Blyth Valley Disabled Forum

Blyth Valley Disabled Forum is holding it's 26th Annual General Meeting

You are cordially invited to attend

In 1997 The Forum became a Company Limited by Guarantee whilst still maintaining its Charitable status.

In 1993 the Forum contracted to provide Care in the Community and provided services to Adults with learning disabilities and physical disabilities. With the success of these services came the provision of a variety of other services to people in their own homes, creating further expansion of the Charity.

Such was the success of this Care provision that it was necessary for Homecare to relocate to our premises in Stanley Street. This move took place in 2001, with Advice services and Resource Centre etc remaining within The Eric Tolhurst Centre. Initially these services were to provide shopping, domestic, meal preparation and assisting people with personal services.

Over the years the delivery of service has seen many changes and we now provide a wide range of high dependant care.

The introduction of the Care Quality Commission (previously the Commission for Social Care Inspectorate) brought with it many changes in the requirements for the delivery of services.

All staff must now have an Enhanced Criminal Records Bureau check, undertake Skills for Care induction training and Company Induction training. The staff must be registered to start their NVQ level 2 in Health and Social Care within 6 months of commencement of employment in addition to completing all Mandatory training units including Moving and Handling, First Aid, Safeguarding Adults, Health and Safety etc.

In addition to this training all staff at Management level have completed their Foundation or Management Development Programmes. Most of our Care Staff have completed NVQ 3 as well as other numerous training courses relevant to their role within the Company.

We have been extremely fortunate to access most of our training through Northumberland Care Alliance and this training has been delivered to a high standard enabling us to provide what we believe to be a High Quality Service. The Forum first achieved Investors In People Status in 1999 and also has the Positive about Disability symbol. Investors In People is reviewed at least every three years and the Positive about Disability symbol is reviewed by the DWP on an Annual basis.

We are able to provide

• A Range of Care Packages to meet your requirements including Complex Care Needs
• Shopping Services
• Domestic Services
• Enabling Services
• Benefits advice for Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, etc
• Care Services 365 days per year between 7am and 10pm

Our help line deals with enquiries from members of the public, statutory and voluntary agencies requesting help advice or assistance on a wide variety of disability issues.

We assess and assist in the completion of complicated Department of Works and Pensions benefit claim forms, for Disability Living Allowance, Attendance Allowance, Employment Support Allowance, to name but a few.

This is operational 7 days a week, transporting the frail elderly and disabled clients of all ages to social outings, recreational activities, group meetings and church services.

The vehicle is also used to transport children and young adults with special needs to enable them to participate in sport, leisure and fun activities.

This centre houses 6 user friendly PC workstations that are fully accessible. With access to the internet and all the latest information, communication, technology systems and Software including a Magnifying system for people with a sight impairment, Via Voice 9 ( a voice system that will enable people with none or limited digit mobility to use this equipment), enabling the disabled and able bodied to independently seek solutions appropriate to their personal circumstances.

This resource will also act as a basic learning tool, with no obligation to sign up for any course, no training commitment requested or undertaken, an opportunity to use the facilities at your own pace, to try the world wide web, accessing the very latest technology.

This project came about as a request from some of our youth club members, who wanted to play “proper” football, with this in mind we set about looking for places to play and teams to play against.

Now in our 4th year, we are registered with Northumberland Football Association, we joined The North East Ability Counts League. We now have 35 members registered with us, all adults and have three male teams playing in two divisions. We also have one female team although this has not developed as we had anticipated, not a fault of our own.

This year we won the Northumberland Charter Standard Pennant, for Community Clubs, our other successes include winning our division in the North East Ability Counts League, and representing the region in York, we also won 2 divisions in the Invited Annual Football Tournament at Harrogate.

We train at The Sporting Club of Blyth, play our scheduled matches at Cramlington, Middlesbrough, Sunderland and Jarrow, which means a lot of travelling, we could not have envisaged the success and development of this project without our most valued asset our volunteers who have made this a complete success.

Our support from Blyth Valley Disabled Forum and Directors has been out standing our support from parents has been second to none. This year we have been supported by Blyth Spartans to whom we will be eternally grateful.

This Project is managed by one part time Development Worker. Once again Volunteers escort, assist and enable clients to join in the activities.

Activities include

• Tuesday Evening, "After School Project" (under 12's) - Activities range from art to nature walks, from indoor activities to local soft play areas, this is an opportunity for young children from 8 up to the age of 12 to participate and enjoy activities that they would otherwise not be able to access.
• Thursday Evening Youth Club (over 12 under 19's) - Facilities on offer include pool, darts (soft), music, computers, play station games, videos, karaoke and art.
• Saturday Morning Activity (over 12 under 19's) - Fun, sport and leisure opportunities, accessing activities including horse riding, football, swimming and developing a new interest in basketball.