Firstly, we need to apologise for the lack of any social media use over the last few months. We have been so focussed in settling back into ‘some kind of normal’ we haven’t had much time to focus on social media, but also, we felt that we wanted citizens to settle in without having to be interrupted to have their photographs taken. We are now practically back to running the full service we had pre-covid. All of our members have returned. We also continue to run many of our zoom sessions online, so members now have an added value to their programme package. It’s been a very strange time for all over the last couple of years but for members it has been particularly difficult. Their daily routine was shaken and everything they knew changed. Their understanding of the situation was not always easy for them. It was difficult enough for most of us! Their ‘some kind of normal’ changed. We don’t like that word ‘normal’ as what exactly is normal. That’s different for everyone isn’t it? If you have watched the recent Bupa advert, well it is so spot on. Well, the ‘some kind of normal’ disappeared for a while. Adjusting and adapting to the new ‘normal was tricky. So now, our ‘some kind of normal’ changes again, as we ease into ‘living with Covid’! We thought now would be a good time to remind you of what we may be able to help with and the types of difficulties we can support. We work with people with anxiety where a college/education setting could be too much for them. We work with people who may not fit into the mould of a traditional day centre. We work with people with a range of learning disabilities including Dyslexia. We also work with adults with learning disabilities who may want some support finding work experience and preparing themselves for the future job market. Any person attending Open Wings, has their own programme and specific targets and we focus on developing learning resources and sessions which cater to their individual needs.
We offer revision and exam sessions for young people who may need some extra support building their confidence and preparing for the exams. Our service runs every day of the week and we have some limited spaces for new members.
These are available on a first come first served basis so please do get in touch if you would like to know more.
Alongside, what we have already mentioned, we are also able to help with basic skills, work experience and employment opportunities, arts and crafts, gardening and Skills for independent living. We work one to one or in very small groups but learning is individualised and person centred.
Working in collaboration with schools, colleges, other day services and a range of agencies, we can offer our Confidence Building and Interview Techniques workshops. Please do get in touch if you would like to find out more about these.
The centre is set within the Sherwood Community Centre. It’s a safe and lovely setting with plenty of opportunity to appreciate the natural environment. We will endeavour to recommence posting on social media whenever possible so please do link in with us, keep up to date and contact us if you feel we can assist you. In the meantime, onwards and upwards, thankfully, we are all reaching ‘some kind of ‘normal’ again’.
It is with the greatest pleasure and honor that we have some wonderful news regarding our service and we would like to share this with as many people as possible.
Many of the citizens, parents and carers we work with will know that this has been an idea in our heads for some time. The lockdown time has enabled us to follow through on the procedure necessary for becoming a not-for-profit company.
Open Wings is now officially registered as a not for profit, Community Interest Company. This means that any surplus money will be ploughed back into offering more choices, possibilities and opportunities for those we work with benefitting the local community.
We have a wonderful new Director, Juliet. E. Kele who was chosen specifically for her work in inclusion and diversity, and we know she will be a valuable asset to us. We are looking forward to working with her and thank her for her commitment and enthusiasm towards our service.
So, what will becoming a Community Interest Company (CIC) mean for the day to day running of the service?
More collaboration with local and national organisations to provide excellent learning opportunities
More collaboration with local employers as we continue to establish a local Employer Forum and work experience opportunities for adults with learning disabilities or differences.
Access to funding opportunities which will allow us to be able to offer some new and wonderful experiences.
Marketing of our service to local Community and Learning Disability Teams to ensure that they are aware of what our service can offer and how we can work and an increase in our general marketing.
An increase in volunteer work within our service.
Plans were made prior to the pandemic to work with organisations to help with issues such as food waste and sustainability and this year, this will be developed.
We really want to do good and open up the opportunities for citizens attending our service and beyond. They are all individuals, with specific individual needs but they are all able to offer and give something back to the local community. What we need now is opportunities of projects, voluntary work and community development work which we can be involved in, so if you have an idea of how you can work with us, please do contact us. If you are a local business, we are particularly interested in working with you regarding our Employer Forum, but if you have other ideas then please contact us.
If you have any skills which you feel you could offer tasters in for the members that would be wonderful too. It is always great to welcome new visitors. Maybe you have a skill you would like to share.
Becoming a Community Interest Company has been very important to us. We are now therefore committed to making a difference in our wider community but we cannot do this alone. We need the support of the local community and local business. We need your ideas.
To coincide with becoming a CIC, we also have a brand spanking new website! We feel it really demonstrates our story. What we need now are more stories so that we can keep our website updated and informative. Collaborating with local business and community is paramount and we need your help in order to offer further opportunities for citizens and in order to be able to expand the services we offer to make our story bigger and better!
It is hard to believe that just over a year ago we had to close our physical service at Open Wings which is based within the beautiful Sherwood Community Centre. At the time we had no idea that we would be working from home and that running the service would change entirely into a whole different way of working.
A whole year of being isolated from friends, family and loved ones. It is with great appreciation that we can say a grateful thank you that we all live to tell our story. How a group came together everyday come rain or shine. The tale of how a group supported one another virtually. The tale of how a group were always there for one another and helped to make each one of us smile. How a group supported one another with their mental health to get through their good and bad days. Supporting one another with their keeping well and wellbeing. Celebrations of special times and birthdays together that could not be celebrated in person. How our work supporting families became vital, to give structure to their day for the people that they were caring for and how so many families and carers/support workers have been so appreciative of the work we have been doing.
And we could write on and on.
As difficult as the last year has been there have been some inspirational moments. Things we never thought we could ever do we have done.
We have all had to become more tech aware, pressing buttons we never knew what they were for, fixing cameras up in our homes, learning to google at all hours and becoming sound technicians.
Some have learned to share their voices openly which they would not have done a year ago.
Some have had a go at new things which they would never have tried.
Some have dressed up had fun had a dance sang a song and had the confidence to do so and just for a time forget all about the virus.
We did return to offering a very small sterile service in November 2020 but we were only able to operate for a very short time before having to lockdown again. Here are some of the members making handmade Christmas Decorations. It was a nice time. People were glad to be able to be back so it was sad when we did lockdown again.
Over the last year we have had some amazing moments of great achievement. However, the most amazing aspect has been the resilience, the commitment, the enthusiasm, the loyalty and the willingness of our team members. They have truly been inspirational and we have learned much from them.
Some new skills I have developed are: lip reading – had to get much better at this as you may know I am deaf and use hearing aids but watching people’s mouths is really important to me so that I can hear them.
Our week consisted of: –
On a Mondays we became a comedian and a bit of an exercise guru as we learned new dances from around the world and had some Monday Motivation fun. We have zoomed around the world in 30 minutes, we have been celebrities in I’m a Celebrity Zoom me out of here workshop and we have zoomed around the house looking for items we can use to keep fit.
On Tuesdays we became a game show host as we played many online games and activities
On Wednesday we became a Nurse advisor all about keeping well, getting our injections, and exercising
On Thursday we became a DJ at our regular online disco slot
On Friday we became a singer at the wonderful Music for Everyone Open Voices choir.
Some weekends we became a member of ABBA, dressed up as a Vintage woman for VE Day, and a mermaid for an online fancy dress, others we were just ourselves, but what a great time we all had together with the others, from pirates, to Where’s Wally to monsters, ghouls and witches.
We have continued individual learning online, and those sessions have encouraged the use of many skills whilst learning about History, Geography, Arts, and Basic Skills. We are continuing these sessions, so anyone interested in private one to one tuition please get in touch.
We have formed strong bonds with various organisations and have also ran 3 motivational and fun workshops for Transform Training as a thank you to them for running their Lockdown sessions for us last year.
This year we ran the following workshops: –
Zoom around the world in 3o minutes
I’m a celebrity zoom me out of here
Zoom around your home – House Scramble
These were all fun workshops designed to enhance wellbeing, give a sense of a group belonging, therefore reducing isolation and a chance for people to have some fun and laughter in these very trying times. It was an opportunity to forget about the pandemic for a short time. We cannot re-iterate how wonderful it was to work with Transform Training and we will most definitely be sharing and collaborating in the future. To find out more about Transform Training click here http://www.transformtraining.org.uk/
This sharing of ideas and resources has been invaluable and created a strong positive relationship between our organisations. If you know an organization that would be interested in any of our Zoom workshops, please ask them to get in touch or indeed if you have any other ideas for workshops which you may wish us to run, please let us know.
We are nearing the end of this dreadful time and we can see through the darkness a light shining which is getting stronger each day. Spring is finally here, and the world is starting to feel a little different, more open, brighter, shinier, more accessible.
We want all our team to keep walking brightly with us not long to go now and anyone else who would like to join us on our journey to the end you are welcome to join in with any of our online activities.
As Sir Captain Tom always said, “Tomorrow will be a good day”. Let us embrace it together and all the days ahead.
Please share the blog with friends, family, supporters, and carers. Please ask them to get in touch with us if they are interested in any of our services. Here’s to looking forward to a brighter year ahead.
March 23rd, 2020, the world changed as we knew it in Britain. Shops closed, restaurants closed, schools and nurseries closed, churches closed, parks closed, garden centres closed, not to mention many other small and large businesses. A week prior to the full lockdown, we received one call from Nottingham City Council, instructing us that for our safety and the safety of the members of Open Wings, that we needed to disband our service for a while.
We quickly collated together some things which we might have needed to be able to work from home and we closed the doors at our lovely base at Sherwood Community Centre. We could never have anticipated what came or what was yet to come. We had not envisaged not being able to return to work for such a long time.
With little information with regards to what the future would look like we set about continuing to support the citizens who attended Open Wings. In the first instance, we were calling citizens regularly, texting them, sending videos and gradually as we worked out all the techy bit we moved onto providing some support on line. That was a learning curve!
As a smaller service within Nottinghamshire and currently a private service we were feeling quite isolated with the change and the enormity of what might lie ahead.
We started off slowly by providing one off one to ones using zoom as our virtual platform. Over the months we have built up and we have been offering a session each day where citizens can come online and continue to be part of the group that they were once part of.
For some citizens this new way of working has actually been really positive. They seem to like working online and seeing us each day. They seem to like the short burst of 40 minutes to do an activity. They look forward to building this into their day. For those citizens that wish we also offer one-to-one support online and again these have been really successful sessions. In order for all of this to happen it has become essential more than ever for us to work closely with parents, carers key workers and residential homes. All the parents and carers have also been thrown into a new learning environment having to learn new technology. It’s great to see the parents online supporting the citizens and even better when the parents and carers are getting involved in the sessions like having a lovely dance at the VE Day Celebrations.
MONDAY MOTIVATION
So, what does our week look like? Well we start our week off with Monday motivation. This session does exactly what it says. it helps to get citizens into a positive mindset for the rest of the week. We aim to have as much fun as possible in the session and make it very interactive. It’s a good session to start the week off with and everyone enjoys it.
TUESDAY AFTERNOON TEA
Tuesday afternoons are our Tuesday Afternoon tea. We share a biscuit or cake and a pot of tea together and we do some online activities which stimulate the brain and memory but are also fun.
TRANSFORM TRAINING – SURVIVING LOCKDOWN – MENTAL HEALTH SUPPORT WORKSHOP
Wednesday morning has been all about our mental health and this workshop was offered by the wonderful Transform Training. This has been a highlight of our online work during the coronavirus pandemic. The trainers ran the workshop in a person-centred way and during this time members were able to talk about their feelings regarding the current situation. There were lots of interactive, thought provoking activities. Transform training have been excellent and I would highly recommend them to provide workshops to any groups that may benefit from their expertise.
THURSDAY DISCO DANCE
Thursday afternoon is the most energetic part of our week where we come together at 4 o’clock for our online action party disco dance session. Here we get chance to watch YouTube videos, follow some dance moves. It’s great for our mental health but also great to incorporate some form of exercise and fitness into our week.
FRIDAY – THE FABULOUS OPEN VOICES CHOIR CONTINUES ON LINE
Friday mornings are dedicated to the Music for everyone Open Voices choir. This continues to be phenomenal and members of the choir look forward to this all week texting on the WhatsApp group which songs they would like to sing. Our thanks go out to Victoria Barlow and Cliff McArdle for ensuring that this vital part of our week could continue.
Alongside our weekly workshops we also run individual workshops for members that wish to have these. We send out online work and activities and over the lockdown we have provided opportunities for members and families and parents and carers to enjoy some online social events. One of our first events was VE day celebrations. We had an on-line afternoon tea event. We danced to songs from years gone by and remembered those that fought for us.
We also facilitated a virtual prom which was truly wonderful. Everyone got dressed up dicky bows in the mix too. We danced together on line and had a great time. A week later came out on line fancy dress. A great time had by all. Costumes ranged from Pirates, to 60’s rock chicks and Where’s Wally. It was absolutely great fun.
OPEN WINGS has worked tirelessly to ensure that we have continued to provide a service that meets the needs of the individuals that we serve. It is not been perfect, and not without some difficulties, but under the circumstances we have done our utmost.
Although the doors to the Community Centre where we are based are still closed (due to re-open soon) Open Wings is not Closed it is very much open and has been throughout the lockdown, it’s just that we have been working in a very different way. We are looking forward to the future and although there will be some changes we have shown that we are able to adapt and we have all shown resilience during this trying time. It has shown us that Open Wings is more important than what we had imagined in the daily days of our members and for that we are thankful that we can make a positive difference, as this is what we originally set out to do.
We would like to share our past and present story with you about our Open Wings journey.
As with all business ventures right now it is a time of great uncertainty but we remain committed to supporting members who attend Open Wings and beyond. If you know anyone who is feeling isolated and demotivated who has learning disabilities or other difficulties they are welcome to join in with any of our on line activities during the week.
We may not be able to run our usual sessions and life has changed dramatically for all of us but we are finding new ways of maintaining contact.
Please do read the following blog. Written by Dr Juliet Kele from Birmingham University Business School
It has been some time since we released a blog post. There are various reasons for this, the main one being that we are so busy running our service giving all we possibly can give to our citizens to make sure that they have the support they need from us, that unfortunately, there isn’t too much time for things like blogs! We work in small intense groups and also sometimes on a one to one basis. This can be quite demanding. Structuring sessions around individual needs and interests to make learning more fun. We are always thinking of ideas and our brains never really stop. Therefore at Christmas we take the time out we need to recoup our energy so that we can give more year on year.
This year there have been some personal circumstances which we have also had to navigate and whereas some would not forge ahead, we have remained committed and ensured our service runs smoothly for all those involved. Unfortunately even after breaking my nose and looking like Quasimodo, I still continued to work to ensure everyone in our service received the support they needed.
Sometimes support isn’t always academic sometimes this involves helping our citizens in their personal lives, helping them to source alternative accommodation, helping them to remember Dr and Dentist appointments and sometimes even helping them to get to A and E and remaining with them until their families were able to support them. Our commitment to our service cannot ever be under estimated. We give all we can.
The year ahead may see some changes we really want to forge ahead and increase the uptake at our service. We tailor make a package to suit the service user. It isn’t the right place for everyone but it will be for some. We also offer citizens the opportunity of work experience in their chosen field, so, If you know anyone with a learning disability or difficulty, please do tell them about us. Please ask them to get in touch so they can visit. We offer a free taster session too. Please share this blog via your social media links. Please help us to reach a widespread audience.
So here’s wishing you all a wonderful new year ahead. 2020 here we come, and hopefully there will be a little more blogging and social media highlights.
Open Wings wishes all the citizens attending our service and their families and carers all the best for the New Year.
When offering a physical service, citizens will at all times be aware of the procedures to follow. They will be inducted with all the safety rules at their first session.
All sessions will need to be booked in advance
There will be no drop in facilities
Masks must be worn at all times unless there is exemption
Hand sanitisers are provided and must be used regularly and used upon entering and leaving the building.
To minimise risk of transmission we are keeping the use of paper, pens, books, etc to a minimum and we are currently using a projector.
Within the base room, splatter screens and hand sanitisers have been provided for each allocated space.
We are working with a 2m distance rule within the community centre and the Open Wings base room
If you would like a full copy of our COVID-19 Safety Policy please contact us.
