Past News & Announcements:
2009

OUR VERY OWN PAM MBE top of page

I am delighted to write this introduction, featuring as it does this wonderful tribute to Pam Munro, who was recently awarded an MBE for services to Headway in Tunbridge Wells.

As a founder member of Headway Tunbridge Wells, Pam has worked tirelessly from the early days to support our members and their families. She has been a Centre volunteer since September 1989 and
continues to give two days a week to the new Centre. Pam served as a Trustee for many years and continues to run our Helpline. In 1994, recognising the need for warden supported independent living
especially for younger people with brain injuries, Pam was the driving force behind the development of Headway Court and continues to serve as a member of the Management Committee. Pam has also
worked with Headway National, serving for many years on the Membership Committee representing groups in the South East.

I am sure Pam would also want me to acknowledge the tremendous support she has always had from
her husband Michael and also that she feels this award is a tribute to everyone in Headway at Tunbridge Wells.
Pam is a very special lady and we were all delighted that her work has been recognised in this very special way. It is very much deserved.

Judy Horwood, Chairman

HELLO'S & GOODBYE'S! top of page

A warm welcome to Adele, Gill, Carmel and Kathy our new volunteers and a welcome return to Jane and Matt.

We have said goodbye to Hazel, our cook, who has left to concentrate on breeding her spaniels. We say a warm hello to Pete Tindal, our new cook and look forward to savouring his promised menus.

We are terribly sad to announce the sudden death of Tony Lawrence who has been a member of Headway since 2001. We will all miss him dreadfully—he was a smashing guy. This photo, of Tony, was taken at Pam’s lunch party on 22nd July 2009

Friday Drop-In Coffee Club top of page


You are warmly invited to our Friday morning Drop-in Coffee Club
Time: 10-12noon
When: Every Friday from 29 May 2009

Open to anyone affected by brain injury.

Do drop in for a coffee, chat, information, support, to meet new friends or just to read the paper

Location: HEADWAY 3 Culverden Park, Tunbridge Wells TN4 9QT
Tel: 01892 619001
Email: headwaytwells@hotmail.com www.headwaytwells.org

FUNDRAISING NEWS top of page


We offer our most grateful thanks to everyone, individuals and organisations that have raised funds for Headway over the last month. Without your continuing support it would be much harder to keep offering the service we do to people with a brain injury.

As you can imagine, the recession has hit our donations hard. Any help would be appreciated to enable our service to develop. We especially need volunteers to help with organising fundraising events and to raise our profile. Just a few hours a month are very helpful. Please see our Volunteers Page or contact Di Drummond if you would like to see how you could support Headway in these vital tasks. Of course, any ideas or events you can hold for fundraising and would be more than welcomed. Thank you.

GARDEN DEVELOPMENTS top of page

We started the initial development of the garden late September. The patio, pathways and initial levelling of the site will be completed this year. Our grateful thanks go to a number of organisations and individuals, who are funding the works. Their support will enable us to use the garden more fully in the future. We shall acknowledge their contributions a little later in the Autumn. Progress will be posted on this site and no doubt a plea for plants will go out when we have beds to fill!

PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION


Headway petitions the government to make wearing of cycle helmets compulsory for children. Luke Griggs from Headway UK explains:

‘Dear colleagues

As part of our Action for Brain Injury Week activity in 2009, we launched a petition on the website of 10 Downing Street to call for a law change to make it compulsory for children under 16 to wear helmets while cycling. Please support us by signing this and encourage others to do the same.

The more people that sign the petition, the more chance we have of forcing the government to take our call seriously and act upon it.
As many Headway service users will testify, cycle helmets can save lives and help prevent life-changing brain injuries. According to the Department for Transport, the number of cyclists killed or seriously injured on UK roads has increased 11% in the past three years and, worryingly, children account for a disproportionate number of the victims.

We would like to see all cyclists wearing helmets, but children are particularly at risk when cycling on the roads as they do not have the insight, balance, strength or experience of adults. In addition, adults have the ability to study the evidence and make informed choices about the risks involved with cycling without a helmet; children do not have that luxury and as a society we owe it to them to protect them as best we can.

Evidence from countries that have already introduced compulsory helmet laws for children, including the USA, Australia and Canada, shows that they are successful in reducing the number of children killed or seriously injured in cycling accidents.

Signing the petition is easy and only takes a couple of minutes. Simply go to http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Helmets-cycling and follow the on-screen instructions.

Please ask all your friends, family and colleagues to sign the petition and spread the word!

The petition will remain open until 29 July 2009.

Thank you in advance,

Luke Griggs Communications Manager

If you would like to have more information about the wearing of cycle helmets and/or raise a petition with your friends and work colleagues, please contact the centre for information. Thank you.

Bring & Buy Coffee & Cake Morning

Friday 17 July – Coffee Morning in Tunbridge Wells

Please come along to a Bring & Buy Coffee & Cake Morning

Date: Friday 17 July 2009

Location: Garden of 22 Moat Farm, Tunbridge Wells, TN2 5XG

Time: 11.00 until 1.00

• Cake Stall

• Raffle

• Bric a Brac

• Hand Made cards

• Plants

If you would like some more information then please Call Sue Pearce on 01892 513107

In aid of Headway & YIPPEE , Two local charities supporting people with brain injuries
Charity numbers 1062884 & 1120378

HEADWAY @ THE GATEWAY


We are supporting a KCC/TWBC initiative and holding a surgery at the Gateway in the centre of town. Do drop in if you need any support or information.
Every other Tuesday morning – 9am-1pm.

JANUARY 2009

The Headway Bird Box Project Phase 1:

On Thursday 29th January 2009 “Phase1” of the Headway Bird Box Project was completed when 10 bird boxes and 5 bat boxes were presented to the Head Gardner at Dunorlan - Tony Ewins. Members of Headway assisted by a team of helpers had assembled these boxes. Dunorlan were really pleased with the boxes and thanks were sent to everyone who has been involved with the project.

The first box had been put up and in the near future the others will be sited across Dunorlan. We will be supplied with a map of where they all are, so later in the year, you should be able to visit Dunorlan to see if you can find all 15 Boxes.

Members, staff and volunteers from Headway attended the presentation together with a representative from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and the team of gardeners from Dunorlan. The Courier were also present recording the event for the local newspaper.

The next “Phase” of the “Bird Box” project is about to commence. This time we are making much bigger houses for the visiting ducks and geese to the two islands on the lake. There will be plenty of opportunity for everyone to be involved.

Once again – A BIG THANK YOU to everyone who helped.

Headway UK Awards: December 2008

We are proud to announce that Richard Witts won the Volunteer of the Year Award at a special lunch at the Dorchester in London on Wednesday 10th December.

A group of twelve staff, volunteers and trustees attended from Headway Tunbridge Wells & District to see Richard win his award. The Awards is a country wide recognition of the people who have made an outstanding contribution to the lives of people with a brain injury over 2008.

Fundraising News:

WOW!
Women of Wadhurst (WOW) held a Wits & Wisdom Quiz night on behalf of Headway on Saturday 15 November. This event was packed and Headway had three teams entered. The evening raised a massive £1200 for Headway. Very many thanks to the WOW team for all of their work and congratulations on a very enjoyable evening.

Christmas Coffee Morning:
The Christmas Coffee Morning on Wednesday 10th December at the Centre raised £304. Many thanks to all who supported us on the day.

Tunbridge Wells Round Table:
Tunbridge Wells Round Tablers have awarded us £300 towards the purchase of two Nintendo DS Lites so that we can use the software in our rehabilitation and have some fun at the same time. Thank you.

Late November / Early December 2008

Christmas Social Evening: 1st December 2008
Meet old and new friends at the centre for a Christmas social evening on Monday 1st December 2008.
Donations of sweet or savoury nibbles and raffle prizes would be welcomed on the day. We look forward to seeing you all.

Christmas Coffee Morning: 10th December 2008
The Christmas Coffee Morning is on Wednesday 10th December between 10am - 12pm and the Centre will be full of books, bric-a-brac, cakes, tombola, raffle and refreshments. You are welcome to visit and have a look round if you have not been before, as well as enjoy a coffee and mince pie and browse the stalls.

WOW!

Women of Wadhurst (WOW) are holding a Wits & Wisdom Quiz night on behalf of Headway on Saturday 15 November in the Commemoration Hall in the village. Tables of six are offered at a cost of £8 per person. If you are interested in getting a team together, do please let Alison know on 01892 782608 before 8 November. Headway will have two teams but will welcome more. WOW have supported us before with a Murder Mystery evening which was great fun and the Quiz will hopefully be a sellout.

Volunteer of the Year nomination

We are really proud to say that Richard Witts, one of our volunteers, has been shortlisted for the Headway Volunteer of the Year Award, the winner being announced at the Headway UK Awards on 10 December at the Dorchester Hotel. London.
Richard has been a volunteer at Headway since 1991 and now comes to the Centre four days a week. He sees volunteering as his ‘job in retirement’ and a way of giving back to society. He is valued for his respect of others, sense of humour, charm and originality.
Although Richard is a very modest man and doesn’t want any recognition for his commitment, we do hope that this nomination shows him how much he is valued by us all. We look forward to the results of the Awards and hope that he is successful.

Christmas Bazzar - November 08

A new venture for Headway. We are opening the centre on Friday evening 14 November for a Christmas Bazaar. The centre will be full of stalls from local craftspeople and traders, offering that special Christmas gift for your family or friends. Doors open at 7pm-9.30pm.

Do come and have a look round. Entrance ticket of £1.50 each includes a glass of mulled wine and a
mince pie.

The garden gets an autumn clear-up: September 2008 / October 2008

Headway has been fortunate in having another local business to support us recently. Thomson Snell & Passmore, a local firm of solicitors, offered a group of staff volunteers to help us in the garden. They were able to build on the work done in the summer and gave the garden a good clear up, disturbing many frogs in the process.
One of our Members had also very kindly offered some excellent compost and the volunteers helped bag this up and mulch all of the beds. Thanks go to Steve, who gave his time and trailer to go and pick up the compost.
We are really grateful to the volunteers, who helped us make the garden a bit more accessible while we continue to raise the funds to get the landscaping started.

A new member of staff

Starting in November, we would like to welcome our new cook, Hazel Woolgar, to the Headway team. Hazel is a very experienced cook and is really looking forward to working at Headway and getting to know the members, volunteers and staff. Unfortunately for our waistlines, she loves baking, but we hope that once she is settled in, she will be able to make some goodies for coffee mornings and events as well as Centre lunches.

Charity bank visit

In October Headway was host to a group of people who have deposited funds into the Charity Bank. They are the people who enable the Bank to offer loans and mortgages to charities, without which it would be very hard to progress projects. The Bank made it possible for Headway to buy the new Centre.
Yaa Kudom, the SE Regional Manager said, ‘I would like to thank you, your staff and service users for your hospitality today in accommodating our ‘different journey’’ visit. I know that the depositors who attended were very impressed with the work of the charity and enjoyed meeting all involved in ensuring the continuation of this valuable service to the community’.

Centre member exhibits a lifetime of art works

In late September, one of our centre members, Ronnie Mitchell, had a very successful exhibition of his artwork at the centre. Ronnie was a graphic designer until he was diagnosed with a brain tumour around 30 years ago. Although, after a successful operation, Ronnie had to leave work, he has been able follow a lifelong passion for art and design. He has been coming to Headway for around five years.
The exhibition covered 40 years of his life and was attended by family and friends as well as the public. All were impressed by the variety of Ronnie’s work – from realistic depictions of rural Norfolk scenes and still life, to abstracts inspired by landscape.
‘We are so proud of him’ said Ronnie’s wife Sue. ‘He works away in his studio at home and at Headway but we don’t really get a chance to see his work all together in this way’.
Ronnie has very kindly said he that he will be making a donation from the sale of his pictures to Headway.

Members’ meetings

The October Members’ meeting was packed to hear a very informative talk on ‘Advances in medication in the rehabilitation of frontal lobe brain injury’ by Dr Mayur Bodani of the West Kent Neuropsychiatry Department of Sevenoaks Hospital. We are very fortunate in having Dr Bodani in West Kent. As he said, a neuro psychiatrist is a very rare specialist in the UK. Dr Bodani spoke about the uses of different drugs and their effect on the brain and physiology.
Meet old and new friends at a pre

Headway’s garden gets a makeover in Volunteers’ Week: Summer 2008

A team of volunteers from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council had an enjoyable but hardworking day, tidying up the back garden at the new centre. A group of ten staff dug out and made new raised beds for a vegetable patch, cleared and planted up flower beds and cleared some undergrowth.

‘We can’t do too much at this stage, as we need to raise funds to lay patios and pathways throughout the garden, but the volunteers did a great job in making it look more cared for’, said Di Drummond, manager at Headway.
‘Apart from disturbing a number of frogs that have made their home in the long grass, the day went really well. We now have space to grow a few vegetables during the summer and flowers to brighten up the borders. We can’t thank the volunteers enough for helping us.’

Richard Powell, Director of Services to the Community at Tunbridge Well Borough Council, said that the Council supports its staff in undertaking voluntary activities. ‘This is part of the Council's commitment to the community within which we work. We also believe that volunteering provides our staff with opportunities for personal development and teambuilding.’

2008 - OUR 20TH ANNIVERSARY AND A NEW HOME - January 2008

At last, we have finally moved into Milestones, our new centre at 3 Culverden Park, Tunbridge Wells.

After 14 years at Pembury Hospital and a year in temporary accommodation, our new centre was ready for us to move in over Christmas and opened for members on 9 January 2008.

We would like to thank Shan and Nick Sulivan for the use of accommodation at Tonbridge Football Ground, home of the Angels Football Club and also to Mark Andell of Swanmead Sports Association. Having this temporary accommodation enabled us to keep a service going for our members throughout the year it took for the renovation of our new centre to be completed.

On the 21st January 2008 more than 70 guests enjoyed a party at our new home to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of the charity. Members past and present were given the opportunity to look around the centre as well as mingle with staff and founders, Pam & Michael Munro.

The event also marked the launch of a new fundraising initiative to help furnish the new premises and contribute to our running costs. Fundraising packs were given out and people were asked to hold fundraising event, a birthday tea party perhaps, during this our 20th year.

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