PADSTONES

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Hold the front page! ----------------------------					---------------------------- Late breaking news!!
Padstones Bridge Evening § Friday, 21st November 2008 ¨ for details © please contact: ª BandCSTOTT@aol.com
Laurie Holloway Concert Padstones and Thames Valley Adventure Playground are pleased to announce a joint fund raising event featuring Mr. Laurie Holloway. Taplow Court have kindly agreed to host the concert. The Date:         Saturday 8^th November 2008 Time:               7 p.m. for 7.30 p.m. The Venue:      Taplow Court, Berry Hill, Taplow Tickets:            £15.00 each Box Office:       dorothy@padstones.org.uk
Annual Report 2007/08
The provision of accommodation and support for young people continued successfully during the year. The Charitable Company has now two fully staffed Accommodation Centres, Reedham House in Burnham and Havenfield in High Wycombe, giving 17 bed spaces. In addition, as nomination agent for South Bucks District Council, there is access to a further 12 bed spaces at the Slough Foyer. Move-on accommodation is available at a two - and a three-bedroom flat in Burnham and a further two-bedroom flat in High Wycombe. Finally, a specially designated member of staff, called a Floating Support Worker, provides assistance to those who have passed through the Charitable Company's Centres and information to those who ask for advice about accommodation and other issues. The Development of Residents Padstones' approach to its work involves working closely with each young resident towards restructuring their lives. To this end each new resident is allocated a 'key-worker' who agrees a Support Plan with the resident and oversees progress formally each week as well as providing help and advice as requested throughout their period of stay. It is essential that each young person accommodated commits either to full-time education or to training which will lead to employment opportunities. Throughout their stay Padstones' workers liaise closely with the statutory agencies and employers to maximise the opportunities available to the residents. During the year 29 young people left. The success of Padstones' approach can be gauged from the fact that 27 made a satisfactory move. Here are some excerpts from a letter written by one of these 27: "I just wanted to say a big thank you for everything you have done for me. It's a miracle that you were able to change a depressed, silly, stupid little girl into the grown up, confident, individual independent person I am to-day. I can't imagine the sort of person I would have been if it wasn't for you, your help and guidance has been so needed. I can't believe it's been a year and a half since I moved in, so much has happened and changed. You feel like a family to me I can't believe it's come to an end. I will miss everything even the rules and the rent! Keep up the great work - you are life savers." The three move-on flats, two in Burnham and one in High Wycombe, have made a significant contribution over the years to making our young people ready for independent living. The flats are supervised by our Floating Support Worker but the young people in them have responsibility for almost all of their living arrangements. Many of the young people in the Burnham Centres have studied at the East Berkshire College at Langley. The College's help, especially in designing custom-make courses to suit our young people, is gratefully acknowledged. Several young people at Havenfield have been on further education courses at Amersham and Wycombe College. Others have had work experience through Hayden Training, a training company which works in collaboration with the local Job Centre and now have jobs. Some of our younger residents are still at school and have been sitting GCSE and 'A' level examinations. Volunteers and staff have continued to organise extra-mural activities such asten-pin bowling, barbeques and five-a-side football matches. This year, as anexperiment, Padstones organised three one-day and two half-day outings instead of the usual five-day Caravan holiday. The highlight was the day-out to London, going on the London Eye and visiting the London Dungeon - although for some the best on a day out experience was going on a Tube train for the first time! The residents were fully involved in the decisions for these days; the consensus at the end was that we should revert to the Caravan holiday and that will happen again in May 2008. As usual, there was a Christmas dinner in a local restaurant for all residents in mid-December and birthdays were celebrated as they occurred throughout the year.
This makes it all worthwhile - A resident writes to express her appreciation of her 18 months stay at Reedham House
Our Visit To The London Dungeons May 2007
ö Padstones Charity Christmas Cards						ö New Board Members We are on the look out for new Board Members with particular expertise in Legal and Financial matters
	· Available for sale l Packs of 10 at £4 per pack
	Please contact: Email : Sue Ogden - General Manager Phone: 01628 - 660472 / 01628 - 660872
There is a link to our 'ARCHIVED NEWS' at the foot of this page
		To our friends and supporters - Best Wishes for the year 2008
Burnham Beeches Rotary Club
"Where's that Crow's Nest?"				"Wish you were here"
Two of our residents, Stephen Bing and Stuart Hazel are pictured going on the Tall Ships Adventure. Stuart is the one in the Union Jack hat. Stephen, pictured right, is looking out towards the Prince William sailing ship.  They traveled to France aboard the Stavros and were sponsored by the Burnham Beeches Rotary Club. Both lads had a fantastic time. Thank you Burnham Beeches Rotary Club.				"Ship Ahoy!"
Gerrards Cross C of E School
Gerrards Cross C of E School donated their harvest collection (above left) to Padstones. Three of our staff spent over two hours sorting it out - there was so much! Thank you children. That was very kind and thoughtful of you.
We received many harvest festival donations from several other sources and we appreciate every single donation. Thank you all.
We also received all the cards made by the children of Gerrards Cross C of E School. They were fantastic but we didn’t have enough room to put them all on the website However, above is a lovely example.
From Annual Report 2007/8 Accommodation Provision Statistics_ A: Reedham House B: Havenfield C: Flats D: Emergency Admissions E: Long Term Residents · 8 months = Avg. length of stay for long term residents · 45% : 55% = Male to Female ratio · 95% of new residents were aged 16 or 17							For 'Archived News' click the red button below
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