News Winter 2017

A fond farewell to our founder Rita Rees MBE

Winter 2017 Headway News 2017 Published by: What’sWhat’s OnOn Headway Bristol the brain injury association ltd. November Beckspool Building Frenchay Park Road Thursday 15th Bristol BS16 1LE Metcalfes Quiz Telephone: 0117 414 3222 Monday 20th Email: [email protected] HIYA! Christmas Market Web: www.headwaybristol.org.uk December Registered Charity No. 1007207 Sunday 10th Affiliated to Headway UK, the Christmas Carol Service brain injury association, Monday 18th a Registered Charity HIYA! Christmas Meal Christmas pudding sales will be taking place throughout November & December

Headway Bristol Carers & Support Group takes place on every first Tuesday of the month from 7pm until 9pm in the Day Centre.

We provide a monthly informal Carers Group where people can share experiences and offer peer support. As well as providing a safe and confidential forum for Carers to talk, we aim to do a variety of different activities that are interesting, informative and fun. This year we have had British Red Cross come in to teach practical first aid techniques, meals out, quizzes, arts and crafts projects... just to name a few!

Please come along and join us, all welcome!

Vacancies

Vacancies (See website for full details)

Paid Support Outreach Workers (part-time)

Volunteers We are still looking for more Trustees to join our Board – in particular seek a new Chair, and a Treasurer/ Company Secretary.

Volunteers in the following areas – Fundraising (Project/Events), Reception/Admin, Activities Support & Group facilitation (Day Centre), Drivers.

WinterAutumn 2017 2016 What’sWhat’s OnOn Grand Raffle 2017 Tickets are now on sale for our 40th Anniversary Grand Raffle!

Enter our raffle now to for your chance to win...

1st Prize – Weekday balloon flight for two, donated by Bailey Balloons.

2nd Prize – A four-night stay in a holiday cottage situated in the heart of Exmoor National Park, donated by Gary Keating.

3rd Prize – A road bike and helmet, donated by Barton Willmore.

4th Prize – Amazon Kindle Paper White, donated by Osborne Clarke.

Plus more fantastic prizes!

Each book of tickets costs just £5 each and are available with this newsletter. To request more tickets just email [email protected].

Please ask family and friends to get involved, and send any money, completed counterfoils and unwanted tickets back to Headway Bristol by Friday 1st December.

The prize draw takes place on 10 December 2017.

Celebrate 40 years of Headway Bristol

By joining our raffle you’ll be celebrating our 40th anniversary with us. All money raised from the Grand Raffle will be put towards our Head Injured Young Adults Group, HIYA, which is an unfunded service. HIYA provides opportunities for those aged 18-35 who have had a brain injury to share their experiences. Meeting usually takes place outside of the Headway Centre and offers a variety of different social activities. Sessions are designed to be fun, as well as build and develop essential skills.

None of this is possible without the help of our supporters. Buy a raffle ticket and you’ll be supporting our future work to improve life after brain injury.

WinterAutumn 2017 2016

Our Founder, Rita Rees, MBE

We are very sad to announce in our 40th year, and the day after our celebratory Gala Ball, the passing of our founder, Rita Rees MBE, on Friday 29th September 2017. Rita passed away at Begbrook House Care Home in Frenchay, Bristol. She was 86.

Rita formed Headway Bristol in 1977 on a site at Frenchay Hospital, after her daughter Jane suffered a traumatic brain injury. Rita led a group of people who were also relatives of those with traumatic brain injuries, who recognised the need to share experience and knowledge. They found themselves to be a great support to each other and other families from the local area whom had been affected by brain injury.

Recognising the value of the support group, Frenchay hospital dedicated a room in the hospital for the carers and families to meet together on a more regular and formal basis. This became the initial aim of Headway Bristol – to provide support to relatives through the traumatic period of intensive care and hospitalisation.

Over time the focus widened and Rita, along with others, understood there was a real need for direct care services for those who had themselves recovered from a brain injury, once their rehabilitation service had ended.

With support from Frenchay hospital, our ‘Day Service’ began. Volunteers put together a wide range of activity programmes designed to support the needs of those who attended.

As time passed and the demand for day services grew, Rita and her dedicated team began the colossal task of fundraising in excess of over £200,000 to build Headway Bristol’s very own premises. In May 1996 Sir Harry Secombe joined to officially open ‘Headway House’.

WinterAutumn 2017 2016 Our Founder, Rita Rees, MBE

From our current facilities in the Beckspool Building, we are extremely proud to carry on Rita’s dream and vision. Our day centre, outreach and carers and support services continue to thrive and over the years Headway Bristol has gone on to support thousands of individuals and families since its inception. None of this would have happened without Rita.

Huw Ponting, Chairman, Board of Trustees, commented: “There are few people who have done so much, for the benefit of so many, as Rita Rees. She was passionate in her commitment to support those who, like herself, had been faced with the life-changing impact of brain injury. Rita was also a tour de force in battling at national level for greater understanding and recognition of brain injury. Headway Bristol would not be the organisation that it is today without her initial foresight followed by her tireless support over the years. We will both miss and fondly remember her in equal measure.”

Rita is survived by her daughter Jane Rees and her memory will live on forever in the hearts of everyone at Headway Bristol.

AutumnWinterSummer 201720172016 2016 City Farm Day Out

A day out was recently arranged for our service users at St Werburghs City Farm.

Emily Lovell, Support Outreach Worker, commented: “We helped to make a planter for fresh herbs, which is going to be sold in their farm shop!”

Here’s some photos of Nicola and Hugh making the planter...

Winter 2017 Brendan’s Story

“My name is Brendan Frost and this is my story.

I have had outreach support from Headway Bristol since August 2016. I like the staff who support me and I enjoy having banter with them.

I do various activities during my outreach sessions. I go to the gym on Monday’s and in recent months I changed gyms. This gym has better facilities that is more accessible for people with a physical disability.

I feel that my physical health and fitness has improved greatly since using the gym. When I first started going to the gym I may have only managed 10 minutes on the treadmill and excercise bike, but now I can do 30 minutes on each.

Once a fortnight I go to Leisure Centre and attend swimming with staff from Headway Bristol. When I’m at the leisure centre, I meet my friends and say ‘Hello’ to the centre manager.

I feel like I am achieving goals during my outreach sessions with Headway Bristol. I would like to do a triathlon in the gym and pool, and am really excited about doing some fundraising for Headway Bristol.

Every other week, I do a baking or cooking session. I like it, as it is not hurried. I also go to one of the local libraries to borrow books that I enjoy reading. I like reading cooking and baking books for recipe ideas, and go for a drink at the local cafe.”

Winter 2017

Headway Bristol 40th Anniversary Gala Ball

We celebrated our 40th anniversary year with a fun-filled Gala Ball at The Bristol on 28th September 2017.

130 friends and supporters of Headway Bristol joined us for a sparkling reception, three course meal, dancing and music, sporting personalities and special guests.

Thanks to everyone who supported, attended and donated to the Gala Ball helped raise over £10,000 before costs, which is incredible and we’re so grateful for! The charity needs to raise over £200,000 each year to maintain its services, expand existing provision and pilot new initiatives.

The 40th Anniversary Gala Ball had a sporting theme, and was supported by professional horse rider eventer Polly Williamson, who suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) whilst training a horse, and retired rugby referee Ed Morrison, whose son died following a brain injury. BBC Points West presenter Will Glennon, who suffered a TBI following a road traffic accident, also made an inspiring speech.

Around 80 of the guests represented Bristol-based corporate organisations. Many more organisations were kind enough to donate amazing prizes for the raffle and auction, which took place on the night.

AutumnWinter 20162017 Headway Bristol 40th Anniversary Gala Ball

AutumnWinter 20162017 HIYA Social Group

The HIYA Social Group is for anybody who has had a brain injury and is aged 18 - 35 years. The group recently took part in a drumming workshop in the Day Centre. Christy and Olly tell us about the experience in their own words...

Christy: “With the HIYA Group I have the opportunity to socialise with people who understand the differences caused by my head injury and won’t judge me for it. It makes me feel like I’m part of something, when a great deal of the time a brain injury is a very lonely place.”

“We recently had a drumming workshop and had a great time! I love the powerful feeling you get when you play the drums and that’s amplified when you’re doing it with a group of people. It was so nice to hear how each of us sounded playing our part to make a one great huge sound. It really brings an atmosphere to the room, oh, and some aching hands too!”

Olly: “I enjoy the HIYA Group as it’s a chance to be with other adults with a brain injury. I found the drumming workshop fun, as it was great to try something that I would not normally get the chance to do. I have poor hand eye coordination, as a result of my brain injury, so it was a challenge to keep in rhythm and keep up, but I wasn’t judged if I made a mistake. It was also interesting to watch other people try their best to create a sound we could all make together.”

For more information about HIYA, please contact James Bartlett, Support Outreach Worker, on 07850 514029.

Don’t forget to support HIYA by buying Grand Raffle tickets!

Winter 2017 Fundraising Huge thanks to our #HeadwayHeroes, who have taken part in some awesome fundraising events and raised over £3,300 for Headway Bristol!

Bristol Half Marathon Four Headway Heroes completed the Bristol Half Marathon in September. Headway Bristol ambassador Lou Braithwaite and her friend Amy ran in memory of Lou’s brother, Scott, who died of a traumatic brain injury three years ago. Our very own Kim Jones hosted a bake sale in the Headway Centre to boost her fundraising. Natasha Bliss of Metcalfes Solicitors ran both the Great North Run and the Bristol Half on consecutive weekends and smashed her fundraising target by 50 per cent!

Marias Journey Jason P Belcher successfully completed a 60-mile cycle ride to raise funds & awareness for Headway Bristol because his sister, Maria, suffered a brain injury in an accident.

On the anniversary of her accident, Jason undertook the journey she took from the accident scene in Bleadon to Hospital, then onto Frenchay BIRU, before finally returning back to her home in Weston-super-Mare.

Skydive Challenge Zoe Hedger completed an exhilirating Skydive Challenge in October.

Gin Tasting A fantastic evening of gin tasting and fundraising took place in October, sponsored by Metcalfes Solicitors LLP and Renvilles Cost Lawyers & Consultants. Many thanks to our sponsors and Bristol Harbour Hotel for making this event possible!

Well done superstars and thank you for raising vital funds for Headway Bristol!

WinterSeptember 2017 2017 Fundraising

You are warmly invited to our annual carol service and 40th Anniversary Grand Raffle Draw!

The service starts at 6pm and will be followed by refreshments and the raffle draw, hosted at our centre in the Frenchay Beckspool Building.

We will be remembering our inspirational founder, Rita Rees MBE and reflecting on our 40th anniversary year. There will be a collection to raise funds to continue our vital services to brain injury survivors, their families and carers.

Winter 2017 Fundraising Winner of Headway Bristol 2018 London Marathon charity place announced

CONGRATULATIONS to Chris Warren, winner of our London Marathon 2018 charity place!

The Bedminster Down runner has been successfully selected and is hoping to raise over £3,000 in memory of best friend Scott who died following a traumatic brain injury three years ago. The team at Headway Bristol helped Chris, his friends and family cope with the horrific ordeal and unfortunate loss.

Although he has never taken part in a marathon before, Chris runs three times a week and has taken part in many half marathon races, 10k runs, as well as other events. Chris will be running the course following the iconic route taking in many of London’s landmarks, from the Cutty Sark and the Tower of London, to St James’ Park before finishing on The Mall.

We are delighted that Chris has successfully been selected as the lucky individual to secure our place in the 2018 London Marathon. With Chris’ support we can continue to help survivors of brain injury live as independently as possible.

Chris commented: “I am SO pleased! I am very much looking forward to raising money for Headway Bristol, a fantastic cause close to my heart. I feel that the London Marathon will be very challenging, but extremely rewarding. Let the training commence!”

You can read more about Chris’ story, and make a donation on his Virgin Money Giving page on http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/ChrisWarren11

SeptemberWinter 2017 2017 Volunteers

Winter 2017 Fundraising

Festive Puddings sold in aid of Headway Bristol!

Delicious Christmas Puddings for sale handmade by The Ultimate Plum Pudding Company - not available in supermarkets!

Individual Christmas Plum Pudding £2.50 (120g) Christmas Plum Pudding £6.50 (454g) Christmas Plum Pudding (No Gluten) £6.50 (454g) Triple Chocolate Pudding £6.00 (290g) Buy any Triple Ginger Pudding £6.00 (290g) 2 large Sticky Toffee Pudding £6.00 puddings for (290g) £12 Zingy Lemon Pudding £6.00 (290g)

To purchase any puddings please contact Headway Bristol: [email protected] or 0117 4143 222 0117 4143 222 | www.headwaybristol.org.uk . Headway Bristol Brain Injury Association Limited A Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England No. 2659120.Registered Charity No. 1007207. Affiliated to Headway UK, the brain injury association, a Registered Charity.

Winter 2017 Fundraising

Follow us on Twitter Like us on @HeadwayBristol Facebook.com/HWBristol

Thank you! We could not function without our fundraisers, donors, volunteers and supporters. Every pledge of support, item donated and penny raised goes directly to benefitting individuals who have survived a brain injury and their families/carers.

Questions or feedback

If you have any questions or feedback regarding this newsletter, please contact us by email: [email protected].

Winter 2017