Eastleigh Borough and Romsey Mencap Society

Our aim is to protect and enhance the life chances of children and adults with learning disabilities living in Eastleigh and Romsey.

On this webpage, you can see News, Upcoming Events, For Your Information and What's Been Happening, plus links to our Projects and Services webpages for much more information about what we do...

Gardening Galore!

We have a new project due to start next month called Grantham Green Growers.

This will be an opportunity for adults with learning disabilities to learn about maintaining ornamental shrubs in a very hands on way.

Maria Dowding, our Gardening Club Co-ordinator, will be leading this group and will teach people how to maintain the newly planted shrubs all the year round, though frankly there is less to do in the winter.

This is a good opportunity for people interested in gardening, who live in or near the centre of Eastleigh but who may have struggled to reach our West End allotments since the bus service was reduced. 

Grantham Green Open Day – Sunday July 23 - 12noon to 4.00pm

Come along to Grantham Green for the Open Day on Sunday July 23 to find out more – look for our sign “Grantham Green Growers”, at the Eastleigh Borough & Romsey MENCAP stall.

We are also hoping to recruit some volunteers to work alongside people. Sound like you? Give us a call or come to the Open Day.

West End Carnival - What a Community!

On June 17 some of our members took part in the West End Carnival procession. A good time was had by all. Hagrid, Dumbledore, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley and co have all vowed to return again next year in a different guise, depending on the theme of course. Come and join us, it is an unforgettable experience. The people of West End are generous and know how to throw a party.

Achievements and Congratulations!

We are delighted to offer congratulations to several people you may know, who have completed something exceptional this month.

To Khristen for having completed his Cubs leader training which has taken many months. It has been a great deal of hard work and fun! He has proved his commitment to the Cubs and should be very proud of this achievement.

To Gary and Kelly who both performed in the Community company at the Nuffield Theatre in the show “The Grapes of Wrath”. They auditioned for the play and attended a long series of rehearsals from early January through to three weeks of performances in March. They gave up evenings and weekends to rehearse. It was great to see them both on stage in this show.

To Will, who ran in the Eastleigh 10km run on Sunday March 19 in spite of only taking up running in January this year!  He has raised a significant amount of money for Eastleigh Borough & Romsey MENCAP. Thank you Will!

Will and his Dad, Terry, who ran alongside him, completed the Eastleigh 10km Run in good form on Sunday, 19 March. Huge congratulations to them both and thanks to everyone who has supported them. The donations raised are wonderful to have but are as nothing to Will’s achievement in running the course and finishing before so many other people (and the chicken).

William Wheeler, when he accepted the challenge to complete the Eastleigh 10k, decided that he would like to complete the run to benefit our society.

Will only started running in January this year but he is a fit and active person and has taken to the sport really well. We are delighted that he raised funds for us and proved his athletic ability!

Vacancy for Chill Out Club Co-ordinator!

Do you have experience of supporting people with learning disabilities? Do you have a desire to support adults with LD to have some social time with their friends?

Our Chill Out Club gives members have the chance to get together with their friends independently of carers in a warm and friendly atmosphere in the centre of Eastleigh. They meet for two hours every Monday evening (except Bank Holidays) to chat, have a drink and share a joke with their friends and our volunteers.

More information...

Our Newsletter, Newsflash!, contains information about local and national initiatives and about our activities. Click on the newsletter tab to read previous newsletters.

Please visit the website regularly to read our latest news. If you have any comments on the content, or would like us to include something on the website, please do get in touch with Elaine Fish (Chair).

You can see a selection of last year's events on the 2016 Activities page!

Dates for your diary...

• 23 July
  Grantham Green Open Day – Sunday July 23 - 12noon to 4.00pm
• 5 August
  Gardening Club Open Day – Saturday, 5 August with Rosie Yeomans
• 19 October
  Flagship Art Club Exhibition – Thursday, 19 October
• 31 October 2017
  Chinese Cultural Festval - More details later...

To find out more about any of these events call the office, if there is no answer leave your name and number and we will call you back with all the details!

Hampshire County Consultation

Hampshire County Council’s planned Serving Hampshire – Balancing the Budget consultation is open. 

The County Council expects a budget shortfall of £140 million by April 2019, on top of the £340 million savings already delivered over the last nine years. This is due to ongoing national austerity measures; demographic changes reflecting increases in demand for some services; and inflationary pressures.
 
The County Council is seeking residents’ and stakeholders’ views on a range of options for balancing its budget. These include:

• reducing and changing services;
• introducing and increasing charges for some services;
• lobbying central Government for legislative change;
• generating additional income;
• using the County Council’s reserves;
• increasing Council Tax; and
• changing local government arrangements in Hampshire. 

An Information Pack, providing background information to the consultation, is available on the County Council’s website. Residents and stakeholders are invited to respond online. 

Alternatively, paper copies of the Information Pack and Response Form can be requested by emailing insight@hants.gov.uk, and will be available from Hampshire libraries.

Important Information about Bus Passes ending 31 March 2017

Hampshire County Council new concessionary bus passes will be issued automatically prior to expiry in March 2017. It is not necessary to enquire about a new bus pass unless your circumstances, address or appearance have changed.

If you do not receive a replacement bus pass once your current pass expires please contact the concessionary travel team

email: concessionary.fares@hants.gov.uk, tel: 0300 555 1376, or visit the HCC website: www.hants.gov.uk/transport

SCAMS Warning!

Hampshire County Council’sTrading Standards have asked us to warn people about some current tricks which are being used on vulnerable people.

1. Caller claims to be assisting the Police and Ambulance Service.
   They offer to visit the property to carry out a security check, and to see if medical assistance is required. Suspicions are that the callers may be trying to sell home security devices, such as burglar alarms, and may make exaggerated claims about their effectiveness.
    
2. Caller claims to be calling from the Citizens Advice Bureau, and offers to help clear outstanding debts.
   The caller may claim that they have been asked to contact the resident by a concerned person. Citizens Advice will not contact residents in this way.

Trading Standards urge any residents receiving such calls not to respond, and not to give out any personal information to unknown persons over the telephone. 

HERE I AM campaign

Royal MENCAP have launched a new public awareness campaign called Here I am. You may have seen some of the posters at bus stops around the county. They are certain eye catching and we have found that people have very different opinions about them. What do you think of their portrayal of people with a learning disability?

The campaign was designed according to Royal MENCAP “to make it impossible to ignore people with a learning disability, and to do that in a way that would challenge the assumptions a lot of people don’t even know they have.” The pictures were taken by well known fashion photographer, Rankin, who is skilled at bringing out individual personalities.

The campaign is a kind of update on what people in the UK think about learning disabilities and the people who have them. There are some really surprising statistics about what the public at large think. We would recommend having a look at Royal MENCAP’s website and reading about the Here I am campaign, surprisingly the whole feature is rather tucked away on the site so you may have to search for it.

Tell us what you think...

In our last edition in 2016 we asked you for feedback on using the Contact Centre, HANTS DIRECT. We reported that a specialist group within Contact Centre staff were being trained to assist you with a wider range of issues and that you would not necessarily have immediate or direct access with The Learning Disabilities Team any more. The next stage of the plan is that all members of the Contact Centre are to receive the specialist training so anyone who answers your call will be able to assist you.

We are interested to know if you have called the contact centre, what your experience was - did you have to wait for a long time for the call to answered? Was the query dealt with to your satisfaction? Did your call have to be diverted to the Learning Disabilities Team after all?

Please let us know by email or phone so that we can pass on this feedback to the managers who have planned this change.  It is important for us all that feedback is provided.

Our members receive a Newsflash nine times a year, either by email or post, and news of all new projects and opportunities. More about becoming a member...

Contact Us:

• Phone: 02380 483471
• Email: ebr.mencap@ntlworld.com
• Post: 56 Oaktree Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton, SO18 1PH