Minutes of Voice for All Committee Meeting 26

th September 2016

to

People Present

Committee Members

Clare Whittle Chairperson and Treasurer

Becky Gammon Vice Chairperson and Assistant Secretary

John Thompson

Lianne Wilkinson Assistant Secretary

Hughie Jacques

Chris Clegg Assistant Secretary

Chris Eden

Lizzie McClennan Treasurer

Ann Riding Assistant Secretary

Alan Gunn

Craig Gallagher

Richard Cattley Treasurer

Chris Wren Treasurer

Facilitators

John Whitehead

Support Workers, Volunteers, Guests and Visitors

Joe Flood Support Worker

Lynda Tempest Support Worker

Tessa Harrington Support Worker

Emma Support Worker

Sue Whitehead Team Leader part meeting

Tina Lancaster Team Leader part meeting

Apologies

George Synott Committee Member

Adam Deane Co-Facilitator

Bob Clare Volunteer and Secretary

Kath Sharples Guest

Who is here? Clare welcomed everyone to the meeting.

We all quickly took it in turn to say our name out loud.

This lets Clare and Lizzie know who is here and whereabouts we are all sat in the room.

Today’s Agenda

Who is here? Present and Apologies

Our own news

Preston Pride

Saturday 24th September

Customer Service Excellence

Customer Survey Review

Coffee Break

CCG Annual General Meetings

with Dawn

BOCS IT and Communications Survey

Post and Emails

Agenda items for next meeting

Close of meeting

Date of next Committee meeting Monday 3

rd October

Meeting with Nigel Monday 3

rd October

3pm - 4pm

NEWS

We all took it in turn to share our own news.

Taking the Minutes As Bob is on holiday, Clare asked the group if someone would kindly volunteer to take the minutes from today’s meeting.

Joe very kindly offered to take the minutes for us. Thank you Joe

Preston Pride

Voice for All had yet another successful and fun day at Preston Pride 2016 on Saturday 24

th September.

Hundreds of people of all ages attended the annual event that celebrates ‘Sexuality’ and ‘Individuality’, and Voice for All were once again proud to be part of it all

As usual we had our very own stall where we met lots of new friends and spent the day sharing Voice for All news, stories and information. We also spent the day offering a friendship bracelet and face painting, which in total raised a fantastic £150 for Voice for All!

Throughout the day the atmosphere at Preston Pride was electric!

There was a great party atmosphere!

We enjoyed some fantastic live music and entertainment on the main stage, and of course we loved watching Chris Wren and John Thompson entertain the crowds as they entered the Drag Queen competition.

We are pleased to announce the exciting news that Chris won the Drag Queen competition and was crowned ‘Miss Preston Pride 2016’ Congratulations Chris!

We were all very proud to be at PRIDE!

A special thank you to Becky, Lizzie, John, Chris E and Chris W for their much valued and appreciated support. We had a great day together and we are already looking forward to 2017!

Here are some photos of the day and we hope that you will come along and join us next year and experience it for yourselves!

Customer Service Excellence A few years ago the Brothers of Charity Services received the Customer Service Excellence Award. To keep this award they have to be assessed every year to make sure they are continuing to provide excellent services to all its customers.

Hugh Keachie, the assessor, will be visiting the service in October and will meet with lots of people including people who use the service (customers), staff and volunteers, families and partners.

Hugh will be meeting with the Voice for All committee members on Wednesday 19

th

October from 12.30pm-1.30pm in the Voice for All room. Whilst chatting with Hugh, we will also be sharing a buffet lunch together.

All the committee members said they are coming to the meeting and looking forward to talking to Hugh.

Customer Survey Voice for All has been invited to review the Customer Survey. The Customer Survey is an easy read booklet and questionnaire that the Brothers of Charity Services send to Customers and Families every year. It asks them to say what they think about the services and supports the Brothers of Charity provide. John showed us the survey on the smartboard.

Although the survey is in easy read, we thought it could be improved. It could be more accessible and easier for people to read, understand and complete.

Today we started to look at the survey in more detail and share our thoughts and ideas on how it could be better.

Here is what we like and think is good;

Easy read

Use of pictures

Simple language

Easy to read and understand

Printed in colour

Here is what we don’t like and think could be better;

Needs an introduction to explain what the survey is about and why

Explain what the 3 faces mean

More pictures and boxes to be used

A picture and box for each question

Pictures to be bigger and easier to see and understand

Don’t fully understand some of the questions

Some of the questions could be written and asked differently

We would like more questions to be asked in certain topics and areas

We will continue to go through the Survey at future meetings and we will make some recommendations on what needs to change and how we think it could be better.

CCG Annual general meetings Voice for All has been invited to have a stall and attend the CCG Annual General Meetings. We agreed for Clare, Becky, Lizzie and John to attend on behalf of Voice for All.

The first meeting is at 5.30pm on Wednesday 28

th September at

Lancashire FA, Leyland with exhibition at 4.30pm

The second meeting is on Thursday 29

th September at 6pm at Preston

Grasshoppers RFC, Preston with exhibition at 5pm.

BOC IT and Communication Survey We have been invited by the Brothers of Charity Services to complete an online survey about IT (Information Technology) and Communication. John used the smartboard to show us the survey. After discussing and answering each question, we completed the survey and sent it off.

In general we felt that IT and Communication within the Service was very good. Over recent years it has got so much better and continues to improve. We like the new web site and particularly like having our own webpage. We thought IT and Communication could improve further by having more accessible and easy read information made available, and by making sure that all news and information be shared in an accessible and meaningful way with the people using the service.

POST

Becky told us that Voice for All had no post today.

EMAILS

Lianne used the smartboard to open up Voice for All’s emails and to help John share the information. Unfortunately we only had enough time left to look at one email.

Hate Crime Awareness Week John sent us a reminder that Voice for All have been invited by Disability Equality North West to have a stall at the launch of Hate Crime Awareness Week on Monday 10

th October at the Flag Market in Preston.

Therefore, there will be no Committee meeting on Monday 10

th October.

Becky, Lizzie and Craig will attend the event with John and represent Voice for All. The event is from 12noon until 3pm.

Any other questions or business There were no other questions or business

Agenda for the next meeting

The things we want to talk about at our meeting next week are;

Feedback from CCG AGM’s Carry on with Customer Survey review VFA AGM planning and preparation Post and Emails

Calderstones and Brockhall: - A People’s History

Just a reminder that Alan and John T will once again be meeting with Nigel Ingham next Monday 3

rd October from 3pm - 4pm

in the Voice for All office. Nigel is doing a research project about what it was like to live in a long-stay hospital and institution. A big thank you to Alan and John for telling and sharing their stories about life at Calderstones and for being involved in this very important work.

The meeting finished at 3.05pm

Next Committee Meeting

Monday

to

3rd

October

2016

Phone or email us:

Telephone 01257 248856 or

01257 266311 Extension 244

Email voiceforall@brothersofcharity.org.uk

http://brothersofcharity.org.uk/lancashire/about-us/voice-for-all/

Please let us know if there is anything you want us to talk about or do for you. We can put it on our agenda.

Remember; “Our agenda is Your agenda”

Voice for All is here to help and speak up for you

You can use the Green and Red forms below to tell us about;

The good things that make you happy

The bad things that make you feel sad or unhappy.

We want to share the good stories so we can all learn from them and celebrate with you.

We want to help you with anything you think is bad so we can try and change things and make life better for you.

FOR HOUSE/AREA PURPOSES

These minutes have been read by: Date:

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We welcome feedback from all our members, their family, support staff and volunteers.

Thank you