NewsletterSpring 2020

Inside this issue:

Page 2 – Café report

Page 4 – Events

Page 6 – Courses & Groups

Page 7 – Thank yousTSB Charity Partnership

Over the past two years, TSB Midsomer Norton have been working extremely hard to support SWALLOW. We were the branch’s chosen Local Charity Partner back in 2017 and since then all the staff and customers have raised money through various events including cake sales, raffles, a race night at Mardons Social Club and have also volunteered at several SWALLOW events.

On Tuesday 21st January, we were presented with a cheque for an amazing £3,500 at the SWALLOW Community Café. This is a fantastic sum of money and will help us to employ more people with learning disabilities as well as fund our employment support co-ordinator who helps our members gain work.

Thank you to the Team at TSB, from everyone at SWALLOW.

Evaluation Day 2020Members, parents and carers and staff of SWALLOW came together on Thursday 5th March 2020 at Paulton Rovers Football club for our Annual Evaluation Day. The aim of the day is to make plans for future services, review events from the past year and to ask members what more could SWALLOW do.

Attendees enjoyed a joint creative art project which produced some amazing artwork and from this, ideas flowed and suggestions were made. In the afternoon, SWALLOW members in different groups presented their achievements and goals for 2020. Feedback from the day will be compiled into a report which will be circulated soon.

Thank you to everyone who attended the event, a lot of hard work went into the day and we are looking forward to another great year at SWALLOW.

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Cafe Update

We had a very successful, busy Christmas period in December with the Café fully booked every day of the festive period. The trainees enjoyed preparing and serving some delicious dishes including turkey roast dinner, goats cheese tarts and lemon roulade.

On Tuesday 14th January, trainees and staff celebrated the Café’s success with a meal at Costello’s in Radstock. The trainees have all been working extremely hard and had been saving their tips since November.

The Café has now been running for 5 years and we started the New Year by thinking of new ideas to bring to the Café. During February Half Term, the Café ran a week of cupcake decorating classes. The hour long sessions were a perfect opportunity for kids to have fun and get creative. We have received such positive feedback we hope to run something very similar during the Easter holidays.

The Café team have been busy catering for lots of exciting outside events including providing a large buffet for 3SG at Komedia in Bath and several Birthdays and Christenings.

We are also looking forward to hosting the first Friends Cook Together Lunch on Sunday 29th March. The lunches will take place on the last Sunday of each month and will give members the opportunity to get together to cook and enjoy a healthy, nutritious lunch with friends.

Cafe

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Stratton on the Fosse Christmas Fayre 2019 Thank you to Rachel and Mike for organising the Christmas Fayre. It was a fantastic event and they raised over £2,000 for SWALLOW.

All members enjoyed working on the stall and talking to customers and promoting the work of SWALLOW.

SWALLOW shows the benefits of employing people with learning disabilitiesClaire, SWALLOW’s Employment Support Co-ordinator, has been working with Chris Bullock, the manager of Farmborough Community Shop, where one of our members has been volunteering since summer of 2019. Chris was shortlisted as one of three finalists for a National Award to recognise some of the most inspiring community businesses in the UK. All staff apart from the manager are local volunteers.

He reports that is has been a good learning process for his other volunteers seeing how competent our member, John T, is when at work in the shop. He is fully capable of carrying out all tasks he is asked to do.

He also reports that other people who volunteer there have really enjoyed working with John and have definitely got something very positive out of helping him to develop his skills. The whole team benefit from this experience.

Chris says “being inclusive makes any business more representative of the community. People generally prefer to buy goods and services from companies that include disabled people and people generally prefer to work (or volunteer) for organisations which are inclusive and accessible”.

We hope that this experience will inspire other local employers to offer opportunities, both paid and voluntary to our members.

Update from Employment support

Employment

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St Peter’s Christmas Carol ServiceChristmas seems so long ago now, but we would like to give a special thanks to St Peter’s Church Westfield and to everyone who attended our Christmas Carol Service back in December. It was a wonderful evening which raised £143 and we look forward to many more events at the Church.

Bath Christmas MarketOn Monday the 9th December, SWALLOW were given the opportunity to use the Bath Christmas Market Charity Chalet located at the top of Milsom Street. This was the first year we were lucky enough to attend and operate a stall to sell our Work Skills handmade craft products. The stall looked fantastic and we sold lots of cards, Christmas decorations and hanging mobiles. Many of our members also attended and everyone thoroughly enjoyed the Market atmosphere.

Thank you Bath Christmas Market for the opportunity to occupy the Charity Chalet for a day.

EventsBath City FCSWALLOW members were invited to Bath City FC as guests of the Citizens Advice Service at the launch of their new debt advice hub.

Bath Half UpdateWe are pleased to announce we have a full team of 21 including 2 members and 5 SWALLOW staff members. All our runners are training hard and we wish all the team the best of luck with their training and fundraising.

If you would like to show your support by sponsoring the team, then please visit our fundraising page www.justgiving.com/campaign/swallowbathhalf2020.

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Chilcompton RoadThank you to Business Volunteers and the volunteers from Royal London who spent a day transforming the garden in one of our supported housing units. Thank you so much for all your hard work on the day, the garden is looking fantastic. Our members were delighted with their new garden and cannot wait for the Summer.

OutreachFinlay recently enjoyed bowling and meal out in Bath with Support Worker Gill.

Lucy’s DonationLucy’s very kindly donated over 30cm of her hair to Little Princess Trust and was sent this certificate. Little Princess Trust provide real hair wigs to children and young people with hair loss, and fund vital research into childhood cancers.

Well done Lucy!

Base HouseResidents of Base House enjoyed an evening out watching all the floats at Midsomer Norton Carnival Night.

SWALLOW Members

Beauchamp PlaceHere is Lizzie on her recent trip abroad. Lizzie started her holiday in Lisbon and sailed over night to Madeira where they enjoyed watching dolphins. They then continued sailing towards Tenerife where their adventure ended.

Christmas ActivitiesOur Art and Horticulture Groups were extremely busy in the build-up to Christmas and in preparation for the Bath Christmas Market.

Everyone worked really hard and were so proud of their creations to take home for Christmas.

Orchard Hall Cookery GroupOrchard Hall Cooking Group are enjoying an Around the World Cookery experience which started off by celebrating Chinese New Year, where they made Fanta chicken, Chow Mein and Spring Rolls! Everyone had a great time and there were lots of empty plates.

They have also welcomed two new members to the group with both members enjoying their first class making curry and samosas.

Orchard Hall has given the group more space to cook and allows more members to get involved in the cooking with a larger kitchen area!

Thank you to the Quartet Community Foundation for making this more possible.

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Courses & Groups

I enjoy coming to the cookery group. I like going shopping with staff. I like cooking pasta dishes and

corned beef hash. I have started staying for song birds afterwards and I am really enjoying it.

“ “ Boogie NightsSWALLOW members had a fantastic time at their Christmas party and all enjoyed the buffet and a boogie.

SongbirdsSongbirds group have now moved over to Orchard Hall on a Friday afternoon. Here are the group enjoying their last singing session at the SWALLOW Office.

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Quiz Night at the Centurion HotelA big thank you to everyone at DJS Wealth Adviser LLP who held a Quiz Night and raffle at the Centurion Hotel and raised £1,097. It was a fantastic evening which raised an amazing amount of money for SWALLOW.

The Power of FriendshipFriends are very important to SWALLOW, they allow us to do what we do and help those in most need.

Friends come in many different forms – friends who have given us raffle prizes which helped us to raise £1,671 in our Christmas raffle – thank you to all those who supported us this way – Trevor Osborne, Mulberry, Lyndsay Vaughan. Friends who offered help and support when the café was vandalised.

We also value the Friends of SWALLOW Group – those who make regular gifts to our work. This scheme was launched in July 2018 and almost £3,000 has been raised which makes a huge difference. It means we can subsidise our activities to make them affordable and it means we can help people who have nowhere else to go.

If you would like to know more about how to become a Friend of SWALLOW, please contact Nicky on nickyt@swallowcharity.org.

Thank Yous

Thank you to Connaught Freemasons who donated £220 following the Café break in.

Jan and Di from the Dunkerton WI recently visited the SWALLOW office to hand over a cheque for £200. Thank you for all your fundraising efforts and very kind donation.

Chairman Geoff Fuller from Westfield Parish Council has used his Chair’s Allowance to give out grants to local organisations. Thank you so much for the very kind donation of £200.

Thank you to Midsomer Norton Methodist Church for raising £300 at your Community Carol Concert in December.

Here are Elaine Seviour, David Seviour and Lisa Thorne, from DJS handing over the cheque at the SWALLOW Office.

SWALLOWThe Old Engine HouseOld Pit RoadWestfield

BA3 4BQ01761414034info@swallowcharity.orgwww.swallowcharity.orgReg Charity No: 1045893Company No: 3034328Donate to SWALLOW via our Just Giving Page: www.justgiving.com/swallow

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Dates for your DiarySunday 29th March – Friends Cook Together Lunch at the SWALLOW Community Café

Saturday 18th April – Afternoon Tea in aid of SWALLOW at Westfield Trinity Methodist Church 3pm-5pm

Saturday 2nd May – Mendip Male Voice Choir Concert at St Nicholas Church, Radstock

Saturday 16th May – Zumbathon at Chilcompton Village Hall

• We said a sad farewell to Mel who left SWALLOW to start as a Health Care Assistant. You will be missed by all at SWALLOW.

• Kath Cox has now taken over from Mel as Finance Assistant.

• Goodbye and good luck to Liam and Sylvia who have now left SWALLOW.

Thank you to TPM for their support of our printed newsletters.

Thank Yous On 3rd January, SWALLOW was presented with a cheque for £362 from Waitrose Wells. The money received was as a result of customers choosing us through the green token scheme. Thank you to all who voted for us.

Thank you to Jones Food Solutions who donated lots of food and household items for our members at Christmas.

Midsomer Norton Townswomen – Thank you for your kind donation of £100.

Thank you to Sunbeams playgroup in Radstock who raised £161 at a recent cake and coffee morning.

Thank you to Tabor Free Methodist Church for raising £105 for SWALLOW at their Harvest Thanksgiving service.

Staff News

SWALLOW SupportsCompassionate Communities is a local movement to enable people in need to easily access local support and as a result of our work, more people will get the help they need and residents, students and businesses will be motivated to take action.

Find out more: www.3sg.org.uk