Volunteer Newsletter October

Here is Your TDS Volunteer Newsletter October 2024

Mary Sharples
September 30, 2024

In October’s issue ….

Welcome Message from Mary
Save the date: Volunteer’s Winter Social!
Autumn is in the air; and so is change!
We’re hiring! Could it be you?
We’re hiring: Applications for Dementia Support Wo …
Thank you to our Llandudno trip volunteers!
Volunteer Shout Out: Kath!
Welcome to Holly, our (not so) new Dementia Suppor …
Our Dementia Support Co-ordinators
Our Dementia Support Workers

Welcome Message from Mary

Hi, lovely volunteers

Well, here we are nearly in October. It really does feel like we blinked, and summer was over, doesn’t it? And then we blinked again, and September just flew by. I feel as though we’ve had all 4 seasons this past month - from glorious sunshine, to torrential rain, to temperatures that made me dig by big coat out of the wardrobe. With summer truly behind us now, I hope you all treasured the few golden sunny days that Manchester blessed us with, and spent them doing something nice with friends, family or in the pleasure of your own company.

Mary, Volunteer Co-Ordinator

Whilst January is officially the new year, September always brings the feeling of a new chapter, and a new season - perhaps it’s our memories of all those first days back at school with new school shoes rubbing our toes, a new pencil case, a new timetable. It’s all so nostalgic, even for those of us for whom school is long in the past, or at least a few years ago.

We’re thinking of all you volunteers who have recently started back at school, college or university for another academic year - we hope summer has allowed you to recharge your body, brain and soul for another year of learning.

Read on to find out what exciting things are happening this month, and as usual, take care of your precious selves.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07579831790

Save the date: Volunteer’s Winter Social!

I know I know, it’s only October - forgive me! But trying to organise any kind of social for a large group of people is, quite frankly, like herding cats, so i’m giving you plenty of notice!

Please put Thursday 5th December in your diaries as the event of the year - the TDS Volunteer’s Winter Social.

All other details are yet to be confirmed, but please prepare for food, fun and general merriment…

Autumn is in the air; and so is change!

An important update from Sally

Unfortunately, you might think, nothing stays the same. At TDS, we like the services we run, and the way that we run them. We have kept on hoping that our services would be commissioned jointly by the NHS and Manchester City Council. However, because no public bodies seem to have any spare money to fund dementia work, that still isn’t happening. And grant funding is getting more and more difficult to obtain. We see charities closing every week because of that.

So, we’ve had to take up the invitation from the council to become registered providers of daycare. There’s obviously a demand for more ‘daycare’ and it means that the council will pay for individuals to access our services if they are eligible for a care package.

We’ve been uncertain about whether to go down this route, but have decided to pilot this model at two of our groups - Wythenshawe and North Manchester. We’re also setting up Together Out & About - a new 1:1 service, similar to Together at Home, with the emphasis on supporting our members to get out and about in Manchester. We’ll match members up with our Dementia Support Workers, and together they’ll go out for a walk, to an art gallery or museum, to the shops, or whatever else suits that person’s interests.

In order to make these services more attractive as daycare, we need to make the sessions longer - our Wythenshawe and North Manchester groups will become 3 hours long, and include a light lunch, and our Together Out & About sessions will be 2.5 hours long.

We realise this is a bigger ask of volunteers at those groups - can you commit to a 3 hour group? Don’t worry if you can’t, we’ll find a way to keep you involved. But if you can, it would make the world of difference.

The increase in prices for the new 3 hour groups will also be something of an adjustment, and might come as a shock to some of our members - and to you as volunteers. Members might not understand why we must charge so much, and we will mostly be talking to their carers about this. If Social Services will fund our members care needs, then their carers and relatives might not be out of pocket. But equally, there’s a chance that not all our members will be eligible for a care package and might have to pay privately.

So, charges for all of our groups will be rising at the same time - for the new 3 hours groups, it will cost £25 for those who don’t receive a care package. For the remainder of our 2 hour groups, the charge will rise to £8 for the group, and £6 for the minibus transport.

We really think that these sorts of services should be free, as they are the equivalent of health services, such as physiotherapy and speech therapy, that no-one is charged for. But since that’s not going to happen any time soon, we’re making these changes to our services and hoping and praying that our new plans work out for the best.

We’re hiring! Could it be you?

Join our team!

TDS is looking for a permanent member of staff to join our team as a part-time, Dementia Support Co-Ordinator, working for us 3 days a week. We need someone who is well organised, with good IT skills, and big energy, ideas and commitment to people with dementia and their carers…

Could that be you? Do you know someone who fits the bill?

⏰ Part-time, 21 hours (3 days a week)
💸 £26,734 (pro-rata)
📅 Deadline to apply: 4th October

The role would be 1 day spent running the Wythenshawe Friendship & Activity Group jointly with Vicky, and 2 days spent working in a team of 3 different carer charities in south Manchester doing outreach to engage more careers - running carer groups and well-being events and trips.

To apply, please send a CV and Cover Letter to [email protected]. Your Cover Letter should explain why you are interested in the post, and what you feel you could bring to the role.

Since you all already volunteer for us, feel free to speak to Claire or Sally to find out more about the role or application advice.

You can find the recruitment pack and more information on our website:

We’re hiring: Applications for Dementia Support Workers, coming soon…

One of our members ‘out and about’ with Daphney - one of our existing Dementia Support Workers.

Volunteer Simon, and member Nick, ‘out and about’ at The Whitworth.

As well as our part-time DSC role, soon we’ll also be looking for sessional Dementia Support Workers to help us grow our Together Out & About service - as explained above - and support people living with dementia to get out into Manchester, on a 1:1 basis.

We’re expecting Together Out & About to be popular with those diagnosed with young onset dementia - those who are physically able, and who will be able to enjoy and engage with walks and trips to cafes, galleries, museums, etc. The sessions themselves would be 2.5 hours each week, but your paid working time would be more like 3.5 hours per week, as you’d need to travel to and from the member’s home and do a little bit of visit prep.

Would this be of interest to any of you fab volunteers? Particularly those of you who are currently Together at Home volunteers?

We’d offer you some training, and you’d then join a ‘bank’ of staff, available to be matched up to an appropriate member when a referral is made.

If you might be interested, or would like some more information, please get in touch with Mary.

Email: [email protected]

Thank you to our Llandudno trip volunteers!

Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside…

On the 12th September, we took a coach load of our lovely members and carers to the delightful (if blustery!) North Wales coast. It was absolutely great to see everyone enjoying themselves - tucking into fish and chips, strolling along the pier and the promenade, and fighting the seagulls off their ice creams (some less successful than others…)

We couldn’t have run the trip without plenty of hands on deck to provide 1:1 support, enabling some of our members to attend without their carers, and so we want to say a huge thank you to all the volunteers that helped us out.

Lisa, Danielle, Val, Helen, Shagufta, Shama, Kath, Anne, Mark, Aimee and Sam - you’re all superstars!

For those who couldn’t join us, enjoy some snaps of our seaside adventures 🌊🌊:

Volunteer Shout Out: Kath!

Kath is one of our small but mighty (and unbelievable dedicated) volunteer team at our North Manchester group, held at Crumpsall Methodist Church.

A few weeks ago, in addition to her usual volunteering, Kath also held her own fundraiser for TDS and another charity close to her heart, raising £60 for us. That £60 keeps fuel in our minibus for a week, providing essential transport that enables many of our members to attend our groups.

That same week, Kath also helped us out on our trip to Llandudno - making sure our members had the best time.

So all in all, Kath - we think you’re fab. We say it all the time, but we really wouldn’t be Together Dementia Support without the generosity and care of our truly wonderful volunteering community, and people like Kath.

Welcome to Holly, our (not so) new Dementia Support Co-Ordinator!

Our lovely new Dementia Support Co-Ordinator!

We’re really excited to welcome another face to TDS team - lots of you will have already met her, but we were delighted to welcome Holly to our ranks at the beginning of August.

If you’ve not had a chance to meet or chat to her yet, you can read a little bit about her below:

Holly moved to to Manchester from the North of Ireland as a student, graduating in Speech and Language Therapy. She was inspired to work with people living with Dementia whilst on her university placements working within the community. She is new to the charity sector, but feels this is an exciting opportunity to be able to engage and transform many people’s lives. Her happy place is eating really good food and listening to music with her friends, and she feels that this role is a privilege and she is delighted to be a part of the vibrant and caring community that is Together Dementia Support.

Holly

We’re really excited to have her on our team, and she’s already brought so much energy and laughter to our groups and our office. Thank you for making her feel so welcome - we’re excited to see all the ways in which she grows into this role and makes it her own.