The VRDS
Disability Newsletter may be accessed from this website.
National Learndirect
Achievement Awards
VRDS
trustees, staff and volunteers are celebrating the news that Mark Littler
has won the
National Award for tutors. Mark won the Learner Support Award, which
recognises learndirect staff and tutors who have provided outstanding care
and tutor support to their learners.
Mark joined the VRDS Learning
Centre in Northwich as a disabled volunteer in 2001. Despite a university
degree, he lacked confidence in his employment prospects. Whilst working at
VRDS, he regained his self-esteem and worked hard to gain his NVQ assessor
and teaching qualification. He is now an expert in supporting disabled
people to use new technology to get the most out of computers, so that they
can take part with no barriers to their learning or their independence.
Learndirect has changed Mark’s life, and he is now changing the lives of
many other people.
The winners were announced at a
glittering ceremony on 19th October at the Riverbank Park Plaza
in London, hosted by Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford.
Collecting the award
on Mark’s behalf, Giles Fry, VRDS Training Manager said:
I asked him whether he was coming to the
ceremony and he just looked back at me and said: “I can’t leave my learners”
– that’s how dedicated he is to being
learndirect
tutor!
VRDS offers a range of learning
qualifications and employment programmes. For more information contact the
centre on 01606 333 673 or visit: www.vrds.org.uk.
Best in the Northwest
In the 2009 Learndirect Northwest
Awards ceremony at Bolton it was announced that the Vale Royal Disability
Services Learning Centre was runner-up for the best centre in the region,
and Mark Littler, the tutor at Vale Royal Disability Services, was honoured
with the Learner Support Award – best in the Northwest.
Graham Whitehead, North West regional
performance director of Ufi learndirect said:
“The winners and Highly Commended
finalists in the North West have shown exceptional determination, and have
gone that extra mile to learn new skills and improve their qualifications or
support others in doing the same; as well as encouraging their staff to
learn new skills and improve their qualifications. Mark Littler, and the
staff at the VRDS Learning Centre are an inspiration to
learndirect support staff across
England, and truly deserve recognition.”
Located at Dane Walk in Watling
Street, opposite the Information Centre, the VRDS Learning Centre aims to
help disabled adults overcome barriers to employment. It offers
qualifications in English, Maths and IT; there is also an Employment Service
that offers tailored one-to-one support towards work, with CVs, jobsearch
and applications; and there are learndirect outreach locations at the
Cheshire West and Chester learning centres in Northwich, Winsford and
Frodsham.
For Employment, call Vicki on 01606
888 400 any weekday during office hours. For training and qualifications,
call Jonathan or Mark on 01606 333 673 any weekday during office hours.
VRDS helping disabled people to get into work.
Many disabled people want to work, a
quite understandable fact. After all, apart from the obvious financial
freedom, there are also the important matters of friendly social
interaction, increased self-esteem and a real improvement in quality of
life. In the end, if you have say twenty years of working life available to
you, why not make it a happy and fulfilling twenty years?
‘Pathways’ is a programme that
started in Cheshire and Warrington in May 2008, designed to help disabled
people to get into work. It is open voluntarily to anyone on Disability
Living Allowance or Incapacity Benefit, also some other benefits, so that
people with disability or health issues can get a better chance in life.
The programme is all about levelling the playing field, enabling disabled
people to access proper jobs, not the short-term artificial roles that
historically separated people. A programme of information, advice, training
and support is available as part of the service.
To locate your nearest specialist
sub-contractor or for more general information on Pathways, contact VRDS
(Telephone 01606 888 400 or email
vicki.glaze@vrds.org.uk, or contact the central TNG contact number,
0845 602 4391.
Queen’s Award
To
celebrate her Golden Jubilee in 2002, The Queen announced an annual Award to
recognise and reward excellence in voluntary activities carried out by
groups in the community.
The
Queen's Award for Voluntary Service (formerly known as The Queen's Golden
Jubilee Award) is given for outstanding achievement by groups of volunteers
who:
·
regularly devote their time to helping
others in the community
·
improve the quality of life and opportunity
for others
·
provide an outstanding service.
It was
announced that Vale Royal Disability Services is a winner of the Queen’s
Award for Voluntary Service 2007. The award gives VRDS volunteers
recognition as “unsung heroes” and commemorates the essential role they
take.
The group
were nominated by members of the public who have either benefited from their
work, or seen the positive effect on their community. The Award is only
given to those groups where volunteers are judged to have regularly devoted
their time to providing an outstanding level of help to other people.
Well done Linda
Learning
changes lives, transforms businesses and even nations. The Learndirect
Achievement Awards were set up to recognise and celebrate the achievements
of learners, employers and the Learndirect centres supporting them.
Northwich has been recognised not once but twice in these prestigious
awards.
The North
West Awards were presented at a glittering ceremony on 13th June at the
Reebok Stadium Bolton. The winner of the Learning for Employment Award was
Linda Worswick of Northwich. Linda completed her learning at the VRDS
Learning Centre in Northwich. She said, “I know that this is an
individual award, but I could not have achieved it without the amazing
levels of help and support from the learning centre. They helped me build up
my knowledge and with a spell as a volunteer, gave me the confidence to get
the job of my dreams”.
At the
same ceremony, the VRDS Learning Centre in Northwich was recognised for its
excellence. The centre was Highly Commended for Innovation, in recognition
of its resourcefulness in helping people to achieve what they want.
Government Minister Launches Cheshire’s Information Project For Disabled People
At the launch were Jane Stanley-McCrave,
Project Manager Community Wellbeing, Paul McGreary, County Manager Trading
Standards and Safer Communities, Anne McGuire, Minister for Disabled People,
County Council Chairman Neville Price, Tim Mann, County Manager Community
Wellbeing, Geof Chan, Work Placement Officer Supported Employment and
Christine Pickthall MBE, Chair of Vale Royal Disability Services.
Minister for Disabled People, Anne McGuire has announced that Cheshire
is one of four councils working with the Government’s
Office for Disability Issues. The Minister
who recently officially launched Cheshire County Council’s Accessible
Information Project at Crewe said, “Many
disabled people find it difficult to access the services they need – because
they don’t know where to start or because the application processes are
unclear or disjointed. We have got to listen to disabled people, look really
hard at what we do and challenge ourselves. The Information Needs project is
an important part of that challenge.”
Christine
Pickthall MBE, Chair of Vale Royal Disability Services speaking at the
launch said, “To me, information means power, and access to information can
enable me to make informed choices about the quality of my own life. At the
end of the day, isn’t that what we all want, irrespective of any
disability? Choice and independence.”
The
Accessible Information Project will consider a range of innovative ways of
making the information available to disabled people and carers.
The speeches
are available from the following links:
Link to the speech by Anne
Mcguire, Minister for Disabled People.
Link to the speech by Christine Pickthall MBE, Chair of Vale Royal
Disability Services.
