Princes Trust Celebration Event
On
Thursday 17 December the Community Involvement Team were invited to the Princes
Trust Team 4 Celebration Event. Our invite to the celebration event followed
Team 4’s involvement in the Growing Health Allotment Project.
The
Princes Trust run a 12 week
personal development course for 16 to 25 year olds, offering
work experience, qualifications, practical skills, community project work
and a residential week. During the community project week
in October, Team 4 was a great help assisting with the clearance of our
Barlaston Allotment site (see previous Blog).
The
purpose of the event was to celebrate the success and achievements of the team
in front of friends, family, staff and partners. It was fantastic to see how
the each student was challenged during the 12 weeks through individual presentations.
One
male student, aged 19 was unemployed and spent most of his time searching for
jobs, but wasn’t getting any response. This led him to join the programme where
he the hoped to improve variety of personal skills. Throughout his presentation
he spoke about his enjoyment leading a team during the community project which
helped to build his confidence. He has been inspired to start his own gardening
business!!
So What?
Attending the Celebration Event was a great way to show our
support to the young students who volunteered their time on our Growing Health
Project. It was inspiring to hear individuals talk about their challenges and
positive experiences being involved in the programme!
More for your Money:
Every hour a volunteer gives is worth £10. Over the 2 weeks
the students volunteered approximately 780 hours of their time. This equates to
£7800 in total. As part of the programme the group also fundraised to help
purchase a sign for the allotment.
Cooking with left overs
On Thursday 3rd December we ran a ‘Cooking with
left overs’ batch cooking session at the Stafford Manor High School. It is that time of year when we stock up with
food for the Christmas party season; the only problem is we end up with lots of
uneaten food. The thing that we all
seem to have left over in abundance is turkey and there is a limit to how often
we want turkey and chips or turkey salad let alone turkey sandwiches with
pickles.
At this session we cooked a turkey casserole with the
addition of left over roast vegetables, the extra ingredients were an onion, an
eating apple, vegetable stock, flour, seasoning, honey as well as whole grain
mustard that are general store cupboard items.
The casserole can be eaten then or frozen for later. It is a tasty and healthy alternative to
turkey and chips!
So What:
Being inventive with left overs will help save money as well
as produce healthy, tasty family meals for little or no cost. Make this your New Years resolution to use
all the food you buy, not bin it!
More for your money:
In the UK alone around 7 million tonnes of food and drink
each year is thrown away. For an
average household this is equivalent to £470 a year rising to £700 for a family
with children. By improving habits like
menu planning, sticking to shopping lists and using up left overs or using
vegetables that are past their best in soup or stews you could save up to £60 a
month.
Feel Good Food - Using Christmas Leftovers
If you're stuck for inspirational ways to use up your leftover turkey why not try the turkey rissoles recipe, a great alternative to turkey sandwiches and turkey curry.s
Turkey Rissoles
400g roast turkey, diced small
50g breadcrumbs
Handful of finely chopped (stalk free) parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped thyme leaves
1 finely chopped garlic clove
1 large beaten egg
Plain flour for dusting
2 – 4 tablespoons of rapeseed/sunflower oil for frying
Salt and pepper to season
1.
Put the diced
turkey in a bowl with the breadcrumbs, herbs and garlic.
2.
Season with salt
and pepper and use your hands to mix together thoroughly.
3. Trickle the egg over the mixture and work this in so
that it binds everything together.
4. Divide the mixture up into 8 – 10 patties and
refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer.
5. Dust the rissoles with flour, heat the oil in a
frying pan and cook in batches for 4 – 5 minutes until piping hot and golden
brown.
6. Serve with a poached egg or salad.
Exciting new partnership with Support Staffordshire
January the 4th sees the first job club delivered in partnership with Support Staffordshire at the Innovation Centre at Stafford Library.
Expert help and advice from employment officers is available for all. Whether it is writing or adapting your CV, filling in application forms, basic IT or identifying your skills we can help.
Sessions take place every Monday 10-12, just turn up.
So what?
Support for those who may not have access to the internet at home or are new to job searching and online applications will be able to access help locally. Advice can be tailored to the individual attending job club.
More for your money:
By working in partnership with Support Staffordshire we are able to offer additional support to the community to improve peoples employability. This Partnership also offers volunteering opportunities that will improve individuals employability allowing them to reach their potential.
Coming Soon…Community Learning Programme 2016
On
Tuesday 15 December the Community Leaning Programme (CLP) celebrated its last
course of the year with the ever popular Christmas Crafts workshop. Customers
came along to enjoy the festivities and made their very own wreathe to take
home.
This year the programme has been a great success.
We have worked with new and existing partners to deliver over 60 courses in our
communities. This year 33 customers have achieved recognised qualifications and
2 customers are working towards completing an IT Skills, European Computer
Driving License Award. One single parent customer who attended an
accredited ‘Preparing to Working in Social Care’ course has recently gained
employment!
The aim of the programme is to offer SARH customers and people
living within our communities the chance to improve their opportunities. The
core focus of the programme is to develop and up skill customers through
effective, informal learning.
Looking
forward we will be changing the way we deliver the CLP. The 2016 programme will
run from April 2016 to April 2017 and will be largely focussed around tenancy
sustainment and supporting our customers into employment, volunteering or
training. The programme will have an exciting new look, different from the
traditional brochure style document that we have published in previous years.
….
So keep a look out in the New Year for the new CLP!
To
receive your free copy of the 2016 CLP please contact the Community Involvement
Team using the details below. You can also register your interest
through our Facebook page ‘Community
Learning Programme’.
So What?
The CLP empowers community
members to learn in a relaxed, friendly and informal setting.
More for your Money:
Courses on the CLP are FREE
to all customers and members of the local community. This means that the cost
barrier to learning is broken, therefore encouraging more people to try
something new.
What will you do differently in 2016?
It’s the time of year when most of us will make a New Year's
resolution - but only one in ten of us will achieve our goal.
Psychologists have found we're more likely to succeed if we
break our resolution into smaller goals that are specific, measurable and
time-based.
Some popular resolutions include:
• Improve physical well-being: eat
healthy food, lose weight, exercise more, eat better.
• Improve
career: get a job, perform better at current job, get a better job
• Improve education: training, get a better education, learn
something new (such as a foreign language or music) read more books
• Volunteer
to help others
If any of the above resolutions are something you have
considered we can help:
Improve your physical wellbeing - Attend the Feel Good Food Healthy You free six week course run by a qualified nutritionist so you are equipped with all the tools to make the right food choices for you and your family
Growing Health - Sign up for a free allotment plot in your neighbourhood where
you will get all the tools, seeds and information needed to start growing your
own fruit and vegetables. Not only will
you be getting free healthy food you will also be more active.
Sites include Barlaston, Stone and Blythe Bridge
Improve your employability with Job Club - Get support and guidance with CV writing, setting up a
Universal Job Match account, application forms, interview preparation and much
more.
Monday Stafford Library, Staffordshire Place 1 10-12
Wednesday and Friday 10-12 The Community Resource Centre, 56
Greyfriars Stafford St16 2RG
1:1 support for families and young people to improve employability - If you are looking for your first job or looking to get back into work after having a family Branching Out can help you by working 1:1 with a work buddy at times and venues to suit you.
Volunteering
Stafford and Rural homes has a range of volunteer
opportunities. Why not volunteer for a
Times top 100 company.
Volunteering is a great way to give something back to your community. Sharing and learning new skills and helping others can give you a great sense of achievement, enhanceyour CV and give you a reference for future jobs.
Stafford and Rural Homes are currently looking for volunteers for the following roles:
Tool Bank Assistant – to assist in the running of the Tool Bank hire shop on Highfields. Duties include signing up members, managing hire agreements and cash handling, all great skills to get you into customer service and retail jobs.
Branching Out Befriender – Volunteer as a work buddy in the Branching Out project, giving 1:1 support with CV writing, job searching, job applications, interview skills and support for those looking to get their first job or returning to work after having a family.
Feel Good Food – Pass on your cookery, budgeting and
nutrition skills to help families plan, shop and cook meals from scratch as
part of the Feel Good Food project.
Full training and support will be given in order to carry out the roles. If you are interested in any of the above opportunities, please complete a Volunteering Application Form and email it to cp@sarh.co.uk or send it to Community Involvement, The Rurals, 1 Parker Court, Staffordshire Technology Park, Beaconside, Stafford, ST18 0WP.
If you would like any help completing Volunteering Application Form or have any questions please call 0800 111 4554.
Remember when you are setting your new years resolutions you
are more likely to succeed if you follow Prof Wiseman's top 10 goal-setting tips:
• 1. Make
only one resolution. Your chances of success are greater when you channel
energy into changing just one aspect of your behaviour.
• 2. Don’t
wait until New Year’s Eve to think about your resolution and instead take some
time out a few days before and reflect upon what you really want to achieve.
• 3. Avoid
previous resolutions. Deciding to revisit a past resolution sets you up for
frustration and disappointment.
• 4. Don’t run
with the crowd and go with the usual resolutions. Instead think about what you
really want out of life.
• 5. Break
your goal into a series of steps, focusing on creating sub-goals that are
concrete, measurable and time-based.
• 6. Tell
your friends and family about your goals. You're more likely to get support and
want to avoid failure.
• 7.
Regularly remind yourself of the benefits associated with achieving your goals
by creating a checklist of how life would be better once you obtain your aim.
• 8. Give
yourself a small reward whenever you achieve a sub-goal, thus maintaining
motivation and a sense of progress.
• 9. Make
your plans and progress concrete by keeping a handwritten journal, completing a
computer spreadsheet or covering a notice board with graphs or pictures.
• 10. Expect
to revert to your old habits from time to time. Treat any failure as a
temporary setback rather than a reason to give up altogether.
Good luck
Dates for the diary
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
from the
Community Involvement Team
If you want any more information about any of the events that have already
happened or that are coming up in the future please do not hesitate to contact
us on:
cp@sarh.co.uk or call us on
0800 111 4554
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