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Festival celebrates work
to support care leavers
A national charity is holding a
festival to celebrate a programme which helps young people leaving care in
the North West; and to raise awareness of their needs.
The Children's Society is urging young people who are soon to leave care or
who have recently left care; and professionals involved in helping them;
to attend its Care Leavers Festival in Manchester on Wednesday, 16 March
2016.
Attendees will include some of the 245 young people who have been supported
by Care to be Different, either through 1 to 1 help from The Children's
Society's project workers, or by taking part in its group participation
events.
The charity's Care to be Different programme has been supporting
16 to 24 year olds in Oldham, Rochdale, Lancashire and Cheshire East in making
the difficult transition to life outside care.
The Care Leavers Festival; run by care leavers for care leavers and the
professionals involved in supporting them; takes place at:- The People's
History
Museum, Left Bank, Spinningfields, from 3pm to 7pm.
Guests will be agreeing upon a pledge for professionals across the North
West to take away with the aim of further improving the support received by
care leavers.
Anyone interested in attending the free event or finding out more can call
The Children's Society on:- 01772 759 233 or
email
them. The charity can reimburse the cost of travel to the festival for young
people.
Representatives from social care and the NHS, other charities, councils and
universities have also been invited.
Some of the young people supported by Care to be Different have been
involved in helping to plan the event, which is based around the theme
Celebrating Health and Happiness to Independence.
It is an opportunity for care leavers to tell their stories, raise awareness
of their needs and explain how the programme has helped them; and for
professionals to find out how they can best support young people leaving
care.
There will be workshops and activities run by care leavers and
professionals; as well as food, drink and entertainment, including a quiz,
street dancing, an MC workshop and smoothie making.
Care leavers from Cheshire East will be showing off the Easy Pleasy recipe
book they created with The Children's Society's participation team, which
was endorsed by Levi Roots of Reggae Reggae Sauce fame.
And the charity's campaigns team will be explaining more about its Seriously
Awkward campaign, which aims to improve legal protections for 16 and
17 year olds, at risk of abuse and neglect.
Many care leavers experience poor health, educational and social outcomes
after leaving care, including difficulties finding a job.
Care to be Different offers 1 to 1 support for the young people with the
most complex needs, for instance, around issues like substance misuse and
sexual exploitation.
Other young people receive coaching and mentoring designed to help them with
advice around engaging in education, relationships, lifestyle issues and
leaving care.
Some have had the chance to boost their job prospects through a work
placement in one of The Children's Society's charity shops, during which
time they work towards a Level 1 Award in Retail Skills.
An estimated 60% of children and young people in care in England have
emotional and mental health problems.
Funded by a £450,000 Department for Education grant, Care to be Different
has also been running in Torbay in Devon.
Lancashire Area Manager, Jo Hunt, who heads up The Children's Society's Care
to be Different programme, said:- "This exciting event is a great
opportunity to celebrate the difference this programme has made to young
care leavers. But it is also a chance to listen to their stories, hear about
their needs, and discuss what more professionals can do to support young
people leaving care. I would encourage anyone in care and professionals who
work with young people and adults in care and leaving care, to register to
attend the festival; or to follow and participate in the event through
social media."
You can follow the festival on Twitter @ChildSocGM using the hashtags #careleaversfestival
and #changeforcareleavers.
Anyone interested in attending the free event or finding out more can call
The Children's Society on:- 01772 759 233 or send an
email. |
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Resurfacing at Queen
Square Bus Station enters its 2nd Phase
THE second half of essential
resurfacing work at Queen Square Bus Station will start next week as the
1st Phase has been completed on time.
The work started on Sunday, 28 February 2016, the inbound carriageway will reopen, allowing
passengers to alight at the bus stop outside the Royal Court and depart from
stands 9 to 12.
For Phase 2, Stands 1 to 8, will close to allow for resurfacing of the
adjacent area, meaning buses that usually pick up at these stands will be
moved to temporary bus stops on Victoria Street, St Johns Lane or to bus
stops on Sir Thomas Street and Lime Street; this work is expected to last
for a further 5 weeks.
To minimise disruption to passengers and local businesses contractors are
working 7 days a week to keep the closure period as short as possible. So
far 1600 tonnes of tarmac and hardcore have been removed, all of which will
be recycled. It took 80 lorry loads to remove the rubble and 1050 tonnes of
concrete and 375 tonnes of tarmac have been laid on the new surface.
Originally constructed in 1996, Queen Square Bus Station, which is owned and
operated by Merseytravel, caters for one million buses each year and is
reputed to be the busiest in Europe. The road surface is already in a state
of disrepair and a full resurfacing programme is the most cost effective
solution. A robust, hard wearing material will be used giving the Bus
Station surface a 25 year life span.
During the resurfacing work businesses in the surrounding area are open and
accessible as usual, the travel and information centre remains open and
there are extra staff at key locations to direct bus passengers and give
further travel information. Information is also available on leaflets and
posters, the Merseytravel website, via social media or by calling Traveline
on:-
0151 236 7676.
Merseytravel would like to thank everyone affected for their continued
patience and cooperation during this essential work.
British film giant
Terrance Davies visits Edge Hill
FRESH from the Berlin Film
Festival, acclaimed British Director Terence Davies will be visiting Edge
Hill University this evening to discuss his film making career, and his most
recent film, A Quiet Passion, which is receiving rave reviews from around
the world.
Liverpool born Terence Davies, lauded as:- 'Britain's greatest living film
maker', has made an outstanding contribution to British cinema and
culture. As well as being a Fellow of the British Film Institute, Terence
was made an Honorary Doctor of Literature at Edge Hill University in 2015.
His most recent film, A Quiet Passion, starring Sex and the City's Cynthia
Nixon, details the life of the renowned American poet, Emily Dickinson. The
New Yorker describes the film as:- "an absolute drop dead masterwork",
with The Guardian giving the film four stars. A Quiet Passion has been
produced by Roy Boulter and Sol Papadopoulos of Liverpool's Hurricane Films.
Terrance will discuss his career with aspiring film makers as part of the
2016 Festival of Ideas, a diverse range of events exploring culture, health
and society. The main theme is Imagining Better; envisioning ways for
communities, arts and healthcare to develop and flourish, even in times of
austerity and inequality.
Terence's most celebrated feature films:- 'Distant Voices',
'Still Lives' from
1988 and 'The Long Day Closes' from 1992 are autobiographical films that draw
on his family experiences of Liverpool in the 1940's and 1950's, which are
rich evocations of working class culture in the post war decades.
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