Alison Webb, Beth Gill and Jacquie Laurie, along with residents from Hales House and Monmouthshire, set off on their sailing adventure in March but due to bad weather condition the group only experienced a small amount of sailing. They kept themselves busy doing daily chores, preparing and cooking meals for the whole crew and ensuring the deck and sails were spick and span. Despite looking a bit green following the experience, they all enjoyed themselves and said how much they would love to do more.

The next sailing adventure will be happening sooner they think, as plans are afoot to set sail again on 26 June!

Solas Ship Movie from serengroup on Vimeo.

The award was presented to Solas in recognition of the participation work that has gone on throughout the organisation over the last 9 months. Residents have attended Board meetings, Board Planning events and have been involved in the recruitment of key staff. Solas have also set up their own reward systems, known as H2H and Back to the Future. This is a fantastic achievement in a relatively short space of time and it is a reflection on the people we support and the staff teams throughout Solas who have worked so hard to make this happen.

Many congratulations. We are extremely proud of everyone who has been involved in helping achieve this amazing award.

After a series of health problems , Ian found himself homeless and living on the streets of London. He returned home to Newport and, with support from Solas, rekindled his love of the guitar through music classes. Ian’s confidence grew and so did his interest in learning. He turned his attention to IT and a Music Technology course at Compass, run in partnership with Glamorgan University. Ian passed with flying colours and developed a new focus for learning.

With his newly acquired skills, Ian is now helping other individuals who are homeless, encouraging them to find their potential. Ian has volunteered at Solas, has enrolled with the University of Wales, Newport completing a Web Design course and is undertaking an introductory course in animation.

Ian says, “I don’t think of academic success in terms of financial reward. I can’t say that learning has changed my life in that respect yet, but in terms of gaining confidence and self-respect, it certainly has. To anyone thinking of starting a course, I can only say go for it, you won’t regret it. As the man said, A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”

Ian is now living in his own accommodation and that ‘single step’ has lead to a journey of discovery that continues to enrich his life.

Within the dark depths of a forest in Herefordshire, residents took part in a whole day of planned activities from team building exercises to full on strategically planned missions.

Residents had worked really hard in the community by taking part in the ‘Back to the Future’ reward project and built up sufficient reward points to attend this incentive based activity.

There was an amazing sense of team spirit with everyone supporting each other throughout the day. Apart from several very bruised and exhausted people on the way home, everyone had a really enjoyable experience. On a personal level, residents felt a great sense of achievement, with a marked increase in individual self-esteem and confidence – yet further evidence that our reward systems are working for people.

Solas continue to widen and improve the life experiences of the people we support, many of whom may not have had the opportunity to participate in this type of activity.

Qualifications presented on the day included the OCN ‘Eat Clever’ and ‘Know your computer’ certificates, CIEH Food Safety (Level 2) and IOSH Manual Handling certificates.

Compass would like to thank Mike Davies from Lovells who ran the IOSH Manual Handling Course, Jen Jones, Solas’ Catering Project Worker and Ann Howells and Rachel Stevens from Newport Community Learning, who enabled Compass to teach the OCN accredited courses.

Lastly, many congratulations and well done to all the students!

Solas ran a number of events during January to link in with the campaign themes, working with local community agencies, our Seren partners and funding support through NIACE Dysgu Cymru.

Taking Control of health – residents were involved in a healthy eating taster session, finding out about healthy eating options on a budget. The session was held at Albert Street, supported by the Compass outreach catering courses, which are now available at all accommodation schemes.

Taking Conrol of fitness – Solas went football crazy and held a tournament for staff and residents at Pill Millenium Centre. Organised by Solas’ Dragons Coach, Paul Scarfi, with a good turnout from players and supporters, teams from Newport, Torfaen and Monmouthshire schemes competed in a knock-out competition. Following the match, everyone went back to Albert Street to enjoy an after-match meal, prepared by Compass’ catering students.

Taking Control of finances – Charter’s Moneysavers team, Andrew and Mike, ran workshops for residents helping them with advice about debt, benefits moving into rented accommodation. The sessions were extremely useful and provided residents with a point of contact should they require future support.

The H2H project, based around workshops, gives young people who reside at Hales House the opportunity to earn points which can be put toward small household items. These items help them with their future resettlement plans. Points can also be used to take part in a variety of external activities.

I recently attended and helped to co-facilitate a workshop put together by project worker, Jacqui Laurie, themed around the responsible use of alcohol. The young people watched a very powerful DVD showing images of people in various stages of intoxication, including fatalities caused by drink driving. The DVD also delivered many facts and figures relating to the risks associated with consuming excessive levels of alcohol. The young people then took turns to wear ‘beer goggles’ whilst attempting to act out simple tasks, much to everyone’s amusement!

The workshop was well received and is yet another shining example of how committed Solas staff are to supporting the young people who reside at our schemes.

I would like to thank Jacqui Laurie for the innovative way she put the workshop together and Lee Mayo, project worker at Hales house for his culinary skills.

Finally, I would like to thank the young people at Hales House for welcoming me into their home so enthusiastically. It really was a pleasure spending time in their company.

Clare Rogers, Client Participation Manager

The people who use our services are at the heart of everything we do and we believe the people we support should be consulted so that their views, knowledge and experience has real influence on the decisions that we make. Over the past few months, our residents have been involved in some really important activities and decisions that affect their lives.

The journey so far………

• Young people living in our accommodation are now participating in Solas Board meetings and have shaped the way meetings are facilitated. Meetings have been moved out of the boardroom and giving residents the opportunity to host these important meetings in their own home. The young people involved now feel they have a ‘voice’ and our Board members have the opportunity to get to know the people we support and the issues they may face. People living in our adult accommodation will be offered the same opportunities in the near future.
• Two young people participated in the Seren Board planning day where they made a real impact during a question and answer session with Board members.
• Many residents have submitted articles for the next edition of our newsletter, “SHOUT”, and have worked on its presentation so that it can be distributed to external partners.
• Residents took part in the recruitment and selection of our new Clinical Psychologist.

Solas will continue to ensure the people we support are listened to and are involved with the decisions that affect their lives.

Clare Rogers, Client Participation Manager

The Cirdan Sailing Trust provides disadvantage, young people the opportunity for self development from the experience of living and working on large sailing boats. The Cirdan Sailing Trust offers funding assistance, averaging 30%, to groups who work with young people between 12 and 25 years of age- the category I work with.

When I submitted my Big 5 application I based it on a 7 berth ship (5 clients, 2 staff) for a weekend in September. After contacting Cirdan and explaining who Solas were and the work Hales House does with its clients, they were generous enough to offer the Queen Galadriel, a 16 berth ship, for 7 days. An opportunity that could not be missed, and an adventure for 13 clients rather that 5. As for me-I stayed on dry land with my feet firmly on the ground where there are hair straightners and comfy beds!

Since returning from their voyage our young clients have not stopped sharing stories of their experience. Friendships amongst the young people have grown due to the teamwork and motivation they gave each other during the voyage. They endured all weather, sun, wind, rain-luckily no snow, but all have said if they had the opportunity to do it again they wouldn’t change a thing. The voyage has helped form relationships with the staff who joined them aboard the ship and this has continued to progress since their return.

A client workshop was held on their return, asking them for their feedback and experiences. Here are just a few of their many thoughts:

Positive Outcome
‘Get on better with the others’
‘Learnt to control my temper in a small environment’
‘Coming on with my cooking qualification’
‘Using my newly gained OCN cookery qualification’
‘Taught me to sail’
‘Has given me a routine in the day rather than stay in bed’
‘Helped me with my living skills’
‘Coming on with my cooking skills and being told to go further’

I hope that you will join us in extending massive congratulations to these 3 guys who have not only represented their country but have also represented Solas too in what has been a competition that has brought together countries from all over the world.

There are only six trophies up for grabs in the whole World Cup tournament, so to bring home one of these much sought after cups is an amazing achievement.

Although the Ukraine went on to lift The World Cup trophy, Wales as a team & Chris, Billy & Paul have demonstrated their amazing talents by doing so well, in fact, they only lost 3 out of the 12 matches that they took part in over the course of the 8 day tournament.

Reports from the website have stated that within a selected group Wales took on & beat the following countries to win the Community Cup:

• Final – Wales 9 – Sweden 7
• Semi-Final Wales 9 – Namibia 4
• Quarter Final Wales 8 – Norway 3

Here is the report on the final of the Community Cup between Wales & Sweden taken from the Homelessness World Cup web site:

“The final of the Community Cup match during this years Homelessness World Cup was a very intense match between two teams of similar physique and preparation.