Blogs & News

Now the Sunshine Room is complete, we've started fundraising to refurbish our final room the bar room, which will cost around £80,000 and we aim to start these works in June 2020.

Thank you to everyone who has helped with the fundraising the past, we really appreciate it.   So it's that one final push.    We are doing the 'Buy a Brick' again where for £50 a brick is displayed with the name of your choice.   Alternatively, collect a tube of Smarites formt he Drop In, eat and enjoy them and then fill the tube with 20p pieces.   Once full this is £12 towards the works.   Thank you to the folks that have already return them.   Your first name will go on the Smarties Saver board.

Most of you will have had a telephone call from Mandy Moran who is our newest staff member.   Mandy will be helping out with administration for us for a year.

The Christmas Banquet at Ralph Thoresby School was a brilliant night with around 120 members attending.   Lots of good and laughter plus a change to catch up with friends.   Thank you to all of the staff, governors, PTA and students at the school for all their hard work.  Thank you also to the OPAL volunteers who transported ourmembers there and back safely.

Thank you to everyone who supported us by visiting, donating items or helping out on the day.  We raised £900 towards the restoration of the bar room

Great News .....We've heard our application to the 'Co-op Local Community Fund' is successful for the Community Garden.   From 27 Oct 2019 - 24 Oct 2020 Co-op Members can choose the Welcome In Community Garden as their local good cause.    

If you are not already a member of the Co-op please join and then you can choose the garden to benefit when you shop in a local Co-op.   Please join online click here.  It costs just £1 to join and there are other community benefits too.

You've done so well helping us raise money for the renovation.  So far we've reached around £500,00 in total towards the works at the Welcome In.   

Now that the Sunshine Room is complete, we've got the Bar room next to the cafe to renovate, which is the final room.  We need around £75,000 to complete this room and, as before, we will be starting the Buy a Brick fundriasing again, where for £50, a tile with the name of your  choice, will be displayedin the new room.

We've also decided to start Smarties Savers and we'd be thrilled if you could join in.   Pop into OPAL for a free tube of Samrites (subject to availability) and once you've enjoyed the sweets, keep the tube and fill it with 20p pieces.   Return the filled tube and leave us your first name and initial and this will be displayedon the Smarties Savers board in the new room.

The clocks go back by one hour on Sunday 27th October at 2am

Sunday 26th & Monday 27th May 2019 Non till 5pm

Collect your Scarecrow trail sheets (£1 for adults and free for children) from Leeds Modernians Clubhouse on Cookridge Lane and walk the trail through Cookridge to spot the 40+ figures.

In the Clubhouse between noon and 5pm will be games in the bar, entertainment, afternoon tea and, of course, the bar!

Keep your eyes peeled for the Welcome In & OPAL scarecrows.

OPAL is helping organise a sponsored run in Cookridge on Sunday 19th May as a legacy for Gareth Dunn, a courageous young man who sadly passed away before Christmas. 

Join us and Ronnie the Rhino for the fun run/walk, we'll do it together.   All money raised from the run will go towards OPAL and Cancer Research.   There is also a  6 mile run if anyone would like to enter.

OPAL volunteer Chelsea is looking for sponsors and OPAL staff member Rowan will also be trotting along.

We are open as normal on Thursday 18th April and will re-open on Tuesday 23rd April.

Yes, it's that time of year when we ask you to renew your Membership of OPAL.  We haven't raised the membership since 2008 and have decided that this year we need to raise membership to £12.  If you find it hard to pay this amount pleae talk to Ailsa and we will work something out.

For more details on membership please go to  page 10 of the Mar Apr 19 newsletter

  https://www.opal-project.org.uk/index.php/newsletters

Loneliness and social isolation can affect people at any age, but over one million older people say they always, or often, feel lonely.

That’s why as a sector we have a big role to play in addressing the physical, mental and social needs of people who feel isolated in our communities,

Ailsa Rhodes is CEO at Older People’s Action in the Locality (OPAL). This Leeds-based charity provides practical and emotional support for older people in their local community and offers a range of social activities so their members can get out of their homes and socialise. Most people find out about OPAL through their friends, neighbours, doctors and other health professionals.

Ailsa sees first-hand the negative impact that loneliness and isolation can have on older people.

“Our biggest challenge is reaching those lonely, isolated older people who perhaps don’t often visit their doctors and don’t have family, friends or neighbours looking out for them,” notes Ailsa. “When we first come into contact with an older person, we often find that they can be depressed, anxious about meeting people and their physical health is suffering. This can be a result of them being on their own for long periods of time, with very little social interaction.

“Older people join OPAL for many reasons, but mostly it’s about widening their social network, so the day trips, coffee afternoons, lunch clubs and exercise classes are all very popular. Each week, we arrange for over 100 older people to attend exercise classes that include yoga, tai chi, gentle exercise and chair exercise. Over 100 people attend our weekly lunch clubs and get a freshly cooked two-course meal.”

Alisa’s team uses its experience of tackling social isolation to put in place practical support to help address loneliness in their area.

“For some older people, OPAL’s information and support is important, whilst for others it’s the more specialised support such as the Dementia Support group, Carers group, Men’s group or assisted shopping.

“We also send birthday and Christmas cards to all our members and Christmas hampers to those members aged 90 and over. We have 102 members in this age bracket! It’s so heart-warming to see how much this small gesture means to people.” 

Sharon Allen, CEO of Skills for Care added: “We know social isolation can cause significant physical and mental damage, so the hands-on work charities like OPAL are doing transform and improve lives for the better. Sometimes the smallest of gestures and acts of kindness can make a huge difference to an older member of our community and our 1.47 million strong workforce can have a really positive impact in tackling this sector-wide challenge.”

To help other organisations around the country, Ailsa offers her top tips to address loneliness in the community.

• Call in on an isolated neighbour

If you need an excuse, tell them you’re taking a walk to the postbox and wondered if they wanted anything posting or you’re nipping to the shops and wondered if you could pick anything up for them.

• Offer to make a meal

You could either take a meal around or invite them to have a meal with you.

• Offer to take an isolated neighbour shopping

For many older people, shopping is a great opportunity to remain connected to society and quite often their only opportunity to talk to people. It could make a big difference to how they feel.

• Pop a contact card through your elderly neighbour’s door

You can leave your contact details, inviting them to call if they need help.

• Get involved with your local care home or charity

There are many groups in your community, such as lunch clubs, church group and specialist groups. Get in touch.

For further ideas on how your service can engage with people, staff and the wider community, look at page 377 of Skills for Care’s Good and outstanding guide that can be downloaded at www.skillsforcare.org.uk/GO.

Community Builder

If you can build good relationships with people, and you believe in the advantages of having a strong community, this role could suit you.

Working in Leeds16 area of Leeds, the main purpose of the role is to connect local people through their skills, passions and assets and support the creation of new connections and promote community activity.

As a Community Builder, your role will be to identify assets within neighbourhoods, finding positive ways to utilise these often unseen or overlooked resources for the benefit of local communities.

Experience in a similar role is desirable.

Job Title: Community Builder

Responsible to: CEO, OPAL

Hours of work: 22.5 hrs per week (2 year Fixed Term Contract)

Salary: £19,000 to £23,000 per annum (pro-rata)

Other terms: 20 days holiday (pro-rata) a year plus bank holidays and pension scheme

Closing date for applications: 1^st February 2019

How to Apply: To request an application pack please email admin@opal-project.org.uk or download an application pack here

Advert Community Builder

Job Description Community Builder

Application_Form_2019.doc

OPAL is a company limited by guarantee Registered in England No 06961204. Registered Charity No 1131792

OPAL, Welcome In Community Centre, 55 Bedford Drive, Leeds, LS16 6DJ.

We are very excited, as the Young at Arts are going to help us, along with people from the local community, create murals for the Welcome In.

Do come along and get involved at the workshop sessions on 

Thursdays 14th and 28th February and 14th & 28th March 11am - 1pm

They would love to have a cup of tea dn chat about how we can 'build' this project together!   

No need to book or sign-up, just come along

We are having changes to the heating from Mon 28th January until Friday 1st February so there will be no cafe or activities at the Welcome In that week.   Do still ring us at OPAL as we will still be working.

Thank you to everyone who supported us by visiting or helping out at the Christmas Fair.  We raised £1150 towards the restoratin of the function room

Im sure quite a frew of you will have come into contact with Emily over the last couple of months.  We would like to say a big thank you to Emily for all her hard work and wish her well in the future.

In conjunction with Connections, we are offering a free weekly course for 4 weeks for over 50s on Apple iPads.   These classes are aimed at beginners.

The course will start on Friday 18 January and run for 4 weeks until Friday 8th February from 10:30 til 12 noon.

Please contact OPAL to book your place.   There will be a few iPads to borrow, but if you have one please do bring it along with you.

OPAL subsidises as many of our activiites as possible with money from grants and donations.   Unfortunately, price increases to us means that some of the activities are costing more than we can afford.   For this reason we hve had to increase the price of the activities listed below.

• Shopping      £6
• Transport      £5
• Lunch Club    £5

We hope you still feel they are great value.   If you find these prices (or indeed any other OPAL activities) too expense for you, please contact us.

Thanks to some of our amazing volunteer, OPAL are offering a Christmas day meal for older people who will be on their own over Christmas. If you know anyone who would like to join us (for the meal or as a volunteer), please let us know.

Winter Wellbeing

OPAL were successful in our application to the Winter Wellbeing Grants. We are now working with a range of agencies from the police, fire service, social workers, doctors, libraries and churches to reach as many older people in Leeds16 who are vulnerable to the cold, so that we can help ensure they get the support they need.

It’s a Wonderful Life, Tuesday 18^th December at Welcome In Community Centre.

A talk by James Rhodes on the history of Christmas in Leeds from the time when Royalist cavalry stole a Christmas dinner in Horsforth during the English Civil War to visiting Santa’s grotto at Lewis’s. James has a passion for local history and is a very talented public speaker (yes I am biased but he is my husband!).

All proceeds will go to OPAL.

£10 per head plus booking fee. Glass of mulled wine & mince pie on arrival.

If you would like to book tickets, contact me (Ailsa@opal-project.org.uk) or go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/its-a-wonderful-leeds-tickets-51782504866?fbclid=IwAR1BmjBN5P8hFuKZzWCn-Fs33CO0KTya5LiBQSrRApOj9xnBUdDVbzmg4I8

OPAL are holding a Christmas Fair on Sat, 17th November at the Welcome In and wondered if any of you wonderful 'crafty' folk would donate items to OPAL to sell on our craft stall.   Please contact us.  Many Thanks

We are delighted to report Leeds Adult Social Care (LASC) has confirmed our application for a five year grant (with possible extension for a further five years) has been successful.  This funding covers about 30% of our running osts and we are incredibly grateful to everyone from LASC for their continued support.

OPAL have been incredibly lucky to have the help from so many different organisations. Interserve who built the Spring Well Leeds North (which is an amazing facility for children with Social, Emotional and Mental Health needs) helped us in many ways and they very kindly arranged for a new ramp to built at our Centre, totally free of charge. James Burrell Builders Merchant supplied all the materials for the ramp and we have some extra flags which will we will make very good use of. Moortown Group built the ramp and they did an absolutely fabulous job. The contractors were hardworking, tidy and the ramp looks brilliant.  Catalyst have measured up for the handrail and this will be fitted soon.

Community Payback have been a couple of times to help us get the weeds under control at the back of the building. They were brilliant and the grounds look noticeably better for their hard work.

Staff from Ireland Wood Surgery who were very generous with their time and plants working in our garden. Dr Robinson wields a mean strimmer! Thank you also to Cyril who keeps up to the garden area on a regular basis

A massive thank you to Christine Barker, ladies captain of Cookridge Hall Golf Club together with 3 team mates raised money for OPAL completing an epic golf challenge. Christine wrote…

‘We started at 11 minutes past 4 at Barnsley in fog.  When we finished playing we met some of their members just preparing to go out at 8am.  They could not believe we had played 18 holes.   All 4 of us were in high spirits as we were driven on to Pocklington in East Yorkshire to play our 2nd round.   Again all 4 of us played and made it round in under 3 hours.  During the round the sun started to shine.  Onward we went to Harrogate and we played their in 29degrees heat.  This started to our energy.  I went personally through 3 bottles of water in 4 holes.  We left Harrogate for home and arrived at Cookridge to cheers and people waving as we teed of on our 4th course.  We were still doing well with the time and we got around again in 3hours.  When we finished we were cheered in and everyone was out watching us.  It was a really great achievement and we all really enjoyed doing it.   We raised £700.  I have been challenged to do one over 4 countries however I need a helicopter and dishy pilot.’

Well done and thank you to Christine and her team members.

To Angela, one of our volunteers, on the birth of her baby daughter Maisie

Our thoughts go out to the families and friends of:-

Pauline Morris                             Carol Wiggins                        Pat Morris

Patricia Paget                              Enid Sykes                             Jim McKay 

Jean Bradford                               Sidney Smith                         Harold Gurney