Social Care Services Provider for the West Midlands and today we have heard we are finalists for Coventry and Warwickshire SME Business Awards for “Not for Profit” and also ” Best Community Business”

We are absolutely delighted and overwhelmed.

Triple Link is an organisation set up to support Dementia Carers and Cared for. It meets regularly at The Brunswick Hub in Leamington Spa and has offshoots in Harbury Wellesbourne and Lillington.

Last week they provided an information morning for Carers where Louise from Moore and Tibbitts spoke about Care funding issues, Amongst other speakers were Trading Standards, The Fire Service and Warwickshire Police.

To support this we provided and staffed a free Creative Therapy session for the cared for. Emma did lots of work around the theme of Autumn. Alongside this Sharon and Mel offered pampering nail sessions to the Carers.

The morning was extremely informative and we were happy to be supporting it.

The Emergency Services Show 2017 saw the launch of our new display board built for us by our new neighbours at Stoneleigh Park as part of their own “Giving Back to the Community”. Reynolds Press were kind enough to partly donate the stand cost. We all loved the finished product and couldn’t wait to show it off.

The Emergency Services Show was a great venue to meet fellow stallholders and Emergency Services personnel from across the country who as the frontline are often the first people to identify people we can help. We had a great two days and gave out over 2000 brochures.

W

                                                                                   We pleased to welcome two new team members.

Kirsty who has joined our Support Team and after her induction period will be providing support to some of our clients. Kirsty has worked with vulnerable people for a number of years and is extremely outgoing and bubbly.

Liz has joined our Advocacy Team as one of our Child Protection Advocates. Liz will predominantly be working with parents throughout care proceedings but will also support children. Liz has a long history of working in Children’s Services and will be a real value to the people she is supporting and an asset to us too.

We hope they will both be really happy working for Appoint Us and welcome you both to the team.

Emily has joined our team today. She will be delivering pet therapy and support. Emily has a real love of animals,  has her own horse and dog and lives on a farm.

It is hoped that together with Liz they will develop the pet therapy department, start delivering more pony therapy but there are lots more ideas in the pipeline.

Welcome on board Emily.

We had an absolutely amazing time at Art in The Park in Jephson Gardens this weekend. The weather on Saturday threw a few showers at us but on Sunday was lovely and dry. In the theme of Art, our Creative therapy team invited people to decorate pebbles with paints, stickers, glitter, pens etc. The results were amazing and enjoyed by young and old. We are hoping to create a garden area at Stoneleigh Park with the finished products which will be lovely for Stoneleighs many visitors to see.

We spoke to hundreds of lovely people and gave out lots of information. Really enjoyable weekend.

In a summers week in August (3rd and 4th) we agreed to attend Sport In the Park in Foleshill. The rain lashed down, the wind blew as we gave up trying to erect the gazebo! Fortunately, the organisers had a spare on they had prepared earlier so we commandeered that. The weather slightly improved on Friday and was mainly dry. A lovely event where an array of sporting activities were offered free of charge to children of all ages. We met fellow stallholders from Carers Trust, Tesco, Citizens Advice etc there and good to see volunteers from Lloyds bank manning the registration table. Some lovely food for lunch from Foleshill Road made it even more worthwhile.

Fiona managed to get handcuffed by the police and despite social media requests no one offered to stand bail for her!

We are happy to welcome Patrick aboard our team. Patrick has two very different guises…he is doing some gardening for clients and also supporting us in fundraising at our Community Interest Events by being the Quizmaster for our Quiz nights.
Welcome Patrick, we hope you will enjoy being part of the team.

We are delighted with the new company polo shirts designed and printed by Colour Cubed and sponsored by Simpson Financial Services. It is something we as an organisation have wanted for some time but have not had the available budget for. With the help of Simpson Financial, we have been able to achieve this and they have the benefit of advertising wherever our staff are.  Thank you Simpson FS

We are now looking for sponsors for logoed winter clothing. If your business is interested in supporting a local Community Interest Company and getting publicity at the same time, please contact either Julie or Fiona.

We had a fun morning supporting a Caring for Carers event on Kineton on Friday. Our newest team members Emily and Stan (the pony) joined Creative Therapist Emma and therapy dog Lewi to provide a range of activities for the cared for whilst Mel did some pampering for the Carers.

This weekend was spent in the Sunshine at Bedworth Party in the Park. A great time was had by all and we met some really lovely people.

Particular interest in Pet therapy services…. remember this is a service we offer to groups or individuals and has proven benefits.

We had lots of fun with bubbles and will be taking bubbles to Foleshill Sport in the Park and to Art in the Park at the Pump Rooms in Leamington Spa. Also thinking of creative things to do at The Emergency Services stand in September. (We practiced this weekend by having the stand near to the Fire and Police stands!)

We are really sad to announce the retirement today of one of our Directors Felicity Banbury. Felicity has been with us since day one starting off on the support team, progressing to Support Team Manager and finally becoming a Director.

Felicity has given so much time and dedication to Appoint Us and will leave a big gap that’s hard to fill.
Appoint Us would like to thank Felicity for all she has done and wish her a very long and happy retirement.

Safeguarding

Our staff gave up last Saturday to undertake a full days Safeguarding Training. For some it was new, for others, it was a refresher. They all really enjoyed it, learned a lot and passed the course exam with flying colours.

The training was delivered by Hugh Chiweshe from Trainer Courses Limited and everyone spoke very highly of the trainer and delivery.

Dementia

Julie and Fiona attended “The Virtual Dementia Tour” training hosted by Tudor Care.

The training was delivered by “Training 2 Care” (Second Wind Dreams) and without giving anything away can only be described as truly amazing. We would thoroughly recommend this course to EVERYONE working with or supporting people with Dementia. A real insight.

Certainly one we will be considering for our staff.

Fantastic Woman Who event at Coombe Abbey, inspiring speakers and brilliant MC Trish Adudu who kept us all entertained. Honoured to be a finalist and congratulations to Becki Coombe The LEC Ltd who won the Woman who achieves for a Charity or a Social Enterprise Category.  Appoint Us give a big thank you to the Organisers, speakers and Judges at today’s event.

We had a fantastic night at Leycester House last night doing our quiz night. A fun time was had by all. Thank you Leycester House for providing the venue, the food, the drink, the lovely staff and the flowers. Thank you to Patrick our quizmaster and to Sharon and Andy our markers and of course to all the teams who took part.

The results were:

1st GC Crew 94.5 points

2nd Dynamic Duo 85.5 points

3rd Super Six 76.5 points

4th Eastley Bunnies 70 points

5th The Maybees 54.5 points

6th Phils Harem 42.5

Wooden spoon Winners Leycester Ladies 41 points

£166 was raised to be split between Leycester House nominated charity The Matt Davis Foundation and our own Loneliness and isolation project.

Our Easter Egg Draw raised £116 which will go towards our Supporting Loneliness and Social Isolation project. Thank you to everyone who supported it.

THE WINNERS  WERE:

• Sarah – Focus Foster Care
• David – Wallis and Lynch
• Andy – Wallis and Lynch
• Janet
• Harrison Lowe
• Mel
• Tessa
• Ian – Central Insurance
• Sheh – 4 Roads
• Rachael – Path
• Anna V

Well done all.

We are delighted to share that Felicity Banbury’s husband has been appointed as the Vice President of Acorns Children’s Hospice. This is a charity we are also passionate about and have supported.

We are sharing an extract from a letter sent out by Acorns that recognises some of Martin and Felicity’s brilliant work. We wish Martin all the best in his new role and look forward to continuing to support Acorns.

I am delighted to inform you all that Martin Banbury has just accepted an invitation sent to him by our Chairman, David Butcher, to become a Vice President of Acorns, with immediate effect.

Martin, who lives in Leamington is the founder of the Acorns Coventry Fundraising Group, a group of dedicated volunteers who have been supporting Acorns for over 25 years. Martin’s involvement with Acorns began at a school parents evening where the headmistress, who knew he was a successful local businessman, asked if he could support the Selly Oak hospice. Martin got together a core group of six voluntary members from the local area who organise events to raise money for our work. In addition to monthly community fundraisers (golf days, afternoon tea, quiz nights, Ascot races etc). Martin and his wife Felicity have taken on their own personal challenges including a 400km cycle from Vietnam to Cambodia, raising over £24,000. Every year the group sets themselves a fundraising target of £50,000 and to date the group have raised over £800,000 to fund our care.
Well Done Martin!

We are so pleased to have an article on the CIC regulator website published today.

We have worked really hard since we started out to build on our business and reputation. We have a brilliant staff team behind us and along with achieving The Social Enterprise Mark this year we have also made it through to Women Who Awards for 2017.

https://communityinterestcompanies.blog.gov.uk/

Two of our staff Sharon and Mel recently attended The Ratcliffe Consultancy Core Values course and returned as Core Values Champions.The girls were both enamoured and inspired by the course and hope to share what they learned with the team.

Watch their live video on the link below

https://www.facebook.com/756805820996512/videos/1492756220734798/

We are delighted to have been selected as Finalists for the 2017 “Woman Who” Awards. Having won this prestigious Award last year it would be amazing to retain it. We would like to thank the panel for selecting us and to thank our amazing staff team without whom we wouldn’t be where we are. We also thank our customers past and present for all of their support to our Community Interest Company.
We hope 2017 will bring us lots of new customers and the business will continue in its success.

We have been lucky enough to have had an article printed about us in The Emergency Services magazine this month. Please click on the link below for the magazine and depending on how you are viewing it, it is either Page 49 or Page 51.

https://goo.gl/Xc0JF1

We had our Staff Christmas celebration on Saturday at The Oken Kitchens (http://okenskitchen.co.uk) in Warwick. What a night to remember. Would thoroughly recommend this as a fun night out with a difference. We were split into teams, one doing canapes, one starters, one main course and one desserts and were each given a recipe and some ingredients.

Aided and abetted by the lovely staff Jess and Jo and lots of prosecco none of us knew we could be so creative in the kitchen. At the end we all lsat down to enjoy our culinary delights.

For more photos see our facebook page!

This week we were at the stunningly impressive Hotel La Tour in central Birmingham.

Decided to take the train, got to the station in plenty of time….no parking. went to the car park at the rear of the station which is now boarded up for redevelopment! To add to this it was raining and we had to each transport a cardboard tube on our journey (Doesn’t bode well for dong any shopping!) Found a space purchased a ticket and walked to the railway subway…..also boarded up. My two minute walk in the rain became ten minutes. Great start to the day I thought! Got to the station though as did a train so great timing.

Sat opposite a really cute little boy( aged I guess about 8) and his Mum. They clearly weren’t talking. He gazed at his Mum wistfully and said”Please don’t ignore me Mummy” No response…..”Mummy….” no response. He then said “”Please Mummy can we just pretend this never happened….it really is the best way….” He looked at his Mum pleadingly. She stared at him and said coldly “I am not having a conversation with you on a train” turned and stared out of the window. He burst into tears and sobbed. My heart went out to him. I wondered what he had done that precipitated this and wished she would just give him hug,

Got to the station and found the hotel really easily. Very impressive eh?

Met by the always happy and smiley girls from Aston Uni and the first round of food.

A variety of wraps and sandwiches and just out of sight the healthy fruit options.

In this session we looked at Business Opportunity. I was concentrating on expanding our Appointee Department and Our Benefit Awareness courses. Listening to other cohorts plans and ideas and good lectures from the Aston Team. An inspirational session from a former cohort and Accountant( who was so not a boring accountant!) She certainly gave us all food for thought. Talking of food……

The title photo was the afternoon snack …little cones you could fill up with a variety of childhood sweets, there were also a selection of biscuits, fruit, crisps etc

Last break of the day…….more food…….

Mini Pizza and Mini Burgers. Although the food was good the general consensus was it bore no comparison to the wonderful food at the Novotel last week.

That will take some beating I think!

The journey home was almost uneventful…..shared space on the station platform with two cohorts and a train journey to Dorridge with one. Had to stand from Birmingham. How come we pay full price for a train ticket and have to stand? Imagine standing in a car or on a long coach or bus journey. How do the railways get away with it? When I eventually got a seat opposite a nice man wearing a UCB lanyard I put my tube down the side of me and my bag on my knee. Next thing my tube popped up and was pushed towards me as Mr UCB said “It was touching my foot” I thought he was joking but his face said not. I realised his feet were sprawled out under the table almost under my seat!

On Saturday when I left the office I noticed a piece of what looked like a bit of wallpaper stuffed down the air vent on my car. I pulled it out and Suprise! Surprise! a parking ticket from the station…. bizarre as I clearly displayed a 24 hour ticket to park.My blog was delayed by my appeal letter!

Mrs R approached the organisation in November 2016. She was desperate for advice and support.

Mrs R had a daughter with global development delay. She had been receiving Disability Living Allowance (DLA) of £76.90 weekly for her daughter which equated to the middle rate care component and the lower rate mobility component. Mrs R also received Carers Allowance of 62.10 a week for looking after her daughter. A total of £139.00 a week.

The Department Of Work And Pensions (DWP) had sent Mrs R a form to complete as the DLA for her daughter was being migrated over to the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and her daughter would need to be reassessed.

Mrs R duly completed the form and returned it. The claim was turned down by DWP who gave zero points for the care element and zero points for the mobility. Mrs R then requested a mandatory reconsideration, which again came back with the same decision. She then lodged an appeal.

As a result of the nil award Mrs R also had her Carers Allowance taken off her as she no longer qualified without her daughter receiving the enhanced rate of PIP.

As her income had dropped so dramatically, Mrs R had taken on a part time job to try and make ends meet. Trying to hold down a job, care for her daughter, liaising with DWP and coping with her own health issues were having a detrimental effect. At this point Mrs R contacted Appoint Us Services asked for our help to pursue the claim.

Our staff went out to visit her and took all her paperwork away to review. We assimilated all the evidence and advised on obtaining further reports to give credence to the claim, which Mrs R duly did. We also compiled a report based on the evidence that we had seen and giving the points that we thought should be awarded for the individual descriptors which was also sent off.

The case went to appeal and based on our submissions and further evidence, DWP reviewed the claim and awarded 19 points for the care descriptors and 8 points for the mobility descriptors. This gave Mrs R the enhanced care rate of Care at £82.30 and the standard rate of mobility at 21.80 for her daughter. As a result of this award, the Carers Allowance was reinstated at £62.10 a week. Giving a total weekly benefit of £166.20.

Mrs R was extremely grateful for our help. The benefits we have obtained have enabled her to reduce her part time hours and have reduced her stress considerable. Both her mental and physical health have improved as a result of the revised awards.

Today we welcome to new staff members to the team…..

Mel Houghton                                                                                                               Liz Murray

Mel has joined us as Support Team Leader. Mel will be                                                Liz has joined us as a member of our Support Team.

Co-Ordinating diaries, looking after new customers                                                      Liz will be supporting clients and potentially joining

and leading and supporting our Staff Team.                                                                    our Pet Therapy Team.

We welcome them both to Appoint Us.

Well this weeks session was at the Novotel in Wolverhampton. The weather was horrible- that lovely fine drizzle that’s great for tackling a journey on the M6North!

Had Smooth radio on and reminisced about a Dementia Training Course Fiona and I had attended where they said music that was significant was that you experienced between the ages of 14 and 25. Smooth Radio played a lot of this “significant” music which I found myself singing along to and knowing all the words. Came off the M6 and met with a young man in a BT van on his mobile phone clearly not paying attention to the road or my indicators as he attempted to shove me off the road then realised what he had done and blasted his horn at me. How dare he. Don’t worry I have your photo and registration number!

Arrived safely at the venue to be greeted by lovely course staff and a pre-course buffet lunch consisting of many beautiful things including Smoked salmon and cream cheese ciabatta rolls, asparagus spears wrapped in bacon, mini toad in the hole and much more.

The course was amazing. Once again we learned so much and were set some thought provoking challenges. Brilliant lectures and another spot by a previous business to have completed the course and come out the other end. I have to say I am really enjoying both the course and learning more about the other people and their businesses and also how we can work together in the future. Even met another course member who shares our serviced office building!

First tea break,,,,,,,,,, mmmm Iced little cakes…..muffins……profiteroles…… Second break…. well this was something else…. Little cocktail glasses of Leek and Potato Soup with Croutons, Satay chicken, Sausages, A lettuce leaf of Prawn Cocktail, skewered chicken and pepperoni, a variety of quiches and to top it all a little bowl of fish and chips. We will all need a slimming world voucher at the end of this course!

Journey back on the M6 again in the rain and singing along to my “significant music”!

This week was my first week on The Small Business Growth Course run by Aston university. I feel privileged to have been one of the 25 selected for this course that has been funded by the ERDF. Sad that things like this may be lost with Brexit.

This week was an introduction to the course, its tutors and my fellow students and we had to take an object that represented us as a business leader and an object that represented our business going forward.

We started off with tea and chocolate brownies which were nice. Informal chat with fellow students who all seemed lovely. As usual, the females made up a small part of the team – 5 out of the 25. There was a real diverse range of people and businesses represented. Some had been in business many years and others just setting out.

I tried hard to think what object I could take that represented me as a business leader. I was thinking along the lines of working 7 days a week 24/7 and thought calendars, clocks …. but not sure how I could make them represent what I was thinking. It came to me on a drive to work – a double ended candle. I am always being told I burn the candle both ends and never switch off from work so challenged someone to make me a double-ended candle. They did this successfully, so that was my object representing me as a business leader.

Secondly what I chose to represent the future of the business was a picture showing a photograph of my fellow Directors and the staff team that truly are what drive the business forward, represent our ethos and values and build our reputation. Also on the picture was “The Woman Who” award we won last year for the business that gave back to the community and a picture of the “Social Enterprise Mark” accreditation we have just successfully achieved. These really are a representation of how far we have come from two people with a dream of a business.

It was great seeing other peoples objects and hearing a snippet of their journeys. We heard from some of the tutors, Course Director Paula Whitehouse and from Sandra Green from Co Wheels in Birmingham who had completed the course previously.

Had a break for tea with more lovely cake….the fruit cake and lemon drizzle cake was amazing! (Worth going just for the cake!!)

It was a brilliant day and so looking forward to working with all these inspirational people and gaining the knowledge to take Appoint Us Forward.

What a great start t0 2017, we have been awarded the Accreditation of the Social Enterprise Mark. In order to do this, we had to prove ourselves as a Social Enterprise, share our ethos and values, show our return on investment, show what we have done to support and give back to the community and be assessed by an independent assessor. We are so proud to have achieved this.

We are part of a growing international network of accredited social enterprises – the Social Enterprise Mark is an independent guarantee that we put the interests of people & planet above shareholder gain. We have been externally assessed against sector-agreed criteria and have proved our commitment to using profits and income to create benefits for society and the environment.
To find out more, visit www.socialenterprisemark.org.uk/what-the-social-enterprise-mark-means/

We had an amazing time in Loxley village yesterday and met some lovely people. Thank you Loxley ( Especially Richard at The Fox Inn) for hosting it and making us so welcome.

We had Emma making Christmas decorations, Sharon doing nails, a visit from Boo, a visit from Mander Hadley Solicitors and some excellent music provided by Playable Guitar.com We hope Loxley village enjoyed the morning as much as we did.

We  had a lovely afternoon tea to celebrate National Prematurity Day. Everyone who came along had a good time including Cameron who was on Work Experience with us.
With the help of those who attended we raised £150 which we will be donating to UHCW.

Thank you for your support.

A reminder that we are having afternoon tea next Wednesday at the offices of The Rural Innovation Centre Stoneleigh Park.
We will be raising funds for the Neonatal Unit in Coventry. Come along and support this event….as well as afternoon tea there is a chance to win a magnum of Prosecco, have a go at Tombola…and opportunity to buy some beautiful hand knitted products.

WEEKEND AND BANK SUPPORT STAFF

http://www.fsb.org.uk/docs/default-source/fsb-org-uk/rv_warwickshire_novdec2016.pdf?sfvrsn=2

Did you know that the cost of funerals has risen by more than 61% compared to what they were 7 years ago?  (This equates to an additional £610 for every £1000 spent.)

It makes good  economic sense therefore, to prepare a prepaid funeral plan now. This will take away the stress from your loved ones of not only worrying about paying for the funeral but also ensures your wishes are carried out.

If you hold Power of Attorney or a Court of Protection Order for someone this is also something to think about.

Here at Appoint us we are able to help you put together a funeral plan . Please contact us to discuss this further.

We are having an Afternoon Tea at our offices on Wednesday 16th November from 2pm-5pm to raise funds and awareness of the Neonatal Unit at UCHW hospital. These guys do some tremendous work not just for the babies but for the parents too. Please come along and support us and give generously to this worthy cause.

We have been so busy lately its difficult to keep up to date with our news page. Apologies for our quietness!!

This week we have attended a brilliant event put on by the CIC Association and although we were unable to stay for the whole event we learned so much from being there. We were also lucky enough to meet the guys from the CIC regulator who were all lovely and extremely helpful.

We also attended an event for “Women Who” and hope to re enter for 2017.

We donated to and took part in a charity event for the Acorns Childrens Hospice who raised £385 yesterday.

Customer wise we have supported people this week at hospital appointments, cleaned up sick and offered reassurance, took a lady to her hair appointment whilst her daughter enjoyed a break, Assisted someone to claim PIP successfully that will now enable them to enhance their life, helped someone put together a winter wardrobe as well as all the other things we normally do.

Dont forget that in November we will be doing afternoon tea ( which everyone is very welcome to attend)  where we will be raising funds for UCHW Neonatal unit

Thank you to our great staff team for helping us make this Community Interest Company what it is.

Appoint Us will continue to run free Community and Dementia Cafes across the region next year and will shortly be compiling a calendar for next 2017 events.

If you are a Community Group, Residential or Nursing Home, Extra Care Housing, Retirement Village, Sheltered Accommodation complex etc and would like us to come to you, please contact Julie or Fiona to agree a date and to be added to the list.

At our community cafes we provide everything but the venue. We sometimes bring some of our Therapy Team along, including the animals and endeavour to provide a fun community event.

We are lucky enough to have two hairdressers who have joined our Support Team and therefore we are now able to offer a little pampering as part of our Support Calls.

If you know of someone who would benefit from this service or are a care home, Extra Care housing, Sheltered Complex or Community Group who might want to take advantage of this please give us a call.

Do you or someone you know want to work but aren’t able to give a commitment to regular days/hours?

Our Support Team are looking for on call bank staff to cover Sickness and holidays. Our support team provide services such as Companionship, Shopping, Preparing and cooking meals etc

Full training will be given and applicants will undergo Enhanced DBS check. Applicants must hold full driving licence and have use of a car. For more information or an application form to become part of our friendly team please contact Julie or Fiona on 02476998414

For more information or an application form please contact Julie or Fiona on 02476998414

We had a fabulous weekend last week at Party in The Park Bedworth. A really well organised, well attended event for which the sun just kept shining! Boo came along in disguise as a Unicorn on Saturday and met lots of fabulous people of all ages. On Sunday she braved the sunshine again and met more lovely people including the ice cream man. Alfie popped by too.

Well done to the organisers of this brilliant opportunity to introduce Appoint Us to Bedworth. Thank you to everyone who visited us.

Thank you to Coventry Chamber for this article….page 41

http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/business/appoint-services-up-two-awards-11583677

We are currently up for two of the Coventry Telegraph Awards…..Please support us and wish us Luck!!

We have now completely moved to Stoneleigh Park. Our new address is: The Rural Innovation Centre

The Rural Innovation Centre Avenue H Stoneleigh park CV8 2LG

Telephone number 02476998414

To celebrate we held an afternoon tea party on Friday where the ribbons to the offices were officially cut by two of our lovely customers assisted with their support team worker.The afternoon was lovely. Emma from Therapeutic Arts involved everyone in making celebratory bunting flags and even Boo made a guest appearance. It was also Felicity’s birthday!

We are back on track with the Cafe and are pleased to announce our June Cafe will be on Wednesday 29th June 2016 3pm-5pm at

SUNRISE SENIOR LIVING

1270 WARWICK ROAD

KNOWLE. B93 9LQ. 01564 732400

This cafe is open to the Residents and Staff of Sunrise and People in the Community. This is an ideal opportunity for people  to come in and have a look around Sunrise and to come and meet some of the Appoint Us Team. We will have activities on and a visit by Boo and of course tea/coffee and refreshments. There is no charge for this.

Please come and support us.

If you want to be the venue for a forthcoming cafe please contact us on 02476998414

PLEASE NOTE:

OUR NEW TELEPHONE NUMBER WILL BE 02476998414

Appoint Us are on the move!

From June 13th our new address will be:

Appoint Us Services (Midlands) CIC

The Rural Innovation Centre

Avenue H

Stoneleigh Park

Warwickshire

CV8 2LG

We will unfortunately have to change our telephone numbers so will be putting a list of new numbers on here as soon as we have them available.

Proud of two of our Directors appearing in this film – Felicity and Fiona….well done ladies!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_6muQGVdZ8s

The Rest Stop is raising funds to open a Special Needs Play Centre and Sensory Experience where children and adults will benefit from a safe, fun, magical place to relax,play and develop friendships.

Appoint Us were happy to support the Rest Stop last weekend at a brilliant Music event they held.

https://womanwho.co.uk/2016/04/28/congratulations-to-appoint-us-services-woman-who-gives-back-to-the-community-award-winner-2016/?platform=hootsuite

We are really proud to note and thank  the judges for  their  comments  in this link. We  would also like to thank our wonderful staff team for their hard work and dedication without them this would not be possible.

There will be no Dementia Cafe in May

We are planning a new project. We are looking to bring our services to your community. We will run the event from Care homes, Sheltered accommodation, Extra Care venues, Community hubs etc

If you have a venue and would like us to come to you, please contact us for more information and  to be added on to the rota. Please watch this space for updates.

Well, what can we say……We have today won the prestigious award of Women in Business who give back to the Community Coventry and Warwickshire. We are absolutely delighted and overwhelmed. We would like to thank “Women Who”,  All of  the judges who voted for us (Doctor Sharon Redrobe, Paul Carvell, Ian O’Donnell and Emma Heathcote-James), to Trish Adudu the Host of the event, to our customers who have supported us  and of course to all of our hardworking team. without whom our business wouldn’t be what it is. Thank you all.

We arranged a surprise afternoon tea for a lovely lady’s 83rd birthday last week. She had an amazing time. Marks and Spencer in Leamington Spa added to making it special by helping us decorate the table and presenting her with a bottle of fizz and some chocolates.

It’s so lovely to be able to make a difference!

Appoint Us welcomed Sharon to the team just over a week ago. Sharon is currently in her induction period and is doing a lot of staff shadowing but already we have received some amazing feedback about her.

“Thought you might like some quick feedback after talking to Mom today. She feels that Sharon is very very kind and just lovely.  So it sounds like your new team member is a real hit with Mom, which is always nice”

Well done Sharon and welcome to the team. We hope you enjoy your new role.

Heres a useful link on how to claim additional mileage allowance not paid by your employer back from HMRC.

http://www.workmileagetaxrebate.co.uk/calculator

We are so proud of Felicity and Fiona for their part in this brilliant video speaking up for people.

Well done girls!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=share&v=_6muQGVdZ8s

Thank you to UCHW Ward 40 and to Kate Banbury for the recent donation of Dementia Muffs.We really appreciate your hard work.

Congratulations to our Social Care Director Julie Kenny on passing her BIA/DOLS assessor course. We are all really proud of her as she worked very hard on it.

We are now able to offer Independent BIA/DOLS assessments.

Well done Julie!

Appoint Us were delighted to receive in the post today these beautiful and colourful Twiddlemuffs knitted for us by Georgina in Leicestershire. We are sure that users of our Dementia Cafes will love them as much as we do. Thank you so much Georgina!

If anyone else out there is able to knit some that would be great. Julie and Fiona decided to undertake the challenge and have a go at knitting one but a month on neither are finished! Perhaps we should post pictures of their work so far!

A reminder that the next cafe is at Saint Christopher Church hall  Allesley Park Coventry on Thursday 7th April 2016 10.00am-12.00pm

Whilst on the subject of the Dementia Cafe we are thinking of doing a pop up Cafe in care homes across the Midlands, starting with Coventry and Warwickshire. The idea would be that we provide the staffing and activities, tea coffee and refreshments and someone provides the venue a kettle, cups saucers etc. If you are  a Care Home Manager and like the idea of us delivering a cafe from your home please contact us to express an interest. Ideally,we would like to open this out to your local community and invite people in to attend. What are your thoughts?

Well today we presented to he judging panel, now we have to await the resukts. So excited to have got this far

!http://womanwho.co.uk/award-categories/coventry-warwickshire-finalists/

Subject: Congratulations you are a Woman Who…Finalist!

Congratulations!  You have been short listed as a Finalist in the Coventry & Warwickshire Woman Who…Awards in the Woman Who…Gives back to the Community Category.

We are all so excited to have got this far. Fingers crossed for Monday meeting the judges!

So good to hear in the news today Kate Middletons support to the Benefits of Art therapy to people with Mental Health issues. We have for a long time said there are so many proven benefits, also to those with Dementia. Our Therapeutic Arts team have done some fantastic work and are available to support more clients/ care homes etc. Some of the work they have done on our Therapeutic Arts page or on our facebook or twitter page.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35593435

Appoint Us Services welcome Nigel Flook to the team as our new FD. Nigel has been with us a few weeks and is already streamlining our processes and making us more efficient. He is also taking control of our invoicing and accounts department and working closely with the Directors.

We are looking to recruit a competent Bookkeeper experienced in the Sage system to join our friendly and expanding team.The post will initially be for the equivalent of two days although hours can be flexible.

Interviews will be late February early March for a start soon afterwards.

Please send CV initially detailing your Sage experience and the details of two previous customers we can contact for references.

We have found a new venue for our Dementia Cafe  – Saint Christophers Church Winsford Avenue Allesley Park  CV5 9NJ

The day will be changing to a Thursday and so the next Cafe will be on Thursday 4th February from 10.00am – 12.00 pm.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Sadly due to unrealistic demands from Enterprise Breweries John and Martin who kindly supported and hosted our Dementia Cafe have been forced to leave The Minstrel Boy.

This leaves us with no venue for the February Cafe although we are in negotiations with some new potential venues and are still hoping to run the February Cafe.

We will be putting updates on our webpage, Facebook and Twitter.

We would like to thank John and Martin for the support they gave us and wish them well for the future.

Appoint Us are delighted to welcome Felicity Banbury to our Board of Directors. Felicity comes with a wealth of knowledge and experience and has been with Appoint Us since Day One through the Ups and the Downs the Highs and the Lows!

Felicity and her husband are very person centred and have been acknowledged in the press release in the link below where her husband Martin was recognised by the Prime minister in his Points of Light. https://www.pointsoflight.gov.uk/planting-the-seeds-for-fundraising/

We feel privileged Felicity has agreed to join us.

Happy New Year to everyone from Appoint Us Services…..so good to see that Pet Therapy is being recognised as so beneficial!

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/dec/30/animal-assisted-therapy-nih-veterinary-science-mental-health-american-heart-association

We had a lovely Christmas card come into the office yesterday from a customer’s daughter – she said

“With grateful thanks for all you do to greatly improve Dads quality of life and in so doing taking so much of the burden out of my life.  Thank you too for all the extra things you do too like changing the lightbulbs and so much more”

We thought that was lovely. He is such a pleasure to work with.

This blog has been inspired by us attending an event in Birmingham this month where we were required to do a Pecha Kucha style presentation on “Our Last Year”.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Pecha Kucha you can visit http://www.pechakucha.org/ to find out more, but basically we had to present 20 pictures and talk for 20 seconds on each slide. A mean feat for those of you who know myself or Fiona and our ability to talk!

I won’t bore you with copies of all of the slides we used, but having sat down and put it all together we surprised ourselves at how much we had achieved in our first year as a CIC (Community Interest Company)

1. Our first achievement was successfully registering and being accepted as a CIC. We all believed passionately about wanting to offer services with people at the centre of the service and to give back to the community in some way.
2. Our next challenge was recruiting the right staff to fulfil our vision. We have been very lucky in the staff we have on board who all share the company ethos and values and are committed to providing the best service possible.
3. We discovered along the way services which worked and services which didn’t and so made decisions to stop providing some services but build on and expand on more successful ones. Our Therapeutic Arts and Pet Therapy are prime examples of built upon services.
4. Helping customers achieve their goals to independence and making a difference to them was our fourth aim and achievement
5. We decided to support the Trussell Trust and Foodbank as we all felt passionately that in 2015 in the civilised United Kingdom to have people relying on Foodbank was appalling. We made monthly food donations to Foodbanks across Coventry and Warwickshire including additional targeted donations in August of school uniforms, November of Advent Calendars and December of Christmas items such as crackers, toys, trees and decorations, cakes, mince pies, selection boxes, chocolates etc
6. We made a donation to Coventry Comfort Carers Homeless Charity- an organisation helping people living on the streets in Coventry
7. We made donations to “Helping Hands” helping the Homeless in Leamington and Warwick including furniture
8. We spent October finding innovative pink ways of raising awareness and funds for the University Hospital in Coventry’s Breast Cancer Unit. We raised £579.80 and had lots of Pink Fun along the way.
9. We made a lot of effort to link with the right organisations to work alongside and to provide the right services to people. We believe we achieved well and will strive to continue this in 2016
10. Our staff team increased from 3 at the beginning to 17 by the end of the year. We believe we have an excellent staff team and cannot thank them enough for their hard work and commitment
11. Our Pet Therapy Team has grown as has the demand and popularity of the service. We welcomed new dogs and Boo the miniature American Horse to the team
12. Our Therapeutic Arts Department have done some incredible work and reached many people in residential care environments as well as their own home. Some of their work can be seen on our webpage or facebook or twitter.
13. I guess our biggest achievement was being able to open a Dementia Café for the people of Coventry. We were lucky enough to team up with publicans Martin and John of the Minstrel Boy in Allesley Park who shared our passion about supporting people with Dementia. Appoint Us staff the café and provide the activities and although only month 2 at the end of the year it has been great fun and a great success. We had a Singing Disney Princess in December and the smiles it brought to people’s faces was worth it all. (For more information see our webpage https://www.appointusservices.co.uk/dementia-cafe/
14. We appointed a fourth Director – Felicity Banbury. Felicity shares our passion for supporting people and has been on board with the organisation since it started. We welcome her to the Directors team and to the diversity and knowledge she can bring to us.
15. It hasn’t all been positive. We have made mistakes along the way, but we see them as stepping stones to learning!

The day in Birmingham was great. Met some lovely people and learned some bread making skills from a lovely man called Albert.

If you are an organisation that would like to work with us, please contact us.

Here’s to a  Happy and Peaceful Fesrtive Seadon and to a positive 2016 for us all

TWIDDLEMUFF INSTRUCTIONS

Materials

• This muff pattern is perfect for using up left over or odd balls of wool. Different textures of wool are also good for stimulation
• Needles 6.5mm straight needles or 8mm circular
• Beads ,zips ribbons, things that can be twiddled with bit will not break and are not sharp to touch or brittle.

Directions

Cuff

• Cast on 40 stitches using two stands of double knitting wool. You can also use 1 strand of chunky wool
• Work in stocking stitch (knit a row purl a row) for 11inches (28cm)

Muff Body

• Continue with stocking stitch and use up oddments of various textures of wool for example chunky mohair snuggly eskimo ribbon and chenille
• Knit until work measures 23 inches 58.5cm)
• Cast off

Finishing and Decoration

• Neatly sew along the long edges together with purl side facing you
• Turn the muff inside out
• Push the cuff up inside the muff body and neatly sew together the two short ends
• Now is the time to decorate your Twiddlemuff.
• Consider: A good variety of colourful beads, pastel colours, think about whether its for a male or female
• Try to include at least 6 decorations on the outside and four on the inside. You can add more if you like.
• Make sure everything is sewn on securely so it doesnt come off and there are no loose threads
• Include bits and bobs on the inside too. Agitated hands can be soothed and kept warm at the same time

Our services will operate over the Christmas and New Year period and will be mainly unaffected.

The office may be unmanned at times although we will operate a 24 hour telephone service on 02476214420

Appropriate Adult Services can be provided throughout Christmas and New Year

If you or someone you know is in crisis over the Christmas and New Year period and we may be able to help please call us.

We were invited to join the Take Heart group at Saint Cross Hospital in Rugby recently. This is a group set up by people who have experienced heart issues and who are all very proactive. They have a coffee morning keep fit group etc

They were keen to hear about our organisation and our services.

Thank you to the group for inviting us. We had a lovely evening

Our Therapeutic Arts Team have been making Advent special with the residents at a local Dementia Home as well as doing some great work at The Dementia Cafe (which can be seen on our Dementia Cafe page)

If you are a care home and would like some Therapeutic Arts input please contact us for more information.

This week Fiona and Felicity made a live radio appearance on Hillz FM radio talking about Appoint Us Services . We also had an article published in the latest issue of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber magazine. Fame at last!! We have also received confirmation of our donation to UCHW Breast Cancer Unit.

It’s been a busy week for us this week.

• We supported World Prematurity Day at UCHW
• We supported an Alzheimer’s fundraising event 
• Our Therapeutic Arts team began working towards Advent
• All of our staff attended updated Safeguarding Training
• Want to join our team? See vacancies page.
•  

Appoint Us are happy to announce that we raised £579.80 for UCHW Breast Cancer Unit.

Thank you to everyone who took part and helped us to achieve this. Special thanks to our staff for their input. Winner of the Pink Bubby for the nearest guess is Tina Sharman. Well done Tina!

A reminder that our first prize raffle prize has noy yet been claimed….Green ticket 8. If unclaimed by 30th November it will be re raffled at a future event.

We are submitting a team for  the 5km Jingle Jog to raise funds for the breast cancer unit at UCHW. 10.30am Ryton Pools 6th December. If you would like to join our team entry is £8 including your Santa outfit.  Please contact us. We would love to have you on board.

The December Cafe will be on Tuesday 1st December from 10.00am-12.00pm  With our tea and coffee we will have festive cakes such as stollen and mince pies

We have Elsa The Singing Princess joining us to sing Christmas songs and Carols and our Therapeutic Arts staff will be making crackers. Look forward to seeing you there.

By the end of today, we should have a Dementia Cafe page on our website. You will find here details of forthcoming events at the Cafe as well as uploads from previous events.
We would love to see the cafe grow and more people at future Cafe events so please share the information to Carers of people with Dementia.

Appoint Us will be collecting Advent Calenders in November to donate to Coventry and Warwickshire Foodbanks. If you would like to donate any please drop them off to our office or give us a call and we will collect locally. Thank you for your support

Our Pet Therapy and Therapeutic Arts Department had a lovely time making Halloween fun for a local Dementia Care Home. Emma and Kirsten had spent time  with residents making Halloween things and helping them decorate their cafe with a Haloween theme. Lewi and Boo then visited on Saturday all dressed up for Halloween. The teams are now working on Christmas themes.

If you know a care home or person that may benefit from our therapy services please see our webpage on “Therapeutic Services” or give us a call on 02476214420

https://www.appointusservices.co.uk/services/therapeutic-services/

PiNK RAFFLE

PINK BUCKET OF PINK FOOD    Green 8 Ticket Hemmings

BOTTLE OF PINK FIZZ       Yellow 80 Lizzie Caswell

BOTTLE OF PINK NON ALCOHOLIC DRINK Pink 165 Manda Penna

CHILDRENS STATIONARY TUB White 26 G Cutts

HARRODS TEA COSY White 95 Ian Leoni

BRACELET  White 5 Millie

TURKISH DELIGHT & SCRATCH CARD Yellow 88 Mark Spriggs

GIFT BAG Pink 253  Steve 4 Roads

TIN OF BISCUITS  Pink 45 Anna

TARRAMUNDI POT White 27 Sue Savoury

AERIAL TOPPER Green 42 Adele Number three Cafe

BASKETBALL GAME  Pink 182 Add Tecosim

MUG OF CHOCOLATE X 2 White 10 Tracie Yellow 24 James Morton

LADIES PAMPER TUB White 12 Donna

GIRLS PAMPER AND FUN TUB 145 Pink Barbara

PINK BUCKET OF PINK HOUSEHOLD ITEMS White 67 Chris Iprado

WASH AND WAX Pink 195 Ashley M Tech

CUPCAKE HOLDER 59 Pink Tracie

NECK CUSHION Green 7 Hemming

MASK Yellow 106 Beverley

JINGLE BALL Pink 135 Barbara

PINK AA/AAA BATTERIES 9 White Tracie

PINK SMARTIES Yellow 77 Kirsten

PINK SCISSORS White 24 Tracie

PINK MILLIONS Pink 211 M Tech Dave Williams

PINK LOLLIES White 132 Becki Earl

PINK CANDY CANES White 110 Dean Leoni

WINE 162 Pink Manda Penna

MILK BOTTLE MALLOWS Yellow 98 Peter Colledge

BATH SET Green 36 Barry Godiva

PINK DRINK Green 27 Pauline number three café

WINE Green 29 Harpee Hunter

AVON BASKET Yellow 74 Nathaniel Cleaver

MILK TRAY Pink 15 Karen

PINK WATCH Yellow 101 James Weaver

MAKE UP BAG Pink 19 Andrea Finn

GUESS THE SWEETS

JAR 1   G VIPOND GUESS 52 ANSWER 53

JAR 2  SHELLACA NICALA GUESS 52 ANSWER 55

JAR 3  D TAYLOR  GUESS 250 ANSWER 256

Do you think there is a crisis in mental health services in the UK? Reports say that 58,000 people were detained under The Mental Health Act in the year to March 2015 – an increase of 10%

Can our Mental Health Team do anything to help? The attached link is interesting reading. What are your thoughts?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-34613957

We are all very excited and counting down to the Dementia Cafe opening on 3rd November and have lots of ideas to share. On 3rd November we will have our Therapeutic Arts department in attendance along with Boo the Therapony.  We are hoping in December to have a Disney Princess in attendance to sing Christmas songs and carols.

We would like to thank John and Martin at The Minstrel Boy for giving us the room and tea and coffee and  their ongoing support to The Alzheimer Society. Thank you to Stoke Bakery in Coventry for donating the cakes for the November opening.

If you have any ideas for the Cafe, want to be considered as a Guest Speaker, want to donate cakes/cookies/biscuits, want to volunteer as a musician or want to make a donation to keep the Cafe going or to help in any way we would love to hear from you. Please complete the online form or phone us on 02476214420 or email us on info@appointusservices.co.uk

We are still seeking  volunteer musicians to be able to play late 50s early 60s music at our Coventry Dementia Cafe for about half an hour once a month. can you help or do you know someone that can? Or if you want to volunteer to staff the cafe… Please contact us on 02476214420. Thanks everyone!

This week is National Hate Crime Awareness week.

Prevention of Hate Crime is something all of us at Appoint Us are passionate about.

This case is local to us ……..Read Sue’s moving story about how this affected her family. We must all do something about preventing any hate crime from happening to anyone.
Sue and her family have done some amazing work at raising the profile on the subject.

Say NO to hate crime.

https://www.warwickshire.police.uk/article/13512/Sues-story

Our Therapeutic Arts Department have been embracing the change in season to Autumn by Creating Autumn Art Work.  The Group work Emma is doing is going particularly well. If you know of a hospital, Care home, Dementia unit, School etc that might like some group sessions please share our contact details

Whoo hoo! We have a stand at Expo at Warwickshire Exhibition Centre Fosse Way Leamington Spa CV31 1XN. The exhibition is on from 10.00am-15.00pm and has over 100 stands and exhibitors. Come along and have a wander around and meet some great people. We will have information on all of our services and on our forthcoming Dementia Cafe.

Our “Pink Raffle” tickets will be available and we now have over 25 great prizes.

http://www.cwexpo.co.uk/

We now have over 25 Pink Raffle Prizes for our “Go Pink” Day on 25th October 2015. ALL funds raised will go to UCHW Breast Cancer Unit and will be used to benefit people who access the Coventry Ward.

If you would like a ticket or wish to make a donation please contact us by email on info@appointusservices.co.uk or telephone 0247621442 or call into our offices.

Prizes include a hamper of pink food, pink bubbly, pink drinks, pink watch, pink stationary basket, pink ladies treat basket, pink tarramundi pot and many more

Please help us to support this worthwhile cause   http://www.uhcwcharity.org/events/go-pink

Appoint Us Services and The Minstrel Boy in Allesley Park are pleased to announce the opening on 3rd November 2015 of our

Dementia Cafe

 The Cafe will initially run once a month on the first Tuesday of the month from 10.00am – 12.00pm  The cafe is open to all those with Dementia, their families and carers.

Admission is free and tea, coffee and cakes will be provided. Any donations will be used to keep the cafe running.

We will have activities such as  Therapeutic Arts, Pet Therapy and Music and will have Guest speakers.  

If there is anything you would like to see the cafe provide to offer support to people with Dementia or their families or carers please tell us.

If you would like to offer support or volunteer please contact Appoint Us

Appoint Us would like to thank:

The Minstrel Boy for providing the venue, tea and coffee and support for the cafe

Stoke Bakery for providing the cakes for the opening event

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD…THIS CANNOT  WORK WITHOUT SUPPORT

Appoint Us Services are having a “Go Pink” Day to raise funds for UCHW Breast Cancer unit.  www.uhcwcharity.org  #gopink

Our staff will all be wearing pink and encouraging other companies in our office building to do the same.

We will be providing pink cakes, snacks and drinks for our office building colleagues in return for a donation. We will also be having a pink raffle.

You can help by donating pink raffle prizes, buying tickets or just giving a donation. For more information or to talk to us about how you can help please call us on 02476214420 or talk to us on facebook or twitter

Here at Appoint Us we understand the needs of social networking to get our message out and get involved with our local community. You can help us spread the message by connecting with us on social networks and sharing our information with your friends and family and encouraging them to be social as well.

TWITTER

Appoint Us are now on Twitter ( https://twitter.com/appoint_us )

It would be great to have some Twitter followers!

LINKED IN

We have also created a company “Linked In” Page (  https://www.linkedin.com/company/10184008?trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Acompany%2CclickedEntityId%3A10184008%2Cidx%3A1-1-1%2CtarId%3A1442504044042%2Ctas%3Aappoint%20us%20services)

WEBSITE NEWS

We have been taught by Renaissance-Creative to update our webpage so look out for regularly updated news items, forthcoming events.

We want to create a FAQ page . Does any one have any thoughts on useful topics we could cover?

Appoint Us and Minstrel Boy are still working hard on the set up of the Dementia Cafe. We have been sponsored by Renaissance for the flyers (Thank you Renaissance) and so are in the midst of designing them.

We are hoping to start up in October or November so watch our news page or Facebook page for further information.

Please let us know if you have any ideas or know a musician who may do some volunteer work.

Exciting News… Appoint Us Services are pleased to link with John and Martin from Minstrel Boy in Allesley Coventry to work towards opening a Dementia Café for the people of Allesley and surrounding areas.

We will have our Therapeutic Staff in attendance delivering Therapuetic Arts and Pet Therapy and hope to offer live music and other activities. Minstrel Boy are providing the venue and tea & coffee.

If you are a musician or would like to help in another way and can offer an hour or two free to support this cause and would like to work with us please contact us.

If you have any other ideas please share them. We can be contacted on our normal telephone numbers or on facebook or by email.

Please share this information.

Come and join in the fun and see Appoint Us at the Mi Life Fun day on Saturday 22nd August. Special appearance of “Boo” the baby pony from 1:00pm.

Appoint Us will be at Sport in The Park on Friday 7th August and Saturday 8th August with two of our Pet Therapy dogs. Saturday 8th August also sees the debut appearance of Boo our baby pony. Come along and support the event, say hello and find out more about Appoint Us Services.

Today our staff at Appoint Us had “Dementia Friends” training, and we are pleased to announce that all of our staff are now “Dementia Friends”.

With the launch of the online car tax system we can help with access to this ensuring that your car is taxed.