 On Friday 8th May one of our esteemed colleagues, Nicki Goble, reached a milestone in her time with the Aldingbourne Trust and she has now been with us for 20 years!
Through that time Nicki has seen some incredible changes in social care and has put her heart and soul into ensuring the people with learning disabilities are empowered to lead the lives that they want to lead, with fun and compassion around them. She has witnessed the progression of residential care within the Trust; being a key part of its transformation into the holistic, person-centred model which gives the people we support dignity and respect, as well as promoting independence and achieving dreams. “Nicki always worked hard to ensure the principles we live by at the Trust were embodied in our work together at our supported living services. She believes passionately that the people in our care lead rich and full lives and Nicki certainly role models this in her approach to life; keeping active, healthy and well, having fun and finding fulfilment. Nicki led from the front, being a staunch advocate for the health and well-being of her colleagues and those we support, she kept the conversations going about the latest in healthy eating and keeping fit enjoying walks in the countryside. I really hope Nicki is able to mark this milestone at the Trust in suitable style, in a socially distanced way of course.” Dave Wyatt “Having worked with Nicki for 3 and a bit years I would say I was always impressed with her ability to pursue what she believed to be right; not afraid to challenge those around her- even when those were delicate relationships to maintain like those with family if she believed it to be in the best interests of the people she was supporting. Nicki brought a lot of light and laughter to meetings and was always up for something social!” Lu Dash Congratulations Nicki, here’s to many more years with us!
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 Aldingbourne WorkAid and Impact Workability have joined together in partnership to provide an exciting re-vamped supported employment service. Fulfilling the latest Supported Employment contract from West Sussex County Council, WorkAid will continue supporting individuals with confirmed Learning Disability or Autism Spectrum Conditions, and Workability will continue to support individuals with Acquired Brain Injuries, Physical and Sensory Impairments and those who are carers.
One of the people Aldingbourne WorkAid supports, Brad, has been working as a cleaner in a supermarket in Chichester since February 2020. He has to get up at 4.30 in the morning in order to start his job at 5.30. He cleans the toilets, mops the floor and hoovers the offices upstairs. Brad loves his job . He says ‘it has helped me in different ways, I’ve learned new skills. I have to be flexible because my duties can change suddenly and I can be asked to do something different. I’ve also got used to getting up early but have to be really quiet so as not to wake my housemates”. Susanna, one of our Employment Consultants, asked Brad to explain how the Corona virus is affecting his work. He says he has continued to work and says the safety of himself and others is the number one priority. “We keep 2 metres apart but this is quite challenging especially now that more people are returning to work” When Brad returns from work to his house which he shares with 3 others he has his temperature taken. This is to make sure he does not have a high temperature which is one of the indications of Corona virus. For more information on our eligibility criteria and how to access our supported employment, please contact workaid@aldingbourne.org (01243 546035) or workability@impact-initiatives.org.uk (01903 730044)  The Aldingbourne Trust is a local charity that supports people with learning disabilities and/or autism to have the same opportunities as everyone else to live independent lives. At the Aldingbourne Country Centre one of our key enterprises is the Open Farm. The people we support are a much valued part of our team. They play a key role In keeping our animals happy and healthy as well as helping us to maintain high welfare standards.
From the moment they arrive in the morning they are ready to get stuck in. No job to small or to big and definitely no job to dirty! Our daily essentials consist of feeding all the animals, poo picking the fields, cleaning the bird houses, and cleaning the guinea pig huts. As well as this we also like to carry out regular health checks on each animals to ensure they are healthy as they can be. Many of the people we support enjoy doing this, they take great pride in knowing our animals are healthy because they have contributed to looking after them so well. A few even help us to administer medication when needed. Another part of their job includes the public. We run guinea pig handling sessions and alpaca feeding on a daily basis. The people we support love to teach the children about our animals and how they care for them. The farm isn’t just about cleaning up after our animals, they all enjoy human company. We often take the ponies down to the woods and the people we support take it in turns to lead them independently. Our farm members are passionate about all our animals and a few have formed a bond with them over time. Many of the people we support are also interested in the behaviour and training of our animals for example: James, who works on the farm on a Friday, has bonded with the ponies. Particularly Rupert. He adores James giving him a tail scratch and will occasionally let him sit down next to him while he is having a snooze. Josh , who works on the farm on a Friday, has bonded with our 3 muscovy ducks. When they first arrived they were frightened of people. Josh spent lots of time working with them to gain their trust. They will now eat out of his hand! Vicky, who works on the farm on a Tuesday and Friday, is helping us to train the donkeys. Tom and Jerry the donkeys are a bit cheeky and don’t like to walk on a lead. Vicky is helping us to teach them how behave in a positive way. Whilst the Aldingbourne Country Centre is currently closed, our animals are still a top priority! We are caring for them daily and spending extra time with them until they can see you all again. For more information about the Aldingbourne Trust or our Open Farm please visit www.aldingbournetrust.org  We’d love to introduce you to John Westlake! He’s one of the people we support at the Aldingbourne Trust through our WorkAid scheme, and in very exciting news he has been offered the chance to publish a poetry book that he has written.
John is a creative talent, and following guidance and encouragement from our WorkAid team – but really with very little prompting! – he wrote The Kaleidoscope of Dreams, a fabulous poetry book. Impressively, he has received offers from three publishing contracts! However, these all require a financial contribution from him, the minimum amount being £1700. This is a lot of money for one person to raise, so to get going, John has created a GoFundMe page in order to gain some help in raising the funds. The goal is to raise £1900 so that he can go the full way with the publishing contracts, or if £900 is raised, this will enable John to self-publish his book. It would be great to be able to support John to keep going on this writing adventure, if you would like to support him, visit his fundraising page at https://www.gofundme.com/f/new-author-seeking-to-launch-new-book Our award winning WorkAid scheme works both to find suitable work placements for adults with learning disabilities and / or autism and help employers to support and get the best from their new employee. The WorkAid team support individuals through a tailored programme designed to prepare them for the world of work and empower them through raising self-confidence, independence and self-esteem. The range of support offered is vast, including skills training, CV development and interview preparation, plus continued guidance and help for both the individual and employer throughout the start of their working journey. To find out more about WorkAid, read some of our success stories, and find out how your business could benefit, head to https://www.aldingbournetrust.org/workaid.html#/  The Digital Media Studio at the Aldingbourne Country Centre is a creative hub where adults with learning disabilties and/or autism are able to access digital technology and use it to design mugs, make digital artwork, short films and stop-motion animations. Members of the Digital Media Studio have been learning Photoshop skills recently. They have been using the software to make Guinea Pig name tags for our brilliant Open Farm. After a few lessons the Photoshoppers were able to make these name tags independently. They have also been using Photoshop to design greetings cards which we then sell in the ACC Gift Shop. The members use templates to create a wide range of cards for different special occasions which include, birthdays, Mother and Father's Day and Christmas amongst others. Our biggest sellers have been a range of cards using images designed by our brilliant Earthworks group members. The Earthworks members have made collages and pictures which we scan and make into cards. Earthworks have loved making them and watching them being made into printed cards. For more information about our Digital Media Studio visit their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/accdigitalmedia   Our MAKE enterprise in Fratton were overjoyed when the Fratton GoodGym group came to help them with a little project. Their customer toilet was looking very tired, so they came and helped one day by stripping and painting the room ready for it to be decorated.
GoodGym groups want to get fit by doing good. They are local groups of runners that combine regular exercise with helping within the local community. They help local residents with one off projects, the elderly who need a helping hand and local community projects like MAKE. The Team at MAKE were so grateful of the extra pairs of hands, they now have a blank canvas on their walls ready to get ideas from the people we support about how they can decorate it.
It gives parents and carers the perfect opportunity to have a little break and sit down, knowing that the kids are happily letting their imaginations run wild in this little play world. Will they hone their cooking skills in our play kitchen, or build a grand new fort with our building blocks?
You can visit our Quarry café for free, with plenty of parking on site, or let the excitement continue by getting a day pass to the Country Centre to enjoy a whole host of fun activities including the open farm, soft play for 0-5’s, mini golf, maze, and more!
I went down for a visit to the farm this morning to see who I’d choose to adopt. It was great fun going around and meeting all the animals, some were very friendly and inquisitive, others were more interested in their breakfast! Now normally goats are my farm favourites, but it was the pigs today that made me laugh out loud with their grunting and snuffling. I decided that I would like to adopt Horace the Kune Kune pig. He looked quite happy in his muddy home with his friend Rosemary – it looked like he had a big smile on his face!
I can't wait to receive my adoption package – most of all the chance to visit the farm again especially to meet Horace up close. I’d get the chance to feed him, give him his favourite tummy tickle, and have the opportunity to learn some interesting facts from our friendly farm staff. Also included in my adoption package is a personalised certificate, photo and a fact sheet on Horace, it’s a great way to get involved in the farm and learn more about all sorts of different animals. Plus, I will receive regular updates and photos on how Horace is doing throughout the year. For more information about joining me and adopting an animal visit www.aldingbournetrust.org/adoptananimal.html#/ Emma Lennon - Lancing
These items on display and available for purchase at our MAKE enterprise who support them in learning these important life skills. Matt and Lauren were proud to be showing their crafts skills at MAKE on their recent visit.
The students are now working towards ideas and designs for Mother’s Day by creating mood boards. They will then discuss which items they are able to make, source the materials they need to make them, decide on the prices and then display them to sell. As part of this project they are working towards raising money so that they can all enjoy a day out together at Chessington in the Summer. They have raised over £500 already towards their trip and will continue to have fun making items for Easter and the Summer.  On the 11th January the people we support at the Country Centre had a special visit from PCSO Caroline Wilson and PC Rachel Walsh, they came to give a talk about keeping safe and what the Police do to serve our community. The talk was organised by one of our Support Workers Tracey Ford, who wanted the people we support to understand the role of a Police officer so they would feel confident in asking for help if they ever needed it. Everyone really enjoyed the talk and a few people even had the opportunity to try on some police uniform, which also helped them feel more comfortable and confident around the police officers. They also brought a Police car with them so the people we support to look at and even had fun posing for a few photos with the two officers. |
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