In April, community coordinators Kay and Tess gave an online presentation to students from Queen Alexandra College , giving a talk about life after college. Students were able to watch the presentation on zoom and it was also streamed on youtube so that people all across Birmingham and potentially the world could see the opportunities and activities on offer to school leavers. We hope to see new people joining the adult community hub at our activities after September!

After a long covid-lockdown break, the Coventry Wayfarers group has started back in the centre of Coventry. To make sure we are still safe, the members have been welcomed back in groups of 5 each week. It’s been fantastic to see members come back to the session and a chance for covid-safe socialising after spending so much time away from each other. We hope to increase the group sizes even more in the coming weeks as the club gets up and running.

In May we sadly said goodbye to a much loved staff member and football coach Abdul Kenewa as he moves onto another career path. He has spent many years going the extra mile to support and engage citizens across our sporting activities and will be greatly missed by staff, players and families alike!

Luckily we have a brand new football coach – Isaac, who we have all welcomed to the team. He has already supported the team at the Birmingham Ability Counts League, which is a tournament of local disability football teams held once a month in Moseley. Join Isaac and the football team every Wednesday evening at training!

In May community coordinator Tess started a 3 week course for citizens – A Healthier Me.
Part funded by Mencap, citizens have been learning about the impact of different eating choices and what the differences are between being healthy and unhealthy. So far we have learned about the 5 food groups, portion sizes, what happens to the body when we make unhealthy food choices, oral hygiene, sugar, fats, healthy food swaps, shopping tips and food labels! A weekly 2 hour session includes one hour of learning and one hour of helping to prepare a healthy lunch or snack, such as chicken salads wraps, fruit salad and cous cous and roasted vegetables!

We hope to run the course again, so if you want to join us please get in touch to go on our waiting list! #ahealthierme

Group sizes at the Weoley Castle Community Centre are steadily increasing in line with Government guidelines – now hosting up to 10 people during seated and tabletop activities.Call us on 0121 427 6404 to see whats on and booking options!

We celebrated community coordinator Kay Franklins 60th birthday!

Our sailing and paddleboarding sessions have been enjoyed by a growing number of citizens and carers over the past few weeks. Join us on thursdays at Edgbaston Reservoir at the Midlands Sailing Club to try your hand on the water!

Want to get involved in our community activities?
Call 0121 427 6404 or email communityhub@midlandmencap.org.uk

Andrew has severe Autism and was not leaving his room. His Mother Glenys was very worried about him.

We met Andrew and created a relationship with him. We helped him created a CV for him and supported Andrew to do Volunteering at Moseley Private Park. This opportunity was so beneficial Andrew has really enjoyed going to the beautiful park where he is benefiting from the physical and mental health benefits and being in the fresh air. This has uplifted his spirits as he was feeling very depressed.

The Manager of Moseley Private Park Roweena greatly appreciates Andrew’s contribution she commented ‘ Andrew is such a hard worker and never misses a session it’s not just a token role to get the clients out of the house he loves the work and is now interacting with others. The Volunteers are currently laying down bark chippings from the dead trees which have been chopped down on the muddy paths making them safer to walk on.

Andrew’s Mom also saw how it had impacted her son by saying

“I am amazed that in less than a year you have encouraged and moved him on so far. Who would have imagined he would not only take part in his weekly volunteering at Moseley Park, but join a computer course and now even agree to attend the residential part of the course?! With his social anxiety, and being almost non-verbal and so wary with people, you have won his trust with your warmth and care.

I’m so happy at how he listens and responds to you, and I know he is encouraged and acts on your advice. I’m amazed that he will talk with you on his mobile, that is real proof of trust, as he usually only communicates via email or messages! Although he still feels anxious he has been able to overcome his fears with your support.

For me, you’ve moved a mountain! I was despairing and so worried about what will happen to Andrew when I’m not around to support him. I spend many a sleepless night wondering what to do, and you have eased that burden.
So, I want to say a huge thank you for all you are doing to help, support and encourage Andrew – and also me!”

Andrew’s confidence and motivation have greatly increased his Mum Glenys said the change in Andrew is unbelievable she cannot praise the support Andrew has received enough. Andrew has just applied to do the IT Users Level 3 Certificate at Fircroft College George Cadburys old home set in 8 acres. Andrew now wants to start work and believes the IT course will help him achieve this aspiration.

Want to get involved in the PURE project? Click here!

My name is Ashleigh Jones, and I’m the ‘Citizens Network Connector’ at Midland Mencap. I’d like to introduce a new project we’re working on alongside the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) and the Activity Alliance called ‘Include Me’, that I’d love you to be part of!

The aim of the project is ultimately to enable people with a disability or long term health condition to develop a lifelong enjoyment and participation of physical activity and sport in a way that is fully accessible and inclusive for them, regardless of age, ability level or additional needs.

As well as this, we also want to look at accessibility issues as a whole so we can help encourage the necessary changes that are needed in order to diminish the difficulties we have to face and endure on a daily basis due to limited accessibility.

For that reason, as part of the Include Me project, we have recently set up a Citizens Network, which is designed to be a user-led voice for people with a disability or long term health condition, as well as parents, carers and other family members or support to provide them a safe space to communicate their issues and concerns surrounding accessibility in their local area in a way that will be heard.

Becoming involved with the Citizens Network is the very first step in allowing us to unite and develop a louder voice to encourage the changes needed to make the West Midlands the best it can possibly be for accessibility, and what better time to start taking action than in the midst of a pandemic, when everyone is planning and preparing for a new normal? Let’s make that new normal more accessible for us together!

For more information about the project, and to find out how you can get involved, you can contact me at Ashleigh.Jones@midlandmencap.org.uk or call 07912 269035.

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What Benefits Are There to Volunteering?

Have you ever considered the benefits of volunteering? It can be a regular time slot in your week that allows you to develop new skills, connect with others and meet new people, and it can improve your mental health significantly. Plus, above all, it’s fun!
As Midland Mencap celebrates Volunteer Week, we’re sharing why you should become a volunteer!

Benefit 1: Connects with Others

Throughout Lockdown one area that many people struggled with is the issue of loneliness. By being unable to see friends and family, some people felt more alone. Now that restrictions are easing again, the opportunity to connect with people again can be offered.
By volunteering with an organisation or charity, you can meet new people and work on projects with them. Shared experiences are fantastic tools to build friendships with other volunteers and staff.
Jenny loves volunteering with us, at Midland Mencap. Find out more about her experience:

Benefit 2: Improves Mental Health

Volunteering can greatly improve your mental health. It can impact your self-confidence and esteem as you engage in new situations.
Having a regular slot to volunteer, potentially with the same time or task every week, for example, will give you a sense of purpose. Your focus can improve, as you work towards a specific goal in mind. Having a routine can reduce stress and anxiety, offering a calm, steady event in your social calendar.
In addition, volunteering can offer a chance to get outside and moving, which helps you stay physically active. From gardening to supporting large events such as Marathons or live sporting events, being a volunteer often means you’re on your feet and never standing still.

Benefit 3: Skill Development

Whether you’re in a job you’ve been in for years, or you are still in school or even are not employed at all, it is always worth developing your skills. Volunteering is the perfect opportunity to do this.
You can see the behind-the-scenes of projects and events, providing you with very valuable experiences. From going into the archive of a museum to working on projects for charities to handing out water bottles at live sporting events – all bring a unique skill set that you can learn and develop over time.

Often these skills are things that employers look for in interviews, too:

• Communication

• Organisation

• Being able to think on your feet in new situations

• Meeting new people regularly

Benefit 4: It’s Fun!

Overall, one of the best reasons to volunteer with a charity is because it is SUCH FUN!
You can dedicate a period of your life to doing something completely unique. You can make friends for life, from all over the country or even the world, just by spending some time volunteering!
Our volunteer, Noureen, says, “I am always enthusiastic to volunteer, and leave feeling like I’ve had a great evening!” Find out about her volunteering experience with Midland Mencap here:

If you would like to become a volunteer at Midland Mencap, you can enquire on our website. Or, you can visit Do It for more volunteering opportunities across the UK.

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To mark Mental Health Awareness Week, the team at Midland Mencap have rustled up our Top 5 Parks in the West Midlands. From beautiful parks and playgrounds, to riverside walks; the West Midlands has beautiful locations to give you the space to breathe, take a minute and enjoy all that nature has to offer.

1. Sutton Park

Located in Sutton Coldfield, Sutton Park is where the majority of our Parkride sessions happen. This large park has plenty of space to cycle, with children’s playgrounds and open fields to enjoy a leisurely stroll around.

From a visitor centre to a golf course, to seven different lakes, you are sure to have a relaxing day at Sutton Park. The centre offers toilets, baby changing facilities, a gift shop, interpretive displays and maps.

There are many different entrances to the park, increasing accessibility from across the area of Sutton Coldfield and wider Birmingham.

Join in with our Parkride sessions and visit Sutton Park!

2. Walsall Arboretum

Based in Walsall’s town centre, this park has a lot to offer! Reaching over 170 acres of land, there is plenty of wildlife and gardens to explore. There are also sport facilities, a mini golf activity and children play areas for a range ages.

Whether you enjoy fishing, walking, running or simply soaking up the sunny rays, Walsall Arboretum has so much to offer the West Midlands. You can even take a ride on pedalos or try out their free skate park.

Majority of the park is wheelchair accessible, and the pathways are flat, increasing ease for everyone.

3. Edgbaston Reservoir

IIf sailing or rowing are more up your street, Edgbaston Reservoir might be the park for you. You can also fish, if you apply for a permit.

With just under a 2-mile path around the reservoir, the area brings a sense of calmness located just outside Birmingham City Centre.

It can be accessed by foot or there is local parking nearby and is well-worth a visit during the summer.

4. Sandwell Valley Country Park

From farms, to parks, to playgrounds – Sandwell Valley Country Park has it all! Offering a fantastic experience for families, this area offers a huge range of activities to get involved with.

Enjoy the beautiful scenery whilst cycling through one of their many cycle routes throughout the park on either your own bike or you can choose to hire a selection of their bikes for a small fee.

If you have children from the ages of 5 – 13, their extensive playground allows children to run free in this brilliant area. Not only is there a sandpit and designated picnic area for families, but the playground also offers climbing nets, a rope bridge, an eight-metre-high tower with a slide, swings, a double zip wire, a dragon roundabout, a suspension bridge, a play tractor and trailer and timber sculptures, too.

In addition, there are weekly wellbeing and health walks available to book. They are a great way to boost your mental health and enjoy all that nature has to offer.

5. Coombe Abbey Park

Lastly, Coombe Abbey Park is based near Coventry, with 500 acres to explore. The park itself is home to Deer, with stunning lakeside walks available to wander along, too. From countryside to woodland, you’ll find a whole range of wildlife to watch and enjoy.

If you enjoy bird feeding, there are spots around the park that you can purchase bird feed from. Experience nature firsthand! There is also a small gift shop based in their Discovery Centre, where you can find all your accessibility information and interactive displays.

Children can enjoy the play area, too, but if you fancy something more on the adventurous side, the park offers axe-throwing, a zip line and a climbing forest!

Return of Adult Community Activities

We are very pleased to be able to share our road map for the start of re-opening our adult community services over spring and look forward to seeing old and new friends coming back. For more information call 0121 427 6404

Dry Ski Slope Skiing for adults!

We will be running a new skiing course in conjunction with Ackers Adventure Centre in Birmingham. Learn how to downhill ski and try a new sport! Dates and times to be confirmed, 6 week course £75 – Register your interest now! communityhub@midlandmencap.org.uk 0121 427 6404

‘A Healthier Me’

Take part in a new range of sessions designed to help you make healthy eating choices! Learn about different types of foods, nutrition and what makes a healthy varied diet. Work in group based learning across zoom, facebook, paper worksheets and physical food prep and cooking at our venues across the West Midlands.
Dates and times to be confirmed. Register your interest in this course now! communityhub@midlandmencap.org.uk 0121 427 6404

New kitchen at Weoley Castle Community Centre!

We’ve been busy during the most recent lockdown getting our kitchen refurbished ready for re-opening. This new modern kitchen will benefit our plans for more cooking and healthy eating courses, as well as continuing our work to support local families effected by food poverty and finally, our aspirations to develop a volunteer led community café!

Celebrating 1 year of online activities

We have recently celebrated 1 full year of our ‘Keeping In Touch’ promise we made to you all at the start of the first national lockdown. We want to say a big thank you to you for engaging with this and making this a truly amazing success story. In the past 52 weeks we have;

o Made 77,743 Safe and Well Calls
o Delivered 452,000 hours of Face to Face Support (This includes HCS, CYP and Adult community)
o Produced 750 Hours of online content
o Reaching over 2 million social media profiles
o Over 150,000 individuals that engaged with the content
o People viewed 260,300 minutes of content (or 4333 hours, or 180 days of viewing!)
o We sent 5067 Activity Packs sent out to people who couldn’t access online content.

We are looking forward to producing more fun content in year ahead! Keep watching our social media accounts for more online activities!

If working on your mental wellbeing is a goal and wish of yours in 2021, then a podcast might be best means for you.

Podcasts have become a fantastic tool for mental health in the last few years. From shows that make you laugh out loud (literally) to informative pieces, and even those that focus on meditation and mental health. There are a whole host of podcasts to choose from.

As 2021 gets going, we have listed our top 5 podcasts to help get your mind, health and wellbeing in check:

1. Sleep With Me: If you struggle to get to sleep, or stay asleep during the night, then Sleep With Me podcast is for you. Sit back, relax, and listen to the weird yet oh, so, wonderful bedtime stories narrated by the podcast team. Our rating: 5/5

2. The Happiness Lab: Take a journey with Dr. Laurie Santos and explore the science of Happiness. It’s a little more academic than the other podcasts on our list, but it is equally as fascinating. It’s especially fantastic for those who want to dig deeper into mental health and their own happiness. Our rating: 5/5

3. Radio Headspace: Inject a small dose of mindfulness to your morning with Radio Headspace. These short and sweet episodes are just what you need on your commute to work or school, allowing you to take that quick breather. Our rating: 3/5

4. NHS Coach to 5K: It may not get you fit quick, but this podcast will guide and coach you through the stages required to reach that goal of 5k. Plenty of motivation, excitement and hype, this podcast is a must for those wanting to push themselves physically and mentally in the new year. Our rating: 5/5

5. Fearn Cotton’s Happy Place: Fearn Cotton interviews a different person every episode, exploring mental health and wellbeing in a variety of ways. The beauty of her podcast is just how many different points of view and techniques people offer in terms of keeping your mental health as a priority in your life. Our rating: 4/5

Whether you listen to all of our suggestions or just one of them, we would love to hear your thoughts on social media. Follow Midland Mencap on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Hello To all my readers as you know due to the current situation we have found ourselves in I did not think the marathon was going ahead then I found out that a virtual London marathon was going ahead!

To be honest I knew it would be hard but for everyone who knows me after the struggles I have been through and it’s been tough! I had enough grit and determined inside of me with the amount of training I did and preparing for it. I was not going to walk away from this and giving up.

I was nervous having everyone in my Midland Mencap’s family and friends and other people I have to meet through hockey all believing in me was proof I had it inside of me with what has been a very tough year it would be an amazing achievement. To remember it would be the hardest and toughest challenge with help from my coach Jonathan and my guide runner Mark who was meant to be doing London together they were both committed to helping me run.

Also, Dan Floyd from Mencap gave his advice and leading up to it my run Adam Bone just by his phone calls really helped prepared me mentally and even if it rained it wouldn’t stop me my route was from roheath pavilion Pershore road then round cannon hill. Which is a beautiful park as my scenery.

So the day itself full of butterflies and excited so once I set off a nice slow pace it was going really well but there would be a technical problem with my phone which meant I had to break. But in doing so I was able to have a flapjack for energy sadly at that point I did lose my coach Jon. I was so greatful for his help on my first part of my journey! So it was up to me and Mark to finish it yes I was scared but through sheer grit I pushed through yes it took me eight hours before I finished me and my Guide runner Mark had meet not knowing each other wanted to finish.

This is as were a team and yes to my mum I’ll always be her legend those last few moments where I felt pain in my legs I wasn’t going to finish until the app said complete. Me, my mum and Mark all looked at each other and when it said complete we all jumped in the air!!

My journey had come this I had done my part as a Midland Mencap ambassador and shown what those with a disability can do I will continue to help those who need help and I am going to keep running and take on London and other marathons because there is nothing I can’t achieve so watch this space thank you for reading and with losing Honey that was really hard but I ran for her and I am never going to a dark place because she would want me to be happy.

Recently we ran a poetry competition on our social media, asking people to write about their experiences on ‘Coping with Covid-19’
We had a fantastic response and put up a shortlist of entries on Facebook for people to vote for their favourite poem.

And the winner is?………………………………………….. Kath Hyslop!

Kaths poem really touched people, and she managed to capture the thoughts and feelings of everyone being affected by the virus in the current climate.

She said that lockdown has been really difficult for her so she started to think about what has happened and how she looks forward to when it ends. She had lots of ideas, and with the help from Mum she got them down on paper and had fun making it rhyme! Kath had never entered a poem competition before so was really happy when she won, as she didn’t even think she would make the top 5! – Well done Kath!

Coping with COVID-19 – by Katharine Hyslop

Covid-19 where have you been?
Where did you come from?
We know you’re new on the scene so,
Just where have you been?
I wish you’d go back there.

You’ve come into my life like a thief in the night,
Taking everything from me that I enjoy!
Like sport and meeting with friends.
You really do annoy!

I hear on the news that you’ve taken lives
That really is so shocking
My heart is breaking for the folk who have lost their loved ones.
When lockdown is over it’ll be you that we’ll be blocking.

Because Covid-19, a vaccine is on its way
And when it arrives, you’ll be the thing that we’ll be mocking.
We’ll be chasing you back to the place you came from,
Wherever it was, on that dreadful day.

Dear colleagues, though everyone is working incredibly hard, and I thank you for everything that you are doing, this email is going out particularly to our frontline colleagues. I ask all of you to think of them, your colleagues are now working in unprecedented times and we must all hold them in our thoughts.

So to our frontline colleagues, I say this. These are the most demanding of times and you are working in the most difficult of circumstance providing care and support to our most vulnerable citizens. I want you to know that you are very much in mine and the rest of the SMT’s thoughts. Though the management team are remote working we are doing everything we can to support you and keep you supplied with the protective resources you need. The SMT are meeting twice daily by video conference to ensure we are responding to circumstances and Government directives.

I fully understand how difficult and worrying the pandemic is for everyone working on the frontline. You have already demonstrated remarkable resilience and fortitude and I want you to know that you have our full support and everything you are doing is appreciated beyond measure. I know that you are taking the best care of yourselves and following all directives and instructions. On behalf of everyone else at Midland Mencap and our Trustee Board and all of the citizens and families keep doing what you are doing, you really are the nations heroes. I’m immensely proud of you all and once we are through this we will find a way to thank you all properly!!

I will keep in touch with you as we go forward. Stay safe, stay strong and stay well……you are not forgotten

Bless you all

Dave Rogers, Midland Mencap CEO