Threshold customer's fishing club, appropriately known as 'Gone Fishing' has this week been named as a runner up in the Acorn Awards, a national competition for projects that use nature to enhance and improve the lives of those people who may be vulnerable or socially excluded.  The group which operates in Oldham has been running for 18 months and was established through the creativity, passion and energy of one of the housing support workers and two of Threshold's customers.  They had the idea of using fishing as a model for self help which would also help to develop new skills and new relationships, create a sense of purpose and belonging and develop health and well-being.

Through this drive and commitment, Gone Fishing started in 2010 and the project was launched with the support of key partners, Oldham East District Partnership's Community Chest, Oldham Community Leisure and Alexandra Park.  Since then, the group have met every month to fish and spend the day learning about their environment, building their confidence, learning new skills and meeting new people.  The project has also now developed it's own steering committee and now has a number of volunteer marshalls who act as mentors for group members, many of whom have never fished before and they offer guidance on how to prepare equipment, give tips about how to fish safely and effectively and importantly to celebrate and respect the surroundings and environment. 

One of the Fishing marshalls says "I love being outdoors and fishing is my hobby.  What I now know is that others also share my passion.  These sessions have been great and I've met some brilliant people.  We often have difficult lives and it's great to meet others and share experiences.  We learn all sorts of things and it helps to keep us all focussed. I am proud to be involved and I'm now running the sessions and it's great that I can share my hobby and my love of fish with other people.  I've learned so much through Gone Fishing, not only about fish and fishing but most importantly about myself"

Earlier this year, the project was given further support through a Homeless Link sports bursary and they said of the project that they were "happy to support ‘Gone Fishing’ as it had a proven track record of engaging and inspiring people. It demonstrably allowed the project’s direction to be customer led through their Steering Committee and ensured participation impacted on additional outcomes relating to employability and engagement."

Steve Goslyn, Threshold's Chief Executive says on receiving news of the award

"Threshold is delighted that this project has received this deserved recognition.  We are very proud of this project and those people involved.  Threshold is keen to develop more imaginative ways of engaging with customers and in this case, fishing was the hook!!  National evidence shows that angling is a fantastic way of engaging, relaxing and improving behaviour and the way this project has developed has exceeded our initial expectations."

Gone Fishing has plans to develop further in 2012 with more marshalls, links to other training and the expansion to other sites both in Oldham and in neighbouring areas.

Gone Fishing is always looking for support and if anyone would like to offer support or sponsorship, please contact neilthomas@thp.org.uk

Children in Need Interview November 2011

Threshold Customers Benefit from Innovative Partnership with Iceland

Residents in supported housing in Tameside have reaped the benefits of an innovative partnership between Threshold, an organisation which provides support and services to homeless and vulnerable people, and leading retailer Iceland.

Threshold facilitated a team-building day for Iceland’s area management team at Westbrook, which provides accommodation for young mothers and single young women in Stalybridge, Tameside.

Teams of managers from Iceland had to complete three tasks in an ‘Apprentice’ style challenge.  They had to redecorate the communal lounge and revamp the garden to develop a sensory garden.

The teams worked to a brief developed by Westbrook residents, who also assessed the teams on their leadership, team work and practical skills.   At the end of the day, the teams had to present to a panel of Threshold staff and customers on what they had learned and why they should win.

The teams were also supported by expert mentors from New Charter Housing Trust Group and St Peters' Partnerships with extensive professional decorating and gardening experience. 

As well as their work on the day, Iceland staff and customers had raised funds in support of Westbrook through store collections and staff initiatives, which included one member of staff singing outside one of the stores one Saturday morning.

Graham Cooper from Iceland said "As a team we all had a fantastic day and everyone was so happy to see that work and effort put in was appreciated  by the people live and work at  Westbrook.  The team were delighted to be part of the community and give something back, we hope the work will go some way to helping everyone enjoying the space that we were able to help improve. It has been great to work with everyone in Threshold"

Steve Goslyn, Chief Executive of Threshold said: "We’re delighted with the results of this project and very grateful to the Iceland staff.  It is the first time we have taken part in a project like this and it has been a great success.  Our staff have worked hard to carry on providing support to our customers in the face of challenging budget cuts across the board, and this was a creative response to bring in extra resources to the organisation.  We could not have made these improvements to Westbrook without the support of Iceland.”

One Westbrook resident said "I can't believe the difference this has made.  It makes it much more welcoming for people living in the scheme and those who will move into the scheme in the future.”

For further information please contact Andrew Atherton on 0161 785 9426 or at AndrewAtherton@thp.org.uk.

Notes to editors

Threshold actively works with homeless and vulnerable people to support them to achieve greater independence and improved wellbeing .  We believe that everyone has the ability to continue learning and  to achieve greater things in life

Threshold is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee.

New Charter formed in 1999 as the new landlords to own and manage homes transferred from Tameside council in Greater Manchester. With a turnover of £90million a year and a workforce of 800, New Charter is one of the region’s largest registered providers of social housing, and is regulated by the Tenant Services Authority, a Government watchdog. By incorporating Gedling Homes and Aksa Homes the Group owns around 18,600 homes. It was named in the Sunday Times best 100 companies to work for in 2011.

St Peter’s Partnerships is an award winning, professional organisation. With over 25 years of experience we offer a wide range of services within the Public Sector throughout Tameside and its surrounding areas to which include industrial cleaning, painting and decorating, void clearances, grounds maintenance, environmental improvements and hard/soft landscaping all of which are delivered by fully trained staff who are aware of our customer’s expectations and our commitment to Health and Safety.

 

 

 

 

New Charter Housing Trust Group has formed a partnership with Threshold which will help strengthen the housing support network available for vulnerable people.

The Group, based in Greater Manchester, will now work with Threshold as part of a formal strategic alliance agreement.

Oldham-based Threshold provides housing support to those most in need and works with vulnerable people, including those who are homeless, to help them live independently.

Both companies are committed to helping these groups and the new arrangement means they will share services and resources to improve the way they do this.

Threshold will have access to New Charter’s corporate support and purchasing services which will improve services, create efficiencies and enable Threshold to be more competitive in its market.

Tony Powell, New Charter’s Executive Director for neighbourhoods said: "Threshold already does a lot of work with our tenants and we recognise that by having a formal partnership with them we can help each other to support more vulnerable people.

"We share the same values which are very important in a relationship like this and we hope that a joint approach will increase our presence in the market and secure a bright future for both organisations.”

Threshold Chief Executive Steve Goslyn said: "While we’ve been doing very well on our own, this partnership with New Charter has opened up many new and exciting opportunities for Threshold to grow and help more people.

"It’s a positive move for our charity which allows us to keep our own identity and independence, yet work towards the same goals.”

The possibility of Threshold joining the New Charter Group will be looked at in the future but, at this stage, neither organisation is bound to this commitment.

                                Pictured Tony and Steve signing the agreement

 

                        

 

Customers and staff recently celebrated success in winning a tender for the Oldham Floating Support service. The new service will commence on 1st November, 2011.

The contact was won by Aksa Housing Association on behalf of a partnership of locally based agencies . Threshold will manage the service with Turning Point bringing expertise in substance misuse and mental health.  A central point of referral to the service will be shared with First Choice Homes Oldham. 

Steve Goslyn, Threshold's Chief Executive stated:  "Customers were involved throughout in helping us prepare our bid. They helped shape a unique hub and self help approach to providing support to vulnerable people.  We are now looking forward to bringing everyone's expertise together to make the new service a great success"

                            

New era for housing related support  in Oldham as Threshold and Oldham Family Crisis Group join Forces

Threshold welcomes Oldham Family Crisis Group into its organisation today (Friday 18th March).  The merger will see them join forces to build a safe and secure future for their customers and staff. 

All  Oldham Family Crisis Group's and Threshold's women only services will be known as Threshold Women’s Services.    They will have the 24-hour staff refuge in Oldham at their heart.

Threshold will continue its work with homeless and vulnerable people to support them to become more independent and make a positive contribution to their communities.

Steve Goslyn, Chief Executive of Threshold, said: "We are delighted to welcome our colleagues from Oldham Family Crisis Group into the team here at Threshold.   Oldham Family Crisis Group is a well respected organisation in the town, with a long history that mirrors our own.  This merger makes sense, even without the current economic challenges.  We both offer support to vulnerable people at times of crisis in their lives, and help them to make positive changes.   By combining our expertise and resources, we can work even more effectively to help our respective customers.”

Jenny Taylor of Oldham Family Crisis Group, said: "Our main focus is always on the needs of the women and children affected by domestic abuse who come to us when they have nowhere else to turn.  We share the same vision for our service users as Threshold do for theirs.  We will be sharing our expertise gathered from over thirty  years on the frontline of family breakdown to help Threshold and Threshold Women’s Services go on to develop creative and innovative support  for our clients.”

                      

Pictured Annie Hopley, Threshold's Chair, and Corinne Copeland, OFCG's Chair, marking the occasion.

 

 

 

Nine members of staff from Threshold and DePaul UK slept rough outside the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Thursday 3rd March from 7pm to 7am to raise both awareness of rough sleeping and also money for young peoples starter packs to help them to sustain new tenancies.

We are absolutely blown away both by the amount of money raised, which currently stands at around £700 with more to come and also by the amount of support they received on the night through the twitter page but more so with people giving up their valuable time to go along to see them. 

 During the night they had visits from lots of people who took along food and drinks to keep them warm

We were particularly delighted to have two Threshold customers, Jessica Covell and Melissa Clare who came along to offer support to their support worker, Stephanie Cook.

We are delighted with the way the event went and it helps us to reflect why we do the work we do and in particular, helps us to empathize more with those people who sleep outside alone in freezing conditions for much more than one night.

We hope we have done a little bit to raise awareness through the publicity, the local press and radio.

We are planning on using the money raised to apply for match funding for the project so watch this space.

A big thank you to everybody who sponsored us and for your support on the night.

              

Threshold has been striving to improve ways of working with their key partners - in particular the registered social landlords of our schemes. 

Threshold has been working closely with The Regenda Group, who are one of our landlords for many of our accommodation based services including Shepley House, Spring Street, Stamford Villa and Westbrook to improve the services to our shared customers in the schemes. 

The Regenda Group is a leading independent North West housing and regeneration organisation managing 13,000 homes for rent and sale across the North West. 

In February, Regenda Landscapes carried out some tree work to Stamford Villa in Audenshaw which was looking a little overgrown.  Regenda Landscapes used it as an opportunity to develop their team's skills by carrying out a variety of work including tree felling, tree lopping, bush trimming and mulching. 

 Darrell Rogers from Regenda Landscapes said 'We are delighted to be improving our working relationship with our partners.  It's also been a great experience for the team, reinforcing and developing their skills and, by working with different groups it really helps us to understand how we can work together to improve our services.'

Diane Baxter from Threshold said "The scheme looks so much brighter and we've had some great feedback from our customers.  It's been a really positive project between the two organisations and has really benefited the area as well as the scheme".

SLEEPING OUT UNDER THE STARS                   

Threshold and DePaul UK, representing the Oldham Young Peoples Homelessness Prevention Group, are to participate in a fundraising event, Inside Out, to support National Poverty & Homelessness Action Week. 

About Threshold:

Threshold provides a wide range of supported housing, floating support and other services to homeless and vulnerable people.  Our services are places of change where we work to help people to achieve their individual goals at their own pace in their own communities.  We enable our customers to become more independent and to make a positive contribution to the communities in which they live, whilst working in partnership with others to deliver a choice of excellent opportunities for homeless and vulnerable people.

About DePaul UK:

DePaul UK helps young people who are homeless, vulnerable and disadvantaged.  They protect young people by finding them a place to call home.  They prevent young people becoming homeless by rebuilding family relationships and offering 'through the gate' support to young offenders.  They provide young people with the chance to fulfil their potential through education, volunteering and training.

About Inside Out:

Eight members of staff from Threshold and DePaul have volunteered to sleep rough outside the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Oldham on Thursday 3 March 2011 from 7.00 p.m. to 7.00 a.m. 

Threshold and DePaul are representing agencies who work locally to prevent and relieve homelessness for young people.  The aim of the sponsored sleep out is raise funds and awareness about homelessness prevention.

All donations received will be used to set up starter packs for young people when they move into their own tenancies.

To make a donation click on the 'help us' button at the top of the screen.  There you will find a 'donate' button where secure donations can be made via Paypal.  Please indicate that your donation is for Inside Out.

Should you require further information, please contact Jason McKenna on email jasonmckenna@thp.org.uk

 WE HOPE THAT YOU ARE ABLE TO HELP THIS WORTHWHILE EVENT

 

100 stakeholders, staff and customers were invited to an end of year event at Threshold's central office in Oldham.  The idea of the event was to celebrate the continued contribution that Threshold makes to meeting the needs of the most vulnerable, to thank stakeholders for their support and to explore new and innovative ideas for the future.  Our guests left personal gifts to us as ideas written on cards on our Christmas tree.

Annie Hopley, Threshold's Chair stated:  "The networking evening was a great success. Ideas were flowing and we'd like to thank everyone for entering in to the spirit of the evening and leaving thoughts as gifts. We will consider them all and keep everyone informed about how we will take the ideas forward".  

Pictured is Steve Goslyn, Threshold's Director reviewing the contributions.