Threshold's new fishing club, appropriately known as 'Gone Fishing' started this week with thanks to funding from Oldham East District Partnership's Community Chest,: and through the support of Oldham Community Leisure and Alexandra Park.
The first group went to Alexandra Park and had a great time. The project intends to use fishing as a positive way of engaging with Threshold customers providing a positive, diversionary activity for customers. National evidence shows that angling is a fantastic way of relaxing and improving behaviour and this first session proved no different. Many of the group had never fished before and were shown how to prepare their equipment and given tips about how to fish safely and effectively. Here's what some of the budding anglers said 'I will definitely be fishing again, with or without staff, in the future. I loved it' 'I certainly learned a lot' 'It was like a different world. I felt so peaceful and relaxed' 'It gave me chance to think about me' The programme, which will run over the next three months, is the brain child of Stephen Rowley, Housing Support Worker at Spring Street who said, 'the first session was fantastic and the number of nominations for future sessions has blown me away. I'm just glad everyone enjoyed it so much and got so much from it' For the record, the group managed to catch 7 fish on their first trip
The first group went to Alexandra Park and had a great time. The project intends to use fishing as a positive way of engaging with Threshold customers providing a positive, diversionary activity for customers. National evidence shows that angling is a fantastic way of relaxing and improving behaviour and this first session proved no different.
Many of the group had never fished before and were shown how to prepare their equipment and given tips about how to fish safely and effectively. Here's what some of the budding anglers said 'I will definitely be fishing again, with or without staff, in the future. I loved it' 'I certainly learned a lot' 'It was like a different world. I felt so peaceful and relaxed' 'It gave me chance to think about me' The programme, which will run over the next three months, is the brain child of Stephen Rowley, Housing Support Worker at Spring Street who said, 'the first session was fantastic and the number of nominations for future sessions has blown me away. I'm just glad everyone enjoyed it so much and got so much from it' For the record, the group managed to catch 7 fish on their first trip
Many of the group had never fished before and were shown how to prepare their equipment and given tips about how to fish safely and effectively. Here's what some of the budding anglers said
'I will definitely be fishing again, with or without staff, in the future. I loved it' 'I certainly learned a lot' 'It was like a different world. I felt so peaceful and relaxed' 'It gave me chance to think about me' The programme, which will run over the next three months, is the brain child of Stephen Rowley, Housing Support Worker at Spring Street who said, 'the first session was fantastic and the number of nominations for future sessions has blown me away. I'm just glad everyone enjoyed it so much and got so much from it' For the record, the group managed to catch 7 fish on their first trip
'I will definitely be fishing again, with or without staff, in the future. I loved it'
'I certainly learned a lot' 'It was like a different world. I felt so peaceful and relaxed' 'It gave me chance to think about me' The programme, which will run over the next three months, is the brain child of Stephen Rowley, Housing Support Worker at Spring Street who said, 'the first session was fantastic and the number of nominations for future sessions has blown me away. I'm just glad everyone enjoyed it so much and got so much from it' For the record, the group managed to catch 7 fish on their first trip
'I certainly learned a lot'
'It was like a different world. I felt so peaceful and relaxed' 'It gave me chance to think about me' The programme, which will run over the next three months, is the brain child of Stephen Rowley, Housing Support Worker at Spring Street who said, 'the first session was fantastic and the number of nominations for future sessions has blown me away. I'm just glad everyone enjoyed it so much and got so much from it' For the record, the group managed to catch 7 fish on their first trip
'It was like a different world. I felt so peaceful and relaxed'
'It gave me chance to think about me' The programme, which will run over the next three months, is the brain child of Stephen Rowley, Housing Support Worker at Spring Street who said, 'the first session was fantastic and the number of nominations for future sessions has blown me away. I'm just glad everyone enjoyed it so much and got so much from it' For the record, the group managed to catch 7 fish on their first trip
'It gave me chance to think about me'
The programme, which will run over the next three months, is the brain child of Stephen Rowley, Housing Support Worker at Spring Street who said, 'the first session was fantastic and the number of nominations for future sessions has blown me away. I'm just glad everyone enjoyed it so much and got so much from it' For the record, the group managed to catch 7 fish on their first trip
The programme, which will run over the next three months, is the brain child of Stephen Rowley, Housing Support Worker at Spring Street who said,
'the first session was fantastic and the number of nominations for future sessions has blown me away. I'm just glad everyone enjoyed it so much and got so much from it'
For the record, the group managed to catch 7 fish on their first trip
Central Support services hosted a Strawberry Tea event on Friday 6 August to raise funds for Breast Cancer Care.
Guests were treated to lots of strawberry themed goodies including delicious home made strawberry and cream cakes made by Maggie Mellor - yummy!
We held two quizzes, the Strawberry Tea quiz and guess the number of hundreds and thousands. Congratulations to Lee Wilds who won both quizzes.
Guests also had the chance to purchase organically grown vegetables from Steve Goslyn's allotment.
Over £60 was raised for Breast Cancer Care.
A big thank you to everybody who came along.
I'm James, I'm a resident in a supported housing service and I'd like to tell you about a careers day I helped to plan. On Friday 2nd July, Threshold hosted a careers day at Napier Street East. This was attended by various organisations such as Police, Army, Fire Service, V-involved, Oldham College and Highways 2 Opportunities.
It was a fun day for all those who attended with the added bonus of a variety of food that was on offer provided by Threshold. The event was open to the community as well as supported housing tenants from across Oldham.
The purpose of this event was to give people advice on careers, volunteering and training opportunities.
Personally for me this gave me the opportunity to learn about the special Police service which I have now signed up for. When I first arrived at the scheme I had no interest in my future and no goals in life. Now the team have helped me to look ahead. The future now looks bright and I cant wait! James T Kelly
Personally for me this gave me the opportunity to learn about the special Police service which I have now signed up for. When I first arrived at the scheme I had no interest in my future and no goals in life. Now the team have helped me to look ahead. The future now looks bright and I cant wait!
James T Kelly
Friday 11 June saw the start of the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa. The tournament was watched by billions of people around the world.
Thanks to the creativity of the staff and residents at Spring Street, Threshold have opened their very own 'world cup zone' in the communal lounge. The 'zone' celebrated all 32 countries competing in the tournament and contained flags from the world, iconic pictures from previous world cups, facts about the competing countries including national dishes and fun facts about the nations and, of course a big screen T.V.
Housing support worker, Stuart McNair said 'the world cup was a great way of engaging with our customers and to learn more and celebrate some of the diverse range of cultures we have within our services'
The 'zone' featured in four of the group stage matches and customers from across services and the wider community were invited to come along. The first group match to be featured was the opening game - South Africa versus Mexico. Before the match, residents at Spring Street devised and prepared a 'traditional' Mexican meal which was enjoyed by all those who came along.
Each of the feature matches gave the opportunity to sample popular dishes from the countries playing - see below.
At half time at each of the games, we hosted our very own 'half time team talks' where we covered a range of topics including diversity, customer involvement and sexual health awareness.
Threshold proudly celebrated the world cup and our 'world cup zone' was a huge hit throughout the football month and we event managed to have it as a vuvuzela free zone!
>> World Cup Food
Since the start of the Garden Project at Spring Street, we have had a high interest in how to grow your own vegetables and a number of customers have been involved in planting from seed and also pre-grown and more established vegetables have been planted which are thriving. Customers have been coached and asked questions on how to use the vegetables we are currently producing in every day dishes to form part of a healthier diet and a guide book is being produced to further assist customers to maintain the project themselves. Andrew Atherton, Services Manager, has plans to incorporate the food produced into the Learn2Cook project.
We are currently producing turnips, spinach, carrots, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, cabbage and a number of herbs including sweet marjoram, coriander and parsley. We are also growing Lolo Rosso lettuce that Mark has sampled in a salad he made and said; "Its really crunchy and fresh".
Spring Street customer Mark Leasley said; "Its great watching the vegetables grow and you get a proud sense of achievement when you eat them"
Mark and other customers have been looking after the garden making sure it is watered and weeded on a regular basis and the added sunshine we have had recently has helped the vegetables along a treat.
Threshold shone at Manchester Shine
On Saturday 17th April, Manchester hosted it's first ever 'Shine'. Shine is a night walk which raises awareness and money for Cancer research UK.
Threshold was well represented at the event with 10 members of staff (Abigail Birch, Neil Thomas, Janet Nadin, Jason McKenna, Andrew Atherton, Amanda Peacock, Stuart Warburton, Helen Smith, Helen Robinson and Helen McCreave) completing the walk along with Lee Rigby of Safety2Business and various friends and family members joining the 7,500 competitors.
The competitors had the chance to walk either a half or full marathon both of which covered some of the great landmarks in Manchester and started and finished at Manchester Central.
They arrived at Manchester Central on Saturday evening and enjoyed the pre-race build up which included a high energy warm up, live entertainment. Participants were reminded of the importance of the event with some very real stories of how cancer affects so many and the bravery of so many people. The race itself started at 10.00 p.m. and the walkers were sent on their way by Dennis Law, the former Manchester City and Manchester United star, himself a cancer survivor which made it fitting and inspiring and it was also derby day!
The walk took a little time to get going as it was a real cram and for the first 6 or 7 miles it seemed like walkers were in the biggest queue ever!!. Once they got into their stride it seemed to get moving and despite the pain, blisters, aches, exhaustion and watching other participants fall by the wayside, they all managed to complete the race which was a fantastic achievement.
Between the staff, they have raised around £1,500 towards the overall Shine target of £1 million which will make a difference to cancer treatment.
They all have a fantastic sense of achievement and sound in the thought that they have made a contribution to this fantastic cause.
Well done to all those who Shone and a special big thank you to all those who supported and sponsored those taking part. Together we will beat cancer.
During a support session at Stamford Villa, Jason Walker, customer, suggested that staff and customers take part in the Comic Relief fun run as he felt he would like to do something to help other people. This idea was received with enthusiasm and staff and customers quickly signed up for the event.
Everybody was excited when the post arrived containing the details of start times and numbers to be worn on the day. Ross Jamison had signed up to run 3 miles and Jason Walker to run one mile alongside staff, Jo Wells and Byron Stansfield.
On Sunday 14 March, the sun was shining and everybody was keen to go! Upon arriving at Spinningfields, Manchester the carnival atmosphere was great with people from all walks of life lining up to take part in the event. Ross said "he has never taken part in anything like it and was really glad he'd come". Jason was keen to get started as his intention was "to run as fast as he could".
Jason was the quickest to finish the run with Jo, Byron and Ross following. Ross had ran 3 miles and was proudly wearing his medal saying he was feeling great and wanted to do it again! Ross thanked staff for paying the entry fee in order for him to have the experience. Jason agreed saying "im buzzing that I managed to run that fast!"
A great day was had by all and a total of £65.00 was raised for a good
cause.
Many thanks to all that sponsored the team.
On Wednesday 17th March, Spring Street hosted a decorating master class for customers. The session was expertly delivered by New Charter Building Company and was done as part of the current redecoration project at the scheme.
The residents of Spring Street used their communal lounge as a working and training room and decorated the room under the expert eye of Steve Shilley and Anthony McMaster from New Charter Housing Trust.
New Charter's Steve Shilley said "it was a really enjoyable day and it really helped that the lads who came along really wanted to learn."
Anthony McMaster, an apprentice with New Charter encouraged the residents to "consider to develop the skills that you've learned through courses delivered at Manchester College."
All those who took part in the session received a certificate of attendance and were delighted with the results. Mark, one of the residents said "I've engaged in several programmes since moving into Spring Street and am really getting my life back on track. I really got a lot out of decorating our lounge, it was fun and exciting and, more importantly made me much more positive about myself. I've been inspired to do new things and am now even considering being a painter and decorator, which I'd never even thought about before"
As part of the ongoing promotion and cross borough networking, the GMOP team took part in Bolton's Vision Spotlight Event. GMOP hosted a stand at the event and Sarah Cooke, Services Manager was a key note speaker. The event was a great successes and has raised GMOP's profile leading to a number of excellent contacts and referrals for the project.
GMOP are now working closely within the Probation Spotlight Teams cross borough expansion. As each new borough signs up to the strategy they will be made aware of GMOP and hopefully work closely with us.
On Wednesday 10th March, Threshold staff and customers attended the annual Get Active event which was held at Sports City, Manchester.
Stephen Rowley, Housing Support Worker and customers took part in rock climbing, basket ball, kick boxing and many other activities.
One of our customers said of the day, 'we had a great day, it will be great to do lots more activities like this'
Stephen also used the event to create lots of new contacts for Threshold and said 'It was a great opportunity for me and the customers to engage in different activities. We've already made plans to follow up the event'
Spring Street was visited today by Lorraine Regan and Kate McAlistair, who are part of a team carrying out a PSA 16 diagnostic visit in Oldham. PSA 16 is a Public Service Agreement which aims to increase the numbers of socially excluded people in stable accommodation, employment, eductaion and training. Lorraine and Kate spoke to residents, representative of our partner agencies, our Oldham Floating Support and the Greater Manchester Offenders service. Pictured are Lorraine and Kate with John Lloyd, staff member, and residents who had just completed a Learn2Cook, Cook2Learn session - with takeaway meals for our guests.
This week, New Charter's Central Neighbourhood office hosted and supported Learn 2 cook, Cook 2 learn for the first time in Tameside.
Learn 2 Cook, Cook 2 Learn is an initiative developed jointly by Threshold, Bjuiced and Inspiri which highlights cooking as a fun, practical learning experience and which provides a huge range of other benefits. Whilst learning how to cook, the delegates also learn a lot about themselves and focus on core transferable skills which are great for the employment market – budget management, project management, numeracy, literacy as well as developing confidence and improving self esteem.
The session, held on Wednesday 17th February, was carried out through support from the targeted support fund and in partnership with WISH and was very well received. One of the delegates said "I thought today was a very good experience, I really enjoyed it. I learnt to be confident and not to let things get me down and I also learned a few cooking techniques"
After the groups had cooked their meals, a 'master chef' style tasting was judged by Taff Jeffrey, a New Charter board member who said
"The food is really good. All the groups have worked incredibly hard and have worked really well together. It's been a successful day"
For more information about Learn2Cook, Cook2Learn, please don't hesitate to contact Andrew Atherton on andrewatherton@thp.org.uk.
From February 2010, the New Charter neighbourhood office in Dukinfield will be staffed once a week, on Wednesdays, by Threshold Floating Support staff. We will provide a drop in service for local residents, providing housing related support to existing customers, help with signposting to other services and identifying potential new referrals for ongoing floating support.
We will be running events over the coming months at the venue which will be devised and planned in consultation with our existing customers and those who visit the drop in service. These wil include such activities such as healthy eating and budgeting skills.
For more information, please contact the Floating Support team on 0161 301 2691.
An open event was held at our new offices at Aksa House on Wednesday 20 January which was a great success with lots of key agencies coming along to network informally. Representatives from Oldham, Stockport and Tameside Supporting People teams were amongst the guests . A special thank you to Jane Ibbotson and her colleague, Leza, who came along to carry out Reiki treatments which were enjoyed by many. Thank you to everyone who helped make the event a success.
The Threshold choir braved the elements on Oldham's snowiest day of the year to give three performances to the public. We performed twice at Sainsburys, with a lunchtime break and performance at the Salt Cellar cafe on Church Walk. A great time was had by all raising £65 to support future events. A special mention goes to Bonita and Helen for their Away- in- a- Manger duets, and for Neil, who braved the icy weather on crutches, to provide a fantastic bass support.
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Glamorgan Place held their Christmas party on 15 December 2009.
The party was arranged thanks to a donation from Chadderton & Failsworth Rotary Club who also provided a huge sack of presents for Santa to give to the children.
Stanley Road Children's Centre provided their function room free of charge which was very much appreciated.
The day was a huge success and mums and babies had a fantastic time, as did Gail and Lisa from the Glamorgan team.
Glamorgan Place staff and customers would like to say a special thank you to Father Christmas (aka Geoff Thompson), Diane Baxter and Neil Thomas for their support and contributions to a fantastic day.
Threshold staff from our Stockport Offenders Service (SOS) supported a fantastic event organised by Stockport Supporting People team to mark Supported Housing month. With stalls from all the main providers and other agencies, plus activities including community singing and aerobics, it was a fun event with important messages about the value of these services to over 4,000 people in Stockport. A brave Sandra, one of our customers, spoke movingly at the opening of the event about her experience of being supported by our service and the difference it has made to her life. Read her story by clicking The Zone/Our Stories
Pictured are three of our staff at the Threshold stand. Thanks to the Supporting People team for organising this inspiring occasion.
Threshold challenged Greater Manchester Police to mixed five a side football matches at Oldham Leisure centre today. A team comprising Threshold staff and customers played against a police team including Community Support Officers, who patrol the streets where some of our schemes are located. This was a great opportunity to develop community relationships and have fun at the same time. Rumour has it that the police team won by a narrow margin but by the end if the afternoon everyone had lost count of the exact score!
This occasion was run as one of a series of events across the region to mark Supported Housing Month raising the profile of the valuable contribution to communities played by supported housing schemes.
Threshold staff have made a significant contribution to rough sleeper counts in both boroughs. Results came in a zero in both cases, however staff regularly work with people who have spent occasional nights on the street, and others who "sofa surf" at friends homes or have lived in very insecure housing. Many thanks to Jannah Murphy, Sadie Ghaffar and Suzanne Harvey who took part in the Tameside count on 19 July, and to Mathew Noone and Stuart McNair who took part in Oldham's count on 22 October.
On Friday 10 October we finally closed the door on Steven House our Lees office, our administrative base for many years. We now have modern offices on the top floor of Aksa House, next door to First Choice Homes and close to many other agencies in Oldham who provide services to homeless and vulnerable people. Pictured is the final removal of our old Housing Project branded window sticker from Steven House , and some "windows" in to our new premises.
Threshold staff put on an exhibition stand at the recent Tameside Housing Advice centre open day. We were delighted to support this excellent event at the centre which will shortly host our new partnership service for offenders leaving prison and returning to Greater Manchester. Pictured from left to right are Lee Wilds, Services Manager, Neil Thomas, Service User Involvement Co-ordinator and Sana Riaz, Housing Support Worker from our BME floating support service.
The new Tameside-based Community Support Foundation has won a recent tender for a Greater Manchester Offenders service. Threshold, as part of the Community Support Foundation consortium, will run the service in partnership with New Charter’s Tameside Housing Advice service.
The service has been commissioned by all ten Greater Manchester local authorities, the Prison Service and the Probation Service.
Community Support Foundation offers a unique partnership model of a housing advice service and a housing support provider working together to meet the housing needs of offenders.
The service will be based at the Tameside Housing Options service. This will be the hub for all referrals for accommodation. It will be publicised widely to prisons discharging to the area, prisoners, all services and referral agencies working with prisoners who have a housing need; including prison housing advice services, and probation staff.
The service will be staffed by a Services Manager, two Housing Caseworkers and an Administrator.
Look out for the posts being advertised on our jobs pages shortly.
The weather did not dampen the spirits of customers, staff and guests at the recent Step On and Celebrate event which was held on Thursday 30 July.
The event celebrated the end of a series of service user coaching and learning events to recognise achievements over the past twelve months. Customers who have accessed training, education, voluntary work and secured employment where awarded with certificates.
Oldham Cricket Club kindly provided the venue and all who attended enjoyed an action packed afternoon with lots of fun activities such as Circus skills, Oldham Athletic and the Wii Fit, face painting, treasure hunt, photography workshop, juice bar, magician and a bouncy castle for the children.
Local Hip Hop artist D -Rydah gave up part of his afternoon to perform at the event and also handed out copies of his recently released CD.
Threshold Choir “Smooth Sounds” which is directed by Carol Donaldson, a musical director who works with the Oldham College, made their debut performance at the event.
Special guests included The Mayor and Mayoress of Oldham, Alan Hardy, Chief Executive of Oldham Athletic Football Club and Councillor John McCann.
A great afternoon was had by all.
Abigail Birch, Janet Nadin, Judy Hallam and Karen Jones from the Central Support team braved the pouring rain on Sunday 19 July to take part in Cancer Research Race for Life at Alexandra Park, Oldham. The team completed the 5K course despite heavy rain and extremely muddy conditions and have raised approximately £300 for a very worthy cause.
Here's to next year.
"I am homeless", I say it everyday, I wish these words would go away. All the time I walk down the streets, wishing there was someone I could meet who could see me and talk for a while - share a laugh, share a smile.
It's not my fault I am this way but I must fight to survive each day. For people look at me as if I am not there, they don't for the homeless, seem to care.
I walk all day and if I can, eat. I find somewhere to rest, sometimes on my feet. I try to see things as others might see, I'd love to live as others who are free.
And then one day my prayer came with hope, I found somewhere to live and now I can cope. I walk down the street with a step in my stride, I can do anything, I don't have to hide.
I still see my friends on the street, I am always going to smile and give them a greet. Because I am still one of them, it's fair to say, I'll always be their friend for everyday.
So next time you walk down the street, put out your hand and give them a greet then you will find and you will see, they are just like you, they are just like me.
Thanks Threshold
Threshold has been striving to improve ways of working with their key partners - in particular 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 day to day repairs within 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.
Threshold and Regenda are developing and implementing a range of new service protocols including new repairs, empty property standards and a programme of planned maintenance amongst other initiatives to improve the quality of the service received by Threshold service users.
As part of the development of the partnership, staff from Regenda’s shared service centre visited Threshold to give them an insight into the workings of our schemes and further developed the relationship between Threshold staff and service users and Regenda staff.
Nick Groom, Property Surveyor at The Regenda Group said ‘We are delighted to be improving our working relationship with Threshold and gain a much better understanding of how our businesses can work together to improve the service offered at our schemes.
The recent visits help to forge better working relations, strengthen each others understanding of the services which combined help to benefit the customer.”
Monday 22 June saw the final session of a six week self care skills programme held at Spring Street. This is the first time that the selfcare skills programme has been delivered with Threshold. The learning experience was shared with staff and customers and it proved to be a great success.
The self care skills training course has been developed by Oldham Community Health Services, part of NHS Oldham, and helps motivate and empower individuals to consider self care approaches they can use to improve their lifestyle, which will then lead to positive health behaviours.
The course is made up of six activities. Each activity introduces you to different self care methods and uses short activities and discussions to outlines relevant theories. The learning then enables each individual to make important changes to their health behaviours so that when they experience short term conditions, minor health problems or stressful situations, they have the confidence and skills to understand self care and when it is appropriate to use health and social care services.
Jason Bromley, from the NHS ran the course and he said
“We consider Self Care to be for everyone. This training gives people the skills to make informed choices around their own health and well being, as well as developing their ability to manage stress and become more empowered as individuals”.
Here’s what one of the delegates thought:
“It gave me a great insight into day to day self care skills which would normally be taken for granted”
Oldham’s festival of diversity runs annually and this year opens with the fantastic Mela in Oldham’s Alexandra Park on Sunday 12 July. The full programme of events runs for a month which then closes on Sunday 8 August with a ‘we made it’ event in Oldham town centre.
Threshold is very proud to be associated with this year’s event and our service users have been making kites and sled banners which will feature at the Mela on 12 July. Here are some of the service users making kite banners with artist Brian Redmond.
Later in the festival, Threshold’s service users will be showcasing their cooking skills developed through ‘Learn 2 cook, Cook 2 learn’ at the ‘we made it’ event where some of our fabulous home made soups will be on offer.
Watch this space for some more on our work with the festival.
For more information about the festival, go to www.festivalofdiversity.co.uk
Hi, my name is David. I arrived at Threshold's Spring Street mens hostel in June 2008 because I had nowhere to live and was homeless. The staff at Spring Street were really helpful especially Geoff, my Support Worker. He encouraged me to get involved with groups and meetings going on at Spring Street. I enjoyed the film night on a Wednesday and believe it or not, I didn't mind doing my chores such as vacuuming the lounge or tidying the kitchen after cooking something. I also took advantage of the facilities on offer and enjoyed the Army coming in giving a careers talk and advice on joining the Army.
I then was offered my own flat thanks to Geoff. He helped me to bid for properties and sent a support letter to the housing on my behalf. I was re-housed within 7 weeks which was fantastic.
I was then helped further by Threshold by my Floating Support Worker, Audrey, she helped me settle into my flat and helped me to get furniture. She also took me to the Honeywell Centre and I enrolled at Work Solutions. They helped me to find a job and I am now in work full time and I feel normal again, it's great.
I suppose I have come full circle because not so long ago, only a few years ago, I had a career, I owned my own house but I lost it all through the drink. I ended up homeless and with nothing, I was at rock bottom.
I went to Threshold who helped me to sort my life out and through their help I now have my own place and a job.
All I can say is the only way is up now and thank you to everyone at Threshold for helping me get my life back on track.
Cheers!
David
Local rugby legend Barrie McDermott and Councillor John McCann presented certificates during Adult Learners Week to Spring Street residents marking the completion of a garden makeover. The residents transformed the rear of the building to creat vegetable plots, shrub beds and a barbeque area. The project was run in partnership with Regenda Landscapes who delivered training to enable three residents to gain a qualification in Managing a Garden Project.
Through our Stepping On project, we have been holding weekly cooking sessions with residents from across Oldham. The sessions run weekly and have a different twist each week. This weeks session took the form of a 'master chef' cookery competition with a difference. The participants were given a selection of donated tinned and fresh produce and herbs grown in our gardens and asked to present their signature dish to an expert panel of judges.
The standard and quality of the entries was fantastic, which made the judges decision very difficult.
Jamie, the eventual winner, is pictured with his dish; a chicken paella made with fresh vegetables, chilli and paprika. The judges were wowed with Jamie's entry which showed a real flair and fantastic understanding of flavours.
Here's to next week....
Threshold service users were active participants at today's Get Active Day which took place at Manchester's Sport City complex. The annual event organised by Homeless Link offers lots of sport taster opportunities for homeless people. A great day out was had by all.
The first round of matches in the community league were played on Wednesday 18 March at Failsworth soccer centre. The sun was shining and everyone played in the spirit that the league is intended. The league set up was completed by the new arrrivals from teams representing Aftercare and NACRO. Threshold currently top the league following the first round of matches - the other teams will be out to beat them next month! Service users from various schemes are interested in taking up the offer of free refereeing courses provided as a benefit of the community league. Matchday 2 will be taking place mid April so speak to your support worker if you are interested in getting involved. As the league progresses, we will be providing add on events to the league such as health advice, benefits and financial help, taster courses etc so come along and see if there is something for you to benefit from.
Please refer to The Zone for further information on league tables/fixtures.
Threshold was well represented at a Supporting People organised market place event for providers and referring agencies. The event took place on 16 March at Dukinfield Town Hall. Featured below, with Steve Goslyn, Threshold's Director, are John Hughes, Tameside Housing Strategy, and Andrea Puttnam, from Tameside Supporting People team. The second photo features members of staff together with service users.
Yesterday Threshold staff and service users participated in a virtual social enterpise consultation and information event at the Honeywell centre in Oldham. Around the theme of learning and cooking, delegates visited different corners of the venue acting as different elements of the proposed social enterprise. The ambitious proposal, which we are calling Threshold Life, has been submitted to the national Spark Challenge, set up to promote social enterprise in the homelessness sector. The full details are under wraps at present while we await the Spark bid announcements on Monday 16th March. You can find out more about the Spark Challenge, and find Threshold listed, by clicking on the link bel
http://www.sparkchallenge.org/2009_applicants.html
Latest update : We've not been selected as one of the 15 winning teams but have been invited to meet the consultants involved to develop our bid for a resubmission next year.
Oldham's lead member for Housing, Councillor John McCann, joined board members, staff and service users at the beginning of our sponsored walk to raise funds for National Poverty and Homelessness Action Week. The eleven mile walk was around Oldham, between our supported housing schemes and offices. This gave everyone the opportunity to visit each others' services and to experience what it's like to make your way on foot if you haven't got any spare cash for the bus fare.
Mid morning snacks were provided at Shepley House and Woodpark Court, with an excellent buffet provided at Spring Street on the last leg of the walk - just before a snow shower arrived. One of the weary walkers commented that "sandwiches have never tasted so good". The walk started and finished at Aksa House in Oldham town centre, soon to be the home of Threshold's new central office. The walk was postponed from the Action Week in February due to the really inclement weather. Today the sun shone and everyone had a great time. Many thanks to everyone who sponsored us. This is part of an annual set of events which includes Oldham Council and the Depaul Trust.
On Friday 6 February, Victor and Lee Wilds attended the Oldham ceremony for the Greater Manchester Sports Awards for 2008. The nomination was a result of Victor’s hard work and commitment which resulted in him gaining a place in the England homeless world cup team that travelled to Melbourne in December.
It was a fantastic evening which was held at Chadderton Town Hall, with guest speakers including the Mayor of Oldham, Welsh international Oldham Rugby League player, Paul Highton and others.
Victor was shortlisted in the Sports Achievement category along with over 20 other young people who excelled during 2008. The eventual winner was Jessica Lloyd who is hoping to be part of the Great Britain swimming team for the London 2012 Olympics, however, Victor was one of two others that were highly commended for their efforts and achievements.
Victor said “I had a great time and hope it helps other people in Threshold do something good with their lives”.
Victor received an invitation to attend a rugby league match between Oldham Roughyheads and Sheffield Eagles on the 22 February at Boundary Park. Victor will be invited onto the pitch at half time and presented to the crowd.
The North West trials for the 2009 Milan Homeless World Cup take place in early March. If you know any potential footballers who wish to take part please contact Lee Wilds on 07901 507698 for further information.
Threshold we are working in partnership with Regenda Landscapes to create not only a better garden space for residents at Spring Street, but also employment opportunities for those who take an interest in gardening as a career. Stuart McNair from Spring Street says "employability is an area that I feel we need to take seriously here at Threshold. If we continue to provide people with the right information and continue to work with people such as Steve Wardle who is running this particular course with Regenda, I feel we can achieve this for our service users if that's what they want ".
Threshold hosted an open day to showcase its Stepping On! programme on Wednesday 21st January at Voluntary Action Oldham, Manchester Chambers. Twelve organisations were represented at the event including; Connexions, Groundwork Trust, The Oldham College, Oldham Athletic Community Trust, Vinvolved, Enterprise Factory, Work Solutions, Shaw Trust, Inspiri, Bjuiced, Regenda and H2O.
One visitor wrote
'A well organised event, made many new contacts / referrals. I have attended many events of this nature but I must congratulate you as this was definitely one of the best. Also, I hope I can assist any of your clients if they have any questions on self-employment.'
