2013 Archived News

Tuesday 17th December - Headway Christmas Lunch

Christmas Party 17 Dec 2013HSB were pleased to host our annual Christmas lunch on 17 December. We had entertainment from a ventriloquist and a singer, we held a splendid raffle and enjoyed a full Christmas lunch with all the trimmings! The event was well received by all who attended and we were grateful to have the support of so many of you who have assisted HSB in the last year and beyond.
View our Photos on the Gallery Page.

Thursday 5th December - Carer’s Support Meeting

On 5 December we were pleased to give a warm HSB welcome to Dr Andy Tyreman of the Community Head Injury Service (CHIS). The service provides specialist community brain injury rehabilitation and assessment as well as the opportunity for a vocational rehabilitation programme together with family services. 
Dr Tyreman was kind enough to attend HSB and hold a round table discussion on relationships and contact. This was a topic that was a live issue for many of our carers and gave the opportunity for concerns to be raised in a warm environment with expert input.

Wednesday 4th December - Waddesdon Manor Outing

Waddesdon Manor 4 Dec 2013On 4 December we attended a trip to Waddesdon Manor. It was a fantastic day out for all who attended. We were able to see the Christmas decorations in the house and enjoy the beautiful surrounds. We have received excellent feedback from clients who thoroughly enjoyed the day. We would like to give a huge thank you to all staff and volunteers who helped in making the day such a success. View some excellent Photos on the Gallery Page.

Monday 28th October

Headway South Bucks recently attended a church service at Holy Trinity church, Seer Green. They kindly invited us to attend and speak about our work at the service. One of our volunteers, Eileen, gave a very moving talk about her personal head injury experience as well as an explanation of what Headway South Bucks is and does. Everyone was moved by what she said. The collection from the service and other donations by the congregation this month will be given to us. It was wonderful to be able to reinforce our connection with Seer Green and raise awareness of Headway South Bucks. We would like to give a very special thank you to all at Holy Trinity Church for their kind support.

Resource Centre News - 28th October

We’ve been creative with crafts at the Resource Centre recently and made bonsai trees! Well done all, very impressive! We’ve also been keeping fit with Zumba and creating some fantastic digital art.

Thursday 24th October - Third Carers' Support Programme "Networking & Support session"

Our latest Carers Support meeting proceeded as planned on Thursday 24 October. We were lucky to have Heather Coster, Case Manager and registered Clinical Hypnotherapist, speak to our group on the importance of the Well Being of Carers. The talk was very well received. Thank you to Heather and all who attended.

Wednesday 23rd October - James Cracknell on Sports Life Stories

All of us here at Headway South Bucks were glued to Sports Life Stories on ITV4 last Tuesday (22nd). The inspired story followed James Cracknell and detailed his rise to Olympic triumph, his myriad of sporting achievements and of special interest to us the accident in which he sustained a brain injury in 2010.   It was interesting to hear a personal insight into the change in life of one of Britain’s greatest sporting heroes. He says that when he woke up, friends and family told him that his personality had changed completely. His wife, Beverley commented: "The man that I married disappeared". What was apparent following his injury is that although James and his family initially struggled to cope with the change in life following the brain injury, many aspects of James’ pre-accident personality shone through and both he and his wife have actually seen many improvements as a result. James commented: "The mark two is better than the mark one".   Following the accident, James’ relentless (as Beverley calls it) determination has continued. He completed the European Sprint Duathlon in Holland in April 2013.   Since the accident, James has also become a prominent advocate for the use of cycle helmets in Britain as in his case he was told by doctors that he would not have survived if he had not been wearing one.   The family comment that the brain injury will always be present and they will have to deal with the impact of it daily. However, they recognise the importance of raising awareness for this hidden disability. James has always been a brave man in taking on his sporting and endurance challenges but as Beverley comments in respect of the brain injury:  

"... Talking about it and allowing me to talk about it, that's brave." 

And James’ greatest achievement? “Not giving up”! James will stand for Conservative party in the European elections May 2014.

Lion KingTuesday 15th October - Lion King is a great success!

Well, lots has been happening since our last update a month ago! Firstly, we had an extremely successful outing to see the Lion King at the Lyceum theatre in London, stopping off on the way at the Crowne Plaza, Hanger Lane for a delicious two-course lunch. Our Volunteers and Staff acted as "buddies" to our Clients and Carers, enabling them to sit back and enjoy the day. And we are pleased to say that the day went without a hitch, all testament to the amazing organisational skills of our Coordinator team, and our Clients and Carers unanimously agreed that the day was a great success! Well done all!

We have also made the decision to update our "News" section here on the website less frequently than once per week, so that we can build up a nice long list of events and news for you to read about!

This week we also said farewell to Lucy our "Focal Point for Administration", who is off on maternity leave for 6 months. We look forward to hearing her news, and are in the meantime looking for some additional clerical support to help the team.

Wednesday 18th September 2013 - Headway South Bucks attend Waitrose' coffee morning

Headway South Bucks were extremely proud to have visited Waitrose in St. Albans on Wednesday 18th September where we were presented with a cheque from the proceeds of Waitrose’ Community Matters charity initiative. Headway South Bucks were excited to have been voted as one of Waitrose’s charities in June 2013, and would like to take this opportunity to thank Waitrose St. Albans and its customers for their generosity. The generous donation will be used to help develop our Carers' Support Programme.

For further information on Waitrose’s Community Matters scheme, click here

Thursday 12th September - Zumba fun and thank yous!

We had a very fun “Zumba” workout with our Clients at the Centre this week, and celebrated one of our volunteer’s birthdays with a delicious chocolate cake! We always try to make sure we remember birthdays and make a bit of a fuss. This week we would also like to draw your attention to the following organisations and their amazing generosity towards Headway South Bucks:

  • Waitrose in Windsor
  • The Rotary Club of Gerrards Cross and Chalfont St Peter
  • Middlesex County Amateur Swimming Association in Vernon’s memory

We would like to thank them all for their generous donations which will assist us in particular in continuing to run our Carers’ Support Programme.

Thursday 12th September - Headway South Bucks runs its second "Networking & Support Session" for Carers

Headway South Bucks held the second in our series of Carers’ Support Programme “Networking & Support sessions”, this week on the changes to Disability Benefits. We were very lucky to be joined by Andrew Clark from Bucks Disability Service (see BuDS) who went through a very comprehensive presentation to our Carers, and everyone said they benefited from the information, as well as the delicious sandwiches and fruit! Our thanks to Andrew and BuDS for taking the time to visit us. We are now busy planning our next events, with a big trip for everyone up to London to see the “Lion King” in October followed by our third Networking session at the end of October. See Upcoming Events in the coming weeks for further information on this session.

Thursday 5th September - Resource Centre news for this week!

It was another week featuring “Man’s best friend” this week at the Resource Centre, as we were very pleased to be visited by Matilda the dog. She was a real hit with our members, who loved making a fuss of her. We always try to do different and interesting things, and this week it was wax painting….pics to follow!

Thursday 29th August - Resource Centre news for this week!

Fun making butterflies!We had lots of fun at the Resource Centre in Bourne End this week. On Tuesday, we made butterflies as part of our weekly craft activity, which was great fun.

Jack - from Pets as TherapyWe were also visited by “Jack” the beautiful dog in the photo, who is part of “Pets as therapy” which all our clients enjoyed. One of our volunteers presented a client with their embroidery, which we had had framed specially, so that was a really special moment. See our update below too - all about our “Christmas Photo Shoot”!

 

 

Thursday 29th August 2013 - Headway South Bucks are already getting ready for Christmas!

Christmas photo shootThe team here at Headway South Bucks were very excited to have run a “Christmas photo shoot” which took place at the Resource Centre on Thursday 29th August. Jolliffe’s, the complete hirewear specialists based in Marlow, very kindly lent the team a number of “Christmassy” outfits, and coupled with some other ideas such as fake snow and Santa hats, the team had a wonderful time and took some great photos! Our Christmas pud!We’ll be using one of the pics on this year’s Christmas cards which a number of our sponsors and partners will be sending to their clients. For more information about the hirewear that Jolliffe's can offer, please see: www.jolliffes.co.uk.

 

 

12th August 2013 - Headway South Bucks launches new website!

HSB_New_WebsiteHeadway South Bucks are proud to announce the launch of their new website, which has been developed over the past few months with input from the whole team including Volunteers, Coordinators, Trustees as well as Members and Carers. Thank you everyone for all your hard work! We hope that you find the new site easier to navigate around, and find what you are looking for. We would love to hear from you if there is anything you feel is missing or could be improved, so please feel free to use the Contact Us page to send us your thoughts.

 

10th July 2013 - Headway South Bucks invests in new "tablets" in order to offer more activities to Members

Headway South Bucks are pleased to announce that they have been able to use recent donations to purchase a set of Versus “Touchtab tablets” in order to offer an even wider set of activities to their Members, including Digital Art, puzzles, quizzes, searching and other applications. Up until now, one of our Coordinators has kindly lent her personal machine for this purpose, so having a set of the tablets will enable many more of our Members to have access to these activities during a session.

27 - 28th July 2013 - Passman Leonard 3 Peaks Challenge 2013

3 Peaks Challenge

Two members of the Passman Leonard team participated in this gruelling challenge to raise funds for Headway South Bucks. They are Neil Shah and Paul Watson - our thanks to both for their superhuman efforts!  

 

 

 

7th June 2013 - Headway South Bucks are voted as one of Waitrose St. Albans' "Community Matters" Charities for July 2013

Headway South Bucks has been successful in being voted for Waitrose St. Albans’ local "in branch" Community Matters' Charity initiative for the month of July. Each month every Waitrose branch donates £1,000 between three local good causes that the public chooses. We are extremely grateful for this opportunity and thank Waitrose for their generosity. For further information on Waitrose’s Community Matters scheme, click here.

20th May 2013 - IBB Solicitors join up with Headway South Bucks at the Rickmansworth Festival 2013

Picture of tiger face painting

Headway South Bucks joined IBB Solicitors on their stand at this year’s Rickmansworth Festival, at the Aquadrome, Rickmansworth on 18th & 19th May 2013. Funds were raised by state-of-the-art face-painting for youngsters, done by the Face Painting Association’s “Face Painter of the Year 2013”!

 

 

 

18th May 2013 - Malcolm Underhill in Triathlon for Headway South Bucks

Malcolm_UnderhillMalcolm Underhill, partner in the personal injury team at IBB Solicitors,Malcolm_Underhill took part in a sprint triathlon on 18 May 2013, in aid of Headway South Bucks. The brain injury charity's aim is to provide support, information and companionship for individuals and families in the local area who are affected by brain injury. The sprint consisted of a 400m open water swim, 20km cycle and 5km run and takes place at the Olympic rowing venue in Dorney.

 

 

 

15th May 2013 - Headway South Bucks visit Cliveden

Cliveden_150513A large group of clients, carers and staff recently enjoyed a special visit to the former residence of the Astors, Cliveden. Despite the cloudy skies, the outing was a major success, especially in the convivial surroundings of the Orangery, where the party enjoyed a splendid spread of National Trust goodies! Thanks to all who planned and joined in, especially too to Steve Rider, our Patron, for taking time out to join us.

See photos in our Gallery.

 

 

25th April 2013 - Headway joy as Prince Harry opens new home!

Prince Harry_250413

HRH Prince Harry today made his first official visit to Nottingham - with Headway his first port of call.
Greeted by hundreds of local schoolchildren, Prince Harry met with a selection of people directly affected by brain injury to learn more about its effects and the help provided by the charity. See full report on Headway National website.

 

 

13th March 2013 - Waitrose Collection benefits Headway South Bucks - Presentation

Waitrose Presentation 130313

On Wednesday 13th March 2013, the management of Waitrose Beaconsfield presented Headway South Bucks with the proceeds from a recent Token collection. We appreciate the support of Waitrose and its local customers.

 

 

 

 

 

9th February 2013 - Headway South Bucks 18th Birthday

18th BDay

At our 18th Birthday Party held at the Bourne End Community Centre on Saturday 9th February, we were delighted to welcome friends past and present and their families. In an upbeat well attended event we enjoyed singing by the Greatest Hits Choir, competitions, tea and cakes, and a rousing speech from local MP Attorney General Dominic Grieve - who led the singing of Happy Birthday which raised the roof!

We were pleased that so many of our associated support groups could also be represented, the event has gone a long way to raising awareness of Headway South Bucks' work in our local area.

"Target" Magazine" article can be viewed in higher definition here, courtesy of the Editor.