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<strong>REACH</strong><br />
HALTON HOUSING TRUST NEWSLETTER<br />
WWW.HALTONHOUSING.ORG<br />
Winter<br />
2016<br />
Merry Christmas<br />
FROM everyone at Halton Housing Trust!<br />
also inside ><br />
P10 Transforming a Young Girl’s Life<br />
P13 A Man of Many Talents
Hello and welcome to<br />
the latest<br />
edition of <strong>REACH</strong>!<br />
It may be getting colder outside but you can always rely on a warm welcome to the<br />
latest edition of Reach.<br />
As always, it’s been a busy few months at the Trust. As you<br />
may have seen from the numerous signs outside our sites,<br />
we are working hard to build new homes across Runcorn and<br />
Widnes and meeting the targets of our ambitious development<br />
programme. Since January 2016 we have built or are at the<br />
final stages of building 241 new homes, totaling an impressive<br />
£27 million. Since 2008 we have built more than 800 homes<br />
through our investment of over £90 million.<br />
You can read more about our latest activities on page 6 as well<br />
as our exciting new home on page 12 which will bring us closer<br />
to our communities.<br />
Ever wondered what our Estate Services Caretaking team do?<br />
If so you can find out more about what they got up to this<br />
autumn, (we couldn’t possibly fit everything in!) on page 7.<br />
Many of us look forward to Christmas and all the excitement<br />
that the season brings. However, for others the festive season<br />
can be a difficult time. Many of our most vulnerable customers<br />
will struggle to keep warm over the colder months. You can be<br />
rest assured that our teams will be working hard to reach those<br />
customers who are most in need.<br />
If you need a little extra help over Christmas, on page 16 we’ve<br />
listed food bank locations throughout Runcorn and Widnes, as<br />
well as a list of handy contacts where you can access additional<br />
support on page 17.<br />
The Trust is all about<br />
Improving People’s Lives.<br />
A really good example<br />
of this is through aids<br />
and adaptations. Read<br />
how they’re helping to<br />
transform lives on<br />
page 10.<br />
Customer feedback showed<br />
us that you wanted to read<br />
more about the people who<br />
live in our homes, so check out the<br />
interview with Billy on page 13.<br />
He’s a true inspiration!<br />
We hope you enjoy reading this edition and if you have any<br />
feedback please email laura.beckett@haltonhousing.org or<br />
karen.kelly@haltonhousing.org<br />
Wishing you all the very best for Christmas and<br />
the New Year.<br />
Nick<br />
INSIDE<br />
THIS<br />
COMMUNITY<br />
6 Victoria House<br />
Underway<br />
7 Transforming your<br />
Communities<br />
8 Staying Well this Winter<br />
/Adverse Weather<br />
15 Festive Events/<br />
Fundraising for Charity<br />
16 Foodbanks/Flu Jab<br />
17 Help at Christmas/Opening Hours<br />
HALTON PEOPLE<br />
ISSUE<br />
11 Social Media Savvy/<br />
Community Group Funding<br />
13 Meet Customer Billy<br />
14 A Day in the Life of an Apprentice<br />
HALTON HOUSING TRUST<br />
WINTER 2016<br />
12<br />
3 Bulletin Board<br />
4 Universal Credit/<br />
United Utilities-Help with your Bill<br />
5 Customer App Success/Ways to Contact Us<br />
9 Lifekit-your Online Customer Toolkit<br />
10 Improving Customer’s Lives through<br />
Aids and Adaptations<br />
12 Our New Home<br />
2<br />
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WINTER 2016<br />
WWW.HALTONHOUSING.ORG
HALTON HOUSING TRUST<br />
BULLETIN<br />
BOARD<br />
We’re disability confident<br />
Halton Housing Trust is proud to be recognised as a Disability<br />
Confident employer. There are nearly 11.5 million working age<br />
people in Great Britain with a disability or health condition<br />
and Halton Housing Trust shares the government’s vision of<br />
empowering disabled people to realise their aspirations and fulfil<br />
their potential, and the recent award as a Disability Confident<br />
employer acknowledges our commitment in this area.<br />
TRUST’S Marketing and<br />
Communications team<br />
recognised by CIM<br />
The Trust’s Marketing and Communications<br />
team is celebrating after scooping not one<br />
but two prestigious awards at the Northern<br />
Chartered Institute of Marketing Awards<br />
(CIM) in November. The team won ‘Best In<br />
House Marketing Team’ and ‘Best Digital<br />
Marketing Campaign’<br />
categories, beating off stiff competition<br />
from entries from Lookers and NHS trusts.<br />
A huge congratulations to the team!<br />
INVESTORS IN PEOPLE<br />
Here at the Trust we place a huge importance<br />
on our employees and recognise them as our<br />
greatest asset. We are Investors in People<br />
accredited and work hard to retain this<br />
status. Training and personal development<br />
is a big part of this and we’d like to take this<br />
opportunity to congratulate the following<br />
employees on their recent completion of their<br />
CMI L3 certificate in First Line Management.<br />
Well done to Dave Guilfoyle, Tracey Morris, Jean Williams, Alf Bean,<br />
Brian Gill, Suzanna Anslow, Hazel Lea, Dawn Burke, Ste Temperley and<br />
Ste Taylor. Some of the group are shown together in this photograph.<br />
Contacting the Trust over Christmas<br />
We close from 12pm on 23rd December and re-open at 9am on Tuesday 3rd January 2017.<br />
You can still call 0303 333 0101 to report an emergency repair or pay your rent. The Trust fully<br />
re-opens for all other enquiries on 3rd January. Why not make life a little easier in 2017 and try<br />
using our new and improved app to contact us. Download here<br />
3<br />
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WINTER 2016<br />
WWW.HALTONHOUSING.ORG
HALTON HOUSING TRUST<br />
DON’T<br />
LEAVE IT<br />
TO L K<br />
Since the last issue of Reach, you may<br />
be aware that a benefit cap reduction came<br />
into place on November 7th. The benefit<br />
cap is a limit on the total amount of certain<br />
benefits you can get if you are of working<br />
age. The benefit cap will only affect you if<br />
you are receiving Housing Benefit or<br />
Universal Credit.<br />
The total amount a couple or family<br />
can claim in benefits is now £384.62<br />
per week and the total amount a single<br />
person can claim is £257.69 per week. If<br />
you are currently receiving more than these<br />
amounts, your Housing Benefit or Universal<br />
Credit will be reduced so you don’t get more<br />
than the benefit cap limit.<br />
We’re here to help. We’ve produced an online<br />
budget calculator to help you stay on top of<br />
your finances to check the impact that any<br />
changes may have for you personally. The<br />
calculator can be found on Lifekit by clicking<br />
the ‘Lifekit’ tab in the top right hand corner<br />
of our website.<br />
If you need further help or advice and want<br />
to speak to our specialist team, call<br />
0151 510 5024 or email<br />
welfare@haltonhousing.org<br />
Support<br />
with<br />
your<br />
Water<br />
Bill<br />
If you struggle to pay your water bill, a fantastic scheme has been launched by United Utilities<br />
that can help you reduce your payments.<br />
To be eligible for the United Utilities Support Tariff 2016/17 you need to meet certain criteria:<br />
You must have built up previous water charge arrears<br />
You do not use large volumes of water, for example for a large pond<br />
Be in receipt of one of the following benefits: Council Tax Reduction,<br />
Housing Benefit, Income Support, Income-based Job Seekers<br />
Allowance, Working Tax Credit, Pension Credit, Income-related<br />
Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit.<br />
Have you Verified Online?<br />
GOV.UK Verify is the new way to prove who you are online. It gives safer, simpler and<br />
faster access to government services. It takes about 10 minutes to verify your identity the<br />
first time you use GOV.UK Verify, and a couple of minutes any time after that.<br />
For more information visit GOV.UK/verify<br />
To learn more about the scheme and for an application form,<br />
visit the United Utilities website Support Tariff page at<br />
www.unitedutilities.com/support-tariff<br />
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HALTON HOUSING TRUST<br />
How our<br />
Customer<br />
App can<br />
improve<br />
your life<br />
My name is Chris Noon. I’ve been an ‘Involved<br />
Customer’ of Halton Housing Trust since 2015.<br />
I’m a retired nurse but continue to fundraise<br />
and to date I’ve raised over £750,000 and<br />
I also have a passion for the homeless. I’m<br />
a co worker for Mother Theresa’s Shelter in<br />
Liverpool and also a Street Pastor in Widnes.<br />
As well as this, I am a Street Rep for my area,<br />
where I take resident’s concerns on board and<br />
act on them.<br />
I’ve been using Halton Housing Trust’s<br />
customer app and I find it a really useful<br />
resource. I help people to download the app<br />
which assists them with contacting the Trust<br />
anytime, day or night.<br />
There’s so much you can do through the app;<br />
check your rent balance, book in repairs, access<br />
Lifekit, the online customer toolkit, and much<br />
more – you’ll be surprised what you can do!<br />
It’s great that you can use the app from your<br />
armchair. If you don’t have a computer and you<br />
meet the right criteria, the Trust can supply a<br />
tablet to you - one of the team can help you to<br />
download the app, register and get you started.<br />
Using the app has given me the confidence<br />
to become an involved customer and I now<br />
pass my skills on to others. Being online has<br />
also meant that I can enjoy Facebook, meet<br />
like minded friends and Skype to keep in<br />
touch with relatives and friends. You can also<br />
download Reach magazine, and search for and<br />
apply for properties on Property Pool Plus, all<br />
from the comfort of your own home.<br />
DOWNLOAD<br />
THE APP<br />
HERE<br />
WE’RE MAKING<br />
A FEW MORE<br />
CHANGES...<br />
From January<br />
2017 onwards,<br />
our office<br />
reception<br />
will be self<br />
serve only<br />
CHANGES<br />
FOR THE<br />
BETTER<br />
at Halton Housing<br />
?<br />
Our kiosk<br />
service will be<br />
open 9am - 5pm<br />
Monday - Friday<br />
The digital<br />
kiosk enables<br />
customers to self<br />
serve, check rent<br />
account and raise<br />
requests via our<br />
web portal<br />
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Cottage Hospital<br />
home transformation<br />
underway<br />
Work has started on the transformation of Victoria House, the former<br />
cottage hospital in Runcorn.<br />
The £2.9 million project will see the creation of 28<br />
new homes on the site on Holloway, and will involve<br />
selective demolition and conversion of the existing<br />
building combined with a complimentary new build.<br />
Working with John McCall Architects, Bardsley<br />
Construction, Aecom and the Alan Johnson<br />
Partnership, the scheme will be completed by<br />
winter 2017.<br />
The 28 home scheme will bring new life to the disused<br />
Runcorn landmark, creating six two bed houses and<br />
22 one and two bed apartments – nine of which are<br />
duplexes.<br />
Nicky Harris, the Trust’s Development Manager said:<br />
“A renovation of this kind will be a first for the Trust<br />
and we’re looking forward to bringing new life to the<br />
former cottage hospital yet still preserving its heritage.<br />
We have fantastic architects, builders and engineers<br />
working on the project and we’re confident that the<br />
development will be a success.”<br />
The £2.9 million scheme was grant funded by the HCA<br />
(Homes and Communities Agency) and forms part of<br />
the Trust’s ambitious development programme. Since<br />
January 2016 we have built or at the final stages of<br />
completion of 241 new homes, totaling an impressive<br />
£27 million. This includes our largest development to<br />
date in the Tan House Lane area of Widnes – a 175<br />
home mixed tenure site of apartments and houses,<br />
some of which have already been handed over.<br />
We’ve also started on site another 233 homes for<br />
completion in 2017 and 2018, investing an impressive<br />
£26 million into new home creation. Since the summer<br />
the Trust has completed sites around Runcorn and<br />
Widnes including Queens Avenue, Crossways, Crow<br />
Wood Lane and Brentfield, as well as building its first<br />
self-build-Grange House in Runcorn.<br />
241 new homes,<br />
totaling an<br />
impressive £27 million,<br />
PLUS ANOTHER 233<br />
homes for completion<br />
in 2017 and 2018<br />
Above and below - A vision of Victoria House for the future<br />
6<br />
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Transforming Your<br />
Communities<br />
Have you walked around lately and noticed an<br />
improvement in your neighbourhood? It’s because our<br />
Environmental Services Estate Caretaking team are working<br />
hard to tidy your communities, especially communal areas<br />
such as grassed areas and shop surrounds.<br />
Halton Lodge Tidy Up – October 2016<br />
West Bank Clean Up Success – October 2016<br />
Back on the tools for our Group Chief<br />
Executive, Nick Atkin – September 2016<br />
Nick Atkin swapped his suit for steel cap boots to<br />
experience a day working with our Grounds Maintenance<br />
team. He tried his hand at all sorts of tasks ranging from tree<br />
maintenance to garden clearance to experience first-hand<br />
what it’s like to work in the heart of your communities.<br />
An incredible 12 van loads of rubbish were collected by the<br />
Trust’s Environmental Services Estate Caretaking team last<br />
week, as part of a clean up in Halton Lodge, Runcorn.<br />
The team also filled four skips, collecting unwanted items<br />
from local homes.<br />
It was all hands on deck in October as West Bank in<br />
Widnes was treated to a spruce up as part of a community<br />
clean up. The Trust’ along with partners including Halton<br />
Borough Council, West Bank Academy, Girlguiding UK,<br />
Jiggy Childcare, CREATE and Widnes Boat and Angling<br />
Club worked together to clear the West Bank area of<br />
rubbish, as well as collecting unwanted household furniture<br />
free of charge.<br />
Skips were filled to the brim with scrap metal, bricks,<br />
timber, rubble and soil, hard plastics and<br />
small electricals, whilst the local Girl Guides<br />
transformed a garden and Widnes Boat and<br />
Angling Club cleared the water of rubbish.<br />
Organised by Councillor Pam Wallace, the<br />
West Bank Big Clean Up ran for a week,<br />
combining rubbish clearance activities and<br />
awareness raising sessions.<br />
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AFFORDABLE<br />
WARMTH<br />
As temperatures drop, it’s important to stay well by keeping warm. Living in<br />
a warm home will help protect your health, from preventing colds and flu to<br />
more serious conditions such as heart attacks, strokes and pneumonia.<br />
Cold weather, and cold homes can have a significant impact on<br />
your health and there is help and advice available if you have<br />
concerns about paying for your heating.<br />
Winter Fuel Payment<br />
If you were born on or before 5 May 1953 and receive the<br />
State Pension a Winter Fuel Payment will be paid to you<br />
automatically. If you aren’t receiving this payment but think<br />
you should be, visit www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment<br />
or call 0345 915 1515.<br />
Cold Weather Payments<br />
This may be available to you if you receive certain benefits.<br />
You’ll get a payment of £25 for each seven-day period of very<br />
cold weather between certain months. Find out more at:<br />
www.gov.uk/cold-weather-payment<br />
Further help<br />
The Energy Saving Trust (EST) has<br />
advice on how to reduce bills and make<br />
your home more energy efficient. They<br />
can also advise on grants and schemes<br />
available around the UK. You can find<br />
out more by visiting their website<br />
energysavingtrust.org.uk or calling<br />
0300 123 1234.<br />
Other useful numbers:<br />
• Save Energy Advice Line<br />
0800 043 0151<br />
• Warm Home Discount Scheme<br />
0345 603 9439<br />
• Age UK 01928 575 400<br />
In partnership with Green Star Energy,<br />
My Home Energy is offering long term<br />
competitive tariffs and affordable<br />
renewable energy options for our<br />
customers. To find out more, simply<br />
call freephone 0800 0014 706 or go<br />
to myhomeenergy.org.uk with your<br />
postcode and a current energy bill.<br />
Staying<br />
safe during<br />
Winter<br />
Although we’ve had mild winters for the last couple of years, we all know<br />
there’s no predicting the British weather, and it’s always best to be prepared.<br />
Bad weather can cause disruption for the Trust when undertaking daily<br />
services but also to you, both in your home and when travelling around. We<br />
have some tips to staying safe during any bad weather:<br />
In your home<br />
It’s important to keep warm. Try to leave your heating on low.<br />
Stock your food cupboards with tinned food and the essentials.<br />
Going away<br />
Turn OFF your stop tap and run any water out of your pipes.<br />
Either let the Trust or your neighbours know in case of emergency.<br />
Going out / travelling in snow<br />
Is your journey essential? Could you travel by public transport?<br />
Carry an emergency kit in your car consisting of: torch, batteries, blanket,<br />
snacks, water, gloves, boots and first aid kit.<br />
Neighbours<br />
Could you spare ten minutes to check on your old or vulnerable neighbours?<br />
Insurance<br />
Do you have contents insurance? The Trust is<br />
not liable for incidents such as burst pipes<br />
and this can cause a lot of damage to<br />
your valuables. If you’d like to speak to<br />
us about contents, please use the digital<br />
methods available.<br />
Our Services<br />
Please be aware our services may be reduced in<br />
periods of adverse weather and we ask you for your<br />
patience in this.<br />
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HALTON HOUSING TRUST<br />
AND HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF IT<br />
Have you visited Lifekit? It’s a website created and managed by the Trust, full of information about<br />
saving money, health and wellbeing and living well. It’s full of really handy stuff! You can find it by<br />
clicking the ‘Lifekit’ tab in the top right hand corner of our website.<br />
There are a few ways that you can use Lifekit – by either selecting information that’s relevant to you or just skipping this step to<br />
browse. We add a new article most weeks so make sure you check in regularly so you don’t miss out!<br />
Your Money<br />
This section contains our really handy budget calculator so it’s well worth visiting! There’s also information about<br />
welfare benefits to help you get your head around this complex topic.<br />
You and Your Home<br />
How to live better within your home and make it work for you.<br />
Improve Your Job Prospects<br />
CV hints and tricks, types of interviews and how to find a job are just some of the resources if you’re looking at<br />
getting back into work.<br />
Get Online<br />
There are so many reasons why you should get online, and here we outline the benefits of using apps, how to stay<br />
safe online as well as lots of other information.<br />
Save Money<br />
Saving money for a special treat, a rainy day or to pay bills is a great feeling, but it’s not always that easy. This section<br />
is full of information on how to live a good life on the cheap.<br />
Health and Wellbeing *NEW SECTION!*<br />
This is our new section and we think you’ll find it really handy. We work closely with Halton Borough Council’s Health<br />
Improvement team and Active Halton, so you’ll find the most up to date health news here. The importance of flu jabs,<br />
stopping smoking, Healthy Start vouchers-it’s all here.<br />
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WINTER 2016<br />
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HALTON HOUSING TRUST<br />
Transforming a<br />
Young Girl’s Life<br />
Everyone at the Trust works hard to meet our<br />
mission by Improving People’s Lives. In this edition<br />
we learn how Katie-Ellen’s life was transformed<br />
through aids and adaptations.<br />
Katie-Ellen, 13, is a lovely young lady who has a rare condition called<br />
Pallister Hall Syndrome which affects her every activity. Katie-Ellen<br />
is ventilated and oxygen dependant. She also has a gastrostomy and<br />
colostomy and is profoundly deaf. If this wasn’t enough to cope with,<br />
she has chronic renal failure and Epilepsy and uses a wheelchair to<br />
mobilise – but despite all of this she is a happy, loveable young lady.<br />
Katie-Ellen was living in a three bed bungalow in Runcorn with her<br />
Mum - Kerry, Dad – Stephen and younger brother Tom. Unfortunately,<br />
the layout of their home wasn’t suitable and it wasn’t feasible to adapt<br />
it to meet all of Katie-Ellen and her family’s needs. Mum and Dad were<br />
providing the 24-hour care that she needs, taking it in turns to sleep<br />
in her room. They had the option of overnight, paid-for carers but<br />
the home layout meant this would disturb the rest of the family. The<br />
bathroom was very small with just a shower over the bath, which meant<br />
that it was difficult for her to be transferred in and out of the bath safely.<br />
The doors and corridors weren’t wide enough for her wheelchair and<br />
other equipment to be used.<br />
Cherrie Walker from the Trust’s Housing Options team was allocated<br />
the case in September 2015 and worked closely with Occupational<br />
Therapist (OT)-Anthony McDonald from Halton Borough Council,<br />
Knowsley Housing Trust, the Trust’s Property Services and the family to<br />
establish the type of property and adaptations that were needed as well<br />
as a suitable location.<br />
After identifying a potential property, Cherrie worked with Knowsley<br />
Housing Trust to find a suitable home for the outgoing tenant. OT<br />
Anthony viewed the house, confirmed its suitability and recommended<br />
specialist suppliers to make the changes. Although it meant uprooting<br />
the family from Runcorn to Widnes, Katie-Ellen and her family were<br />
happy with the house and its location.<br />
After receiving the property in August, the Trust began<br />
work to ensure everything was in place for the move.<br />
Changes requested by the OT included: a specialist<br />
high-low bath, ceiling track hoist, changes to the electric<br />
supply, external lighting and additional hardstanding<br />
for parking. We also provided a new family bathroom,<br />
plastered, painted and decorated throughout and cleared<br />
the overgrown garden. Dave Partington from Property<br />
Services co-ordinated a team of people from different<br />
trades who pulled together to get their new home ready<br />
as quickly as possible.<br />
The family moved in two months later, in September,<br />
and their new home has already made a big difference<br />
to their lives. Katie-Ellen now has her own room and<br />
her parents can now arrange for overnight carers so<br />
they can have a good night’s sleep. The hoist allows<br />
Katie-Ellen to use the bath with her Mum and Dad<br />
able to help safely.<br />
Katie Ellen<br />
The move was mainly about meeting the basic needs of<br />
Katie-Ellen, but it did impact on younger brother Tom. Although Tom<br />
had to leave his school and friends, he never complained and was happy<br />
and excited for his big sister. He loved that the garden was big enough<br />
for his Christmas wish list-a trampoline. The Trust gave him a big (and<br />
well deserved) surprise when he moved in, as sitting in the garden was<br />
a brand new trampoline and enclosure – Christmas had come early<br />
for Tom!<br />
The move has made such a huge difference to a deserving family. Mum<br />
Kerry said she couldn’t thank everyone enough who had worked so<br />
hard to make it happen.<br />
Katies brother enjoying<br />
his trampoline!<br />
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TRUST<br />
SUPPORTS<br />
On 25th August the hugely popular Victoria Park<br />
Experience (VPX) held in Warrington for the past nine years,<br />
was brought to Victoria Park, Widnes, as an additional event thanks to<br />
PCSO Victoria Titherington and her colleague Karen Graham.<br />
The event, which was attended by over 1000 people, was part<br />
funded by Halton Housing Trust’s community sponsorship<br />
fund, receiving £1450 after Cheshire Police put in an application<br />
which was approved by the Trust’s Customer Forum.<br />
In applying for funding from the Community Fund, applicants<br />
must be able to demonstrate that the project meets one of<br />
Halton Borough Council’s priorities or one of Halton Housing<br />
Trust’s five priorities.<br />
Given the success of the Warrington event it was clear that VPX<br />
Widnes fit the funding criteria, as the aim of the event was to provide a variety of free<br />
sporting activities in a safe environment for the local community to try. The event also<br />
increased local club membership and tackled anti-social behaviour which peaks during<br />
this period of the school holidays.<br />
There were plenty to do for all ages and it was completely<br />
free for anyone to attend. Games and activities included<br />
rugby and football games, a climbing wall and bouncy castle<br />
as well as stalls offering healthy eating, arts and crafts and<br />
information points manned by the police, fire and search<br />
rescue teams.<br />
This is just one of the many projects that has benefited<br />
from Community Funding. To find out more about how our<br />
community sponsorship fund can benefit your local event or<br />
initiative, contact Debbie Jameson, Customer Engagement<br />
Officer, on 0151 510 5185 or Hannah Ireland, Customer<br />
Engagement Assistant on 0151 510 5181.<br />
PCSO Titherington<br />
said: “The funding<br />
we received from<br />
the Trust has<br />
helped massively in<br />
allowing us to make<br />
VPX a free event<br />
open to everyone<br />
in the community<br />
and due to the<br />
success of the first<br />
Widnes VPX, we are<br />
planning to run it<br />
every year”.<br />
Time to get<br />
Social Media<br />
Savvy<br />
Worried about using social media? Concerned you’re not up to speed<br />
with the channels your children are using? Check out the latest social<br />
media guide, brought to you by our Customer Social Media Group.<br />
Our Customer Social Media Group have been working hard in the lead up to Christmas<br />
to create a fascinating guide to social media. The guide aims to advise customers how<br />
to get the best out of social media and give people the confidence to use it, safe in the<br />
knowledge that they are following best practice principles.<br />
The guide includes a number of useful tips on how to use social media, as well as tips for<br />
parents in keeping their children safe online.<br />
A couple of top customer tips include:<br />
* Don’t give out your phone number, home address or email address<br />
* Be safety conscious when uploading photos of children or vulnerable people<br />
* Remember you always have the option to block somebody or report them if you<br />
find their comments offensive<br />
* If it sounds too good to be true it normally is. Don’t fall for online scams that offer<br />
gifts or money<br />
* Don’t accept random friend requests<br />
Click here to read the rest of the guide<br />
Thanks again to our Social Media Group, who volunteered their own time to create this<br />
really useful guide.<br />
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HALTON HOUSING TRUST<br />
We’re moving home<br />
We’ve taken the decision to move our two offices under one roof - and<br />
we have some very exciting plans to create our own purpose built new<br />
home to suit our very individual culture!<br />
Our new home, developed in collaboration with Russel Construction, is being built on the<br />
site of our largest new-build housing development to date; Tan House Lane.<br />
With the project due to be completed in late summer 2017 we aim to be in our new<br />
home by September. With state of the art facilities, collaborative working spaces and<br />
the necessary digital technology in place, our new home is designed to be a future proof<br />
working environment that sends a statement of our digital intent.<br />
Keep an eye out for regular updates!<br />
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A Man of Many Talents<br />
When it comes to keeping fit and staying healthy, you don’t need to look any further for<br />
inspiration than to 81 year old customer, Billy Bennet from Wallace Street, Widnes.<br />
While most of us are still tucked up in our beds, Billy, a retired<br />
builder, puts on his coat at 5am, gets out his trusty bike (which<br />
he’s owned for longer than he can remember), and heads out for<br />
his daily 30 mile bike ride, frequently venturing as far as Leigh,<br />
Chorley and Southport. In the summer months when the horse<br />
racing season is in full swing, Billy even hits the road on his bike to<br />
Chester Races, feeling rather pleased with himself as he passes the<br />
hoards of traffic heading in and out of the city.<br />
Being so fit and healthy certainly helps him. After a recent ride out<br />
to pick conkers for one of his many grandchildren, Billy picked up<br />
a puncture and had to push his bike all the way back home from<br />
Penketh. But this doesn’t put him off-after all, his bike very rarely<br />
lets him down. He laughs as he recalls the time when a friend of his<br />
needed to move an armchair further down the road. Ever the helpful<br />
neighbour, Billy came to his rescue; he strapped the rather large<br />
armchair to the back of his bike (and him) and off he went!<br />
Born in Broughton Cottages, Ditton Road, Widnes, Billy has always<br />
been a big contributor not only to his neighbourhood but to the<br />
local area as a whole. After his time as a chef in the army, Billy<br />
worked at the Golden Wonder factory in Ditton, then later as a<br />
builder on the Jubilee Bridge, the Thelwall Viaduct, (and prior to his<br />
retirement) on Churchill Mansions, where he was always the last man<br />
on the job, trowelling up before he could join his workmates for a<br />
well-earned pint at the end of the day.<br />
One proud moment for Billy was when he and his wife met Princess<br />
Alexandra at the opening of the Jubilee Bridge in 1961, on which<br />
he’d worked. With each of his five children in their arms, Billy and<br />
his wife eagerly awaited the arrival of the Princess, and the wait was<br />
certainly worth it when she stopped to talk to them personally. To<br />
top everything off, Billy along with his workmates were awarded a<br />
day off with pay, plus a bonus, in recognition of their hard work.<br />
Having lived at Wallace Street for over 12 years, Billy is well known<br />
and extremely popular amongst his neighbours as he always loves to<br />
help out whenever and however he can, whether it’s pieces of wood<br />
he’s collected, picking up prescriptions or even a spot of gardening.<br />
Billy shows us a picture hanging on his wall, given to him by one of<br />
his neighbours, carefully handstitched is the wording ‘a<br />
friend in need is a friend indeed’.<br />
If he’s not helping a neighbour in need, or cycling around<br />
the North West, you’re likely to find Billy in his garden.<br />
Billy was recently joint winner in the Trust’s Digital<br />
Garden Competition and it’s easy to see why. The hard<br />
work that goes into nurturing the wide range of flowers<br />
and plants includes making his own compost in a three<br />
stage process which starts with collecting the horse<br />
manure…on his bike of course.<br />
Billy’s ‘get stuck in’ attitude goes a long way back. For<br />
over seven years he worked tirelessly raising money for<br />
the charity Multiple Sclerosis, from collections at Alberts<br />
Walkaround to pram and trolley pushes. Whilst the<br />
fundraising may have stopped, Billy certainly hasn’t.<br />
His tip for anyone reading this? “You don’t need the gym<br />
or expensive exercise classes, be your own gym,” he says.<br />
“You can train with anything, it doesn’t need to cost-in fact<br />
save the money, give me the £10 and I’ll chase you round the block”.<br />
So, with Billy setting us all such a good example, we’ve no excuses<br />
have we?!<br />
LEIGH CHORLEY CHESTER SOUTHPORT<br />
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A day in the<br />
life of an ICT<br />
Apprentice<br />
Fancy working at the Trust?<br />
Find out what it’s like to work for<br />
us from one of our ICT apprentices.<br />
My name’s Jonathon Provost. I’m 19 years old and I’m a First Line<br />
Support Technician Apprentice at the Trust.<br />
I’ve already completed a Level 3 BTEC Extended Diploma in IT, and<br />
studying for an additional Level 3 BTEC in IT Software Web and<br />
Telecoms. Most of my training is done on the job, with observations<br />
from my college tutor to complete the college units.<br />
I also run my own web and web app design and development<br />
business, which I started in 2012. I continue to run the business from<br />
the admin side, and my two employees run the rest of the operations.<br />
I’m passionate about motorsport and hoping to compete next year in<br />
the Ssangyong Racing Challenge 2017 (depending on finances)! I’ve<br />
been heavily involved in motorsport since 2009 and in the past year<br />
I’ve started training as a Clerk of Course with Motorsport<br />
Vision Racing.<br />
There’s never a typical day in ICT at the Trust as there’s always<br />
different problems and jobs to complete. Throughout the day we<br />
are on the phones to answer any calls and as first line support, every<br />
support call will come through us. For the most part we log and<br />
fix calls, ranging from anything from account lockouts and session<br />
restarts to device requests and office changes. The helpdesk can<br />
receive anything from 10 to 50 calls a day. We ensure that all issues are<br />
resolved or handed to the relevant person to correct.<br />
For more complex, specialised problems we have the IT specialists<br />
who can help with issues that we can’t fix. Specialists are essential<br />
to both the helpdesk, as well as innovation and progress of the IT<br />
systems and infrastructure. A major focus of the IT department is<br />
the new ways staff can work with devices such as mobiles and IPads.<br />
We also manage the upgrading of older devices to make sure they’re<br />
compatible with all of the systems that our staff use.<br />
The Trust is an amazing place to work, with a brilliant sense of family<br />
- everyone is friendly and always happy to help each other. I am<br />
thoroughly enjoying working here and hope that I’m able to stay here<br />
when my apprenticeship finishes.<br />
If you like what you<br />
hear and you’d like to<br />
learn more, why not<br />
visit our job vacancy<br />
page on our website?<br />
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Baking up<br />
a Storm for<br />
Winter<br />
EVENTS IN YOUR AREA<br />
There are so many events in Runcorn and Widnes this winter to make<br />
you feel festive. Here’s just a few of our favourites.<br />
Customers living at our two extra care<br />
schemes have been supporting the<br />
Macmillan Biggest Coffee Morning.<br />
Two coffee afternoons were held at Naughton Fields<br />
and Barkla Fields on 30th September and 3rd<br />
October 2016 to raise funds for Macmillan.<br />
Refuel the Reindeer Workshop<br />
Green Oaks Shopping Centre,<br />
Widnes<br />
17th December<br />
greenoaksshopping.co.uk/<br />
refuel-the-reindeer-workshop/<br />
Cinderella at<br />
The Brindley Theatre<br />
17th December –<br />
15th January<br />
Tickets from £16<br />
thebrindley.org.uk<br />
£364 was raised through kind donations of cakes<br />
and beverages, and staff and customers all put on<br />
their bakers hats and rose to the challenge of cake<br />
baking. Both events were very well attended by<br />
customers, staff and visitors.<br />
Staff at the Trust’s Runcorn and Widnes offices<br />
also took part in the event, raising £192.<br />
Swinging 60s Christmas<br />
at The Studio, Widnes<br />
18th December<br />
Free entry (Limited tickets)<br />
thestudiowidnes.org.uk/<br />
Jellybeans Play Centre<br />
ChristmasParty, Widnes<br />
19th December<br />
£10 per ticket.<br />
Food and drink included<br />
jellybeansplaycentre.co.uk<br />
Catalyst Science<br />
Discovery Centre –<br />
Holiday Workshops<br />
20th – 23rd & 28th – 30th<br />
Dec. Tickets from £4.95,<br />
Under 4’s free of charge<br />
catalyst.org.uk<br />
Widnes Superbowl<br />
Discounted bowling<br />
and Laser Quest<br />
24th & 26th Dec, 1st Jan<br />
Admission from £3<br />
superbowluk.co.uk/widnes/<br />
christmas/<br />
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Do you have:<br />
• A lung disease<br />
• Kidney or heart disease<br />
• Diabetes<br />
• Another long term<br />
condition<br />
• Or do you suffer from<br />
breathlessness?<br />
Cold weather can make you more<br />
likely to catch a winter illness<br />
that could become very serious.<br />
So even if it’s just a cough or cold,<br />
seek advice from your pharmacist<br />
before it gets more serious.<br />
Foodbanks<br />
and how they can help you over winter<br />
If you find that you’re struggling over winter and need a helping hand there are<br />
foodbanks across the borough that can help. We’ve listed Christmas opening<br />
hours and locations below:<br />
Widnes<br />
Monday 19th Dec<br />
Thursday 22nd Dec<br />
Friday 23rd Dec<br />
Runcorn and District<br />
Thursday 22nd Dec<br />
Friday 23rd Dec<br />
Saturday 24th Dec<br />
Sunday 25th – 27th Dec-closed<br />
Wednesday 28th Dec<br />
Thursday 29th Dec<br />
Friday 30th Dec<br />
Saturday 31st Dec<br />
12-3pm @ Deeper Life Bible Church, Bechers<br />
11am-1pm @ St Mary’s Church, St Marys Road<br />
10am-1pm @ St Marie’s Hall, Lugdale Road<br />
AND 1-3pm @ St Paul’s Church, Victoria Square<br />
Saturday 24th Dec - Tuesday 27th Dec closed<br />
Wednesday 28th Dec 11am-2pm @ Oak Meadow, Peel House Lane<br />
Thursday 29th Dec 11am-1pm @ St Mary’s Church, St Marys Road<br />
Friday 30th Dec 10am-1pm @ St Marie’s Hall, Lugdale Road<br />
AND 1-3pm @ St Paul’s Church, Victoria Square<br />
Saturday 31st Dec - Tuesday 3rd January closed<br />
Wednesday 4th Jan open as usual @ Oak Meadow, Peel House Lane<br />
1-3pm @ Christ Church, Castlefields<br />
1-3pm @ 139 Church Street, Old Town<br />
10am-2pm @ St Bertelines Church, Norton Hill<br />
2-4pm @ the Rise Cafe Shop, Castle Rise<br />
1-3pm, Christ Church, Castlefields<br />
1-3pm, 139 Church Street, Old Town<br />
10am-12pm, Bethesda Church, Palacefields<br />
Sunday 1st January-Tuesday 3rd -closed<br />
Wednesday 4th Jan-open as usual @ The Rise Cafe Shop, Castle Rise<br />
nhs.uk/staywell<br />
Leyla Hannbeck, Pharmacist<br />
Before you use the Runcorn and Widnes Foodbanks you should<br />
firstly call Halton Borough Council’s Discretionary Support Scheme<br />
on Freephone 0800 952 0016 as they may be able to assist you. To<br />
use foodbanks you need to be issued a voucher by one of the food<br />
bank local partner organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureau, your<br />
neighbourhood officer or tenancy support team.<br />
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Where to<br />
Get Help this<br />
Christmas<br />
For many of us, Christmas is a time of celebration and joy but for<br />
others it can be a struggle. We’ve listed some key organisations<br />
that can help.<br />
DOMESTICABUSE<br />
NOEXCUSE<br />
Drug addiction/domestic violence<br />
Changing Lives www.changing-lives.org.uk<br />
- also help with other issues<br />
Mental Health -<br />
Runcorn/Widnes Mental Health<br />
Crisis team – call 01925 666647 if you or someone<br />
you know needs urgent mental health care.<br />
Loneliness in Older Peoplewww.thesilverline.org.uk<br />
Silverline is<br />
a free 24 hour phoneline that<br />
provides comfort and friendship to<br />
older people call 0800 4 70 80 90<br />
Homelessness – Housing Solutions,<br />
Halton Borough Council’s homelessness<br />
service – call 0333 000 4300 for<br />
out of hours emergencies<br />
Contacting the Trust over Christmas<br />
We close from 12pm on 23rd December and re-open at 9am on Tuesday 3rd January 2017.<br />
You can still call 0303 333 0101 to report an emergency repair or pay your rent. The Trust fully<br />
re-opens for all other enquiries on 3rd January. Why not make life a little easier in 2017 and try<br />
using our new and improved app to contact us. Download here<br />
DONʼT SUFFER IN SILENCE<br />
0300 1111247<br />
www.halton.gov.uk<br />
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