Hello newsletter

Winter 2016 editionWe are a charity that helps people living with sight

loss and a range of other disabilities to achieve their ambitions and go beyond expectations.

Henshaws, 10 Duke Street, Liverpool L1 5ASPhone: 0151 708 7055 Visit:

henshaws.org.uk

ContentsPage 1 WelcomePage 2 Henshaws StoriesPage 3 Groups’ UpdatesPage 6 TimetablePage 8 Community Services NewsPage 11 Fundraising UpdatesPage 12 Other News, Services and Useful

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Hello and welcome to the winter 2016 edition of Henshaws ‘Hello’ NewsletterWe hope you had a wonderful Christmas break, and welcome to 2017! In this edition of ‘Hello’, you’ll read about the latest news and updates from our Community Services team, including our award winning ‘Pathway to Independence’ and new handy Life Hacks series. You can also find out what our Liverpool Friendship Matters groups have been up to over the last few months, including our children and families’ festive trip to Farmer Ted's Farm Park in December.

You’ll hear from Sylvia, who kindly shared her story on Charles Bonnet Syndrome in the magazine ‘Chat’, which is distributed to over 320,000 people UK wide, and did a fantastic job in raising the profile of a little-known condition.

We hope you enjoy reading our round off to 2016, and I look forward to sharing more of Henshaws’ news and stories with you throughout 2017.

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Robert Cooper, Director of Services, North West and North East

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Henshaws StoriesSylvia WoodWe are very grateful to one of our Manchester group members, Sylvia Wood, for speaking out about her experience of Charles Bonnet Syndrome in a recent edition of ‘Chat Magazine’ (15th September) to raise awareness about the condition.

Sylvia, who was registered blind in 2012, describes her experience. “I was at home when I suddenly saw 10 children sitting on my living room floor. What on earth? I spluttered, blinking frantically. The image disappeared & I knew what I’d seen wasn’t real - it was like my mind was playing tricks on me. Over the next few months it kept happening; the images would last for seconds then disappear when I blinked. I worried that I might be going senile, but I was too scared to mention anything to my husband or my GP.”

It was only when Sylvia heard a friend at Henshaws talking about a similar experience that she discovered she had Charles Bonnet Syndrome, a condition that can be caused by the brain’s reaction to vision loss. “There’s no cure, but I was just so relieved I wasn’t going mad,” Sylvia says. “Now I’m learning to live with my hallucinations, but when I first started seeing things it was terrifying - that’s why I’m telling my story. I hope I can help other people experiencing symptoms like mine. Hallucinations might just be your eyes playing tricks, so please don’t suffer in silence, fearing the worst.”

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If you would like information, support or advice about Charles Bonnet Syndrome, please get in touch with our First Step team on 0161 872 1234.Groups’ Updates

A look back at 2016 Liverpool Henshaws2016 saw the introduction of some new and exciting groups and programmes such as; Well-Fit, Zumba, Core Strength, Baking Group, Healthy Kitchen Skills, Memory Sessions and not forgetting - the addition of Scurry Club. Our groups have enjoyed these new additions greatly, and here are some of their words on how they found the groups:

Healthy Kitchen Skills: “This course has made me more adventurous. I used to cook the same thing over and over again. I have now started buying lots of different things, and trying new things.”Well-Fit: “I feel good after coming along, I feel more motivated to do more.” “It’s fun and suits my abilities and needs.”Memory Sessions: “I was apprehensive at first, but I have really enjoyed it!”

Supper club is still going strong with theme nights such as Chinese, Greek, Caribbean, Mexican, French, best of British, a BBQ evening, and then finishing off

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2016 with the Christmas party where we were treated to some live entertainment! And not forgetting all our regular groups - History Group, Music Group, Creative Writing, Braille, Core Strength, Yoga, Social Group and daytime Lunch group. We would like to thank you all for your on-going support and for all our volunteers who help to run these groups.

We’ve had some fantastic trips and social activities recently, including visiting Blitz Hill, Palm House, Shiverpool, the Tate Exhibition, a tour of the Maritime Museum, and the Putting on the Glitz exhibition.

It was wonderful to finish the year with the Adelphi Christmas party for all our adult service users, and the children’s Christmas party at Farmer Ted’s Farm Park. One new parent joined us at Farmer Ted’s and had this to say:

“This was our first ever visit to Farmer Ted’s and with it being Christmas it was just magical! There were lots to see and to do and families were catered for brilliantly. We thoroughly enjoyed going through the winter wonderland and seeing Santa. We have an amazing family photo which we will treasure forever.

There were lots of animals to see and the sensory feedback for my son being visually impaired was great. Thank you so much for giving us this opportunity to have a family day out and enjoy the experience together.”5

2017 holds even more fantastic groups and programmes that we hope you will show support and come along and take part in.

Read on to see what’s new at Henshaws this year!Upcoming groups and events

New Walking GroupImprove your fitness, get some fresh air, enjoy some beautiful scenery and make new friends at our Walking Group! Our new group will meet every Wednesday, meeting at Henshaws (10 Duke Street, Liverpool) before we set off. This group is free, and there’s no need to book – just turn up for 11.30am.

Rest stops will be available throughout the routes, and if you require one-to-one assistance please bring a guide along with you. For further information, get in touch on 0151 707 7055.

New Culture GroupAre you interested in the culture Liverpool has to offer? Our new Culture Group will be visiting many interesting places in Liverpool such as the Liver Building, the Beatles Museum, Town Hall, Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, Museum of Liverpool and the Chinese Community Hall.

The group meets on the first Friday of every month starting on Friday 3rd February at 11am, meeting at Henshaws (10 Duke Street, Liverpool) first. Carers are welcome if one-to-one help is needed, as we 6

are unable to provide assistance. For further information, get in touch with Adele, Kerry or Hannah on 0151 707 7055.

Music and Pizza Day - Monday, 20th February 2017Come and join us for a fun and exciting day of music and pizza making! Henshaws and Action for Blind People will be working together to bring this exciting opportunity for children and young people aged 8-17 at our Liverpool Centre (10 Duke Street).

Activities will include: DJ workshop Making delicious pizza Eating delicious pizza! A beat box band session

Get in touch with Sophie on 0151 708 7055 to register your interest or email sophie.thompson@henshaws.org.uk.

Henshaws Merseyside Timetable

Monday Time £ Yoga 1100 – 1200 £5.00 Touch Typing 1300 – 1500 FreeHistory Group (Fortnightly) 1300 – 1500 FreeLunch Club (Fortnightly) 1300 – 1500 £5.00Well Fit! 1630 – 1800 £5.00

TuesdayMusic Club 1000 – 1200 FreeTech Talk (Monthly) 1000 – 1200 FreeCreative Writing (Fortnightly) 1345 – 1545 Free

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WednesdayBraille Group (Weekly 1030 – 1200 FreeSupper Club (Monthly) 1600 – 1800 £8.00Scurry Club (Monthly) 1600 - 1900 £7.00Walking Group (Weekly) 1130 - 1300 Free

ThursdaySocial Group (Fortnightly) 1200 – 1400 TBC PSS Group (Monthly) 1330 – 1530 FreeFridayIT drop in 1000 – 1600 Core Strength 1400 – 1500 £5.00Culture Club (Monthly) 1100 – 1430 Free

To find out more about any of the groups and courses we have running at our Liverpool centre, get in touch on 0151 708 7055 or visit https://henshaws.org.uk/courses-merseyside.

Arts and Culture

Audio Described Events: January – March 2017The following list has been compiled from information provided by Anne Hornsby of Minds Eye Professional Description Service, The Lowry and Vocaleyes. Most theatre performances include a touch-tour about an hour before the performance and you can check with the Box Office or Mind’s Eye for details. You can also check ticket prices (including concessions) and book your seats and headsets in advance through the Box Office. NB/ Most theatres offer special prices to blind and visually

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impaired people, so please enquire; the telephone numbers are at the end of the listings.

January 201716 7:30pmBilly Elliot Palace Theatre26 7:30pmEducating Rita Bolton Octagon

February16 7:30pmGaslight Oldham Coliseum24 7:30pmFunny Girl Palace Theatre

March6 5pm Ashes Bolton Octagon9 7:30pmFiddler on the Roof Liverpool Everyman11 2pm Cinderella (Opera North) The LowryUseful telephone numbers:Mind's Eye 01204 522481 or 07889 232438Bolton Octagon Theatre 01204 520661HOME 0161 200 1500Liverpool Empire Theatre 0844 871 7677Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse 0151 709 4776Oldham Coliseum Theatre 0161 624 1731Palace Theatre & Opera House, Manchester 0161 245 6605Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester 0845 450 4808The Lowry 0843 208 6000The Lowry Galleries 0161 876 2057VocalEyes 0207 375 10439

Community Services NewsStaff changesIn 2016 we had a few staff changes and sadly we saw Sara Deegan and Paul Ryan move on to pastures new. We would like to pause and take the opportunity to thank them for all their hard work at Henshaws Liverpool.

We have had two new members of staff who we would like to introduce to you;

Caroline Waring -

If you’ve been to our centre this month you might already have met Caroline, who is our new Community Services Administrator in Liverpool.

Caroline works 21 hours a week and joined the Liverpool team at the start on 2017. She has a lovely bubble personality and has already fitted into our team well!Sophie Thompson – Sophie is our new enablement officer for children and young people. Since starting in July, Sophie has been bringing the ‘I Can Do It!’ course to Merseyside as well as being involved in other fun activities with Children and Families.

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Sophie first came to Henshaws last year as a sessional worker whilst studying towards her degree in Mathematics and Education Studies. After graduating this summer, she took on her new role!

In her free time - Sophie loves making music, mixing on her decks and going to gigs.

Conquering Digital Accessibility for Disabled People – new eBook chapterWe’ve released the latest chapter of our eBook ‘step-by-step guides to living with disabilities’ - our free, practical guide which is written for and by people living with disabilities.

Chapter 4 features finding and using digital devices which can support visually impaired people within their working and day-to-day lives, and shares our volunteer Tom’s own personal tips. If you’d like a copy of our book in Word or PDF, you can either visit henshaws.org.uk/ebook to download your free copy, or ask a member of staff.

Henshaws Life HacksAt Henshaws, our ultimate goal is to create an ‘accessible community’, where anyone with a visual impairment and their caring network of family and friends can access support and knowledge to provide them with the opportunity to be the best they can be and go beyond expectations.

You might have heard about our Life Hacks which we’ve started sharing this year. Our short videos and eBook share different 'tips, tricks and tech', covering everything from managing money to getting around in the garden,

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with the aim of helping those living with sight loss lead a more independent life.

In 'Hello', we’ve started sharing any great tips we get and in this edition, Trefor Jones from Todmorden shares this top tip: when baking a pie, you can tell when the crust is done using a colour reader. Before it’s cooked, the reader will say the pastry is ‘light yellow’ and, when you think it’s ready, check again with the colour reader - it should now say ‘dark yellow’. A great tip for the perfect pastry, especially when you’re baking pies this cold winter season!

If you have a life hack that works well for you, get in touch at stories@henshaws.org.uk, so we can share your useful tip with others. If you’d like to see more of our Life Hacks, you can check out 52 other 'tricks, tips & tech' as well as our short videos at henshaws.org.uk/lifehacks.

Our Pathway to Independence is award winningWe're very pleased to be able to announce that in October, our team won a national award at the UK Visionary conference for their Pathway to Independence delivery model.The annual Visionary conference shares best practice to improve the quality of service provided to people with sight loss across the UK, and our Pathway to Independence model won ‘Best Example of Service Delivery’. Fiona, Helen, Mark and Rob were there to receive the award, and even demonstrated our new Life Hacks videos and some of our ‘I Can Do It’ activities.Last year, our ‘Pathway to Independence’ model trained 607 people, supported 935 new people and provided, on

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average, 402 people with new friendship opportunities every month. Well done to everyone involved!

Fundraising UpdatesChristmas RaffleThank you so much for all your help in selling raffle tickets for this year’s Christmas raffle. In total, we sold 4,704 tickets which is absolutely great! All the money raised from the tickets has gone towards our Friendship Matters groups, and the lucky winners are on the website at henshaws.org.uk/news.

LotteryHenshaws lottery has had a £25,000 winner! Aliesha from Yorkshire won the jackpot after playing since just November. Aliesha's great Grandma worked for Henshaws, and she described why she initially played the lottery:

"The lottery is really worth signing up for, I only played to support the charity, I never thought I'd win! It feels nice to give back to such a great cause, it's so worthwhile!"

Don't forget, you can play the lottery from just £1 per week, with money going towards our life-changing support. You can sign-up online at henshaws.org.uk/lottery, or if you want to find out more, contact our fundraising team on 0161 786 3656 or email Holly at holly.kalra@henshaws.org.uk.

Henshaws awards 2017 – nominations are now openWithin the Henshaws community, there are lots of people who achieve more than they can imagine each year. This 13

is your chance to recognise their achievements by nominating them for one of our seven categories -

Gillian Lawrence Award Technology Award Friendship Matters Award Henshaws Young Person of the Year (under 12) Henshaws Young Person of the Year (12-25) Volunteer of the Year Visual impaired Friendly Business of the Year

You can find out more about each category and nominate online at henshaws.org.uk/news/henshaws-awards-2017, or ask for a form from a member of staff. The deadline for nominations is Friday 7th April 2017.

We would love to get as many nominations as possible, so please spread the word! Please contact the fundraising team if you need any more information at 0161 786 3656, or email Holly at holly.kalra@henshaws.org.uk.

Other News, Services and Useful NumbersStay well this winterHenshaws is supporting the 2016/17 NHS 'Stay Well This Winter' campaign. The NHS have shared their five top tips to keep well:

(1) Make sure you get your 'flu jabThe 'flu jab is free for those aged 65 or over, those having a long-term health condition, children aged 2, 3 or 4, or are in school years 1, 2 or 3; it may also be available if you’re someone’s main carer.

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Speak to your GP or pharmacist, or visit nhs.uk/getflujab.

(2) Keep your home at 18°C (65°F) or higher if you can.Keeping warm over the winter months can help to prevent colds, 'flu and more serious health problems. Make sure you wrap up and keep the windows closed.

(3) Take advantage of financial schemes and discounts to help you pay for heating.You can make sure you’re receiving all the help you’re entitled to at www.gov.uk/phe/keep-warm.

(4) Visit your local pharmacist as soon as you start to feel unwell with the symptoms of a winter illness.At the first sign of a respiratory winter illness, or even if it’s just a cough or cold, get advice from your pharmacist, before it gets more serious. The sooner you get advice from a pharmacist the better!

(5) Look out for other people who may need a bit of extra help over the winter.Try and keep in touch with friends, neighbours and family and ask if they need any practical help, or if they’re feeling under the weather. Make sure they can get a supply of food and any prescription medicines before the Christmas holidays start and if bad weather is forecast.

For more information and advice about staying well this winter, visit www.nhs.uk/staywell.

Tips on how to improve energy in your homeHenshaws have started to work with NEA action for warm homes to promote energy efficiency and help prevent

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fuel poverty. We have some top tips from the NEA on improving the energy efficiency of your home –

Insulating your loft or insulating your walls can save you up to £250 a year.

Draught-proofing your home – closing curtains, using insulation strips on windows and doors, fitting covers to your front door’s keyholes and letterbox; and us-ing underlay with carpets can all make a big differ-ence to the warmth of your home.

There can be help available to install energy saving measures in your home. The Energy Company Oblig-ation (ECO) can provide a range of ‘free’ insulation, heating and other measures to some low-income and vulnerable households. Other schemes are also avail-able in some areas. For more information contact the Energy Saving Advice Service on 0300 123 1234.

‘Register for Priority’ services benefits include:o Providing important communications in Braille,

large print or audio CDo Gas safety checks for applianceso Meter reading serviceso Special controls and adaptions for controlling

heating and assistance if there’s a power outageo Free password scheme.

Distribution Network Operators (DNOs) also offer pri-ority services for customers who are dependent on electricity for home medical care; have a chronic ill-ness or short-term medical condition; are disabled; have special communication needs; or receive a state pension. Contact your gas/electricity suppliers, and distribution network operator for more informa-tion and to register. Details of your distribution net-work operator can be found on your electricity bill.

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The Holman PrizeDo you have an ambitious project or idea? The LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in San Francisco have announced 'The Holman Prize' - an annual set of awards for up to $25,000!This is open to anyone with a visual impairment aged 18+, and from any country.

The Holman Prize funds travel, activism, scholarship, craft, sport, art, nature and much more — you are encouraged to think outside the box. The closing date for applications is Tuesday 28th February. Find out more about ‘The Holman Prize’ and how to apply at www.holmanprize.org.

Get involved

If you think your family or friends would be interested in hearing about our services, volunteering at Henshaws, or taking part in our weekly lottery – please get in touch! Our First Step team is here on 0161 872 1234 to offer any advice, support or information about our services. We’re always looking for volunteers and ambassadors, so please contact our fundraising team on 0161 876 3656 or email fundraising@henshaws.org.uk.

and of course, help us spread the word!

Once you have read or listened to our newsletter, please pass it on to a friend or family member, or you could enquire at your local community centre, doctor’s surgery, church or library to see if you could leave it there for others to read or listen to. We also have leaflets and posters, explaining who we are and what we do – maybe you could ask about leaving some of these as well as the 17

newsletter; you can get a supply of these by calling us on 0161 872 1234.

Remember, the more people know about us and support us, the more support we can offer visually impaired people, so please do all you can to help us get the word out.

DisclaimerAlthough every attempt is made to ensure that the information contained within this newsletter is timely and accurate,Henshaws cannot be held responsible for any information herein. This newsletter is provided for information purposes only and is not intended to be either legally binding or contractual in nature.

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