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2010 Client Survey Results

Please find herewith our 2010 Client Survey results.  We are delighted that they remain high and you are all happy overall with the service you receive. We were disappointed however with the number of responses despite offering an incentive this year.  If you have any ideas of how we can motivate you to respond, they would be very welcome!

Ejaz Nabi, Managing Director.

2010 Client Survey Results (PowerPoint document)

Muscular Dystrophy National Conference September 2010

Active Assistance is co-sponsoring the Muscular Dystrophy National Conference 2010 at the Hilton Birmingham Metropole on the 18^th September 2010.  This will be a great opportunity to come and meet with some of our team. For more information on the conference please go to www.musclar-dystrophy.org

A Time to Shine

On 24^th August 2010, 4 members of the Active Assistance Training Team were taken completely out of their comfort zone and headed to Stoke Mandeville Stadium to help 100 children aged 11 to 18 with various different disabilities to have a week of sporting activities. The Time to Shine event was organised by Wheelpower (www.wheelpower.org.uk) and the five Olympic boroughs of London.

Stoke Mandeville Stadium is the birthplace of  the Paralympics, which were held there in 1984,  so we decided to do a lap of the athletic track while we were there. As you can see from the photo we were smiling at the beginning but decided not to include a photo of when we finished as our faces did not look so happy then. 

Amanda Pettitt, Leila David, Peggy Gauer and myself (Sharon Davis) had no idea what we were letting ourselves in for.  We were also the only people there that had live in care experience at the Time to Shine event, so we was very useful to other volunteers, who needed our help and advice.  There were about 20 volunteers to help during the day and we would do the night shift from 9pm until 8am. It was quite a task to get all the kids settled down in bed on the first night as they were very excited and also their first time away from home for some of them.

The children had activities lined up for them all day, everyday such as wheelchair basketball, wheelchair volleyball, swimming, curling, table tennis, tennis, hand cycling, field activities, archery and snooker to name but a few. We all had a go at wheelchair basketball and we can tell you it is quite a vicious game.  Controlling the wheelchairs is also an art in itself.  The children got to do activities that they would not normally have the opportunity to do so, it was great.

We met some real characters, and the children were so friendly and enthusiastic and had a great time.  There was a disco on the last night and the four of us were up and dancing, and joining in with the children, not caring how silly we looked as dancing is not the forte of some of us, myself especially, but we were so tired we didn’t care how silly we looked.

It was a fantastic opportunity to help disabled children to have some time away from home, doing things they wouldn’t normally be able to do, and also to know that their parents/carers were also getting a break from a job that never ends for them. It was a pleasure and an experience to give our time for such a worthy cause.

Sharon Davis, NVQ Assessor

HELVELLYN PUSH 2010 by Andy Walker (Client)

Having begun preparations almost two months earlier and with the expectation of so many behind our Teamwork makes the Dreamwork, I recollect a mixed feeling of anxiety and pressure as I ascended up the wet and miserable M6 on my approach to the Lake District.  I (and the rest of the teams) had been praying for a glorious weekend, a sunshine saunter up the mountain surrounded by resplendent views of some of our nation’s finest scenery.  However, as we approached Keswick that was looking all too unlikely as the mountainous terrain was being cruelly masked by a thick blanket of darkened fog and relentless rain cloud.   It suddenly occurred to me business was far from booming....  this was going to be no picnic!

Waking up at 6.00 AM the following morning, our worst fears had been realised.  The weather conditions were so torrential that each of the nine participating teams were informed that the planned route was considered too hazardous and we were to take a shorter but far more challenging, steeper route to reduce our time on the mountain.  Welcome to Hell-vellyn!! 

Drenched before we started and facing a foe of relentless rain and gusting winds the feelings of anxiety and pressure were no more.  The adrenalin had kicked in, I was up for this, I was in the zone ...  Correction, WE were in the zone!  As I sat for the very first time strapped into the makeshift wheelchair, I gathered my 18 warriors around me into a team huddle and their determined stare met with mine!! There was no doubt in my mind, Teamwork was indeed about to make the Dreamwork!

We set off at a furious pace; four team members dragging the chair carrying my 6ft 3, 13 stone paralysed frame with a further six taking the strain on the ropes at front.  Our team ethic and camaraderie seemed unassailable, the more challenging the terrain became the higher our spirits seemed to rise and rise until eventually, drenched with sweat and rain we smutted Helvellyn!  What an achievement, I’m sure the picture say’s it all.  The return down the mountain provided equal resistance to our efforts, continuously thwarted by hazardous slippery conditions Teamwork makes the Dreamwork safely completed the task in around 3 hours 20 minutes, greeted by the warm welcome of the 8 fellow participating teams, family, friends and loved ones.  It was a truly unforgettable and phenomenal feeling!

In atrocious conditions, we and the all the teams had accomplished a quite remarkable feat and I’m very proud to have participated in such a memorable and enjoyable weekend.  Ultimately, the goal was to raise money for this phenomenal charity and my understanding is that as a team individually we have raised in excess of £8000 but more importantly the overall total for the weekend exceeds £25,000 for The Backup Trust, a charity which does so much to reinvigorate the lives of those individuals who tragically suffer from paralysis following a spinal cord injury!   For anyone who would like to make a contribution the Justgiving web page is still active:  http://www.justgiving.com/andywacksteamworkmakesthedreamwork