'ARF July Blog’

Hi Everyone,

During July Family and friends continued to support ‘ARF’ in ‘Living their dream’ by supporting the following events: -

Only Crumbs Remaining:
On the 18th July Charlotte’s mum Kay held a Coffee & Cake Morning which was a great success. Various scrummy cakes were made by family and friends which included coffee & walnut cake, bakewell tarts, lemon sponge, carrot cake, chocolate rocky horror and many other types of mouth watering fat free delights!

If that wasn’t enough one of the prizes for the raffle was an afternoon tea for two at Brands Hatch Place Hotel, which was kindly, donated by the Hotel.

The total raised from the event that included personal donations was an amazing £515

Am I going to win the lottery? :
July was the start of Tarot & Physic reading evenings which have been extremely popular. Due to demand Nicky and Tracey have agreed to continue readings on Wednesday s evenings, but they advise pre-booking your session ASAP by either contacting one of the following 07971 007192 or tracey.hattley@btinternet.com to avoid disappointment (further details can be found on the ‘ARF’ Bulletin Board right of this blog)

Churchill .....Says oh yes please.....:
On the 24th July Charlotte’s Aunt Jackie and work colleagues at Churchill’s Insurance Bromley held a Cake & Book morning in support of ‘ARF’. Yet again as you can see from the pictures below various donations were made in the form of cakes and cookies.

Charlotte and her Mum Kay attended the event and made some wonderful new friends.

The event raised a whooping £527 and the Churchill team have agreed to organise additional events in the future to support ‘ARF’. Thank you everyone at Churchill’s for your support and hospitality.

Cross Roads Care Bexley:
An Open Recruitment Day was held at Pier Road Erith on the 25th July for potential Care Support Workers and Team Leader to have the opportunity to meet ‘ARF’. The day was a great success and ‘ARF’ made many new friends.

The interview process will be on-going through August – September to finalise the ‘ARF’ staff team before beginning our great adventure of living independently of our families.

Our New Home:
Hexagon have confirmed that the property completion date is on schedule for 28th September and we hope to visit the property for the first time with our parents on the 27th August (yippee we can’t wait!)

Well that’s about it until next month. We would once again like to thank everyone for their continued support and generosity in supporting ‘ARF’ live their dream.

Like Charlotte and Kerrie who are on summer holidays after completing their second year at NASH college ‘ARF’ would like to wish you a happy summer holidays with your families whether you’re staying at home or planning a breakaway!

Cheerio’
Charlotte, Kerrie & Nik : ) lol

PS: Don’t forget to keep up with the latest news and events on the ‘ARF’ Bulletin Board to the right of this Blog!

ARF/CRCB Recruitment Open Day

Do you have or are you working towards an NVQ 2 in social care, or possess an equivalent vocational qualification?

Do you think that young adults with severe disabilities deserve to have the same lifestyle opportunities as everyone else?

Do you want to know how you could be employed to make this happen?

Crossroads Care Bexley is looking to recruit a range of staff for the ‘Abbey Road Friends’ (ARF) Project, to support 3 young adults with physical and learning disabilities who wish to live independently in their own home from the end of September 2009.

Vacancies exist for a Project Team Leader and up to 15 Care Support staff to support clients over a period of 24 hours, 7 days a week including bank holidays.

Come and join us for an informal chat, you may just be the person we are looking for................

On
Saturday 25th July 2009
10.30 am – 4 pm
at
Crossroads Care Bexley
Pier Road Centre, 42 Pier Road,
(Next to the old Woolworths store)
Erith, Kent DA8 1TA

Refreshments will be available

Our staff and members of the ARF project families will be available to answer any questions you may have, to discuss the specific job roles available and to explain how these new opportunities can develop your skills, knowledge and experience.

If you would like further information, please contact our office on 01322 336086 email info@crossroadscarebexley.org.uk or simply come along on the day............

The Pier Road reception area is fully accessible.

• Parking is available at Morrison’s Car Park (free) or The Old Market Site next to Farmfoods (ticket required, first 3 hours free)
• Bus Routes: B12, 469 and 428
• Train: Nearest station is Erith

‘ARF June Blog’

Hi All,
Another busy month in which we saw tremendous support from our friends and families in helping us ‘Live Our Dream: -

Twins Night:
As some of you may be aware from our previous ‘May Blog’ we had an unbelievable response to our Twins Night which was held at the Twins Chinese Restaurant in Dartford, at the beginning of June. The final total raised from the event was a staging £1,522. We would like to thank everyone for their generosity and support in making the evening such a great success.

We received so many enquires to when the next event would be taking place, that we are currently reviewing dates and options for ‘Twins Reunion’. Watch this space for an update!

Coffee and Cake Morning:
Our event’s organizer and good friend Diane held a coffee and cake morning in support of ‘ARF’ at her home in Hextable on the 25th June. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed the assortment of scrummy cakes that were kindly donated by individuals and a local supermarket chain.

The event raised £234 in support of ‘ARF’.

Birthday Girl:
Our kind friend Margaret hosted a ‘Girls Night’ on the 26th June to celebrate her upcoming birthday. Margaret asked her friends to donate in support of ‘ARF’ rather than buying her a birthday gift. With the recent good weather the girls enjoyed drinks and nibbles in the garden, late into the evening.

Everyone had a great evening catching up with friends and having a good old girly gossip. Due to Margaret and everyone’s generosity the evening raised £310.

Cross Roads Care Bexley:
The end of June saw the closing date for applicants applying for the ‘ARF’ positions of ‘Care Support Workers’ and ‘Team Leader’. Early July will see the interview short listings and our parents meeting the potential candidates.

OK that’s about it for this month; we would just like to thank everyone for their ongoing support and generosity in helping us live our dream!

Cheerio’
Charlotte, Kerrie & Nik : )

PS: Don’t forget to keep up with the latest news and events on the section to the right of this ‘Blog’

Twins Night - They could have danced all night..............

On Wednesday 3rd June at 7:30pm, one hundred Abbey Road Friends and Family gathered at Twins Restaurant in Dartford to participate in an evening of great food, entertainment and most importantly of all a catch-up with old friends.


The evening commenced with a banquet of mouth watering Chinese speciality dishes which just seemed to keep coming. Whilst everyone was enjoying their noodles and aromatic crispy duck, 2,000 raffle tickets were sold which raised a total of £368. The winner of the first prize received two tickets for a top West End Show and Meal at a London Restaurant. Other lucky winners received various prizes of hampers, digital photo frames, gift vouchers, various bottles of drink, etc.........

Then it was time to hit the dance floor with ‘Julie Wright’, Barbra Streisand tribute act and disco.


Then before we knew it the night had come to a close and we had to say our goodbyes until next time!

We hope those who attended the event had a great time and we would like to thank everyone for their support in making the evening such a success. We would also like to thank family and friends who made individual donations and provided such wonderful array of raffle prizes.

Thank you from ‘ARF’:
We continue to be amazed by everyone’s generosity and support to enable us to ‘Live Our Dream’, it’s so wonderful. Through your generosity the Twins Night raised a total of £1,522 which is beyond our wildest dreams. It was so pleasing to see so many old friends in the pictures; especially those who helped begin our journey all those years ago at Marlborough.

We would like to thank our parents for their love and support, but there is one very special friend who we owe so much for helping us ‘Live Our Dream’ and that is Diane Connor who co-ordinated the ‘Twins Night’ and so many other events. Without her commitment and support our dream would be a lot harder to achieve, thank you Di.

We are keen to attend an event where we can personally thank everyone for their support and we’ve got our ‘Events Organisers’ working on a ‘Red Carpet’ evening near the completion of our property in September, watch this space!

So until our next ‘Blog’ once again thank you all for your support and generosity

Yours Sincerely,

Charlotte, Kerrie & Nik :)

‘ARF May Blog’

Hi All,
It’s been a busy first month and we thought we would bring you up to date with events and news in helping Abbey Road Friends live their dream: -

Newspaper Celebrities:

The month began with the local newspaper (Bexley Times) interviewing Charlotte’s Mum in relation to highlighting the ‘ARF’ project and our goals.

That’s my Mum and Dad (Charlotte), wait a minute ‘ARF’ are the celebs here where’s our picture?

http://www.bexleytimes.co.uk/search/story.aspx?brand=BXYonline&category=News&itemid=WeED13%20May%202009%2016:37:27:793&tBrand=BXYonline&tCategory=search

Local BBC Tour:
On Friday 8th May our Mum’s and Friends visited a number of local watering establishments; hang on a minute we thought you got bottled water from ASDA? Anyway the adventurers visited a number of local licensees and their customers in Bexley, Belvedere and Crayford.

Due to the local generosity of the licensees and their customers the event raised a total of £521, plus s few hangovers!

Afternoon Tea & Scones:
On Friday 22nd May our friend Sally had 25 family and friends around to her home in Hextable for afternoon tea and assortment of delicious cakes. Kerrie and I attended the event and a great afternoon was had by all. Kerrie was saucy and had a glass of Cava, but don’t tell her Mum!

Due to everyone’s generosity the event raised £385.

Future Events:
The next event is scheduled for 3rd June when 100 ‘ARF’ family and friends will be attending a function at Twins Restaurant in Dartford for a Chinese Banquet, followed by a Barbra Streisand tribute act and disco. The tickets sold-out within 2 weeks of going on sale, people’s support to ’ARF’ is so amazing!

Bexley Crossroads Care Ltd:

We are now pleased to announce that BCCL were the successful service providers who will be providing future care services to ‘ARF’. All parties will be meeting to complete due diligence in the coming months and understand ‘ARF’ care requirements at both home and college.

Abbey Road Property:

The proposed building completion date is now September.

That’s it for now lookout for our next Blog coming at the end of June!

Cheerio'

Charlotte, Kerrie & Nik :)