Shedbuilding

Sweat, splinters & frustration. Cheap materials, warped wood & ingenuity in adversity. A fair bit of swearing if we're honest.

It didn't go up as quick as they'd have liked but Jamie and Shaun wrestled a stubborn and awkward pile of wood into what everyone agrees is a very fine specimen of a garden shed.

Dedicating a few afternoon hours over a few days their pride and joy took shape. A small opening ceremony on Thursday brought cheers (Hoorah!) and the other kind of cheers with a bottle of Cava.

Andrew was responsible for the very effective painting, and we are sure that a solid, reliable (and attractive) shed - which should last us many years - is a fine reward for hard work.

Summer BBQ 2013

Rathbone's annual BBQ at Chatsworth Way on Friday evening was a well-attended success as ever. Much hard work goes into getting the event just right and running smoothly.

Aside from the usual fixtures of lots of good food, drink and a raffle,This year's BBQ featured a presentation of thanks to Bobby Lindsey, someone who used to live at Chatsworth Way (many years ago) and helped the charity by keeping the drive and outside areas brushed clean for many years. Bobby chose to retire this year because of some health issues and everyone wishes him all the best in the future.

Thanks Bobby!

(* Unfortunately it was pretty dark when Bobby was being presented with his tankard, wine, chocolates and medal so we don't currently have any good pictures of him on the evening - but many people took pictures, so watch this space...)

With work progressing on the back garden there will be much less usable flat/grassed space to be use for such an event in future. Part of the garden will be used for growing fruit and vegetables so this year's event my be the last one of its size at Chatsworth Way. If that is the case we certainly went out on a good one.

Lambeth Country Show 2013

Rathbone had a stronger presence than normal at the Country Show this year as our Youth Club made their debut at at the event.

While our main stall concentrated on selling plants (as we have done in recent years), the Youth Club ran a 'Beat the Goalie' competition, and made good use of a 'Hook the Duck' game (kindly lent to us by the Battersea branch of 'White Stuff') to attract hordes of children and their parents, with the chance to win a White Stuff beach ball.

This year brought new challenges as the event organisers had, in their wisdom, moved the traders car park as far away from the charity section as possible and then kept changing the4 rules about what time vehicles were and weren't allowed onto the site. Needless to say some of us did a fair amount of marching up hill and down dale with arms full of plants.

Crowds flocked to Brockwell Park in the brilliant weather, seemingly in record numbers, and everywhere seemed busy. We were packed up by around 5pm on Sunday as all plants had been sold, all beach balls and other prizes had been won and it was simply too hot not to go home for a lie down.

Thanks once again to all our volunteers on Saturday and Sunday, nothing would be possible without you.

Small Charity Week

Rathbone was represented at the Small Charity Week Celebration Day in Russell Square on Saturday. We were hoping to find some new Trustees for the charity.

It didn't rain (hooray!) but was very windy and the Lime trees in the square played havoc with our CEO's hay fever.

The event was not awash in members of the public but it was nice to get the chance to meet lots of other charities.

Monday morning floods

No, not tears, an actual flood!

Monday morning at Chatsworth Way dawned to a flood of almost biblical proportions (well, about 10 inches anyway) in our basement. Heavy rain and problems with drainage in the past have caused floods before, but never so deep.

This flood, however, was not weather related or, indeed, an act of God. A hosepipe had been left out over the weekend and someone, who shall remain fully nameless, turned it on and left it.

We have lost a fair amount of equipment, supplies and some paper archives although we will need to wait a few days for the water to fully drain before the full extent of damage can be properly assessed.

Some wet things

Ah, Mondays.

Rathbone's second Annual Fun Run around Brockwell Park took place on Saturday May 25th. Pictured are the team of volunteer marshals after their 'breakfast briefing' at the cafe in the old Brockwell hall at the top of the Hill.

However much money we eventually raise from the event it was still a great success. The Mayor of Lambeth, Councillor Mark Bennett, started the event and presented medals to the runners, Many more people are now aware of Rathbone and everyone who attended had some fun.

Aside from the generous weather on the day this was mainly down to the hard work and commitment of our volunteers and the people who organised the event. Last year's event was good, but this year was much better in terms of organisation. Rathbone is good at learning and improving so we are very sure that next year's fun run will be bigger and better again.

Thanks to everyone who raised money, everyone who ran (or walked) and everyone who helped make it such a good day in the park.

More pictures can be viewed on Rathbone's Flickr page.

Trustees

Here are most of Rathbone's Board of Trustees meeting last night at Chatsworth Way. The Board meet monthly to check upon and take important decisions concerning the correct running of the charity, which includes financial matters, personnel matters, various operational issues and new opportunities for the organisation.

Turbo-charged Trustee

Lawrence Avery, one of Rathbone's Trustees, completed the London Marathon in a super quick time of 2 hours and 49 minutes. He has also raised £1,193 for the charity so far which will be close to £1,500 when Gift Aid has been added.

Well done Lawrence!!

The garden progresses...

Major work on the back garden at Chatsworth Way is progressing. We have our annual summer BBQ in July and we very much hope that the garden will be transformed and quite lovely in time for the much anticipated event.

The last couple of weeks have seen the boundaries largely cleared of ivy and various unwelcome undergrowth and saplings.

One major surprise was when an old minibus roof rack was found and dug out of the ivy and hedge next to the patio area. It took several people all day to cut it out, but the most surprising thing was that it is still in pretty good condition - we're pretty sure it has been in there for at least 15 years!

Feedback Event

Today Rathbone arranged for independent facilitators to meet with a diverse group of service users to explore their opinions and feelings about some issues and policies which affect them.

This morning the group discussed Rathbone's smoking policy and this afternoon the group watched some films about the Mental Capacity Act and talked about how it affects people with disabilities, particularly within the context of Health Action Planning.

2013 Staff Conference - April 5th

On Friday afternoon almost the whole organisation was able to get together in the Chatsworth Baptist Church hall very near to our offices in West Norwood.

Items discussed included proposed and upcoming changes to terms and conditions in our Staff Handbook, and a number of group exercises and very lively debate and vote on the organisation's Smoking Policy.

Staff Conferences are very useful for sharing ideas and information, and for ensuring that all employees get a chance to have their say.

(Tree) Surgery

On yet another bitterly cold 'spring' morning work continues in the ongoing rejuvenation of the outdoor spaces at Chatsworth Way.

Our trusted tree surgeons, AN Rowland Ltd are very quick, professional and tidy. Today, battling the inevitable snow showers, they removed three trees at the back of the property and 'pollarded' the horse chestnut tree you can see in the photograph.

The three removed trees are part of a major redevelopment of the back garden which, though lovely in summer, is largely unused and unusable in winter, partly because of drainage problems.

Former trees

2 years ago we were able to sell an unused and overgrown patch of land at the bottom of the garden - beyond the fence you can see in the next photograph. 

The money is being invested in making the garden more attractive and usable all year round. There will be raised beds to grow fruit and vegetables, where we will draw on the skills and experience of Rathbone's thriving Gardening Group. Have you visited their blog yet?

Pitching in

Rathbone has a small but capable and highly versatile management team. Like many smaller charities the managers have to be able to turn their hands to a wide range of tasks from publicity and marketing, to recruitment and a wide range of HR duties. Here is a picture of the Deputy Director, Shaun, with his metaphorical maintenance hat on fixing a new digital keypad to the office door at Chatsworth Way yesterday. 

Pictures of our Head of Support Services unblocking a toilet will no doubt follow soon!

Post-Privets

Garden update (See Busy inside, busy outside post)

As you can see, our impressive gardening team has made a huge difference to our front drive/garden already. The old Privet bushes there until a couple of days ago dominated the whole area.

Messy Neighbours

There are a number of housing association properties on Chatsworth Way which regularly cause problems with rubbish being dumped or not disposed of properly. The real challenge is to get someone to take responsibility for the problem, as it does not fall to the council.

2 doors down from our office a refuse sack was not put in the large commercial bin provided, and unsurprisingly it was torn open and redistributed by foxes and other creatures. There are used nappies all over the place, spilling onto the pavement, and it has been like this for a whole week. One nappy was kindly placed in our back garden by a thoughtful fox. There has also been broken furniture dumped alongside the bin for at least two months.

We called the housing association on Wednesday to ask them to sort out the current mess, and they promised a housing officer would attend to assess and resolve the problem and put letters through the tenants' letterboxes. The mess is still there today so we just called the housing association again.

The officer responsible and their entire team are apparently on a team building day today and won't be back until Monday, so the good folk of Chatsworth Way, including our tenants and staff, will just have to put up with it for another few days.

It is a shame that many people seem to lack respect for their local environment and the people who share it with them.

Busy inside, busy outside

It's busy in our office today, as usual, but things are also busy outside as work progresses on improving and tidying our front garden/drive area. Two privets are in the process of being removed, and about time too. We will be able to see across the road for the first time in a while and people will be able to see our building properly.

8 Chatsworth Way was built in 1890 and retains loads of original features and Victorian character, although it was extended (where our office sits) in the 1980s, while many years as a care home naturally wrought significant changes to the interior of the building.The care home was de-registered in 2010 and now provides supported accommodation for 6 people with learning disabilities.

New employee starts

Rathbone's latest recruit to our Outreach Team, Ariel, started his induction today. He is reading up on policy and procedures, including our staff handbook and accessible customer handbook, learning about the way we work and our expectations of all employees. After gaining a full understanding of the his role within the organisation, Ariel will begin reading the files of the people he will eventually be supporting. Next week Ariel will begin shadowing experienced workers, and being introduced to service users and their families. After a minimum 2 weeks of shadowing we expect Ariel will be ready to start working solo, once he had a formal pre-lone-working supervision with the Service Manager.

Spring is nearly here...

Planned work has begun on the front and rear gardens at Chatsworth Way. Our gardening volunteer bravely spent yesterday (in the snow showers) up a ladder, shaping a Yew tree next to the front drive.

He also tidied up some beds and planted some Camelias. Once the front is ship shape, significant transformation work will begin on the large back garden by a team of professional gardeners. Rathbone sold a portion of overgrown and unused land at the property a couple of years ago, and the funds are being used to make the garden a more fun, interesting, stimulating place, and usable for 12 months of the year. Watch this space...

Welcome to our new blog

Welcome! We hope you find this to be an interesting glimpse behind the scenes at Rathbone.

We have a website, and have several groups who publish their own (blogger) blogs, which can be readily accessed via our website: www.rathbonesociety.org.uk

We think it will be a useful and informative illustration of what we do and why we do it; showing some of the people, personalities and systems we have in place to run a successful, person-centred organisation.

There is a lot of largely unseen hard work which goes into running Rathbone's services, social groups, activities and events.

Here is a picture of one of our meetings earlier today. It won't be the most exciting picture you see on this blog, but it does show some behind the scenes work in progress.