We are looking for new Trustees to join our existing board and work alongside our skilled, experienced, and talented leadership team to help steer the charity through a time of change, growth, and organisational development.
We want trustees who will share their skills and experience appropriately, through communication with staff and other trustees.
This is an opportunity to bring your knowledge and expertise to our management committee, to contribute to the direction of Midland Mencap and help in the board’s decision making.
We are looking for trustees with expertise in areas such as third sector, PR, fundraising, marketing, finance, management and law, although this is not vital. This is a great opportunity to gain experience at board level, to network and for personal and professional development.
Interested?
Download the Trustee Recruitment Pack.
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Listen to yesterday’s Sunny and Shay’s BBC WM show where Dave Rogers (Midland Mencap CEO), Paul Jones (Operations Manager for Family Carers Information Service) and Chris Proctor (Town Hall Symphony Hall) talk about the real impact Sunday’s event has for family Carers in Birmingham.
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text] [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Book your tickets for Sunday’s Families together at Christmas Concert here or call 0121 442 2944 for further details[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
Powering into Queen Alexandra College on ‘Superhero Day,’ I was impressed to see an assembly of young marvels engrossed in a variety of activities. Monitoring the scene from mid-point was Big Robot Head, an immense technological skull brought to life by staff and superkids in a display of fearless innovation. AbdAllah was getting busy with the Hulk and looking forward to some serious gym-time. Also on the menu was the development of some out-of-this-world ice cream.
“It’s nice for the young people to get used to different surroundings, beyond the Hub and Clifton Road,” said facilitator Shereen. “We can bring beanbags in from other venues and have a bit of a chillout room.” Shereen is a full-time primary school teacher who finds wonderment in her Midland Mencap role. “It’s an amazing job, meeting so many different young people, watching them explore new activities and try new things.”
The sun splashes golden light onto Harborne, and Emillie walks into the college grounds with her computer tablet. She sits on a bench and scrolls through her photos. Happy and animated, her dark hair shines. “Emillie has come on a bundle,” says supporter Claire. “She didn’t want anybody to be around her, or near her. She’s alright with the other young people now.” Not even notorious party pooper The Joker could steal the delight from Emillie’s heart. She’s found fun and she ain’t about to let go.
George walks through the college grounds for no better reason than to meet the heat and ensure the safety of the local populace. Half-term activity days at Mencap are always super fun. The options are vast. The young people can get active or they can relax and enjoy their colourful surroundings. All things considered, I’m mighty glad I flew in for today’s session.
-Tim Wright, Volunteer Reporter-
The Trustee Boards of both Midland Mencap and Birmingham Multi-Care are delighted to announce that the two organisations have agreed to work together with the acquisition of Birmingham Multi-Care Services by Midland Mencap.
Going forward, and prior to a full merger Birmingham Multi-Care Services will continue to operate as a subsidiary of Midland Mencap.
Chief Executive of Midland Mencap, Dave Rogers said “Ahead of the future merger of the two organisations we’re looking forward to working with colleagues at Birmingham Multi-Care to ensure the citizens and their families currently using Multi-Care support services benefit from the two organisations working together”.
For more information about Midland Mencap please visit our website home page.
On Saturday 23rd June the members of Coventry Mencap held a celebration party to reflect on decades of family carer activism in the city as they marked their merger with Midland Mencap. It was fitting that so many of the family carers were present who had campaigned and fought for theirs and their children’s rights in education, inclusion, and equality. Coventry Mencap will leave a lasting legacy, wonderfully captured in photographs, of a group of families who worked tirelessly for the inclusion of people with a learning disability in the wider community life of the city.
Martin Gallagher, Chair of Midland Mencap, took the opportunity in welcoming Coventry Mencap to Midland Mencap by saying “Coventry Mencap were one of the more active local groups in the West Midlands region, their work in providing leisure opportunities for people with a learning disability at the time”. One example of this is the long association with the Scouting movement and the opportunity every year to take part in the now legendary camps, packed with fun activities come rain or shine!
Martin went on to say “Though the world has changed the activities of Coventry Mencap provided the base for those changes, getting people with a learning disability out into the community, mixing with the community and been seen as part of the community”. These were sentiments echoed by Councillor Faye Abbott, Cabinet Lead for Social Care at Coventry Council, and by Tina Costello, CEO of Heart of England Community Foundation, both of whom have a long and very supportive relationship with Coventry Mencap. They both shared memories of working with Coventry Mencap to broaden opportunities for learning disabled citizens in the city and how they now look forward to working with Midland Mencap to do the same.
Brian Hinde, outgoing Chair of Coventry Mencap, delivered a very emotional and reflective speech charting the many successes of Coventry Mencap over the years, reasons for the merger with Midland Mencap and his hopes and aspirations for the future. Picking up on Brian’s evocative words Martin Gallagher added “This may seem as a moment of sadness for some people but I hope you won’t harbour that view for long as I like to see this as a rebirth and I hope that Coventry Mencap as is will want to work with us in the future to develop services and community activities that will extend the influence of the organisation throughout the city”.
In deciding to merge with Midland Mencap the Trustees at Coventry recognised that the world was changing rapidly and to ensure people with a learning disability in the city continued to have their voice heard merging with a larger organisation with paid staff who could work with all stakeholders in extending co-produced opportunities for people with a learning disability.
Martin picked this theme up in his closing comments “We need the members too, because parent carers and people with a learning disability who use services are the best people to consult when you’re developing services. Nobody is better placed to ask as to what they want than the person who’s receiving it, co-produced with the people and giving them something they want, it’s their life”.
The party was a wonderful occasion, perfectly bringing to a close the chapter written by the members of Coventry Mencap and turning the page to a very optimistic future as part of Midland Mencap. Martin’s final words applauded the work they did over 60 years of activism in Coventry, “It’s been a privilege to work with and support Coventry Mencap, with Brian, Jill and Clare. We had good fun and achieved some great work together”.
Congratulations to everyone involved with Coventry Mencap, lets now go forward together.
Midland Mencap is celebrating after being awarded £343,465 of National Lottery funding from Sport England to help low income families of children with Special Educational Need and/or Disabilities (SEND) in Birmingham get active with their children.
Four out of five primary school children do not get the recommended amount of daily exercise of 60 minutes a day, and are missing out on the benefits it brings. Children from low income families are most likely to do very little physical activity.
Midland Mencap’s ‘parkride’ family cycling project is one of the first projects to receive investment from a £40 million National Lottery funding pot that Sport England has dedicated to helping families get active together.
The fund is a key part of Sport England’s focus on helping young people have an enjoyable experience of sport and physical activity so they develop a positive attitude towards being active at an early age and continue being active in later life.
Sport England are funding organisations that help families get active together, because parents and close family members can have a big impact on children’s experiences. As well as giving children direct access to sporting opportunities, Sport England research shows that they are also significant role models in helping their children get active – because how a parent behaves impacts what a child sees as important.
Parents who are active themselves, and enjoy it, can encourage positive feelings about exercise and its value in their children. Yet many parents lack the skills or confidence to take part in sport with their children as they fear they cannot keep up. For example, if adults don’t know how to swim or lack confidence on a bike, this has a knock-on impact on the activities they feel they can do as a family and how much they encourage children to take part.
Each of the funded projects will work to address this by building adults’ confidence around getting active with their children, and by providing experiences for families that are enjoyable, convenient and low cost.
Midland Mencap understand that people can lead very busy lives so finding time to take part in activities together as a family can be a real challenge. For families of children with Special Educational Need and/or Disabilities (SEND) it can be even more difficult to find activities, events and things to do as a family.
1. The Chief Medical Officer recommends that children and young people do at least 60 minutes of moderate physical activity every day. Currently, just 23% of boys and 20% of girls meet the national recommended level of activity. 47% of children from the households with the lowest incomes do low levels of activity. Health Survey for England 2016: Children’s health information Sport England commissioned-research conducted by The Behavioural Architects 2017
‘parkride’ is a fun, free and flexible inclusive family cycling project that provides the whole family, regardless of need with the opportunity to enjoy cycling.
The project will be based at Midland Mencap’s Outdoor Learning Centre in Sutton Park, and will provide families access to a range of adapted and mainstreams bikes and specially designed routes.
Sport England’s Director of Children and Young People Jayne Molyneux said:
“It’s not right that four in five children don’t get enough exercise and are missing out on the health benefits it brings. Just by seeing their parents being active, children can be inspired to do the same, and if they have an enjoyable experience they’re far more likely to continue as an adult.
“Parents have many demands on their time, and often lack the confidence to get active with their children. That’s why Sport England is working hard to make getting active with your children an easy choice. With this new National Lottery funding, Midland Mencap will be able to provide families with access to a range of adapted and mainstream bikes to enjoy together for free.
Midland Mencap’s Head of Children, Young People and Community Services Edd Terrey said:
“We are thrilled to have received this National Lottery Funding to develop the ‘parkride’ cycling project. This funding will allow us to start breaking down some of the main barriers that can prohibit families of children with SEND from taking part in physical activities together”
For more information:
Email: parkride@midlandmencap.org.uk
Twitter: @ParkRideMM
Facebook: ParkrideUK
Website: www.parkride.co.uk
About Sport England
Sport England is a public body and invests up to £300 million National Lottery and government money each year in projects and programmes that help people get active and play sport.
It wants everyone in England, regardless of age, background, or level of ability, to feel able to engage in sport and physical activity. That’s why a lot of its work is specifically focused on helping people who do no, or very little, physical activity and groups who are typically less active – like women, disabled people and people on lower incomes.
About Midland Mencap
Midland Mencap is a charity which works and campaigns for accessible and inclusive services and a better quality of life for everyone with experience of learning disabilities and additional needs.
Our vision is a world where everybody is valued and included as active and equal citizens in their community regardless of need.
Over the weekend Sophie Thornhill and Helen Scott won gold and broke a world record at the Rio UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships! Read more about their success on the British Cycling website.
Read below how winning a Helen Scott signed shirt has inspired a young person at Midland Mencap “to ride her bike straight away”!
“As a volunteer for Midland Mencap I get to be involved in lots of great events and spend time with lovely people on a regular basis. It’s the most rewarding thing I do and just before Christmas I saw how it could also have an amazing effect on my ten-year-old daughter.
She came along with me to help out at the ‘Weoley Winterland’ event at the community hub. As well as assisting me with selling jewellery and bows to the many attendees she also enjoyed taking part in the activities and bought herself a raffle ticket.
This turned out to be one of the winning tickets and, being too shy herself, my daughter sent me to collect a prize for her. The one I chose was a cycling shirt signed by Gold Winning Paralympian Tandem Pilot, Helen Scott.
My daughter seemed confused about my choice (I think she had her eye on a box of chocolates!) but when explained what it was she became curious. As soon as we got home we looked up Helen Scott online and found out all about her achievements in tandem cycling in the Paralympics and the Commonwealth Games. My daughter became incredibly excited. She put the shirt on and announced she was going to ride her bike straight away.
Since then, she has told everyone how she won something very special in the raffle at Midland Mencap and she always wears her ‘Helen Scott Cycling Shirt’ for any sporting activity. She’s very proud of it and it’s clear that the story behind it has inspired her.
It goes to show that getting involved at Midland Mencap and the contribution of great role models, like Helen Scott, can make a real difference.”
In light of the Oxfam scandal Midland Mencap wishes to assure customers, funders, donors and the general public that we apply the highest standards with regard to both safeguarding and the supervision of our staff.
When incidents occur these are reported to the relevant agencies and are subject to full investigation. We remain vigilant and will always act when necessary to ensure safety and the highest service standards underpin our offer to those wishing to use our services
Learn more about the Oxfam controversy.
Midland Mencap are exceptionally proud to be partners of Inclusion International, Inclusion Europe and Mencap in delivering the 17th World Congress from the 30th May – 1st June 2018 in Birmingham.
The theme of the World Congress is Learn, Inspire, Lead and will be the largest gathering of self-advocates, families, friends and supporters, in the world. You can be there too at this truly global event, Join us and add your voice; share your experience, and be part of a movement for change. See you in Birmingham!
Why not come to this years World Congress? Click to learn more!
BREAKING NEWS:
Midland Mencap is delighted to confirm that the members of Coventry Mencap have voted unanimously to join with Midland Mencap.
This is an exciting time to be working together in Coventry with the city becoming City of Culture in 2021.
We will now start to consult with learning disabled citizens, family carers and new partners in Coventry as we seek to build on the legacy of Coventry Mencap. We will recruit experienced staff to support planned developments in the city as well as ensure existing community support groups continue.
We will officially takeover on the 25th March but are now working with our friends in Coventry to make sure the transition to Midland Mencap is as smooth as possible.
If you like more information please call 0121 442 2944