FAMILY MATTERS
Winter, 2014
News from Home-Start Winchester and Districts
SUPPORT OUR SNOWFLAKE APPEAL
Wolvesey Palace in the snow is the
wintry subject for our first-ever
local Christmas card.
A new departure, the card has been
made possible by the kindness of local
printers Culverlands and Winchester
photographer Joe Low who donated the
iconic image. Cards will be available at
£4.50 for a pack of ten from the
Christmas Card Market in the Guildhall,
Discovery Centre, Lanterns Children’s
Centre and Joe’s shop in North Walls.
The card was launched to coincide with
the start of Home-Start UK’s national
Snowflake campaign, headed by TV
presenter Kirstie Allsopp, to highlight
the uniqueness and vulnerability of every
child supported by Home-Start.
The high profile campaign, sponsored by
clothing website Lands End, will run until
the end of January and we need everyone to come on board.
Local businesses might want to have a
collection box in reception; staff could
organise fund raising events. Schools
will be busy in the run up to Christmas
so January would be a great time to
have a Jeans Day; your club or society
could hold a coffee morning or pledge
the proceeds from a concert.
A Home-Start Mum said “He’d been
cheating on me - then I took him back
and he assaulted me. So now I’m on
my own with the kids and I admit it’s
stressful, but things are getting better
since Home-Start got involved. I’m
much calmer now and the children’s
behaviour is improving. My volunteer
started coming to me eight months ago
just before the baby was born. She’s a
fantastic woman with a real heart of
gold.”
Find out more at www.homestart.org.uk or call 01962 851177
and tell us what you can do to help.
NEW BOSS CALLS IN
The Chief Executive of Home-Start UK called in to Winchester to meet
with Home-Start in Hampshire chiefs and to meet local families, staff and
volunteers.
Rob Parkinson CEO of Home-Start UK gets to know mum Jenny and
two year old Jack over lunch in Winchester.
As part of a
UK-wide tour,
the charity’s
new boss plans
to visit every
one of our 300
local schemes
around the
country. The
purpose of his
tour is to get
to know the
grass roots of
the organisation and to lay
out his plans
for the future.
Cont. on page 2
Four year old Keziah and three year old Mia
show off our first Christmas card.
DATES FOR
YOUR DIARY
DOG WALK
Kilmeston Village Hall
Thursday 19th March 2015, 10.30am,
followed by soup and a ploughman’s
lunch. For more information and to
book your place at £10 contact Sue
Barham on 01962 851177 or email
[email protected].
TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Sponsored by IVC
Thursday 14th May 2015 at a court
near you followed by lunch at
Compton Tennis Club. For more
information and entry at £25, contact
Kerry Coleman on 07748 978652
or email [email protected].
Inside Quiz Fizzed - page 2 * Tough Mudders - page 3 * New Recruits - page 4
Inside
2
UK Boss Calls In continued..
“Home-Start has volunteers that work with families
with complex needs and we deliver a quantifiable difference,” says Rob. “Families are more confident as a
result of using Home-Start and people access more
services through us.”
“Other charities will get contracts, set up services
and then move out when contracts end. HomeStart remains a constant, we will not budge; we
are set up by communities for communities and
have been a permanent glue in communities. Last
year Home-Start supported its millionth child.”
GREEN FINGERS
Over one hundred keen gardeners flocked to
The Down House in Itchen Abbas to visit this
renowned garden to enjoy the vistas and planting
schemes and to meet garden owner Mark Porter
who patiently answered endless questions on the
finer points of potagers, rope walks, winter
gardens, vineyards and fountains.
Liz Cooper, Chairman of Home-Start in Hampshire,
was delighted with the visit, “We were very impressed
with the new man at the top and were reassured by his
vision for the future of this great charity and look
forward to working with him.”
QUIZ FIZZED
Our Quiz Inquisitor Mike Davies (pictured with
his lovely assistant Pauline) ran another brain
teaser for us in
October.
Over 140 guests
crammed into
Itchen Abbas
village hall to test
their little grey
cells and enjoy a
delicious supper
prepared by Jo
Tyler. The wine
was generously
sponsored by
Stone, Vine & Sun
and we raised
£2,000.
The winning team called The Unexpected, led by Gary
Carter, walked off with a Magnum of champagne and,
the star raffle prize of a week in a luxury villa in the
south of France, kindly donated by Cecile and Tony
Pryor, was won by Lucy Strachwitz.
Home-Start volunteers kept the tea and cakes coming in
September too when Sue Alexander threw open the
gates of The Hyde
in Old Alresford.
A former HomeStart volunteer,
Sue is retiring as a
National Gardens
Scheme coordinator and
after this season
will no longer
open her garden
to the public.
There’s nothing
she loves more
than welcoming visitors, answering questions and providing cuttings and seedlings from the garden.
“We are so grateful to Sue and to Mark and Jackie
Porter for allowing us the exclusive use of their
gardens to
help us to raise
funds, which
amounted to
over £1,100,”
said Events
Organiser Gill
Longman.
“It is a real
privilege to be
able to share
their green
spaces and to
marvel at their
expertise.”
3
WE CAN HELP
One of our experienced volunteers is to hold a
monthly surgery at our Monday family group.
A CAB advisor, he has valuable knowledge about
housing, legal and financial issues. He will be there to
listen and signpost and will explain to interested
parents the best routes to follow, possibly making
preliminary phone calls on their behalf. He will give
off site advice, acting as an enabler and we are offering
this as a trial service until Christmas.
MAYOR AT AGM
The Mayor of Winchester Cllr Eileen Berry called
in to our AGM to find out more about Home-Start.
TOUGH MUDDERS
Out in all
weathers
our fundraisers
made it
another
year to
remember.
David Flynn
(second left)
and his team
from Eulogy!
risked life and
limb to take
part in Tough Mudder, a hardcore 12 mile obstacle
race mud run event designed by British Special Forces.
They raised an incredible £4,000. Thank you guys!
Chairman Liz Cooper reported that Home-Start in
Hampshire had been much concerned by the end of the
County Council contract after five years of successful
service delivery, which represented a reduction in
statutory funding of around £8,000 per annum to HomeStart Winchester and Districts. She thanked Alison
Taylor who had stepped down as Chair of the Events
Group after a remarkable four years of fundraising, to be
replaced by Gill Longman.
Liz Stannard had proved to be an excellent addition to the
staff and the scheme had been able to support 56 families.
“We are concerned for the future of preventative work
with families who require support when they are struggling to cope with small children,” said Liz. In some cases,
if help is not given at this crucial stage in a family’s life, this
can escalate into a crisis, requiring the intervention of
children’s services. Early years support before a child
starts school can make all the difference to a child’s life
chances and Home-Start is all about giving a child the best
start in life. We are hopeful that the valuable service
offered by our schemes will be able to continue.”
The 29th annual Car Boot Sale in Bramdean had to be
postponed due to bad weather but we still managed to
raise £1,500. A big thank you to Caroline Stanley for
organising the event against all the odds.
Saintly sponsor Simon Brown with Jo Tyler, Gayle
Wilde, Jocelyn Jones and organiser Kerry Coleman.
Home-Start Winchester Chairman Liz Cooper (left) with the
Mayor, flanked by our Patrons Alison Wakeham (left) and
Sally Stewart.
Organised by Kerry Coleman, our popular Tennis
Tournament served up £4,000. Players enjoyed an
energetic morning of matches on courts in and around
Winchester, followed by a picnic lunch. Our generous
sponsor Simon Brown of IVC helped to boost the
coffers for another year.
4
COULD YOU BE A
TRUSTEE?
If you care about what happens to
vulnerable young families in this part of
Hampshire and have a few hours a week to
spare on a voluntary basis, then we would
love to hear from you.
FUN IN THE SUN
Our Fun Day this year was all about Health &
Fitness and we started the day with a Movers
and Groovers session to get us all in the mood.
If you have a background in health, education,
finance, fundraising, HR, governance or
business that would be even better.
For more information email
[email protected], visit
www.home-startwinchester.org.uk or
call 01962 851177.
NEW RECRUITS
The stalls had a healthy food theme with pizza decorating and everyone could make their favourite fruit
salads. We ended the
day with the entertainer
Crazy M who made the
children (and adults) cry
with laughter. Thank
you to Family Group
Worker Laura Malster
and her team.
Our annual visit to
Finkley Down Farm is
a firm favourite and this
year was no exception
with animals to pet and
feed, picnics and playtime for all.
Our newest batch of trained volunteers have
received their wings and started work with the
community’s most vulnerable families.
“They are a really vibrant group with many very relevant
life skills,” says Anne Macpherson Home-Start Coordinator “and, having successfully undertaken a
rigorous training course they are raring to go.”
All Home-Start volunteers must be parents themselves
and each volunteer has been carefully matched with their
first families. They will work with their family every week
over a six to twelve month period, supporting them in
their own home as they try to cope with mental health,
disability, multiple births, lack of parenting skills or some
of the many problems that can afflict a young family.
Young farmers seem to be getting younger all the time.
Home-Start Winchester and Districts, Lanterns Children’s Centre, Bereweeke Road, Winchester SO22 6AJ.
Tel: 01962 851177 email: [email protected] www.home-startwinchester.org.uk