Annual Report 2016/2017

Contents• Welcome To Our Annual Report

• Looking Back At The Past Year

• A Big Thank You To Our Funders

• What Matters To Us

• What Do We Do?

• Activity And Learning Hub

• Our Member Stories: Michael

• Learning New Skills

• Our Parent Stories: Graham Ellis

• Focus On: Snooker

• Friendship, Health and Social Inclusion

• Our Member Stories: Charlene

• Growing Great Kids

• Our Children Stories: Alistair

• Volunteering and Student Placements

• Staff That Go Above And Beyond

• Our Staff Stories: Cathy

• Supporting Families and Carers – Keep In Touch Service

• Focus On Blackpool

• Our Home

• Fitness Fanatics

• Out and About

• Our Future

• Statement Of Financial Activity

• Balance Sheet

Welcome To Our Annual Report…

Our Vision: “That all people with a learning disability and their carers in Sheffield feel valued

and respected. We believe that everyone should be supported to reach their full potential and to live the life they choose.”

On behalf of over 1500 people who are involved in Sheffield Mencap and Gateway every

year, thank you for taking the time to join with us and celebrate the commitment,

talent, drive and innovation that has gone in to continuing our work for another year. We

are all immensely proud of what we have achieved together to make Sheffield the best

place in which to live, work and have fun.

This work would not be possible without the brilliant members’ families who inform our

services and the community that helps us raise funds to keep our work alive. We hope

you enjoy our reflection of the past 12 months. The Trustees

Looking Back At The Last Year…

This last year, like many other charities, we experienced big cuts to our statutory funding. This has meant a reduction in the support we can offer family carers and the consequential loss of several of our colleagues. However, we worked hard to increase the numbers of people accessing our services and introduced new projects and sporting activities. We’ve also managed to return a balanced set of accounts for the year. Our plans for next year include further expanding our children’s services and sporting activities; introducing a healthy lifestyle and weight management course and offering new opportunities for people attending our Activity and Learning Hub. We’re also seeking funding to replace the valuable support to family carers which was lost. We’re very optimistic for the future and I’d like to thank everyone involved in making Sheffield Mencap and Gateway a very special place - our members and families, our wonderful staff team, volunteers and trustees and our generous funders – you all make our work possible.

Our Chairperson: Christine Booth-Mayblin

A message from our Chief Executive: Janet Sullivan

Another 12 months has whizzed by and I am proud and privileged to be working within such an inspiring organisation. Every year that passes we continue to reach more people with a learning disability, more families and work with more professionals. We know that our support is needed more now than ever before. We will always listen to the wishes of the families and individuals who guide our work. I am grateful for the help of our committed and talented board of trustees, their invaluable input and guidance

makes a huge difference and helps us plan for the future.

Sheffield Mencap and Gateway would like to thank the following Trusts, Foundations and Companies

for their vital and continuing support...

Cutlers Company Charitable Trust, Souter Charitable Trust, Marjorie Coote Old People’s Charity Fund, The George AMoore Foundation, Hallam FM Cash for Kids, James Wise Charitable Trust, Sheffield Town Trust, Whalley WhiteCharitable Trust, Sir Michael Bett Trust, The John Horniman’s Children’s Trust, Trustees of Elsie Lawrence Deceased,Unite The Union, The Housley Bequest Ltd, BBC Children in Need, Alchemy Foundation, Boshier-Hinton Foundation,Paul Grant Charitable Trust, Church Burgess Trust, Blakemore Foundation, Garfield Weston Foundation, HarryBottom Charitable Trust, Baily Thomas Charitable Fund, Gripple PLC, True Colours Trust, Talbot Trusts, WhitecourtCharitable Trust, Casa Stella Trust, David Solomons Charitable Trust, Austin & Hope Pilkington Trust, WG EdwardCharitable Trust, H M Burdall Charity, Hyman Winstone Foundation, Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust, Barbara AShuttleworth Foundation, Evan Cornish Foundation, Westfield Health Charitable Trust, Middlesex SportsFoundation, Newman’s Own Foundation, Screwfix Foundation, Dorothy Pamela Smith CIO, Inman Charity, LeedsBuilding Society, Wessex Youth Trust, SYCF, SDAD, Percy Bilton Charity, Henry Smith Charity.

What

Matters

To Us

Supporting friendships

and relationships

Working with families and

carers

Giving people opportunities and new skills

Giving children the best start in

life

Supporting people to

achieve their education

goals

Improving the health and well being of people with a learning disability and their families

What Do We Do?

Sheffield Mencap and Gateway is a different experience for every person.

We are greater than the sum of our parts. We provide a flexible,

responsive, family and person centred range of activities, support and

services. People need us for a little or a long time. Some people need

more help than others, some just want to find friends or someone to love.

We are informed and inspired by people with a learning disability and their

families. It’s what we have been doing for 65 years and it’s what we will

always do.

Activity And Learning Hub

Whilst we also focus on personal goals

which are set on Individual Learning Plans.

Core literacy, IT and numeracy skills are

embedded into all units delivered. Recent

subjects also include, managing money,

budgeting, leisure activities, computer

workshops, music, film animation and the

opportunity to work more in the community

with the introduction of a Community Café.Our students are also entrepreneurs.

We hold regular markets stalls, open

days and at the Christmas Fair

where we sell our own work, raise

awareness and provide an

opportunity for students to improve

their customer service skills.

The Activity and Learning Hub provides a high quality, educational service which allows members to learn

in a relaxed and happy environment. Members are offered a choice of AQA accredited units to study in that

are specifically designed for our students which have included Performing Arts, Independent Living Skills,

Cookery, Arts & Crafts, Design Technology, Enterprise, Geography, History and many Sporting and well

being activities. Our team of qualified and experienced Tutors and Learning Support Assistants continually

add new programmes of learning which provides our members with a great variety of new and exciting

learning opportunities each year. In 2016/17 we presented, at an Award ceremony, 45 of our members with

over 360 certificates for learning under the Unit Award Scheme. Members taking part in various AQA units

have the opportunity to improve social and life skills whilst also focusing on their own specific goals

through assessment and by following their own interests.

Our Member Stories: MichaelMichael has been coming to Sheffield Mencap & Gateway for nearly five

years. Both Michael and his father Richard, who supports Michael at Norfolk

Lodge, are both valued members. When Michael first began attending he was

very shy and timid and needed a lot of support and encouragement for him to

participate. But now, through his attendance, Michael’s confidence has grown

hugely and he has even taken part in the drama groups performances “The

Snowman” at Christmas. He has also taken part in a Chinese New Year

traditional lion dance and designed his own costume as well as having a

speaking part in a media production. He has excelled with his computer skills

and has even learnt how to edit video footage using iMovie, and helping other

members of the group! Michael also attends the snooker session being

friendly, helpful and having a cheeky side! His development has been

inspiring!

“I like being in my groups and having lots of laughs and jokes with other members. I enjoy snooker on a Wednesday and

sometimes play my dad (I always win). I have just joined cooking and really enjoy it. I have been

serving people and I am looking forward to learning to use the till. I also get to do the dishes which I

don’t do at home so don’t tell mum and dad.”

“I have been helping in the garden for 3 years now. I enjoy

doing my own thing in the garden and helping keep the

place neat and tidy and safe for people. I like doing small jobs to

make things easier for the gardening group. I also enjoy working with the gardening group. It’s always a lovely

atmosphere when I come here.”

Learning New Skills Media Projects

This year our members

have been creating their

own action film! This has

involved developing skills

in story writing,

characters and costume

design, script writing,

acting, using filming

equipment and editing the

video footage. They have

also written their own

fictional article whilst

learning about journalism

creating their own

newspaper called “Sun

Dog” Please see picture

on the right.

We also offer non-accredited learning for those who

don’t wish to join accredited courses. We offer a

wide range of activities that are based on the

members goals and aspirations which can help

improve independence, confidence and social skills

whilst experiencing something new and exciting.

Activity Sessions

We offer a number of ways for our members to be creative and

expressive. Our Drama group performs regularly and allows people

to develop their acting, singing and physical movement skills which

helps develop confidence and social skills. We have also been

working closely with Sheffield Theatres with the Drama group

performing at the theatre! We also offer film making projects, music

workshops, gardening, and our cooking group have been running a

Café out in the community which was enjoyed by all. Many of our

members have also attended art and pottery workshops. The

creative writing group produces beautiful stories, prose and poetry,

many of which have been published. You can see some of our work

displayed on our You Tube channel!

Our Parent Stories: Graham Ellis – Gary’s DadThe SCP project became involved with Graham and his son Gary when they were going through

a very difficult time. Graham’s wife Beryl was sadly very unwell and needed to go into a care

home. She had been the main carer for Gary, and the family were facing very difficult times.

Cathy our family support worker went out to meet with Graham and Gary at home, and spent

some time getting to know them. Graham was very worried about his son as Gary was spending

most of the time in his room alone. Graham was really concerned that Gary was depressed and

isolated. Graham knew it wasn’t a good situation for Gary but he didn’t know what options were

out there and Gary wasn’t really responding to suggestions from his dad! Cathy made a referral

to the Community Learning Disability Team for Gary and they sent a social worker to visit and

assess Gary’s needs, and to discuss what he might like to do with his time. Gary said he would

like to have a look round Mencap if Cathy would go with him, so they arranged some trial days

and the rest is history!

Gary now attends Mencap two days a week and is part of the snooker group; He is so much

happier now that he is doing things that he enjoys every week. Sharing Caring has also

supported Graham with other issues Gary’s PIP benefit had stopped so we supported Graham to

write a letter of appeal and he got the benefit reinstated. As part of emergency planning we

discussed getting a City Wide Care alarm installed for the family. Graham decided he wanted to

be referred for this, so he knew that he and Gary could contact someone easily if they needed

help in an emergency. We also applied for a ‘Time For Me’ short breaks fund through the Carers’

Centre so Graham and Gary could have a little respite break away as they had had such a

difficult year.

Graham Ellis

This is Gary

performing at the

Crucible Theatre

something that

Graham didn’t believe

he would ever see he

was astounded by

Gary’s performance

and confidence.

Focus on: Snooker The World Professional Billiards and Snooker

Association has enabled us to start a new project this

year to engage people with learning disabilities to play

snooker. The project is being funded through Sport

England and our group are reaping the rewards. The

group play every Tuesday and our coach Aaron Firth

teaches them all the tricks of the trade. Our group

even made it on the TV as the BBC paid us a visit and

we were featured in the BBC's coverage of World

Disability Billiards and Snooker Day.

Friendship, Health and Social Inclusion

Cricket

Our cricket group was set up this year and has proved to be very

successful. As funding ran out, the group have continued to self fund

and enjoy cricket every Wednesday.

Women’s and Men’s Football

Hugely popular, our football clubs are FA affiliated and supported by

our lovely local clubs. Members have enjoyed playing matches and

going for a well earned drink afterwards!

Sunday Lunch Club

The best Yorkshire Pudding in the whole world. Fun, friendship and

singing for people with a learning disability and their family carers.

We just love it!

ALH Cafés

Our Thursday and Friday ALH groups each week provide freshly

prepared home-made lunch snacks for our staff, volunteers, members

and any visitors. From small breakfasts, to snacks on toast you never

leave hungry and our cakes and scones are legendary. Our members

are gaining great customer service experience.

Keep In Touch – Carers Lunch

Join us on the first Thursday of every month for our Carers Lunch

Group in our very own Thursday ALH Cafe. Come for a natter and

there are lots of tasty lunch options to choose from.

Our Member Stories: CharleneIf you ask any taxi driver in Sheffield to take you to ‘Gateway Club’ they will

know exactly where you want to go. Our Gateway clubs are a lifeline to

hundreds of people who face social exclusion, poor mental health and low

confidence. They offer a safe and joyful place where people can be themselves,

find friendship and dance the night away. We spoke to Charlene and asked her

why she enjoyed coming to Gateway.

“My name is Charlene Chattoo I am 34

years old and have been coming to

Monday Gateway for about 8 years but I

can’t remember. I like making new

friends and I like cooking because I am

very good at it and I like to help my

friends to bake. I like playing bingo

because I like winning. I also like to

help my friends in the art room and

make things to give to my friends. If I

want to try something new the staff will

support me to do this, I like all the staff

and volunteers because they help me a

lot so I can do what I like to do I want to

keep coming for a long time and make

lots of new friends. I love Gateway.”

Growing Great Kids

Shine Out on Saturdays

Shine Out on Saturdays (SOS) is a member led drama and art club for

young people with learning disabilities aged 10-18. The project is funded

by a number of charitable trusts. SOS uses drama, dance and art as a

tool to develop self-confidence, independence and social skills, whilst

also providing a great opportunity for young people interested in the

performing arts to meet like-minded individuals. The project aims to

provide an environment that encourages creativity in a safe and positive

atmosphere.

Thank Gateway it’s Friday (TGIF)TGIF is a really special project for

children aged 6-16 with a learning

disability and their brothers and

sisters. It gives children the chance to

chill out and have fun on a Friday

evening and shake off the week with

football, baking, arts and crafts and

play. The project is funded by BBC

Children in Need

Special Needs Inclusion

Playscheme (SNIPs)

SNIPs provides a safe and

creative setting which

means children are free to

have fun and explore their

creativity and also provides

parents with a short break

to do important grown up

stuff! Over the past year we

have provided over 1440

hours of fun to support over

40 families.

Working with

ParentsTransition time can be

a challenging time for

families. Our Sharing

Caring Project works

closely with the

Sheffield Parent Carer

Forum to signpost

parents and run

transitions clinics to

make sure that the

voices of parents and

their children are

heard, and understood.

Radio MencapThis year we launched a radio

project which gave children the

opportunity to design, record and

listen to their own radio shows.

The young people gained

confidence and skills. The

project was low cost so

everyone could take part. The

children enjoyed having

specialist input and being

creative.

Communicate This project is for children

with autism aged 6-10. It aims to develop

children’s attention, listening and social

communication skills through play based

activities. The group has specialist input from

Speech and Language Therapists who have

worked within autism for many years.

“I enjoy doing the toast, enjoy the games, in fact I enjoy all of it in

general!”

Our Children’s Story: Alistair RaynesAlistair is twelve-years-old and has been a member of Shine Out on Saturdays for three years.

He is a lively character and enjoys drama, dance and art. He is also passionate about

Minecraft and Lego Ninjago. Alistair has a diagnosis of autism, which can make

communication and groupwork quite challenging for him. He particularly struggles to

understand other people’s points of view, which has resulted in him becoming quite emotional

and needing time away from the group.

One of the techniques we use to promote positive behaviour at Shine Out on Saturdays is the

use of a reward chart. At the end of a session, the young people are asked to identify what

they did well; we also use this opportunity to identify any areas for improvement. Discussion

with the members also determines what constitutes positive behaviour so that the young

people understand how to get a reward.

Volunteering and Student PlacementsOur volunteers are brilliant. They bring additional skills, enthusiasmand further insight to our work. They are an irreplaceable workforceof people motivated by a desire to learn, develop and make Sheffielda better place. Over the past 12 months we have continued to buildon our student placement and supervision offer and continue ourexcellent relationship with local universities and colleges.

From October 2016 -

September 2017 we saw

13,649 hours of volunteering

completed by a team of 195

volunteers!!

We now welcome

placements from both

universities in Sheffield.

We have supported

students of Art

Psychotherapy, Education

and Counselling,

Psychology, Medicine,

Social Work, Learning

Disability Nursing and

Occupational Therapy as

well as researchers.

Our volunteers are

priceless to us!

However, we can work

out in financial terms

that they have provided

us with over

£153,551.25 of support

over 12 months.

148 people came and visited

us for an interview and a

wonderful 136 new

volunteers started

volunteering!

Staff That Go Above And Beyond

.

Our staff team of 45 people are experienced, well trained and professional. That

goes without saying. However, we are also proud that our staff are:

• Passionate about helping people with a learning disability and their family

carers.

• Caring in their approach. No one will ever feel afraid, excluded or alone at

Sheffield Mencap and Gateway.

• Resilient in the face of problems. Our team can deal professionally with complex

and sometimes distressing issues. Yet every day they come to work with a smile

on their faces.

• Creative in the design and delivery of projects and services. No problem is too

big; no concern is too small. They strive to be the absolute best and continue to

amaze us all.

• Hilarious: from the moment you arrive at Norfolk Lodge you will laugh. Our base

is happy, fun and joyful. Our staff wouldn’t have it any other way!

Our Staff Stories: CathyCathy has worked at the Sharing Caring project at Sheffield Mencap for

almost 9 years; the project itself has been going for 21 years! The SCP

‘Keep In Touch’ service aims to support Carers aged 55 + of those with a

Learning Disability and or Autism living at home. The project has faced

some huge challenges around funding in the last few years, however Cathy

remains committed to doing her very best to support carers. She helps in

lots of different ways: giving information and advice, or practically helping

a carer to fill out a benefit form, supporting people to speak up, putting on

information sessions that are relevant to the issues carers face or

supporting them to plan for an emergency and to plan for the future.

Keep In Touch Service

Achievements

• We have continued practical advice and support to carers by applying for necessary benefits including ESA,

PIP and AA. We have a lot of carers asking for support with this, due to the ongoing welfare benefit changes.

• We have provided advocacy for carers’ to help them get further necessary support from social services and

speaking up for people around negotiating the repayment of debts and updating hospital passports for

families. Hospital Passports are an important element of ‘Future Planning’ alongside doing Emergency plans

for carers.

• We have been working with carers to give them the information and support they need to put in place the

practical steps towards building a future plan, for example looking for accommodation, setting up a

Discretionary Trust, or funeral arrangements.

• We have spent a significant amount of time supporting families through the difficult transition of the person

with a learning disability moving on from the family home into alternative accommodation. We have also put

on some very successfully attended information sessions, empowered carers to continue to meet at the

existing carers support groups and set up a new community group here at Mencap linking in with Thursdays

ALH cooking group.

The project works with family carers over 55 of people with a learning disability and or Autism.

Our particular focus is to keep in touch and help families to think about the future and create

emergency and long term plans.

Sharing Caring Project has always worked in a variety of ways to support families of adults with

learning disabilities and/or autism. Although we are much reduced in capacity we are still here!

Since January 2017 we

have been working with

the Sheffield Carers’

Centre to focus our

support on family carers,

who are 55+ and are

caring at home or who

are regularly supporting a

relative who is living

elsewhere.

➢ Providing a regular ‘Keep In Touch’

service

➢ Helping families develop long term

emergency plans

➢ Helping families think about long

term future planning and steps they

can begin to take

➢ Organising regular information

sessions, workshops and groups

about useful topics for carers

Focus on: Gateway Blackpool Trip

The Blackpool trip runs annually and is consistently popular year on year. We

take a large group of members for a weekend away in Blackpool. We stay at

the Cliffs hotel which has evening entertainment and a swimming pool and

fabulous food. On the Saturday we whisk members away to the Blackpool

tower to have a boogie in the Ballroom and a second group over to the

Blackpool pleasure beach for some thrills and frights. Then on the Sunday we

have a lazy start and then head into town for some shopping before a big lunch

and our return trip home. The members love the Blackpool trip so much they

ask about the next one before we've even left Blackpool to come home!

“Its good, have

fun with friends

and dancing at night”

“A great holiday, fun for everybody and liked and had a

dance in the ballroom”

“Enjoyed the evening disco, going out in

Blackpool for a walk after the Blackpool tower and enjoyed

swimming”

Our HomeNorfolk Lodge has been our home for 43 years! Surrounded by beautiful

ancient woodland, it is a little bit of calm and tranquillity right next to

the city centre. Our great transport links and bright accessible building

make it perfect to deliver our services.

It is also a great place for meetings, conferences, sports clubs and even

birthday parties! In the past 12 months we have welcomed many organisations

to our home and can give competitive quotes for any occasion. The money

raised from our venue hire goes directly into running the building, keeping it

warm and making it better for everyone.

A blast from the past. In 1974

our home was built.

43 years later and we are still

proud to call Norfolk Lodge

our home.

The group have focused this year on tackling obesity and nutrition, by

raising awareness around good diet choices and portion sizes and talking

about various health issues and how these affect our bodies.

Some of the topics we

have covered include

bones, muscles, warm

ups and cool downs, 5 a

day, salt and sugar

intake, diabetes, blood

pressure, eye health and

many others. We have

linked in with NHS and

other community groups

to help deliver specialist

topic areas and raise

awareness.

All our activities can be

adapted to meet the

needs of our members.

We have a wheelchair

user who can still take

part in the physical side

with adaptations made.

The group have been

very welcoming of new

members and carers

this year.

Fitness Fanatics

Out and About…

In the last 12 months we have:

• Provided regular support to

over 45 people with a learning

disability in Sheffield.

• Provided regular respite for

over 60 parents and carers.

• Welcomed a new enthusiastic

walking leader, Jonathan

Clitheroe.

• Walked over 200 miles in 10

picturesque areas of South

Yorkshire.

• Enjoyed 40 games of bowling.

• Eaten over 20 meals with

friends.

We love Sheffield and love being out and

about in it! We offer fantastic groups each

month that help people with a learning

disability get out and enjoy the things they

love. We offer groups that aim to give

people independence, improve social

skills, make new friends and improve their

health and well being. This service gives

family carers valuable respite time and

raises awareness in our community.

• Bowling Group

• Under The Stars

• Snooker Group

• Football Team

• Walking Group

• Liberated Ladies

• Youth Group

Our Future…

We appeal to anyone who would like to support our work to get in touch so that we can explore opportunities with you. From running marathons to jumping out of planes, to fancy dress at work, we have lots of exciting ideas to inspire you and your friends and families. If you are interested in supporting us please contact

us.

Our community is fantastic. It continues to support our work locally and allows us to reach out to more people every year. We are grateful to every single person who has raised funds, donated equipment, given their time and run a really long way!

We continue to be inspired by your efforts.

Balance Sheet

Statement of Financial Activities

Charity Number: 1056155Company Number: 3168775

Norfolk Lodge

Park Grange Road

Sheffield

S2 3QF

mencapoffice@sheffieldmencap.org.uk

@sheffieldmencap

www.facebook.com/SheffieldMencapandGateway

www.sheffieldmencap.org.uk

0114 2767757